3.5 stars

Gearbreakers follows the story of Sona and Eris, two girls fighting on opposite sides of a conflict but discover that maybe their goals are alinged and they are fighting for a common goal. Set in the Badlands ruled by the Godolia, a tyrannical regime enforced by giant mecha weapons and the pilots that operate them. Sona is a pilot and cybernetically enhanced, but with plenty of secrets of her own and a regime to destroy form the inside. When her destiny collides with Eris, a young rebel, known as Gearbreakers, who is captured and ends up in Godolian prison sparks will fly - maybe even literally.

I thought Gearbreakers was a really solid debut novel, the writing was engaging and the battle scenes were thrilling and fast paced, with some great romantic angst and tension. While I liked the characters I didn't absolutely love them which brought the rating down a little for me. I thought their personalities could have been developed a little more, but that is mainly a personal preference thing, given the fast nature of the book their characters mainly served their purposes for the plot and not a lot extra.

I love a good trope of two people on opposite sides falling for each other and changing sides or working with the 'enemy' and I feel like this book really delivers on that. I really liked the relationship between Sona and Eris, I thought the tension and chemistry build up was really good and I loved their banter! I also liked their dynamic with the whole group of gearbreakers, I liked seeing Sona out of her comfort bubble and learning to trust and grow closer to others and be trusted in return.

One of my favourite characters was Jenny, Eris' older sister and overall badass. I am a sucker for a older woman haha (even though she wasnt that old lol) and I liked exploring the more extreme elements of a rebellion through her character. (Really I'm just a sucker for a sexy comanding woman lol). The side characters were all pretty interesting and I would have loved to get to know a bit more about them - especially Jenny (not at all motivated by sexiness), Victoria and Milo (even though he was a dick I would have liked to know a bit more about his character and why he was the way he was).

I listened to the audiobook for this one and I think the narrators did a really good job bringing the story to life. I already loved Cindy Kay's narration (she has such a sexy voice haha) and thought the narrator for Eris was good as well!

The politics/set up of the world was a little black and white, but it did give me nostaglic dystopian vibes which I really enjoyed!! The world-building was really good though and I felt like I could clearly picture the Badlands. The cliffhanger at the end also sets up the next book very nicely and hopefully the nuances will be explored a little more in book two! I do feel like the author did a good job with some of the characters being morally grey though - especially some of the older gearbreakers - and exploring some of the challenges of leadership!

Overall if you are looking for a fun action packed YA novel with a great sapphic romance and giant robot battles. A very promising start to a new series!

2.5 stars
This is a case of “it’s not you, it’s me”. I appreciated the representation and the exploration of identity but I was not invested in the story or characters.

The story and plot itself were intriguing and I was drawn to the premise because one of my favorite movies is Pacific Rim. However, I felt that the world-building was confusing and there was not enough background information regarding Godolia to warrant the gearbreakers’ hate and revolution.

The narrators were fantastic as Eris and Sona. I had a good time listening to them but as characters, I could not connect with them. They made impulsive decisions and this frustrated me to no end.

Overall, this was a solid debut but has the potential to be better but was ultimately not for me.

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with this arc in exchange for an honest review.
I think gearbreakers is one of my favorite reads this year. The world is amazing and I was so intrigued by how everything worked. Also the romance was everything! Can’t wait for everyone to read.

Found family, mechas and a boss battle feature in this action-packed and brutal sci-fi. Would recommend!

Eris is a Gearbreaker and Sona is a cybernetically enhanced Windup pilot. They're on opposite sides of the war, but Godolia's tyrannical rule is being brought to it's end if these two have anything to say about it.

I loved getting to know every character in this book, they all had such distinct voices and fun weapons. This book was just constantly hitting beat after beat and didn't drop the ball at all.

(Content warnings: blood, death (incl. child death and death of parent - child death on page, death of parent as part of backstory but heavily discussed), murder, torture, grief, slight body horror)

I had the pleasure of listening to the audiobook, which was great - the narrators matched the characters perfectly, the audio quality was smooth and well-edited; my only complaint would be that the narrator for Eris's chapters occasionally spoke at a slightly faster pace than the other, so I had to switch between 1.25x and 1x speed every now and then between chapters, but other than that it's very easy to listen to.

All that out of the way - it took me until about 1/3 of the book to get properly into it, but once Sona's and Eris's paths finally cross, DAMN. it gets GOOD. I love their fierceness, their enemies-to-lovers dynamic, I love the found family of it all of the Gearbreakers. Any minor criticisms I might have fade in comparison to how much I enjoyed this book. I just KNOW I would've become completely obsessed with it if I read it in high school, it's so unlike any other YA book I've read.

My favourite part of the book was Sona's internal conflict - her hostility towards her own body, the disgust she feels for Godolia and what they turned her into versus the power she feels when piloting a mecha, her attempts at forming a new identity for herself as a Gearbreaker. It's so compelling, and I love that she's not just fighting to get revenge for her parents, but for herself, too. It's so angsty in that distinctly YA way, but it GOT to me, okay!!! The ending is a gut punch after gut punch and I cannot wait for the sequel. I Am Not Immune to teen girls who had their childhoods stolen away fighting against the regime, taking down huge mechas and falling in love 🥺

(Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!)

The Short Version: A dystopian YA LGBTQ action story that nestles into that YA dystopian vein plowed by so many stories before it. At once thrilling and a bit of a let down but with a wonderful knife twist for an ending that will make you groan you have to wait for a sequel

The Long Version: I got to listen to the audiobook ARC of this title thanks to NetGalley and Recorded Books.

I had seen Gearbreakers on all sorts of must read lists prior to its release. I was pretty amped to see it become available as an Audiobook ARC and was ready to dive in with both feet. I mean, young mech pilots falling in love as they battle the evil republic that oppresses the rebels!? In book form!? Ummmmmm yes! Who cares that there’s some cliché in there. It still sounded AMAZING.

The story is Dual POV following both Sona, a pilot for Godolia, the powerful empire ruling over everyone. Sona though, doesn’t want to be there, she doesn’t cherish her position as a pilot for the Valkyries, the most elite unit of pilots in Godolia. The other half of the story is told by Eris, a gearbreaker, who will stop at nothing to take apart the Mechas Godolia uses to oppress the masses. When the paths of Eris and Sona cross unexpectedly, gasoline is tossed onto the flame of rebellion crackling in the Badlands just outside Godolia’s reach.

Gearbreakers was mostly satisfying but it definitely didn’t live up to my expectations. The biggest issue with the title is that it didn’t draw me in right away. Part of that was the action. While the pacing is supercharged at the beginning with big battles unfolding pretty quickly, the action sequences weren’t the easiest to follow. I guess one of the drawbacks of writing major action sequences that seem pulled from the big screen, is that the details can be hard to convey in a way that satisfies your need for explosions and action without feeling hectic.

I should say that the book gets much better as it goes. I think its safe to say if you hang on for the first 20%, the narrative catches its momentum and hits its stride nicely, beginning to balance the action, character development and political power dynamics that comprise the main supports of the story.

As I said in the short version, this title hits that YA dystopian sweet spot. The protagonists are mostly likable and don’t make inconsistent or stupid character choices. I think the bigger miss here was in the supporting cast. Eris’s sister, Jenny, was a great addition, but much of the rest feel like set pieces and don’t elevate the story as much as they could. Additionally the antagonists are mostly vague, with one real exception, that is more or less a caricature of male arrogance, intolerance, etc… (an archetype that is starting to get played out because authors seem to just go full jerkwad, very little nuance, no moments that make you question, is there a redeeming quality there?)

The lack of a stellar supporting cast really hurt the character development as well. Sona and Eris do grow somewhat, but they were both rebellious from the start, so a rebellious romance doesn’t feel like it’s a stretch or growth really. Attitudes change slightly, but they’re both mostly what they were at the beginning of the story.

The author does do a nice job with the pacing and writing in the meaty, middle portion of the book. There are slower moments as the romance grows between Sona and Eris, but it doesn’t feel like a drag on the pace, and there’s enough big action sequences woven in to keep that fire stoked. The dialogue is mostly excellent, though the authors does make a choice for the slang of the characters that grated my nerves. The characters always says “Gods damned” and “Hells yes” etc… IT was done consistently so it certainly feels intentional, I just didn’t like how it sounded.

Perhaps the biggest strength of this book, and really one of the strongest reasons to read it, was the ending. There a huge action sequence and at the very end were introduced to the true antagonist who will likely carry the rest of this story. He was deliciously evil, and hits all the right buttons for me. Calm, polite, but so obviously sadistic. It’s well executed and the cliffhangers made me groan with anticipation.

The narrator for this book was solid but was not as good as I would have liked. She did a pretty good job differentiating characters, and her male characters were all very distinct, but at times the two female leads, muddled slightly and it could be tough for me to follow. She injected emotion into the story, but it felt a little forced for me at times. She didn’t hurt the story, she just didn’t elevate it to a position of love either.

Overall a 3.5 rounded up. Its well written and enjoyable, and I can see the series becoming successful. If you like science fiction, Pacific Rim, YA Dystopian stories, or LGBTQ it’s going to hit a lot of the right notes for you. There does seem to be a lot that resembles other stories so I’m curious if the author can blaze a more unique path in the sequel, but I think this one is worth a read for lowers of any of the genres I mentioned.

Component Ratings
Concept/Idea: 4.5 out of 5
Protagonists: 4 out of 5
Antagonists: 2 out of 5
Supporting Characters: 3 out of 5
Character development: 3 out of 5
Plot: 4 out of 5
Pacing: 4 out of 5
Prose: 4.5 out of 5
Dialogue: 3.5 out of 5
Narrator’s performance: 3bout of 5
Ending: 5 out of 5

This book was very hard to get through and I'm having a hard time putting my finger on why; I will try to articulate my thoughts here, but they will be sporadic.

First of all, I felt like the story really dragged. The action scenes were often, and went on for an unenjoyable amount of time. The more calm scenes also felt just too long. I think the book would really benefit from cutting out at least a sentence from each page.

I also found the world building and concept to be, while very original, just not very compelling. Perhaps I'm just not a fan of sci-fi, but I found the whole concept of a war with machines and people to be.. uninspired? Boring? I did really like the character of Sona, and I thought her internal narration was the most interesting part of the book, but the concept of machines vs humans on the whole was just very boring to me.

I really enjoyed the writing style in this book. I think the author knew how to write things beautifully. However it was still very hard for me to get through regardless? I think my distaste for the plot overshadowed my like for the writing style in the end.

Overall, the plot felt like there was very little structure. This may be cheating since you normally wouldn't research an author before reading their book, but I know the author said she didn't write an outline for this story before she wrote it, and it kind of shows.

Overall, I just wasn't a huge fan of this book. However I did enjoy the audiobook, so if you think you'll like this book I would definitely say the audiobook is worth a listen! The narrator does a great job :)

2.5 stars

Gearbreakers has mechs, found family, and enemies turned allies. Sona is an enhanced pilot for Gondolia, but is really trying to take it down from the inside. Eris is part of the Gearbreakers who take down the mechs to stop the oppression of the people in the Badlands. They find they are working toward the same goal.

I absolutely loved Sona. She is such a marshmallow from being so alone and fighting on her own. Also, so cool that she can feel no pain outside of her mech. The amount of times this girl almost pulls her eye out is hysterical. I kind of wish Eris hadn't been so quick to trust her just to build some more tension, though the other Gearbreakers had more than enough to make up for it. I wish I had known I was in for a giant cliffhanger at the end so I could prepare myself. I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed the narrators. The voices were somewhat similar but Sona definitely stood out with her way of speaking. For me, this was a 4/5.

If you like casual eye popping, battling mechs, or a ragtag group of kids, then this one is for you.

I received a copy of this audiobook free from NetGalley and RB Media in exchange for an honest review.

I have to DNF this book. It's really just not for me. The audio is fine and the narrator is decent, I just don't enjoy any of the main characters. I often enjoy YA novels, but the market for this one is clearly actual teenagers who will think the precociousness of the teenage characters is cool and not annoying. I just don't care what happens to them and can't conceive of a way that this realistically ends with them winning the day. I assume there will be at least 2 more books and the idea of that exhausts me.

Gearbreakers
by Zoe Hana Mikuta
A look into the large Japanese inspired defensive robots in a new light. The outskirts of the civilization that venerates these large scale protectors has a problem. The God like robots are used to oppress the undesirable outskirts making them slaves. This book shows how the realization of the inequity of this society affects all levels of the world. Its an amazing look at self understanding in empathy for others. The epic scales of the robots enhances the action sequences. The Audible book is very easy to listen to, and creates a connection from the listener to the characters.

This was such a good audiobook! The narrators were great and really captured the emotions and voices of the characters. The story was original and engrossing and I found myself completely wrapped up in it. The only thing I didn't like about the audiobook was that the narrators spoke too slowly for my taste, but that was easily remedied by speeding it up to 1.25x and sometimes 1.5x speed.

Sona and Eris are wonderful characters and have a very convincing enemies-to-friends-to-lovers relationship, with both of their feelings and emotions slowly evolving over the course of the book. Jenny is a great character, if a little harsh on her little sister Eris. Eris' gearbreaker crew are endearing and wild. Sona was a bit heartbreaking when she got her first gear tattoos. It was everything she'd ever wanted and she couldn't quite believe it was happening.

The twist at the end was pretty good. I saw part of it coming (but not 'til near the end), but part of it surprised me. I will most definitely be snapping up the sequel as soon as it is available because I really need to know what happens next.

*Thanks to NetGalley and RB Media / Recorded Books for providing an audio arc for review.

The synopses of this book sounded amazing and it definitely did not disappoint me. It’s also has some story element that I hadn’t seen before. The story is about two girls that are on opposite sides of a war. Sona is working from within Godolia and Eris is trying to bring it down from the outside. But when they meet they realize that they have more in common then they first realized so they plot to take down Godolia together. I fell for the two main characters pretty quickly into the story. They both just have some amazing qualities too them and their interactions where the best. I was also really intrigued by many of the side characters as they interacted with both Sona and Eris.
It had been a while since I read a fantasy novel so it took some getting used too. I loved seeing the world building and figuring out more about the cyber enhancement and the Windups that are big part of the story. The main romantic relationship is between two girls which developed over time from an enemies to lovers which is also my favorite trope. It also included the found family trope, which was really well done and, and many other amazing tropes. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that loves to read fantasy/sci-fi.

This was a fastpaced, well written and exciting scifi novel with a f/f romance. Interesting world, quite a few plot twists and well narrated. Really enjoyed this.

I find this really confusing to read. The world makes no sense, there is a lot to be desired in the world building, and I'm struggling to find a discernible plot? I'm more than 60% of the way through and I'm not sure what's happening or why. Also the two narrators sound similar enough that it's very hard to distinguish the characters (which is also down to the two protagonists being written with similar voices).

It did take me a while to get into this, i found some of the world building kind of confusing and found some of the action scenes a bit hard to follow, but all in all, this was an interesting and unique book. The narrators were both really good, and kept me interested the whole way through.

I received an audiobook arc of this from NetGalley for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I wanted to love this, I really did. Sadly this didn't hit the mark for me at all. I didn't want to pick this up at all after 15% and it was a chore to get through. I ended up DNF'ing this sadly.
The Author has an amazing talent for writing and I would love to read more from her in the future but this just fell flat to me.

The characters were either full of themselves (Eris) or robotic (Sona, which makes sense but also couldn't relate to) I really liked the side characters a lot though which made me want to keep reading.


Also if I heard "You don't have my permission to die" in this book again I think I'd scream the house down.

4.5 stars

I really enjoyed this book! I don’t think I’ve ever read any mech fiction before and this was so well done! It was such a unique premise and I enjoyed the characters and thought it was well written.
However, it ended on a cliffhanger (wtf???), so now I have to impatiently wait for the next book to come out…

DNF at 38%.

I've tried visual and audio for this book, and I just can't bring myself to get past the 40% mark. The pacing of this one is incredibly slow, and the world building leaves much to be desired. Really disappointing because the premise of this one was so good.

i was really excited for this book but the plot did not really live up to my expectations. it was confusing on the worldbuilding part and i would've loved a little more backstory to godolia.

the most enjoyable part about this book are the narrators that gave distinct voices to Eris and Sona! i loved how they narrated the characters and kept me engaged to them!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this audiobook.

This was dissapointing. Although I did enjoy parts of this book, it fell flat on almost every aspect.

Gearbreakers follows Sona, a pilot for the destructive state of Godolia and Eris, a gearbreaker, while they try to destroy Godolia with ragtag band of rebels.

First of all, the world was not developed well at all. I didn't understand any of the lore and the history of the conflict between the Windups and the Gearbreakers. There's no explanation as to how this big conflict and this big state of Godolia even came to be. I eventually just gave up on trying to understand the world.

I liked that the plot was fast-paced and action-heavy, but I just could not connect with any of the characters. The two main characters made the worst decisions and never seemed to learn. I do get that this is the first book in a series and that there's room for growth in the sequel, but I would've liked to see some development for these characters and their relationship.

The side characters were even less developed than the main characters and they only seemed to be there just to force the "found family" trope. I finished this book today and I already don't remember their personalities or even their names.

This kinda brings me to my main problem with this book: the tropes. I guess the author really wanted some specific tropes like found family and enemies to lovers in her book, but it felt SO forced and unoriginal. This was also one of the reasons the character dynamics and the main relationship felt so rushed to me.

This all being said, I do think this book is a fun and fast read and I think the author can definitely develop her characters and world more in the sequel. It just wasn't for me :)