EVERYONE READ THIS DUOLOGY! In simple terms: CYBER PUNK SAPPHIC ENEMIES TO LOVERS ROMANCE MEETS SCAWY ROBOT GODS MEETS THE FOUND FAMILY TROPE MEETS THE MOST BADASS CHARACTERS EVER! ITS SO BEAUTIFUL AND ACTION PACKED AND HEARTBREAKING AND WONDERFUL AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN!

What is so thrilling about this series and this book in particular are the relationships and the complications.  For me, I adored Gearbreakers so I was super excited for the sequel. I did consider for a brief moment if it would rise to the same heights as that first book but I should have known better. “Godslayers” is as brilliant as “Gearbreakers”, thrilling and enthralling. 

There are many reasons “Godslayers” is such a great work of fiction. First, there are giant robots which I can’t get enough of but I also like the thought process into taking down the giants. I also like the depiction of the war and how both sides have held onto anger and hate. Nobody is painted as the good guy but what does happen is that the heartbreakers, especially Eris, are tired of fighting this war. They want to find a way to end it and they can only do so with Sona’s help. It also shows rather brutally the price of war on leaders and soldiers alike. 

I also appreciate the diversity of characters. While the author doesn’t delve into depth on everyone, we get enough to see the differences and personalities of not only the main characters but also the secondaries, all are different and all solidly written. This is a rich story with a wonderful exploration of the world, complex characters, and a ton of thrilling action, especially when it comes time to take down a God.  

If you are a fan of Pacific Rim or the old animated films of giant robots and you also love untraditional romances, this is the series to pick up. If you haven’t read “Gearbreakers'', give it a try and then read “Godslayers” for the rest of the story. Each book is thrilling and enthralling with a cast of wonderful characters who I fell in love with, especially Eris and Sona. “Godslayers” is as brilliant as “Gearbreakers”, thrilling and enthralling with a gorgeous love story and thoughtful look at the price of war.

Zoe Hana Mikuta’s Gearbreakers was one of the best young adult sci-fi novels of 2021 and Godslayers is just as brilliant. Godslayers hits many of the same notes as the first book. It will break your heart and put it back together again. And it will make you love the characters from the first book even more.

Godslayers starts a few months after Gearbreakers. Eris has clearly been tortured but she’s still the smart, witty, take-no-prisoners Gearbreaker we know and love. She may break down the mechas that are after her friends, but Gondolia was never going to break her.

As for Sona…well, the last time we saw her, she was being reprogrammed by the Zenith, and unfortunately, this time, it worked. She feels guilty for falling for what the Gearbreakers told her but now she is entirely loyal to the Zenith and Gondolia.

continued on Culturess.

Overall: I had absolutely no true issues with this series and absolutely need have another book published by this author by the end of next year. I will truly miss this world.

Pros:
Writing Style. I am begging for Zoe Hana Mikuta to be in the middle of writing something else because I have not adored a writing style this way in awhile.
Mecha Fights. I will be honest, I am in love with how these are written in this work. Sci-fi needs more of these.
Romance. I mean, it is enemies-to-lovers that makes sense and feels valid.

Cons:
World-building. There are some basic world-building issues that can come with sci-fi territory.

I think this book had the potential to be really great, but the pacing was a bit off and it dragged in the middle. I think the overall structure/timeline could have been organized better. Although it was meant to be a duology, I think this series would have been better as a trilogy. There’s a major time shift between the first and second book, where I think the second could have focused more on events in that time shift - particularly the murder of a specific someone (no names to avoid spoilers) by Jenny and the complicated relationship between Sona and Enyo. I feel that if this had been more catered to in the second book, the events following would have been more impactful.
I still loved the relationship between Sona and Eris, and the whole crew, and the questions of morality that the book brought up.


Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion!

This was a satisfying close out to the duology. I loved how the perspectives were denoted and how the story moved. I actually felt on my toes in trying to figure out how things would play out, which I liked a lot. I also felt a lot of emotions with this one too as my eyes got watery a few times from the love & loss in the story but I also laughed at times too. I hope that we get some more books within this world from other Gearbreakers perspectives.

“We have been so cruel to each other, and then the world was so cruel to us, too, that we forgot to keep up with it, and in the beat of that hesitation we fell in love. I turned around and realized I was looking for her all the time.”

GODSLAYERS is everything I loved about GEARBREAKERS, amplified: a twisted government willing to do anything to stay in power, the scrappy and headstrong kids determined to take them down, and the sapphic enemies-to-lovers caught up in the middle of the massive mecha combat. In the conclusion to this duology there’s even more feral queer kids, more brilliant and vicious technologies, more epic battles, more moral complexity, more fascinating religious and cultural world building, more grumpy banter and bitting affection, more angsty yearning, more Jenny Shindanai holding absolutely everything together, more gut-wrenching heartbreak, and above all, more hope. Plus! Underwater mecha fights! A masquerade ball! Sona in a suit! “You’re so dead, now come kiss me” moments! And a realistically ambiguous and utterly beautiful epilogue that had me tearing up.

I loved how this book leaned into the complexities of war: the humanity on both sides underneath the oppressive power, the difficult decisions, the painful loss of life, and the devastating, relentless emotional toll. Both Eris and Sona continue to struggle with their role in all this, how to balance the awful things they do with the greater good they are seeking. Their relationship is so powerful, not just in their love but the redemption they find together, their ability to see the “better” in each other. The writing is perfect for the action-packed young adult dystopian vibes, by turns both poetic and cheeky. There’s also more bits of Korean woven into this book.

GODSLAYERS is fierce and romantic, gritty and beautiful, and the perfect conclusion to a series I can’t recommend enough. Thanks to Pride Book Tours and Feiwel & Friends for the review copy! This book is out now.

Content warnings: violence, torture, hospitalization, poisoning, murder, death, suicidal ideation, completed suicide

Disclaimer: I bought my own copy of the book. Support your authors! All opinions are my own.

Book: Godslayers

Author: Zoe Hana Mikuta

Book Series: Gearbreakers Book 2

Rating: 3.5/5

Diversity: Bisexual Asian inspired MC, Lesbian Asian inspired MC, sapphic romance

Recommended For...: young adult readers, sci-fi, LGBT, queer, dystopian, mechas

Publication Date: June 28, 2022

Genre: YA Sci-Fi Dystopian

Age Relevance:16+ (violence, gore, religion, cursing, torture, alcohol consumption, death, parental death, romance)

Explanation of Above: There was a lot of violence, weapons and physical, and gore with blood and some mentions of vomit. There is also a lot of death mentioned, especially parental death. Religion is discussed and mentioned throughout the book. There is torture mentioned and shown throughout the book. There is a lot of cursing. There is one mention of alcohol consumption. There is some romance and some show of PTSD.

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends

Pages: 402

Synopsis: The only way to kill a god is from the inside...

The Gearbreakers struck a devastating blow against Godolia on Heavensday, but the cost of victory has been steep. Months later, the few rebels who've managed to escape the tyrannical empire's bloody retribution have fled to the mountains, hunted by the last Zenith--Godolia's only surviving leader.

Eris has been held prisoner since the attack on the capital city, which almost killed her. And she begins to wish it had when she discovers Sona--the girl she loves, the girl she would tear down cities for--also survived, only to be captured and Corrupted by the Zenith. The cybernetic brainwashing that Sona has forcibly undergone now has her believing herself a loyal soldier for Godolia, and Eris' mortal enemy.

With the rebellion shattered and Godolia moving forward with an insidious plan to begin inducting Badlands children into a new Windup Pilot program, the odds have never been more stacked against the Gearbreakers. Their last hope for victory will depend on whether Eris and Sona can somehow find their way back to each other from opposite sides of a war...

Review: For the most part this was a fun read. The book immediately picked up from the first book and it didn’t let up throughout the book. The book is a fun enemies to lovers that plays with a few tropes to keep up that vibe throughout. The character development continued in this book and was great and I loved the romance overall.

However, there were a few issues I had. I was confused throughout most of the book because it just felt like anytime the main characters were in a life or death situation, they immediately got out of it. The book continues to need more background world building. The book is incredibly too fast paced. And the time jumps annoyed the hell out of me. I feel like time jumps are incredibly lazy writing and I wish that more was done with that time than just jumping around and confusing the audience. This is another book that feels like it should have been two books, which is a shame cause the concept overall is amazing.

Verdict: It’s good just needs to be developed more.

This book. This FREAKING book. I enjoyed Gearbreakers, the setting was fantastic, the characters were beyond lovable, and the world-building was intense and entertaining. But somehow, Mikuta has been able to up the stakes in every conceivable way with the conclusion to this duology. It's amazing to see how much growth there has been in her writing just from one book to another. Mikuta was able to inject so much tension into each scene, which had me turning the pages until I reached the very end.

I loved all of Eris's Gearbreakers in the first book, but this story made me even more attached to all her kids (which makes the third act even more heartbreaking). Speaking of the third act, the stress that I was put under for the entire last half of the book was entirely unfair and I will be sending Mikuta my therapy bill. It was in this half of the book, however, that her writing really shined.

Eris and Sona were lovable main characters as always, but Sona's arc in particular stood out to me. Normally I'm not a fan of storylines in which a character's memory is lost or altered, but Sona's reprogramming didn't last any longer than necessary, and added another layer of complexity to the story. Her bond with the Zenith was so complicated, and it was hard for me to reconcile what he did to her with the undeniable connection they shared. I really enjoyed Eris and Sona's awareness of the complexity of their world. They were deeply concerned with the unfair situation that they had been placed in, with children being forced to committing horribly violent acts on both sides of the battles, which was an added layer I really appreciated.

I don't want to say much more in terms of the plot, because SO MUCH happens and I don't want to spoil it, but I absolutely adored the conclusion to this duology. It was tense and well-written, action packed with an amazing sapphic romance to pull it all together, with one of the best found families in any book I have read, and cemented itself as a must-read for anyone who loves sci-fi, and anyone who wants to get into the genre.

How are the characters/plot? Is it riddled with tropes? Is it based on actual events? Providing some plot or points in the plot that you loved or hated will help. Which characters did you love? Which characters made you seethe with hatred?

What are your overall feelings? Would you recommend this book? I feel like everyone has an overall feeling about a book even if it’s short or just the rating. If you were to elevator pitch this book to a friend, what would you say?

Godslayers picks up where Gearbreakers leaves off, and in some ways that's good; in others, less so. I read Gearbreakers about a year ago, and I had trouble following Godslayers because there were parts of the story, and aspects of the characters, that I had forgotten, which made the story hard to follow. Once I read enough to recall the first book, it went better - but this is not a book I'd recommend to anyone who hasn't read the first one; I was confused enough having read it, and I would think it would be even more confusing for anyone who hasn't read Gearbreakers. Many of the things that were explained in Gearbreakers - where the pilots come from, why the fight, and why they rebel - are taken for granted in Godslayers. I appreciate that there was not a lot of repetition - but a little more repetition from Gearbreakers would have been helpful.

That said, Godslayers, like Gearbreakers, is a fast-paced novel about Godolia, a world where gods are present in every day life - but they are giant cyborg machines with teens inside them, worshiped by the masses who don't really understand what they are, but know that anyone with the talent may be picked out of the gutter and raised to pilot. But this is a fascist society, one that punishes disobedience far more easily than it rewards following the rules, and Eris and her crew of gearbreakers are continuing their quest to break the power of the machines, and the government they support, forever. Plagued by a tenuous existence in a city atop a mine that Godolia must have the ore from to survive, suspecting a spy when their every move is predicted by their enemies, the gearbreakers continue trying to defeat the last remaining elite pilot, the one who rules Godolia, in a desperate bid for freedom.

The only way to kill a god is from the inside...
Didn't realize this was a sequel so oh boy did this all go over my head. It was cool though! Super fun.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Zoe has done it again! Godslayers was just as incredible and enticing as Gearbreakers and I couldn't get enough. This is a game changer in sci-fi and if you haven't started this series I just have one question: why? It is so good! The writing, the description, the plot, the characters: just everything was perfect!

If you enjoy action-centric novels with a very cool flair, this is a solid follow up to Gearbreakers, which is also a high-action / dystopian novel. Think Hunger Games meets Pacific Rim, but all the monsters are human.

I enjoyed to further development of Jenny’s character probably the most in this, although I would have liked to see a bit more of an inner struggle play out with the whole concept of “now I am turning myself into what I have always known to hate.” I thought the character of Enyo, the last Zenith, was an interesting addition, and his complicated friendship with Sona was one of the more compelling storylines, and was honestly more interesting than her relationship with Eris. In this book, for me, their relationship felt a little too easy, too fated. Their banter was still fun! I thought it was a pretty good sequel, and enjoyed the duology overall, but I wish we had explored the characters a little more deeply. For example, Sona’s connection to her driving purpose for wanting to destroy Godolia is hardly mentioned in Godslayers, and while there is a plausible reason for this, that reason isn’t explored, which seems like a missed opportunity for some interesting internal conflict; similarly, it would have been great to get some more backstory on Enyo and his motivations, which are introduced, but get glossed over in the haze of all the battle scenes. The ratio of action to character development in this sequel is about 70/30 — but don’t get me wrong, the action scenes are still *very* cool. Looking forward to seeing more of Mikuta in the YA scene!

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc — check out Godslayers on June 28, 2022!

If you read Gearbreakers and loved it, you'll likely enjoy this book too. If you were on the fence at all about your enjoyment of Gearbreakers, it's probably best if you skip this conclusion.

I was frustrated at the ending of the first book in this duology but had generally enjoyed it so I decided to give the sequel a chance. I figured that the sequel would provide a chance to see how Mikuta's writing had matured and a more satisfying ending than that of the first book. I was unfortunately proven wrong.

Many of the issues from the first book continued through this one. I also found the pacing of this book to be horrifically confusing and extremely frustrating. Until about 60% of the way through this novel, I was following what was going on for the most part. After that point, all sense of pacing disappeared. Chapters randomly jump weeks to months ahead after significant events instead of sticking with these characters through moments that would show who these characters even truly are outside of a fight.

The plot twists in this book were either painfully obvious far before the reveal or fully out of left-field and left me blindsided. I didn't feel like any of the reveals were satisfying or really clarified anything within the world-building of the book. They existed to shock the reader and then be mostly swept away soon after. Despite the overwhelming amount of death in this book, the stakes never felt major for either of the main characters, in part because tension never really had the chance to build. They were thrown from one fight to the next to the next, and any moments of doubting their survival were almost immediately dispelled.

I was hoping this book would deliver on the payoff of a final face-off with Enyo where Sona's decisions came full circle, instead there was no real final battle or face-off, just a conversation and what I found to be a severely disappointing conclusion. The ending is extremely underwhelming and left me saying "That's it? That was all that needed to happen to make everything better this entire time?" which was definitely not the takeaway I desired.

It isn't a terrible conclusion but it definitely isn't the improvement over the first book that I had hoped for either.

4.75 Stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Fiercereads for the arc of this book.

After the victory--and devastating loss--at the end of Gearbreakers, Sona has been corrupted into thinking she hates the Gearbreakers, and Eris is stuck in Godolia prison. But Sona's corruption doesn't stick the way Enyo is hoping it will, and Jenny and Eris have big plans.


This book!!! Was heartbreaking, first of all. Like, how dare you do that to my precious babies?! But also it is so good! And honestly the perfect ending to this duology and I couldn't ask for a better conclusion within the realm of believability for this world.

The continued world-building and character development in this book was so good I love Sona and Eris so much and I feel like they changed so much in this book but I still love them. A little older, a little less feral, but still determined and fierce and loving and hopeful, always hopeful.

The hope and change and resilience of the characters in this book is so important. It is so good. I think it's the core of what this book is about. I love it so much. I will always recommend this duology to everyone.

Go read it now!

Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/injury detail, War, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gun violence, and Death
Moderate: Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Grief, Confinement, Suicide, Medical content, Body horror, and Child death
Minor: Vomit and Cursing

3/5 stars.

It's difficult to review this novel because I was so excited for it and I did enjoy bits and pieces, but unfortunately overall the book fell flat. I had hoped the worldbuilding would be expanded more in Godslayers, but I found myself getting confused often with the world and the different factions etc. Likewise, I felt confused and found it hard to keep up with all the battle/action sequences - the writing itself was wonderful and vivid, but it was difficult to wrap my head around them.

The plot too was also hard to wrap my head around. Just when I thought plotlines had been wrapped up, something new would occur, and then suddenly there was a 2 month time jump. The pacing was so off, and this novel could have been wrapped up much sooner.

As for characters and romance - I did and still do adore Sona. Her struggles in Godolia and having to find her way back to herself was so well-written. I loved her chapters, and seeing her interactions with Enyo, the Zenith. They had such an interesting friendship, both of them disillusioned about what Godolia was doing but feeling there was no other way.

Despite being one of the villains, Enyo was such a sympathetic character, and seeing his thoughts about Godolia let us see why so many people still stuck with a side that could act so maliciously. One thing that could have made this even better is if the idolisation of the Zeniths and Godolia in general had been expanded on more (again, more worldbuilding please!) so we could fully see both sides of the playing field.

On the other side, we had Eris and her gearbreakers. I liked Eris as a character and her perspective too, but we still got such little development about her friends. We had more development about Enyo in one book than Eris' friends in two. I would have appreciated if we had gotten more about them, as it would have made Eris's chapters much more enjoyable.

I have only read half the book so far. I recently was injured at work was unable to finish this book on time. The four stars is based on what I have read so far and will provide a more comprehensive review once I finish it on my blog.

Thank you

I didn’t enjoy this series as much as I thought I would. I loved the concept. I loved the characters but for some reason there just wasn’t as much as I would have hoped for in this. The writing didn’t seem very fluid. I feel like it jumped around into multiple peoples heads too often even in just the two character POV. It took me way long to finish this book than I thought it would. I give it a solid 3/5 stars.
Thank you to netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read this ARC. I hope to see more from this author in the future!

After striking a devastating blow to Godolia, the Gearbreakers have falled back to recover. Now, those same rebels are being hunted by Zenith. The last surviving leader of Godolia. Since the attack, Eris has been Godolia's prisoner. When discovers Sona, the girl she loves, also survived, she has a moment of hope. Until she realizes Sona has once again become a brainwashed soldier of Godolia. And Eris's mortal enemy.

With the rebellion barely holding on and Godolia moving forward inducting children to their cause, the odds have never been stacked higher against the Gearbreakers. Their only hope is Sona and Eris finding their way back to each other. From opposite sides of the war.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's for an advanced copy of Godslayers to review! I loved Gearbreakers last year and I couldn't wait to see how it ended. Especially with that cliffhanger! Thank goodness this is just a duology.

Where Mikuta really excels is her characters. Not only are the heroes fully developed, but we get complex development from the villains as well. Honestly, that's a mark of a good character writer. If you can get us to care about the villain in some capacity. I loved the development between Eris and Sona in this book as well. While Sona might be brainwashed for part of it, you can feel their strong connection despite it all. You're still rooting for them even though the odds might be stacked against them.

My only complaint is that at times, it was a bit difficult to follow everything that was going on. However, this very well could be attributed to it being awhile since I read the first book. Science fiction and fantasy books with this much detail are always hard to read with a gap between them. There are so many details you forget! Reading them back to back would actually help to clear up any confusion!

Despite that, I was invested in the story. If you like battles in your science fiction, there are quite a few in here! In generall, Mikuta did a good job wiwth the action scenes. The action itself was easy to follow, which is always a bonus in a novel like this.

All in all, this is a strong follow up to the first book! If yo'ure looking for a new sci-fi duology for the summer, I'd recommend picking this one up.

Okay, you’ll never guess what I’m about to say… and that’s right! I did not read GEARBREAKERS! This is the second book in a series, and wow it sure does feel like it. This book honestly reminds me a lot of the Locked Tomb series which is also about morally grey lesbians, caveat that I also did not read the Locked Tomb series. I really don’t have any idea what’s going on at any point, but jeez are the vibes INCREDIBLE. Also WOW look at that COVER. It’s sci-fi, heavy on the romance, with intense and choppy sentences which remind me kind of viscerally of my own writing style, which is interesting! It’s character-driven, which is good, because I literally do not know what is going on in the world. Four stars for vibes alone. I’ll check out GEARBREAKERS from the library.