I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to its publication date that is forthcoming. I enjoyed the setting, pacing and the characters too. They were well written and seemed to jump off the page.

I think there are some really cleaver ideas in this book. Mostly for me the thing that brought it down was the pacing. At times I would be really interested in what was going on and would be into the story and then it would slow down and lose me. It would be interesting plot and then go back to internal monologue and character work. The main character was interesting and grew so my review is not to say the character wasn't fleshed out but the slowing down to do this would pull me out of it.

Getting into Metal from Heaven was a bit of a trial initially, but once I settled in it was a wild ride that carried me along through to the last few pages of the book. The worldbuilding is excellent with a solid depth and scope, particularly development around the Choir and the community Marney finds herself part of. The characters had a breath of life to them across the board, even those we only see briefly, and the reappearance and lives lived of some of the larger cast (Sunny I'm looking at you!) were a pleasant surprise.

Queer romances and the normalization of queer relationships is always pleasant and this book fit the bill: Marney's relationships and those of her friends are large factors in the story, and changing them or removing them would make the message and the story far less impactful. They also do some loadbearing worldbuilding with slang and language, which I thoroughly enjoyed. We have queer revenge! Queer crime! Queer chaos and shenanigans everywhere we turn, along with a side dose of yearning and regret that temper the joys and show the costs of that life of riotous joy, and make the characters consider what price is worth paying to keep true to themselves and what they love. The rich descriptions of everything about Marney's life bring us into the world, wrap us up in layers, and make it hard to pull away.

My only quibbles with this book come in the last section where our point of view character changes and the story takes a dramatic shift. I understand the author's decision here and the impact on the storytelling, but it felt very jarring compared to what had come before. Certain elements were foreshadowed but it did not seem to fit the feel of the rest of the story and I found myself having to force my way through it out of lack of interest. I understand why it was done and know some people will love it, but it was not my cup of tea.

I have never read a book like this one.

Ellis feverdream narrative paints a queer revenge fantasy love story about workers' rights and train robbing and religion and gender and eco-despoilage and erotica and love and hate and and and and and...

This was a great book. loved it. love morally grey lesbians, capitalism critics, and a roller coaster twist!

Metal from Heaven was a very interesting read. I normally go into books that are compared to Gideon the Ninth with a grain of salt, but I think fans of Gideon will like this thanks to the sheer amount of lesbians. And I knew August Clarke wouldn't disappoint me since I've read the whole Scapegracers trilogy by them and loved it. I really liked the characters, and as someone who enjoys reading about political machinations and scheming in my fiction, this was pretty good. I felt like it took a while to get to the actual meat of the book and about 30-40% was set-up, but after that the book had me in its grasp. I also didn't totally understand everything going on with the ichorite, but I don't think you're meant to. It's fantasy plastic with weird powers. The fact that the main character is a butch lesbian is another thing I really appreciate, and she wasn't the only one. It's nice to be able to see myself in books. I'm only giving it four stars because I don't think it's going to stick in my brain or leave as much of a lasting impact as other books I've read, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it and I'm glad I read it!

4/5

in trying to write this review, I find myself coming back to food-y figures of speech. this book's eyes are bigger than its stomach. Clarke has bitten off more than he can chew. the prose styling gave me indigestion. and so on and so forth, all which really amounts to this: I liked the idea more than the executions (and, also, the prose styling gave me indigestion). I worried, at first, that my disagreements with Clarke's narrative choices were just a matter of taste -- I can't overstate how much the writing style (maximalist, florid, evocative of nothing so much as Riverdale) put me off, and I'm shocked that no one else has mentioned it -- but the flaws are, I fear, deeper than that. for the sake of brevity, I would summarize them as follows:
the pacing: slow, then glacial, then abruptly very fast; in other words, uneven
the cast of characters: sprawling, and consequently very uniform
the narrative logic: somewhere between haphazard and totally random
marney dying with like a hundred pages left to go????: holy the last book in the divergent series, batman! (in other words, such a ballsy move that it almost redeemed the whole thing for me -- and it helps that the writing becomes, at that point, ironically much less baroque.)
all that said, I really enjoy some of Clarke's ideas -- I'm underselling it to just say that the world they've created here is sincerely cool and interesting -- and, matters of taste aside, I admire that they don't pull any punches (stylistically or otherwise). I don't think I'm ever going to come around to the way they write, but I do look forward to reading whatever they write next.

Gorgeously written, I am so excited to get a physical copy!
The enemies to lovers trope is beloved, but often poorly executed.
This is an example of how to do it right!

Thank you to NetGalley and Erewhon Books for the ARC.

This was quite the ride, and I enjoyed every second of it. This was a political fantasy but not in the more usual way of court intrigues and betrayal, but in a way that felt significantly fresher and honestly speaking, more relevant.

Our protagonist, Marney, is part of a worker’s family in a sort of early-industrialisation world, and not only does she have to suffer from being a child-worker, but she also has a condition that has befallen many of the children of families that work with the metal that fuels the city’s growing economy: Ichorite. When the workers rise up, demanding the owner of the Ichorite factories and mines, Yann I, Chauncey, takes responsibility for the mysterious illness that has befallen the young child workers, their protest is violently shut down and Marney is the only one left alive, which leads her to attempt to leave the city, at which point our story really starts.

One aspect that I think this book does a fantastic job at getting right in a way I feel like I rarely see in fantasy (though I must admit I am somewhat new to reading fantasy) is that of religions. I feel like fantasy often leaves religion behind in order to expand on magic systems and the like, but the religious systems in this book are extremely well thought-out, feel realistic and comprehendible, and are actually important to the characters, rather than just sort of being there.
There are several religions mentioned in this book, and I really enjoyed the amount of thought that was given to each of their systems of belief.

Another thing I really enjoyed was the representation of lesbianism in this book. It’s evident the author is very knowledgeable on lesbian history and culture, and it was thoroughly enjoyable to see the representation of the variety of different dynamics and identities represented in a fantasy book in a way I feel like I’ve never really seen before, no matter the genre. The topic was handled incredibly well from all angles, showing vibrant lesbian culture without sacrificing the elements of bias and intolerance that inevitably, in my eyes, should be discussed in a sort-of historical fantasy setting.

Also if sex scenes are your kinda thing you will definitely have a REALLY good time with this, but even if you are like me and don’t particularly enjoy them, they aren’t so prevalent you would need to be turned off of this book.

Yet despite all the praise I have for this book there were also some elements that bothered me a bit. I’m glad there was a lot of time skips in the beginning of the book because otherwise things could’ve started feeling a bit tedious, and I’m sure the author was somewhat limited by this being a standalone, but nonetheless I wish there had been a bit more expansion on some themes and especially on how we got from Marney the child to Marney the feared highwayman.

I have also seen this book be described as found family, and while I 100% agree with that statement, I do wish we had gotten a bit more expansion on the way Marney’s community operates and how they live.

I genuinely believe this book could’ve been improved by making it a duology and giving the author more time to expand on his ideas, because I really think they had something to say here and did the absolute best they could within the limitations of a standalone, but especially the ending of the book felt a little rushed.

Overall I would 100% recommend this book to any lesbian fantasy lovers and I also think it is accessible to those like me who are relatively new to the genre.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't finish Metal from Heaven. I read through chapter 5, stopping at page 116. As a huge fan of The Scapegracers, I had high expectations for Clarke's latest work and it didn't land for me. I see the appeal but I felt really lost and disconnected from the characters in the story. I really respected the choices Clarke made and saw the emerging anti capitalist message, but due to not feeling grounded in the story, and not being able to follow who was who and the politics, I felt myself drifting through the story, which made it hard to return to it. With fantasy books, I give about 100 pages to see if I can be hooked into the world the author creates, and I hit that mark with this book.

I might revisit the book in the future when the series is finished but for now, I am ending my journey with the book.

Unfortunately, this didn't work for me, but I would recommend this book to those who like speculative fiction but want a book that challenges the status quo and provides a unique setting.

4.5 stars.

This was violent and sexy and full of interesting people doing interesting things. The characters are complex and variously fucked up. The themes are conveyed without the book feeling preachy or didactic. The first person narration is extremely well done and was a good choice for the story. The ending was both satisfying and completely crazy.

I have a few criticisms that stopped this from being a 5-star. Some of the exposition of the world was delivered in a very heavy handed way. The main character hallucinates, and while I think many scenes were intentionally confusing and/or dreamlike, there were a few times where I just couldn't parse what was happening and was annoyed by it. I think it might be 5 stars on a reread though, and I do want to reread. I kind of want to start again right now.

I am absolutely going to read whatever August Clarke writes next. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

What a ride - I've never wished for an apocalypse until I met the Choir. Yes, please let me join the crawly gang. This book was so many things: gritty, smart, sapphic, creative, beautiful, painful. Prepare to be surprised and entertained and gutted.

This a rough, exhilarating, chokehold of a book. A sprint from start to finish that I could not put down - great ready to have big feeling about lesbian bars, industrialism, and justice.

found family | sci-fi fantasy | punk | lesbian love lust and obsession | be gay do crime | political intrigue | visceral

For those pulled in by the comparison to The Princess Bride and Gideon the Ninth, I didn't feel the connection to The Princess Bride but if you loved the relationships and voice in The Locked Tomb series (especially Harrow), you'll enjoy the intrigue, cruelty, playing with point of view, and deep-seated queerness of this story.

It’s no secret I adore the Scapegracers trilogy by the same author, so I was thrilled to get to read their new adult sff release! However, I have complicated feelings about this book.

It took me two weeks to read. Most books I finish within 2-5 days lol. The first third of the book failed to grip me. Things were happening, characters were introduced (many, many characters. Most failed to make an impression beyond a vibe) but I wasn’t into it. The style that I adored in Scapegracers felt more disjointed. Scattered rather than cutting with scalpel precision. You get thrown into the worldbuild and you better learn to swim fast.

That last point is not necessarily a criticism. I like when books challenge me to pay attention. And I was able to swim. But the whole thing has a dreamlike texture where I would have expected some crunch.

I don’t think it’s exactly fair to judge this book solely against my expectations, though. So here are the things I enjoyed about it:

The second half of the book moves a lot faster. It has sharp humor I enjoyed. It has many, many flawed yet endearing characters. Once the tension gets going, it is gripping (I did read that second half in two days xD). The ambiance of the world is woven into the story. The whole worldbuilding around gender and queerness is fascinating and vivid. The anticapitalist message of course speaks to me. The balance of idealism and grittiness is crunchy.

Yet it ultimately does not all come together for me. There are elements of the conclusion I found satisfying, but I wanted more, and not in a “I will have fun finding my own answers to these questions” way.

That being said, the book feels different and fresh in a sff landscape that struggle to capture my attention these days.

So yeah. Complicated feelings.

I recommend it to people who are not too hung up on explanations in their fantasy, people who are tired of pearl clutching puritan books, people who just want to read something different, people who love feral lesbians, people who aren’t afraid of having to put a little work into understanding what they’re reading.

Metal From Heaven had my attention from the start and whilst I sometimes struggled to keep up the characters, world building and prose keep you hooked. If you're a fan of Gideon the Ninth or blood Over Bright Haven then you'll want to pick this one up.

The characters shined for me, our protagonist Marney is a fantastic mess but my favourite had to be Sunny. There's such a wide amount of fleshed out and vibrant characters within this story that you're bound to love them. Everything about the Fingerbluffs was also amazing and was a truly standout setting + community in Fantasy.

Trust me, if you're a fan of the Locked Tomb series don't wait to pick this one up.

Thanks to Kensington Publishing & Netgalley for this arc!

This book was heartbreaking and amazing all wrapped up in a Sapphic fantasy.

When the book first started I was confused, but drawn in by the characters and the characters are where this book excelled. In a world where “crawleys” are seen as wrong but also in a way accepted a unique group of women from different backgrounds all trying to live and love.

I had never heard of August Clarke but will now be looking for their other works under their other name HA Clarke.

An explosive beginning that had me invested instantly, writing that was beautiful and direct and raw in a way that felt like a punch I was thankful for. Our cast of characters are compelling, funny, and I fell in love with everyone in an instant. I cried. I said "holy shit" out loud a couple of times. She sucks the strap!

I enjoyed it.

This book is a revenge story featuring a lesbian main character and a setting simmering with class warfare. it's a fantasy story that's more about the intricacies of the political intrigues instead of the details of the magic system (though the magic itself plays a big part in the story). there have been a lot of comparisons made between this book and Gideon the Ninth and while i didn't understand the comparison in the first half of the book, by the end, i completely get it. it's not just in the beautiful writing style but also the way the book plays with perspective (which felt a bit gimmicky at first but by the end it was worth it). there were moments in the middle of the book that felt drawn out and/or confusing (but not in a good way, which this book also had plenty of), but the emotional climax and gripping beginning more than made up for it. Definitely recommended for anyone looking for a fantasy read that feels unique and distinctive.

This book is powerful, raw, and fascinating. It felt new and different, and I never entirely knew where it was going next. It was not without faults, but none of those faults were ever that it was boring.

I've long thought that the best way to convey leftist ideals is through fiction because, frankly, Marx's Das Kapital is not a fun read. Here is a book that shows the inevitable evils of a capitalist system, of the nobility of the struggle against it. It's a book that shows the beauty possible in anarchist society, and the ways in which the rich encourage the sorts of horrific events on which they will profit. It's a book that shows the ways that money and power corrupt and it takes to task the effective altruist ideas about how it's permissible to do horrible things to the world in the hope that you might do some good with the money it earns you. Importantly, this is all spread throughout an exciting, action- and sex-filled plot. There are some specific mechanistic ways that this is accomplished, too: the ways that Marney, our narrator, can feel the history of the ichorite objects they touch is a hell of a way of talking about the people that manufactured them and a hell of a way of making mining and industry interesting.

For better and worse, this is a bit of a messy book. That's not shade: the messiness of Marney's gender expression and sexuality is great, and gives the book a queer identity that refuses to fit into politely acceptable boxes or labels. Marney refers to themself as a "boy crawly" and beautifully describes what feels to me like dysphoria; they get a mix of he and she pronouns throughout, but it's never clear cut, especially when they talk about who they do and don't want to finger them. Too often, fantasy queerness just recreates a modern liberal view of identity, and I appreciate the way that Clarke uses this new world they have built to avoid that.

Some of the other messiness, though, is less obviously a benefit. The issues I had with the book tended to feel like editing issues, and while it's possible that some of the copy editing typos will be resolved for the proper release (rather than the ARC), this felt like it needed one more pass for clarity. There were plenty of places where I didn't feel like I could follow exactly what was going on, and that gave me nothing so much as the feeling of a fever dream, and while that lack of information was effective at conveying the feelings of the narrator when they were having a fit, it could also be unpleasantly confusing. Early on, in the first train action scene, I was simply unable to follow who was doing what, despite rereading those pages several times.

More than anything, this is a book that fills me with optimism for whatever Clarke will produce next. It's so full to bursting with great ideas and it feels like a fresh new voice, and I can't wait to read their next novel.

Very good book from an author i love dearly. Lesbian characters to the core, complex and a bit overwhelming worldbuilding. 1 less stars because the ending feels like a cop-out.