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Gearbreakers | 
pickDystopian YA at its finest. We've got a brutal wasteland ruled by a tyrannical empire, giant mechs called Windups used for oppression, and a badass rebellion called the Gearbreakers fighting back. Not a ton of world-building, but the writing kept the plot moving at a solid pace, and it was just a fun read for the summer. Guess I'll be jumping into the sequel shortly.
Apparently my new book obsession is Asian Military Fantasy novels.
Decided to reread this before starting the second book! So far, it's just as fantastic as I remember! 💕📚💕 #catsoflitsy #jupiterjazz
pickI adore this book. I just had to reread it before I dig into the next one! *happy sigh*
pickI really liked this book and it took me a little bit longer to read only because I didn't want it to end. I loved the characters and the way they interacted with each other was amazing and so well written. I highly reccomend this book to anyone who enjoys science fiction and dystopian stories with an emotional love story!
4⭐️
I am a Gearbreaker.
When my back‘s against a wall, I go through the wall.
I need her for so much. To dance terribly. To read my books. To keep the ash in my mouth at bay, to keep me blushing and breathing and fighting. To come home.
I need her to live.
Because you choose sides in war and I chose the one that makes me feel human, and this I will not apologize for.
I am violent. I am awful. But every vicious thing about me is mine in its entirety.
I will not die as theirs.
“You do not get to save people without them doing the same for you.” Her gaze burns into mine; I try to look away, and her hands close against my jaw, forcing me still under the soft weight of her fingertips, and then she whispers, with a quiet, jagged kind of ache, “You do not get to love someone and think they won‘t feel it.”
“How do I fix this?” I murmur, words traced into her shoulder.
“You don‘t. You do better.”
“I cannot choose what I have been made into, but I can choose what I do next.“
“People in the Badlands either worship Godolia or they fear it. Live their lives in awe or in terror. Gearbreakers refuse to do either.“
“You talked about buying time with your plan. I don‘t do things to buy time. I do things to make history.”
“I am more trouble than I‘m worth.”
“I prefer to run toward trouble,” I say, quietly for some reason.
“Why‘s that, Eris?”
“Because it means something interesting‘s bound to happen.”
“And love, Bot. You could never understand.”
“Give it time,” I say, the words half snarl, half disbelieving laugh. “I‘m beginning to.”
“Eris is not an item that can be exchanged between hands, Milo. She is not something to be fought over. She is something to fight for.”
I have long learned to be careful of pretty things.
But this. I did not account for this.
“Yes, she‘s a Bot. Yes, she‘s a Pilot. And I don‘t give one shit about it. You know why? Because she‘s a Gearbreaker through and through, and any other Gearbreaker worth the tattoos they wear would value that fact above whatever is underneath her skin or whatever color her eyes are, or hells, how many she has left.”
“What are you waiting for? A kiss goodbye?”
“Is that an offer?”
“Like hells.” A beat. “Be careful.”
“Crew, meet Sona Steelcrest, our newest member. If I could trust her with my life in a place like Godolia, you sure as hells should trust her on Gearbreaker soil. And that is an order.”
“Holy shit,“ she breathes. “Juniper's séance worked!“
“You think my ghost would just come when called, like some sort of dog?“ Eris scoffs, crossing her arms. “I'm insulted.“
“Hey. I won't tell you that we can burn Godolia to the ground. I won't even tell you that you won't be lying crushed flat by the end of your first mission. I won't promise you revenge; I can't. But I can promise you that every single takedown stabs another thorn in their side, and leaves you with more life in your lungs and more fire in your breath than should be humanly possible. So, what do you say, Sona? Wanna be an inconvenience with me?“
“My whole crew is full of kids like you. Loose cannons and wild cards and freaks. Glitches. And the thing about glitches is that they tend to be unpredictable. Which means they never see us coming.“
“You don't have to be good. You just have to be better than the bad you've done.“
“If you want to kill her”—I take a breath, steeling my glare—“you‘ll have to go through me.”
I will not let them know my fear. But I will show them the flames.
“Do we help each other? Or do we die here, just two other insignificant Badlands girls to add to the rest?”
“I am not insignificant!”
“Neither am I,” she spits. “So let‘s show them.”
“I will not die in a Windup. I will not die following their orders, and I will not die as their protector. I will die human or I wil not die at all.”
“How do you kill a God?”
I‘ve always known the answer to this question. I say it aloud because everyone should know, too. “From the inside out.”
Yeah, we're small. Yeah, we're human. But we're also Grearbreakers, and we're here to dismantle the fuckers who thought we'd just sit back and take it.
Just a bunch of kids splayed over crumbling furniture, in a crumbling world, helping it crumble even more. Kids hurt by Godolia and the Windups in the past, who've had people stolen from them, who were thrown into absolute hell and came back, kicking and screaming and wanting, more than anything, to return the favor.
If this world has taught me anything, it's that humans have no right playing pretend at being Gods.
But I am a Gearbreaker, and that comes pretty damn close.
The line between their deities and scrap metal can be snipped away by simple human hate.
She is wrought of bolts and wires and metal plates. She is wrought of bone and blood, and of rage.
“My name is Sona Steelcrest. I am still human.“ I take a breath, allow it to coil through me, to ignite me. “I am here to destroy them all.“
pickYaaaaasssssssss. This is an epic read! Now I‘m off to find the next book. Wish me luck that it‘s actually published and not on preorder…. I may cry if that happens….
pickI loved the world building and the story was great. But the ending, sheesh. It felt like the end of the chapter, not the end of the book, and I needed resolution. I‘ll probably read the second book, but I‘m grumpy.
Also, there are definite Hunger Games vibes, but a very different story. I liked it, I did.
Truncated version of quote: "You don't have to be good. You just have to be better than the bad you've done."
My impatient self felt this book took a but to get going, but once it did, worth it. Such a sweet story of two teens trying to deal with feelings in the middle of also trying to destroy a dystopia.
Because dystopia, there's torture, death, warmongering. Also, ending is a little abrupt. Worth it for me, but YMMV.
pickPacific Rim meets We Set the Dark on Fire. A girl surgically enhanced to control an elite fighter unit called the Valkyries hides her true history and her intention to take down the program that stole everything from her from the inside out finally finds her purpose when on of the Gearbreakers who destroys mechs is captured. Lots still unknown since this is a series and Mikuta is not playing around with that cliffhanger. A great audio read.
1. Gearbreakers and Hans Christian Anderson's Fairy Tales
2. Crocheting and knitting
3. The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba and Victories Greater Than Death
#WeekendReads
Eeeeeeee! Happy Book Birthday to the tagged book! It's a sapphic story featuring robots! 🤖 I forgot I preordered it so when it arrived today it was a pleasant surprise! 🎉🎉🎉💕📚🎉🎉🎉😂🤣 Also went out for hibachi tonight! It was soooooo yummy! 😋🍽
