Reviews with content warning for Grief - Gearbreakers

I really enjoyed this one!

Rep: Asian bisexual female MC, Asian lesbian female MC with an eye implant, Asian genius female side character, queer normative world.

CWs: Blood, body horror, child death, death, fire/fire injury, gore, grief, gun violence, injury/injury detail, kidnapping, medical content and unconsented medical experimentation, murder, torture, violence, war. Moderate: Car accident, colonisation, confinement, cursing, death of parent, emotional abuse, genocide, medical trauma, mental illness (anxiety and PTSD), police brutality, physical abuse, self-harm, toxic relationship, xenophobia. Minor: Panic attacks, vomit.

Content Warnings

cottlestonpie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

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angelsfw's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

“yeah we’re small. yeah we’re human. but we’re also gearbreakers, and we’re here to dismantle the fuckers who thought we’d just sit back and take it.”

i was really really excited for this book when it was announced. the premise of this book was just so cool to me. however, there were several places it fell flat for me. the mechas were so detailed and flushed out; however, i think the worldbuilding suffered because of this. i had so many questions about godolia and how it even came to be. none were ever answered in this book. i am still holding out hope that they will be in the second book.

another thing was this book very much reads as a debut novel. that being said, i think this author is extremely talented and this series has some major potential. i loved the characters, particularly sona’s POVS. one thing this author does extremely well is capture the feeling of grief and losing important pieces of yourself. sona’s grief was portrayed in such a poetic way and it was overall really done well.

i do encourage people to give this series a chance and i will definitely be picking up the second novel when it releases.

tw: grief, murder, blood, torture, kidnapping, panic attacks, body dysmorphia, body mutilations, and PTSD.

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yvonne_cl's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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paperbrownies's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

am just,,,, v speechless
let me process it alright??

- lgbtqiap+, ya fantasy, scifi, sff, dystopian, found family, sapphic, romance, enemies to lovers, giant bots, angry girls, AM OBSESSED, 'a sapphic cyberpunk story, renegade kids w/ god complexes, korean/wasian rep '
- w|w
- asian-coded lesbian mc, asian-coded bi mc and other diverse characters

imagine the society of the anime no. 6 nestled in the world of pacific rim minus the kaijus, let nezumi have a family of misfits and an unhinged mentor + old sister, then make it sapphic, make it queer and put in large amounts of amazing and that pretty much sums up the book!!

i'll start with how i want eris shindani to adopt me into her family of gearbreakers even though ik for sure that i would not last long in that world.
gearbreakers is Everything you wanted a sapphic scifi to be: it is dark and brutal and vicious and had me in its grip the entire time i was reading it and when i was not, i was still thinking about it which is why when i tell you that that ending made me gasp in a six-of-crows ending way,,,, y'all better believe me!!! this story is beautiful still bc it manages to be tender under all its harshness and pull at one's heartstrings with its tender moments not just the ones between the MCs but also also the ones that involved the crew. id say that the author did the found family trope justice in this one.

as for the romance,,,,,, it had me on my knees.
i never knew that i needed to read about two girls so utterly smitten dance on a table with the steady warmth of the fireplace blanketing them both, i did not know how much i craved for this angsty-idiots-pining-for-each-other romance in my life until i read this book, and i sure as fuck wasnt prepared for this line:
" where is she?” i say, again, because we save each other, and i need to be saved."
their is nothing soft about their lives, it is uncertain and dangerous so they love, live and protect each other fiercely and just,,,, wow this book really did it, huh?
and after all of that,,,
zoe hana mikuta you are cruel /lh and this book makes me want to scream in pain, and want to protect these people i have come to care about more than anything else so even tho am terrified of what you are going to do in the sequel am excited nevertheless!!

tw: blood, death, guns, violence, murder, war, torture, off page death of parents, brief mention of the death of a loved one, grief, loss

Content Warnings

cindespair's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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