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sydsmeets's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Blood, Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment
bree_h_reads's review against another edition
Graphic: Death, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Blood and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse
emerentina's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Genocide, Gun violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Colonisation
Minor: Misogyny and Sexual content
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
The ideas behind Gearbreakers aren't bad at all, but their execution left a lot to be desired for me -- I kind of wish I had just rewatched Evangelion or a Gundam series instead. I'll hesitantly keep an eye on Mikuta's future releases, though, as the flaws may even themselves out with age and experience.
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, and Alcohol
Eye trauma/gore.emily_mh's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
The characters were definitely the strength of this book. The two POV characters, Eris and Sona, were distinct from the off which was a great sign. It only got better when the narrative drew out their complexities. Both are filled with anger and the purpose of toppling Godolia. Eris has been trained to be a leader and feels so much responsibility and love for her crew. Her emotions feel like a vulnerability for her and so she grows thorns even though she just wants to be soft. I felt particularly compelled by Sona, though, being a person straddling the lines between human and bot and desperately trying to land as the former. She is terrified of herself and what she’s done, so her deepest wish is to be loved regardless. I found the scenes where she grapples with herself so heartfelt. I just got so attached to both MCs in a way that doesn’t often happen to me. I think the raw writing style really showcased the emotional state of the characters, giving the reader something real to resonate with.
Because Eris and Sona were such dynamic characters, the romance they shared was utterly believable. While there is instant attraction (at least on Sona’s part), it wasn’t instalove. Instead, Mikuta makes sure to include a range of scenes where the MCs explore and deepen their connection. The tension she crafted was spot-on. In my opinion, this was a good execution of the enemies-to-lovers trope.
In terms of world-building, I understood why the mechas were created and how they shaped the world as it was in this book. However, there was bigger-picture context missing in terms of how far in the future we were and what the global situation was. I also wanted more description of how religious colonisation impacted culture in Godolia and beyond. I was interested to know if religious and political conformity meant cultural conformity as well, as there was some evidence to the contrary in this book. I wanted to know what clothes, food, languages, etc. existed and why. So in this way the world-building was not fully realised and ended up being a bit plain.
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, and Colonisation
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Medical content, and Alcohol
Moderate: loss of a loved one Minor: gamblingcareinthelibrary's review against another edition
2.5
The worldbuilding just didn't click/didn't make sense? It hints at the past but doesn't explain it enough for it to stand on its own two feet. Some things just don't really make sense, at least not the way they're presented. The Godolia empire is killing its citizens because...evil? I wish there was more development for this world. Or maybe I missed something?
One thing I'm sure of is that I think there are too many characters. We didn't need this big of a "crew". It just meant that a few didn't get developed enough to matter. They are not memorable and it just led to confusion later on. I don't think I could even name them all, let alone what their specialty in gearbreaking is. It's not so much about the number of characters (there are books with more that are done well), but this was too many, too flat, too shallow, too similar.
Sona and Eris start out really different and interesting. I like the premise and think those first few chapters are really strong. The author has a great concept on their hands. As their experiences become more similar, their POVs became harder to distinguish (they are both concerned with Gearbreaking activities, hating Godolia, their plans for revenge etc).
The book is either too long or not enough happens in the middle. The middle third feels like the plot is just "rebel against the overlords" with no real strong plotline to follow. Just random skirmishes and the crew arguing with each other. I was rereading chapters to try and figure out what was important in there and eventually started skim reading. So in terms of my thoughts on worldbuilding above, I may have missed important stuff because of this dull chunk in the middle.
I like the concepts, the writing was good, liked the two povs (although the worldbuilding definitely makes each one's backstory suffer). The author is clearly a creative, imaginative, ambitious talent. I wouldn't swear off their work in their future based on this since it does have good moments. But something about <i>Gearbreakers</i> just never came together for me, I was left waiting for this book to take off and it left me waiting past the first page. But not in a way that makes me want to read the sequel. I had a stressful January so perhaps this has something to do with my lack of interest in this novel, but not entirely. There are some definite parts of this that would never have worked for me.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture
foreverinastory's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
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.
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, and Colonisation
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Vomit
tigerproofrock's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Cursing and Torture
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
mo345's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation
Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Infidelity, Mental illness, Slavery, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Car accident, and Alcohol