Reviews

Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta

chian_exe's review

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4.0

This story was really interesting. I found the world reminding me of Mobile Suit Gundam and Darling of the Franxx. I loved Sona and Eris. It was cute seeing Sona rediscover her feelings after being treated like a killing machine for so long. I also like how Eris was staying true to her personal values all the way through the story. I had some gripes with certain character's (*COUGH COUGH* MILO *COUGH COUGH*) which I mean I understand that they have valid reasons for being against Pilots since they are literal unfeeling killing machines, but the way they were talking to Sona made me so angry. The story was nice and I am interesting in the sequel based on the ending of this book. The only thing I would say that made me confused while reading was the process of how Sona hooked up to the Valkyrie. It might be just me, but I could not visual how Sona connected with the machine in order to control it. Other than that I really enjoyed this book and hope to read it's sequel in the future.

mellowmanda's review

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adventurous 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

yepstillgarbage's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

3.0

mhofnagel's review

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emotional funny hopeful sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

georgieem's review

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3.0

DNF at 50%

The protagonists needed more flaws, and the world significantly more fleshing out. There are trains, giant mechs, and somehow canary breeders for the mines? Is this taking place far in the future or in an alternate land? How big is Godolia? How big are the Badlands? What is life in the city actually like? What do people eat?

If you like action and strong character focus, you might enjoy this book.

Personally, it's hard for me to get into a book about war and conflict when everything is painted so black and white. Life is more messy than that. Nice people can have awful beliefs, people who are doing the right thing can be genuinely cruel. This book says that, but doesn't show that. Let the anger issues really hurt someone.

Unrelated, but I am genuinely unsure if this is YA or not -- it feels that way but it wasn't categorized as such for me via my library or in articles reviewing it I saw.

vharting's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

Randomly picked this book up and I’m very pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed this one. I love the whole rebelling against the government vibe -mixed with some sapphic love  and sci-fi /mecha world building. This definitely left me wanting to listen/read the next book. 

I think the narrators did a great job for the audiobook

marleaf7's review

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4.0

bro what the fuck. what the fuck. what tbe fuck. i was really enamored by this story but i wish we got to know more about the worlds history and background. but also bro oh my god. i have like no words right now seeing as i just finished it.

summerfalkenrath's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.5

I've been wanting to read this book for a while and it was pretty great! I liked the concept of what Gearbreakers do and how the resistance is working to take down the mechas. I was intrigued right away at the end of Sona's first chapter when you see her real intention of trying to dismantle and hurt the system from the inside. I listened to this via audiobook and I think that's what made me knock down a star. Both narrarators were great, but they were very similar in style and it took me a long time to differentiate between the two. I also had a really hard time understanding when listening the difference between present time and flashbacks during the first quarter of the book. I struggled a bit with the pacing, feeling like there was a lot of ""and suddenly!"" moments. I do understand that during apocalyptic war survival, there will be a lot of stuff like that happening, but I feel like sometimes it happened so quickly not only to the characters but to the reader as well and I felt confused and would have to rewind to make sure I didn't miss anything. the book ended with an intense cliff hanger that basically requires you to read the next book. I personally don't mind that about books, but I know it's a turn off to others. I hope to check out book 2 in the future!!
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amandasbrews's review

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Gearbreakers has so many things in it to get excited about, mechas, rage against the government, a queer relationship. It is fast-paced in a delightfully creative world. Unfortunately, it fell short for me. I couldn't connect to the characters at all and I found the fascination for each other grounded in so little it confused me. I was excited to get into the world at the beginning but sadly nothing gripped me. I wouldn't say this is a bad book at all, and perhaps it just wasn't the book for me, but nothing gripped me to keep me interested. I found myself daydreaming while reading rather than focusing on the story in the book. I absolutely think this book would be good for some, just not me.

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ashriite's review

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

5.0