Review: Heart of Iron

Read if you like: snarky, lovable rogue characters, books that are horrible and break your heart, and fast paced adventure stories.

Heart of Iron | Ashley Poston

Series: Heart of Iron

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Royalty
Released: February 27th 2018
Pages: 560
Format: Ebook
Source: Publisher

Seventeen-year-old Ana is a scoundrel by nurture and an outlaw by nature. Found as a child drifting through space with a sentient android called D09, Ana was saved by a fearsome space captain and the grizzled crew she now calls family. But D09—one of the last remaining illegal Metals—has been glitching, and Ana will stop at nothing to find a way to fix him.

Ana’s desperate effort to save D09 leads her on a quest to steal the coordinates to a lost ship that could offer all the answers. But at the last moment, a spoiled Ironblood boy beats Ana to her prize. He has his own reasons for taking the coordinates, and he doesn’t care what he’ll sacrifice to keep them.

When everything goes wrong, she and the Ironblood end up as fugitives on the run. Now their entire kingdom is after them—and the coordinates—and not everyone wants them captured alive.

What they find in a lost corner of the universe will change all their lives—and unearth dangerous secrets. But when a darkness from Ana’s past returns, she must face an impossible choice: does she protect a kingdom that wants her dead or save the Metal boy she loves?

This book is so many things. Excellent and genius and so much fun. Sarcastic and smart and well-executed. Heartfelt and rebellious and UNCALLED FOR in the way it made me fall so fast in love with the characters before tormenting them cruelly. I loved everything, and everyone, (except for you, Rasovant), and every single line in every chapter. The writing is honestly beautiful, and every character stands out, and why would the author DO THAT to Di (I am not over it - either of the two huge, uncalled for Its that happened to my precious angel of a Metal - and I will not be for a while.)

One of my favourite books this year. I need MORE.

5+ stars

Review: Sigil

Read if you like: well build sci-fi worlds, dark romance, and interesting alien abilities.

Sigil | Addison Cain

Series: Irdesi Empire

Genre: Sci-Fi Romance, Menage, 18+
Released: September 29th 2016
Pages: 325
Format: Ebook
Source: Purchased

He will possess her in every way.

After a century, The Irdesi Emperor has finally cornered their species’ only female. Sovereign and his fanatic brothers are closing in, driving Sigil to desperation.

They outnumber her, they are stronger, and they are relentless.

Sovereign knows her secrets better than Sigil knows herself. He knows she was conditioned to hate him. It changes nothing. The Emperor cannot help but crave her—just as his loyal brothers crave her.

The entire future of their species hinges on Sovereign’s ability to dominate the slippery renegade and make her feel the truth of what she is. She is his Consort. She is his obsession—a bride destined to be shared with and adored by his kin... to be satiated and ruled, to be overpowered and healed of her compulsions by any means necessary.

She has no choice in the matter. The empire will stop at nothing. Sigil will belong to them; she will be made to love them, even if they are forced to rip the galaxy apart to claim her.

Publisher’s Note: The first novella in Addison Cain's provocative and raw Irdesi Empire series is a dark tale with explicit sexual themes and complete power exchange. Some scenes are written to be disturbing. If such material offends you, please do not purchase.

Well written and I love the space station and every space-y element, plus Quinn is one tough lady. Not sure why I thought it was RH though? It's f/m romance with menage if you squint.

4.5 stars

The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet (ARC Review)

The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet | Becky Chambers

Published by: Hodder & Stoughton, August 13th 2015

Genre: Adult, Science Fiction, Space, Aliens

Pages: 404

Format: Ebook

Source: Hodder & Stoughton, via Netgalley

Somewhere within our crowded sky, a crew of wormhole builders hops from planet to planet, on their way to the job of a lifetime. To the galaxy at large, humanity is a minor species, and one patched-up construction vessel is a mere speck on the starchart. This is an everyday sort of ship, just trying to get from here to there. 

But all voyages leave their mark, and even the most ordinary of people have stories worth telling. A young Martian woman, hoping the vastness of space will put some distance between herself and the life she‘s left behind. An alien pilot, navigating life without her own kind. A pacifist captain, awaiting the return of a loved one at war. 

Set against a backdrop of curious cultures and distant worlds, this episodic tale weaves together the adventures of nine eclectic characters, each on a journey of their own.

The Long Way... was a total impulse read for me. I wanted something sci-fi and spacey and I was hooked by the blurb. Reading it, though, I expected to like it. I turned out to adore it (spoiler: I immediately pre-ordered it upon finishing it - that's how much I loved it.)

The first thing that impressed me was the representation in this book. You have rep of different genders, sexuality (a f/f cross-species relationship!!), a bunch of people of colour, and the use of gender neutral pronouns. This book has it all, and I can easily recommend it based on that alone, but representation isn't all it has.

This book is so, so unique. It's a totally new take on aliens, with every species and culture being different and identifiable - it's clear the author put a LOT of thought into it. Every character had a story, a life - nobody was one dimension, even background characters. It's detailed without being info-dump-y and passion shows on every page. The relationships in this book are new and strange and heartfelt and a little heartbreaking (I mean, I cried over an A.I.) It was a little slow at the beginning, but oddly enough it didn't matter because it gave plenty of time to get to know the characters and the world and the ship and species.

A fascinating, impressive sci-fi novel I'm not likely to ever forget, with characters you care about as if they were real people and an emotional devastating end that sneaks up on you.

Characters ★★★★★

Setting/world ★★★★★

Writing ★★★★☆

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Spinning Starlight (ARC Review)

Spinning Starlight | R. C. Lewis

Published by: Disney Hyperion, October 6th 2015

Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Retellings, Fairy Tales

Pages: 336

Format: Ebook

Source: Disney Hyperion, via Netgalley

Sixteen-year-old heiress and paparazzi darling Liddi Jantzen hates the spotlight. But as the only daughter in the most powerful tech family in the galaxy, it’s hard to escape it. So when a group of men show up at her house uninvited, she assumes it’s just the usual media-grubs. That is, until shots are fired.

Liddi escapes, only to be pulled into an interplanetary conspiracy more complex than she ever could have imagined. Her older brothers have been caught as well, trapped in the conduits between the planets. And when their captor implants a device in Liddi’s vocal cords to monitor her speech, their lives are in her hands: One word and her brothers are dead.

Desperate to save her family from a desolate future, Liddi travels to another world, where she meets the one person who might have the skills to help her bring her eight brothers home—a handsome dignitary named Tiav. But without her voice, Liddi must use every bit of her strength and wit to convince Tiav that her mission is true. With the tenuous balance of the planets deeply intertwined with her brothers’ survival, just how much is Liddi willing to sacrifice to bring them back?

Haunting and mesmerizing, this retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Wild Swans strings the heart of the classic with a stunning, imaginative world as a star-crossed family fights for survival in this companion to Stitching Snow. 

Ehh, I didn't mind this but I wouldn't rush out to buy it. It's SO SLOW in the beginning, the MC does a whole lot of nothing, and the plot felt pretty flat despite the high, personal stakes - in the beginning. When it gets to around halfway, and the MC leaves behind the bland love interest, she really comes into her own. The story gets exciting, there's actual danger, and it's fairly interesting.

I actually understood the alien transport thing in this book. It was similar to Polaris's alive alien transport thing, but handled in a way that made sense, or connected with me. AKA I wasn't completely lost and weirded out like in Polaris. The aliens in this book are imaginative and different to each other in both appearance and cultures. I liked the sister saving all her brothers story, but I did feel she could have dealt with it better, i.e actually tried to tell someone what was happening. I get it was a bad situation but there were ways. Also to say this was in the same world as Stitching Snow it did NOT feel like it. Worlds felt totally different, and I didn't like this as much.

An alright story overall. I kinda understood the end, kinda didn't, and kinda liked the characters, kinda didn't, but it wasn't the worst book I've read.

Characters ★★★☆☆

Setting/world ★★★☆☆

Writing ★★★☆☆

3 ish stars

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Inherit The Stars (ARC Review)

Inherit The Stars | Tessa Elwood

Published by: Running Press Kids, December 8th 2015

Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Space

Pages: 304

Format: Ebook

Source: Running Press Kids, via Netgalley

Three royal houses ruling three interplanetary systems are on the brink of collapse, and they must either ally together or tear each other apart in order for their people to survive.

Asa is the youngest daughter of the house of Fane, which has been fighting a devastating food and energy crisis for far too long. She thinks she can save her family’s livelihood by posing as her oldest sister in an arranged marriage with Eagle, the heir to the throne of the house of Westlet. The appearance of her mother, a traitor who defected to the house of Galton, adds fuel to the fire, while Asa also tries to save her sister Wren's life . . . possibly from the hands of their own father.

But as Asa and Eagle forge a genuine bond, will secrets from the past and the urgent needs of their people in the present keep them divided?

Author Tessa Elwood's debut series is an epic romance at heart, set against a mine field of political machinations, space adventure, and deep-seeded family loyalties. 

I LOVE this book. Love it so much with every tiny piece of my heart. Everyone needs to read this book.

The romance, guys, the ROMANCE. It's a really slow burn love and you can literally see them falling for each other and I HAVE FEELINGS ABOUT IT. They're thrown together in an arranged political marriage (even though Asa isn't technically supposed to be the bride...) and I ADORE the forced marriage trope.

 I love the characters so, so much, literally a whole lot. Asa is a quiet character - she's not a take-charge badass action type, but she's awesome and fights for what she believes is right and I love her. She's easy to identify with, a normal clumsy, heartfelt girl. And EAGLE - he's even more complex and protective and everything to me. I love him so much. (Can you tell this is an emotion-driven review rather than an analytical one or...?) Also Eagle is a MOC and he's scarred, and he has a prosthetic arm!!!

It wasn't just characters I loved though. The world is amazing, and enough details were given about the different planets without overpowering the story. AND it felt natural and feasible, that each planet had its own strengths and products/services it was know for. Eagle's home was known for technology and medicine for example. There were politics too, enough to give high stakes and intrigue but without being overbearing.

All of that combined to make the Book of My Heart. I loved everything.

Characters ★★★★★

Setting/world ★★★★☆

Writing ★★★★☆

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The Here And Now (Review)

The Here And Now | Ann Brashares

Published by: Hodder Children's Books, January 1st 2015

Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Romance, Time Travel

Pages: 303

Format: Ebook

Source: Hodder Children's Books, via Netgalley

TIME TRAVEL AND FORBIDDEN ROMANCE FROM THE BEST SELLING AUTHOR OF THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELLING PANTS


Thrilling, exhilarating, haunting and heartbreaking, The Here and Now is a twenty-first-century take of an impossible romance. 

There are rules.
Never reveal where you’re from.Never be intimate with anyone outside the community.And never interfere with history. 
Seventeen-year-old Prenna James emigrated to New York when she was twelve. But Prenna didn't come from a different country, she came from a different time - a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated into a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins. 
Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules. Prenna does as she's told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth and take the lives of her younger brothers. But everything changes when she falls for Ethan. 
She might be able to save the world ... if she lets go of the one thing she's found to hold on to.

This book wasn't terrible but the trouble was I just never cared about any of it at any point. I wasn't bothered about the characters, never connected to them, and because the book skips the 2 years where the main characters fall in love, the romance just felt flimsy, and I as a reader never fell for Ethan because I never read through Prenna doing the same. Another thing was this book had no real sense of urgency - there were less than 24 hours until the world went to crap, but they were out buying bathing suits and lounging on beaches and playing cards. It all felt distant, not dangerous or thrilling. But overall it's not a bad book - some parts are exciting, the time travel parts aren't bad, and I liked the whole controlling higher powers of Prenna's community thing, and kinda wish we saw more of this. That danger felt really vital and threatening at that point, until it suddenly petered off and didn't. The book went downhill from there, and concluded with a really un-fulfilling ending.

Like I said, it's not a bad book, but I wasn't impressed in the least.

Characters ★☆☆☆☆

Setting/world ★★☆☆☆

Writing ★★★☆☆

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The Unquiet (ARC Review)

The Unquiet | Mikaela Everett

Published by: Greenwillow Books, September 22nd 2015

Genre: YA, Thriller, Science Fiction

Pages: 464

Format: Ebook

Source: Greenwillow, via Edelweiss

For most of her life, Lirael has been training to kill—and replace—a duplicate version of herself on a parallel Earth. She is the perfect sleeper-soldier. But she’s beginning to suspect she is not a good person. 

The two Earths are identical in almost every way. Two copies of every city, every building, even every person. But the people from the second Earth know something their duplicates do not—two versions of the same thing cannot exist. They—and their whole planet—are slowly disappearing. Lira has been trained mercilessly since childhood to learn everything she can about her duplicate, to be a ruthless sleeper-assassin who kills that other Lirael and steps seamlessly into her life.

An intricate, literary stand-alone from an astonishing new voice, The Unquiet takes us deep inside the psyche of a strong teenage heroine struggling with what she has been raised to be and who she really is. Fans of eerily futuristic and beautifully crafted stories such as Never Let Me Go, Orphan Black, and Fringe will find themselves haunted by this unsettling debut.

I liked this book from more or less the first page. It starts with a creepy child-assassin thriller that reminded me so much of Nikita, one of my favourite shows of all time. Kids from one earth are being trained to kill and replace their Alternates (from the other earth) from a very young age, kept captive in cottages in the countryside, and the weak ones either don't survive training or are killed by their masters. It's so so original.

And then it transitions into a sleeper spy novel, when the MC is sent to take over the life of her Alternate. I loved that this book was set in France, not the typical American setting. And there were so many elements of the story that it felt fast paced, yet drawn out and suspenseful all the same.

I didn't love the characters but I didn't dislike them either. It was interesting to see Lira growing from the killer the cottages trained her to be into her own person, with her own wants and fears despite having them trained out of her.

This book was just really cool and rare and a total surprise. If you like awesome thrillers and sci fi that feels real, add this to your to-buy list.

Characters ★★★★☆

Setting/world-building ★★★★★

Writing ★★★★☆

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Polaris (ARC Review)

Avalon: Polaris | Mindee Arnett

Published by: Balzer+Bray, January 20th 2015

Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Space

Pages: 432

Format: Ebook

Source: Balzer+Bray, via Edelweiss

Jeth Seagrave and his crew of mercenaries are pulled into one last high-stakes mission in this breathtaking sequel to Mindee Arnett’s fascinating and fast-paced sci-fi thriller Avalon.

Jeth Seagrave and his crew are on the run. The ITA, still holding Jeth’s mother in a remote research lab, is now intent on acquiring the metatech secrets Jeth’s sister Cora carries inside her DNA, and Jeth is desperate to find the resources he needs to rescue his mother and start a new life outside the Confederation. But the ITA is just as desperate, and Jeth soon finds himself pursued by a mysterious figure hell-bent on capturing him and his crew—dead or alive.

With nowhere to run and only one play left, Jeth enters into a bargain with the last person he ever thought he’d see again: Daxton Price, the galaxy’s newest and most fearsome crime lord. Dax promises to help Jeth, but his help will only come at a price—a price that could mean sacrificing everything Jeth has fought for until now.

The conclusion to the story Mindee Arnett began in her acclaimed novelAvalon, Polaris is a dangerous journey into the spaces between power and corruption, life and death, the parts of ourselves we leave behind, and the parts we struggle to hold on to. 

I loved Avalon, LOVED it, so I heaped a bunch of expectations on this book. I think that's why I put it off for so long. And Polaris actually wasn't quite as good as the first book. But I did still love it, for the characters, the spaceships, and the plots. 

What I loved:

- The romance, oddly enough. I was never overly fussed on Sierra in Avalon but I really liked her in this book, and I loved her and Jeth's relationship, his she was a kind of moral compass for him.

- Avalon and Polaris themselves. I think they're probably my favourite ships in all YA sci fi.

- The relationships between all the crew and how they grew

- The high octane plot, the crazy high stakes, and the plot. Everything was action packed and thrilling and felt totally life or death. This series is one of the most exciting I've read.

What I didn't like:

- Empyria and the Pyreans. I mean, like, what the fuck? This was just so bizarre and weird and I didn't know what to do during those chapters. It just didn't fit in with the rest of this serious sci-fi series. It cheapened the ending for me.

- Marian. I'm not a fan of her at all and preferred everything when she was gone.

Characters ★★★★☆

Setting/world-building ★★★★★

Writing ★★★★☆

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The Cage (ARC Review)

The Cage: The Cage | Megan Shepherd

Published by: Balzer+Bray, May 28th 2015

Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Aliens

Pages: 400

Format: Ebook

Source: Balzer+Bray, via Edelweiss

The Maze Runner meets Scott Westerfeld in this gripping new series about teens held captive in a human zoo by an otherworldly race. From Megan Shepherd, the acclaimed author of The Madman's Daughtertrilogy.

When Cora Mason wakes in a desert, she doesn't know where she is or who put her there. As she explores, she finds an impossible mix of environments—tundra next to desert, farm next to jungle, and a strangely empty town cobbled together from different cultures—all watched over by eerie black windows. And she isn't alone.

Four other teenagers have also been taken: a beautiful model, a tattooed smuggler, a secretive genius, and an army brat who seems to know too much about Cora's past. None of them have a clue as to what happened, and all of them have secrets. As the unlikely group struggles for leadership, they slowly start to trust each other. But when their mysterious jailer—a handsome young guard called Cassian—appears, they realize that their captivity is more terrifying than they could ever imagine: Their captors aren't from Earth. And they have taken the five teenagers for an otherworldly zoo—where the exhibits are humans.

As a forbidden attraction develops between Cora and Cassian, she realizes that her best chance of escape might be in the arms of her own jailer—though that would mean leaving the others behind. Can Cora manage to save herself and her companions? And if so . . . what world lies beyond the walls of their cage?

I left it WAY too long to write my review of this, and it wasn't in any way because this book is bad. It's because I loved it, for some reason I can't explain, and those are the hardest reviews to write.

So here's what I didn't love, first:

- Every other character but Cora and Cassian. UGH stop whining. I don't care about your teenage romance and your drama. You are all stupid, and how can you not see you're being manipulated??? It was SO obvious that the aliens were manipulating everyone into hating Cora, and yet they were like nah, it's not the aliens, IT'S CORA. Sure, buddy.

- Those two lovebirds, whose names I've forgotten because they pissed me off so much. You're kidnapped, put in an alien zoo, with a zookeeper who tells you to have sex and mate and ... you do it? Wow, okay, sure, seems legit.

- Diverse supporting characters, diverse side characters, but a blonde white MC. Okay, you tried, I see that, but it's not enough.

Here's what I DID love:

- Cassian, who was SO much more complex than I ever expected. So, he's a shiny gold alien, so what,  he's kind and mysterious and he shows Cora that she's strong (and he's evil for a good cause, which is 100% my thing)(and he's vulnerable underneath everything, which is 1000% my thing.)

- Cora, who was strong in a natural, human, weak way. I liked that she was hurt and cried and acted like a typical 'girl' but still stayed strong, got back on her feet, and got them the hell out of there. I really REALLY liked her, and I expected to hate her from the first chapter because she came off as whiny. Which she was - she whined, she despaired, and then she got the thing done anyway.

- ALIEN. FRICKING. ZOO.

- The menageries, the hint at what's to come in future books, the world, the bustling marketplace selling human kids. JUST EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS WORLD MEGAN SHEPHERD CREATED.

Just a side note to say there are plenty flaws in this book, and plenty I hated and skimmed pages of, but it wormed its way into my heart anyway, and I LOVE this book.

Characters ★★★☆☆ (take out the other characters and I'd probably rate this a high 4)

Setting/world-building ★★★★★

Writing ★★★★☆

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