Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta, Zoe Hana Mikuta

13 reviews

ella7211's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, War, Kidnapping, Violence, Murder, Gore, Death of parent, and Death

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• 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

I was really looking forward to this since I'm a huge mecha fan and have heard great things, but perhaps my expectations were too high. The worldbuilding is... virtually nonexistent; the side characters are all forgettable and interchangeable, and Eris and Sona aren't much better; their relationship is poorly developed and unconvincing; the pacing is very disjointed, rushing through the opening only to screech to a complete halt for the majority of the book and then seem to remember there's a main driving plot only in the last like 5 chapters; the writing is simultaneously painfully purple and dry as hell, managing to say in two paragraphs what could be achieved in a sentence while also frequently not really saying anything at all. The heavy helping of classic YA dystopia melodrama also made me roll my eyes so hard and so often I thought I was going to give myself a headache.

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Child death, Confinement, Kidnapping, Murder, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

Moderate: Genocide, Medical content, Xenophobia, Bullying, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief

Minor: Alcohol, Sexual content, and Vomit

Eye trauma/gore.

audreyreadz's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Torture, War, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Classism

recycled_personalities's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.75

HOLY SHIT! Ok it’s like a little slow at the beginning BUT I SWEAR JUST KEEP GOING IT GETS SO GOOD. I’m immediately buying the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Cursing, Medical content, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Physical abuse, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, and War

Moderate: Medical content, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Abandonment, Bullying, Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, and Physical abuse

_slowfastreader_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful relaxing tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I did enjoy Gearbreakers for the most part, but I like to focus on the bad and stating my opinions often comes off as roasting so here we go.
Also, I thought Milo could go die in a hole from page one.  :)

0.25 stars is being docked off for the amount of times characters were described as 'growling'. A Dark and Hollow Star got a pass in my mind because they were fae and it was stated that their throats were different and it was more of a threatening I'm-gonna-kill-you (I don't remember much actually) sound than a tone of voice or grunt of frustration, so yeah. But as far as I know, everyone's human (well, apart from the Pilots obviously, but let's ignore that). I just hate it when characters 'growl' or 'purr', we aren't cats.

Also, this book could've been way shorter. Like, I swear every paragraph was just Eris or Sona (why did Sona never use contractions, it really made everything feel choppy) complaining  about how bad Godolia was and how ✨angry✨ they were and how they'd do anything. Put that energy into developing the world and the side characters.

The crew! What a missed opportunity. Found family is by far my favourite trope, but I have standards and tend to only think of something as found family if it is truly god-tier. This was not it. I was disappointed. The only character I was interested in apart from Eris and Sona was Xander, and possibly Voxter but he wasn't really a member of the crew (Voxter has so much potential), but everything still felt so shallow and wasted.

Spoiler

Jenny was so annoying and I found her interactions with Sona so uncomfortable.

Juniper was an empty shell, I felt nothing whatsoever for Theo, Nova kind of felt like a cliche comic relief that wasn't even funny with nothing to her, and Milo was an insufferable and whiny straight boy (he probably would've been the love interest if the book wasn't gay and I'm so happy he wasn't).

 #JusticeForXander 

Spoiler

Xander was done so dirty. Justice for Xander. We didn't see his body, so I hope he's still alive. I still don't know why he didn't speak much, but way to kill off your only possibly semi-speaking or selectively mute character for shock value. And I didn't feel sad, because I didn't know much about him. I just felt frustrated at the author. But he was probably one of the least annoying characters. HE HAD SO MUCH POTENTIAL.
And the fact that he wasn't completely mute was seen as almost a relief? SOME PEOPLE CAN'T SPEAK WITH THEIR MOUTHS AND THAT'S OKAY AND YES YOU CAN BE SEMI SPEAKING BUT IT FELT LIKE THE STORY WAS SAYING 'OH, DON'T WORRY, HE'S NOT MUTE IT'S FINE' AND I'M LIKE I DON'T CARE BUT SO WHAT IF HE IS THOUGH I HAVE A FEELING HE WOULD'VE BEEN TREATED AS A PROP OTHERWISE AND I'M LIKE AAAAAAAA???? sorry. I'm annoyed. And probably overly sensitive. (Legendborn spoilers)

Spoiler

Also the characters' reactions reminded me of Whitty's death in Legendborn because it was supposed to be so sad but I was like 'I barely know you, you're just a name that pops up sometimes'.

I did like the prose and metaphors and poeticism and stuff but I couldn't tell the difference between Eris and Sona, but I also know it's really, really hard to differentiate first person perspectives.

The dynamic and romance between them was pretty good, imagine a kind of cyberpunk rebel dystopian thing, but Eris is Vi from Arcane and Sona is Caitlyn. 10/10.

Also this is definitely a case of the characters' lack of autism making them kind of unrelatable, how do they tell how someone is feeling and read expressions that well? Tell me your secrets please.

But the fight scenes were good, despite the fact that I still can't make my mind up on the morally grey decisions by the characters, and I kind of skim-read the last few chapters lol. I will get the next book, though, and the cover is amazing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gore, Gun violence, and Blood

Moderate: Slavery, Alcoholism, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Ableism and Infidelity

relin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Medical trauma, Medical content, Gun violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Body horror, Grief, Child abuse, Gore, War, Cursing, and Bullying

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Vomit

foreverinastory's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• 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

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Grief, Child death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, War, Blood, Body horror, Medical content, Murder, Death, Kidnapping, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Medical trauma, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Car accident, Cursing, Mental illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and Genocide

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Vomit

cottlestonpie's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, and Gun violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Genocide, Gore, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, Stalking, Infidelity, and Cursing

angelsfw's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror

tigerproofrock's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• 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

Great book. But it doesn't actually have an ending. It just stops in a cliffhanger to force you to buy the second book. Which feels like such a scarcity mentality that the author won't have new good ideas for the next book. Or not trusting the readers to care enough about the characters and world to read a sequel. The time and heart that does into reading a novel should be honored with an ending. This kind of marketing ploy feels like a breaking of the fundamental agreement about how novels work. And now I don't trust the storyteller (really, the publisher, I assume) to take me safely to the end of the journey, and so I don't want to read any more of their stuff.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing and Torture

Moderate: Confinement, Medical trauma, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, War, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Genocide, and Violence