macikinsley's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-paced
5.0
I loved it. Action 🥰 Romance 🥰 Angst, ANGST 🥰
milliebarelyreads's review
dark
tense
fast-paced
3.25
"Life is always going to be a mess, no matter who you are
or where you're going." - Larissa Gault.
I was sent an ARC of this book in March, and from the
start I knew it was going to be a challenge as this isn't my
preferred genre, and I knew many elements would be
foreign to me, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it so
immensely consumable. From the first line, I was gripped,
and subsequently not let go of until the last page—which
is everything you want from a novel.
Breaking Free is an excellent debut from a promising
young author. Following themes of family, love, and the
importance of togetherness in the most dire of situations,
Gault showcases an incredibly careful, real insight into
trauma and mental illness through multiple characters and
points of view. Her ability—especially at such a young age—to create such engaging, vivid and personal characters
is astounding, and I was genuinely blown away by the
attention to detail in terms of world-building and the very
developed science fiction elements; everything felt so
real, the environments so lived in, the twists so
unpredictable, and the circumstances so unjustly cruel.
Personally, I prefer longer, quieter novels, so it's only
natural that I found this to be a little too fast-paced and
action heavy for my liking, and as a die-hard lover of slow
burn romance, the combination of the former and the
pace in which the forefront romance develops just ever so
slightly knocks a star off for me unfortunately. But the
good far outweighs the bad, by a landslide in fact.
It is clear from the very beginning the amount of love,
care and craftsmanship that has been put into Breaking
Free, bleeding quality, emotion and intense desperation.
There is so much to love in this debut: lack of ignorance
regarding the serious topics raised—something that I
don't find nearly enough of in other books—fearless
humour in even the darkest moments. Even the
antagonists at play, while horrible people, were incredibly
alluring; I wanted to know more, I wanted to know their
stories, which goes to show just how saturated Gault's
writing is. Every scene—while some were a little more
drawn out than others—felt totally applicable, and I found
it surprisingly easy to envision myself right there with the
characters. This was an excellent first novel, an excellent
read, and if you *are* the target audience, and sci-fi,
action and fast-paced romance *is* your thing, here's one
to add to the basket.
Gault is an expert at storytelling, beautifully gifted, and the
best part? This isn't the end.
or where you're going." - Larissa Gault.
I was sent an ARC of this book in March, and from the
start I knew it was going to be a challenge as this isn't my
preferred genre, and I knew many elements would be
foreign to me, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it so
immensely consumable. From the first line, I was gripped,
and subsequently not let go of until the last page—which
is everything you want from a novel.
Breaking Free is an excellent debut from a promising
young author. Following themes of family, love, and the
importance of togetherness in the most dire of situations,
Gault showcases an incredibly careful, real insight into
trauma and mental illness through multiple characters and
points of view. Her ability—especially at such a young age—to create such engaging, vivid and personal characters
is astounding, and I was genuinely blown away by the
attention to detail in terms of world-building and the very
developed science fiction elements; everything felt so
real, the environments so lived in, the twists so
unpredictable, and the circumstances so unjustly cruel.
Personally, I prefer longer, quieter novels, so it's only
natural that I found this to be a little too fast-paced and
action heavy for my liking, and as a die-hard lover of slow
burn romance, the combination of the former and the
pace in which the forefront romance develops just ever so
slightly knocks a star off for me unfortunately. But the
good far outweighs the bad, by a landslide in fact.
It is clear from the very beginning the amount of love,
care and craftsmanship that has been put into Breaking
Free, bleeding quality, emotion and intense desperation.
There is so much to love in this debut: lack of ignorance
regarding the serious topics raised—something that I
don't find nearly enough of in other books—fearless
humour in even the darkest moments. Even the
antagonists at play, while horrible people, were incredibly
alluring; I wanted to know more, I wanted to know their
stories, which goes to show just how saturated Gault's
writing is. Every scene—while some were a little more
drawn out than others—felt totally applicable, and I found
it surprisingly easy to envision myself right there with the
characters. This was an excellent first novel, an excellent
read, and if you *are* the target audience, and sci-fi,
action and fast-paced romance *is* your thing, here's one
to add to the basket.
Gault is an expert at storytelling, beautifully gifted, and the
best part? This isn't the end.
More...