A review by nuevecuervos
Bonds of Brass, by Emily Skrutskie
4.0
A few months ago in my stories group, we had the thread about books where you're a fandom of one, and my dearest Courtney was like 'OMFG Bonds of mfking Brass, would you people just get on my damn level'. I felt like a bad friend for not having taken this advice before, so I used an Audible credit and I listened whilst sewing and I couldn't put the damned thing down.
Imagine a romance between two idiots who are like NO WE ARE SO NOT IN LOVE EXCEPT FOR HOW WE TOTALLY ARE, only in a scifi colonization scenario, and beyond the level of "i'm a rescued street rat from a conquered empire and he's a spoiled child of someone who's clearly high up in the conquering empire", there are a lot of really good, thoughtful questions of 'where is my loyalty', and 'what kind of people are we really' and 'how do you know you know someone' AND 'how much does blood count for anyway' and 'whose side are you on when your empire has been conquered for
so long that you've just given up but then here it fucking is?'.
There are a couple of big reveals that are telegraphed so purposefully that the drama is in 'holy shit, when is this gonna get revealed?!' more than 'from whence did this overly skilled street rat come, praytell?!', which is a fresh twist for the 'all the secrets that keep us apart genre' as far as I'm concerned. The cross, double-cross, and 'is he actually gonna do this double-cross' were just *chefkiss*.
I also *love* that the author is a nerd like us, and uses phrases and visuals that we recognize immediately, but uses them only as a sweet nod as opposed to copying people and/or things wholesale (at some point we meet someone twirling a rainbow umbrella under a ship, and later someone else exhorts our pilot to "fly casual", yet neither character is who you might be tempted to imagine from just those references).
Now, is Ettian a waffling asshole who should really have told Gal the truth a while back rather than go along with Wen's crazy plan? Probably. Is Gal a self-absorbed asshole who really should have stopped to think about what he was asking Ettian to do save his royal ass? Also Probably. Is Wen the best murderous cinnamon roll that has ever existed? hell yes.
I did have to put it down at one point because I could not handle the anxiety load. And the end! holy shit. I immediately smashed the 'acquire the sequel' button.
Anyway, recommended for you scifi nerds who want kissing books that are rife with moral dilemmas and really didn't need that heart right at the moment, thanks.
Imagine a romance between two idiots who are like NO WE ARE SO NOT IN LOVE EXCEPT FOR HOW WE TOTALLY ARE, only in a scifi colonization scenario, and beyond the level of "i'm a rescued street rat from a conquered empire and he's a spoiled child of someone who's clearly high up in the conquering empire", there are a lot of really good, thoughtful questions of 'where is my loyalty', and 'what kind of people are we really' and 'how do you know you know someone' AND 'how much does blood count for anyway' and 'whose side are you on when your empire has been conquered for
so long that you've just given up but then here it fucking is?'.
There are a couple of big reveals that are telegraphed so purposefully that the drama is in 'holy shit, when is this gonna get revealed?!' more than 'from whence did this overly skilled street rat come, praytell?!', which is a fresh twist for the 'all the secrets that keep us apart genre' as far as I'm concerned. The cross, double-cross, and 'is he actually gonna do this double-cross' were just *chefkiss*.
I also *love* that the author is a nerd like us, and uses phrases and visuals that we recognize immediately, but uses them only as a sweet nod as opposed to copying people and/or things wholesale (at some point we meet someone twirling a rainbow umbrella under a ship, and later someone else exhorts our pilot to "fly casual", yet neither character is who you might be tempted to imagine from just those references).
Now, is Ettian a waffling asshole who should really have told Gal the truth a while back rather than go along with Wen's crazy plan? Probably. Is Gal a self-absorbed asshole who really should have stopped to think about what he was asking Ettian to do save his royal ass? Also Probably. Is Wen the best murderous cinnamon roll that has ever existed? hell yes.
I did have to put it down at one point because I could not handle the anxiety load. And the end! holy shit. I immediately smashed the 'acquire the sequel' button.
Anyway, recommended for you scifi nerds who want kissing books that are rife with moral dilemmas and really didn't need that heart right at the moment, thanks.