The book “Gearbreakers” is set in a society controlled by (presumably) a city-state named “Godolia”, which is extremely technologically advanced. The main source of Godolia’s power over the people of the land are machines called “Windups” which are weapons of mass destruction made in the likenesses of the society’s gods. These windups are human-controlled by pilots who are cybernetically modified to be able to feel no pain unless they are hooked into their mechs, along with a few other enhancements like not requiring much air, food, or water. One of our two main characters, Sona, is a pilot who has joined the pilot training academy with the sole intention of taking it down from the inside. Fueled by a need for revenge on the higher-ups of Godolia, Sona quickly rises up through the ranks of the academy. Her plan is going exactly as she expected until one day, an infamous rebel against Godolia’s control is captured by the academy and brought into Sona’s Unit for questioning. This rebel is named Eris, and she is a self proclaimed “Gearbreaker”. In this world, there are factions of people who work together to take down every single windup they come into contact with, and they call themselves Gearbreakers (hence the title of the book!) Sona quickly becomes close to Eris, and eventually they begin planning to escape the academy and Godolia as a whole together. Their first attempt at breaking out is a success, and from there, Sona joins Eris’s team, much to the dismay of all of the rest of the members. However, over time they come to trust Sona, and while this is happening, it becomes apparent that Eris and Sona are falling in love, which adds a lot of drama to the plot. I don’t want to explain any further because there are so many other cool things that happen after this point in the book and I don’t want to ruin the fun for any people who want to read this book.
In the beginning, I liked the book a lot because of the writing style and premise, but over the span of the story, I began to like it more for its characters and the way they interact with each other. I was a bit shocked at how much it leaned into the romance aspect of the story, but I am not complaining. It got quite a bit angsty at points, but I absolutely loved the parts that weren’t. Another thing I really like is how the scenes, especially fights, are described. They feel very alive and describe things just enough to the point where you can visualize them, but not to the point of boringness. The plot had plenty of twists, which became a tad bit confusing at times, but I still understood everything clearly by the end of the book.
One warning I must give to would-be readers is that the book ends off on a cliffhanger because it is part of a series. I am unsure whether this series is completed though, since I have not read the second book as of writing this review. Other than that, if my description seems interesting to you, I urge you to go and read it! I enjoyed it at almost every point and I hope you will too.
Comments