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rogiercaprino's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Big robot battles with a Sapphic piloting one !!! I love how fleshed out the pining and Romance feels in a 150 page novella. I'm mad at myself that I had hard reboot on my shelf unread for 3 years. This one is so fun
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, and Classism
jenny_d's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
A good, fun time! Not a lot of depth to it, but thoroughly enjoyable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Cursing, and Death
Moderate: Vomit
adancewithbooks's review
adventurous
reflective
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
4.0
Thank you to TorDotCom and Netgalley for the review copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my opinion in anyway.
Trigger/Content Warnings: Ableism | Much alcohol consumption | Blood | Gore | Death
I've previously read Wexler's YA trilogy so I was happy to try one of his adult works. And I was not dissapointed.
If by chance the synopsis with the seedy underworld of old earth politics and the like puts you off from reading this book, don't be. Because it is not really about that. It's about Kas, stepping out of the rigid rules of being a junior researcher. And about Zhi, on rebuilding an old war robot used in defending the old earth. It is about them clashing from their wildly different worlds but growing closer together.
I think what I liked the most about this novella was the world. This future where a majority of us have left Earth. Where later immigrants are looked down upon. Where there is still also life upon Old Earth as it is now called but that it is a hard survival to maintain any kind of life there. The wildly different and yet also subleties in the different cultures is what made this novella for me.
And of course the robots. I used to watch the Gundam shows and all but I don't think I've ever read a book about robot fights like this (there is sleeping giant but that doesn't quite count in the same way, does it). Where it fits with what we humans would do. There used to be (and probably still is) so many underground boxing prize fights. Like these robot fights where everything is allowed. We like to pretend we are all neat and clean but when you are in survival mode there is no room for that. And the nitty and gritty is what can offer a full stomach or not.
I also enjoyed the characters. Kas is from the neat and clean world but is soon dragged into the gritty reality that is Old Earth. Zhi has lived it for her entire life and she doesn't know anything else. While their first instinct was to distrust each other they end up helping each other. Kas is intrigued by the ancient robot and Zhi needs it as her life line. And with that they grow closer together, forming a relationship of need and maybe a bit of love.
Trigger/Content Warnings: Ableism | Much alcohol consumption | Blood | Gore | Death
I've previously read Wexler's YA trilogy so I was happy to try one of his adult works. And I was not dissapointed.
If by chance the synopsis with the seedy underworld of old earth politics and the like puts you off from reading this book, don't be. Because it is not really about that. It's about Kas, stepping out of the rigid rules of being a junior researcher. And about Zhi, on rebuilding an old war robot used in defending the old earth. It is about them clashing from their wildly different worlds but growing closer together.
I think what I liked the most about this novella was the world. This future where a majority of us have left Earth. Where later immigrants are looked down upon. Where there is still also life upon Old Earth as it is now called but that it is a hard survival to maintain any kind of life there. The wildly different and yet also subleties in the different cultures is what made this novella for me.
And of course the robots. I used to watch the Gundam shows and all but I don't think I've ever read a book about robot fights like this (there is sleeping giant but that doesn't quite count in the same way, does it). Where it fits with what we humans would do. There used to be (and probably still is) so many underground boxing prize fights. Like these robot fights where everything is allowed. We like to pretend we are all neat and clean but when you are in survival mode there is no room for that. And the nitty and gritty is what can offer a full stomach or not.
I also enjoyed the characters. Kas is from the neat and clean world but is soon dragged into the gritty reality that is Old Earth. Zhi has lived it for her entire life and she doesn't know anything else. While their first instinct was to distrust each other they end up helping each other. Kas is intrigued by the ancient robot and Zhi needs it as her life line. And with that they grow closer together, forming a relationship of need and maybe a bit of love.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, and Blood
Moderate: Alcohol and Ableism
qace90's review
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
For a subgenre I don’t typically read, I did enjoy this. It took me a while to get a feel for the world and language, but I was invested in mecha sapphics.
Kas comes to Earth on a research trip where she meets Zhi, a mecha pilot who’s deep in debt and tries to salvage everything by tricking Kas into a bet. When Zhi loses the warbot fight, she makes a run for it, but is followed by Kas. Zhi is working on another warbot from an earlier generation, and Kas ends up helping her make a plan to win enough money to cover her debt and get off Earth.
I tend to be more of a romance and fantasy reader, and the romance between Kas and Zhi worked really well for me. Or maybe not romance, but the relationship that develops between them while working on Alpha Zero’s code and spending time together. I liked how the cultural differences were shown because Zhi is used to living on Earth while Kas is from Sentinel where she has a neural interface that can communicate attraction and subtle clues across the net. Earth has a corrupted datasphere full of, basically, popup ads and malware, so Kas’ jacks can’t be used, which often leaves her floundering figuring out how to navigate Earth and interpersonal relationships.
This was definitely not something I would normally pick up but I’m a sucker for more sapphic stories, and this ended up being a pretty fun read. I think people who enjoy mecha and slightly heavier sci-fi books will get more out of it, but it was still a book I wouldn’t mind rereading or even seeing more set in this ‘verse.
Kas comes to Earth on a research trip where she meets Zhi, a mecha pilot who’s deep in debt and tries to salvage everything by tricking Kas into a bet. When Zhi loses the warbot fight, she makes a run for it, but is followed by Kas. Zhi is working on another warbot from an earlier generation, and Kas ends up helping her make a plan to win enough money to cover her debt and get off Earth.
I tend to be more of a romance and fantasy reader, and the romance between Kas and Zhi worked really well for me. Or maybe not romance, but the relationship that develops between them while working on Alpha Zero’s code and spending time together. I liked how the cultural differences were shown because Zhi is used to living on Earth while Kas is from Sentinel where she has a neural interface that can communicate attraction and subtle clues across the net. Earth has a corrupted datasphere full of, basically, popup ads and malware, so Kas’ jacks can’t be used, which often leaves her floundering figuring out how to navigate Earth and interpersonal relationships.
This was definitely not something I would normally pick up but I’m a sucker for more sapphic stories, and this ended up being a pretty fun read. I think people who enjoy mecha and slightly heavier sci-fi books will get more out of it, but it was still a book I wouldn’t mind rereading or even seeing more set in this ‘verse.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Death and Gore
Minor: Ableism and Vomit
Alcohol consumption, gambling, debt, injury, anti-sex work, ace-spec exclusionary comment, shock
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