Reviews

Bonds of Brass by Emily Skrutskie

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shans_books's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

really good but please for the love of god stop saying “humped”

zer0desu's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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? No

4.0

honnari_hannya's review against another edition

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5.0

GAYS IN SPACE
GAYS IN SPACE
GAYS IN SPACE

A tense, incredibly fun, extremely high stakes space romp that includes (as you may already have guessed) GAYS IN SPACE.

Ettian Nassun has spent the last few years trying to survive the fallout of his planet's hostile takeover by the Umber Empire. To that end, he works hard to become the top space pilot at an elite academy training the Empire's newest generation of military leaders—all the while picking up slack for his charismatic, audacious best friend, Gal Veres.

But things can't ever be that simple. When a routine training exercise turns into an assassination attempt, Gal's biggest secret is revealed: he isn't Gal Veres but Gal emp Umber, heir to the empire that conquered Ettian's home. Ettian must fight enemies on all sides to keep his best friend (also coincidentally the love of his life) alive, long enough to get him safely to the seat of the Umber Empire to take the throne.

A bit of a slow start for me, but this book definitely picks up around a quarter of the way through and just doesn't stop from there. You can tell that Skrutskie has definitely written a fair few fanfics before—there are moments that are quite tropey, but in the most enjoyable way. Ettian is a delightfully complex character who is trying his best, and Gal is a god damn disaster who should be so lucky to have Ettian saving his ass all the time—and we love that for them.

Lots of tension, of both the sexual and political kind, sometimes both at once. Some applicable AO3 tags include: Friends to Lovers, Sharing a Bed, Secret Royalty, and probably a few more that I'm not thinking of.

ace_of_spades_'s review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.75

bluejaybooks's review against another edition

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A lot of fun. Apparently, I'm into space operas lately. (Though A Memory Called Empire was mostly planet bound.) I can tell that this book was originally written as a YA novel that the author couldn't get to sell to a YA publisher because it reads like one. I figured out the plot twist about a quarter of the way through the novel but have a feeling I'll be in the minority.

Spoiler

*Spoilers ahead* I must say that it's a minor plot hole that no one thought to search Ettian when they let him become the imperial heir's roommate. I mean you think they'd need a thorough background check on whoever they let live with him. If that item Ettian carried around was really such a giveaway for his true identity, then I'm surprised no one figured it out sooner. But perhaps someone did and this was all some sort of scheme to get our two imperial heirs close to one another? I doubt it, but I guess we'll have to read and find out.

Excited to see where the sequel leads!

shiqingxuan34's review against another edition

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1.0

i think i must not like emily skrutskie's writing bc i couldn't feel connected to this at all. it sucks because all the concepts sound really interesting and i love the tropes i heard were in this but honestly was a struggle to finish.