Reviews

Bonds of Brass by Emily Skrutskie

bluejaybooks's review against another edition

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

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.

atrareads's review against another edition

2.5

This is the most bearable book in this trilogy and this is me being nice 

niccith's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense

3.0

garethmk's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

nebulous_tide's review against another edition

4.0

Very fun tale of star-hopping glory and ridiculous coincidences. The flight scenes were epic!

laurapf's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.0

smack_books's review against another edition

4.0

This book was way better than I was expecting it to be. Ettian’s and Gal’s duality was so interesting to read about. I also feel like the author did a good job at exploring trauma and not making all the space fighting as something that was just cool and exciting. She actually discusses how war is something extremely traumatic to go through.

I feel like the resistance was way to trustworthy and it seemed weird they never did a background check on these two dudes. I also feel like the plot twist at the end wasn’t hinted on enough. I feel like before the end the only real foreshadowing of it was the pouch Ettian had. That didn’t feel like enough to me for it not to as random as it felt it was, but it still made the book interesting.

Overall it was pretty good and I can’t wait to read the other books in this series.

marieintheraw's review against another edition

2.0

Something about how the author sets up the sci-fi aspects of their stories always brings them down. Unfortunately, this was a super sci-fi heavy world. Also, it takes time to understand all the characters in the story.

I received an ecopy of this through Netgalley; however, all opinions are my own.

I requested this prior to the discussions on how this story exists, but I stand by my low rating. Please check out books by QPOC instead of this one.

ancientcoconut's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

3.75