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dreamerfreak's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death of parent, Violence, Gun violence, Grief, Colonisation, Genocide, Alcohol, and War
kell_xavi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
2.0
The first half was exciting and politically intriguing, the second half was full of absurd coincidence and moral flip-flopping with little critical nuance, which resolved into a book I didn’t want or enjoy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Death of parent
luxluthors's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Genocide, War, Violence, Blood, and Gun violence
Minor: Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Panic attacks/disorders
mallorypen's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
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? It's complicated
4.5
First of all, let the record show that I CALLED THE PLOT TWIST at 48% of the way through the read. Anyways, bragging aside, this was a tightly-plotted, action-packed and utterly heartbreaking space opera of a novel. The reader was exemplary as well, making an overall really fantastic experience with this story.
The world building was phenomenal. I understood the power structure, the politics, and the knife’s edge on which peace existed within the first few chapters without it feeling like I was being info-dumped upon. The queernormative society was well done without being heavy-handed, and I believed all the motivations of the people and governments in the plot.
The characters are SO clutch. Ettian as a tortured product of war, poverty, homelessness and conquest was compelling, especially as his loyalties and his heart are being chipped away the entire novel. I wanted to give him a hug approximately 456 times. Gal - boisterous, naive, tender hearted Gal - was a great counterpart and match for Ettian. Their friendship was immediately believable, as was the strength of Ettian’s feelings despite everything he’s been through. And Wen as the hardened, ride-or-die misfit was the perfect foil for Ettian and a window into his life.
The only reason I took off half a star is ALSO one of the reasons I enjoyed the book so much, and that is because of the humanity of the characters. On the one hand, I got a little fed up with Ettian’s loyalties constantly flip-flopping around - one second he was promising he’s always have Gal’s back, and the next he’s dreaming of revolution - but I have to admit that his being so torn is such a human reaction to an impossible situation. And Gal going from being incredibly likable to borderline hard to deal with was hard as an empathetic reader, but also … that’s EXACTLY what Ettian was going through. So yay, writing characters with nuance and skill to make them feel real but ALSO boo, real-feeling people making dumb/selfish/cowardly choices.
But hey, cuddling in space.
Onto Book 2!
The world building was phenomenal. I understood the power structure, the politics, and the knife’s edge on which peace existed within the first few chapters without it feeling like I was being info-dumped upon. The queernormative society was well done without being heavy-handed, and I believed all the motivations of the people and governments in the plot.
The characters are SO clutch. Ettian as a tortured product of war, poverty, homelessness and conquest was compelling, especially as his loyalties and his heart are being chipped away the entire novel. I wanted to give him a hug approximately 456 times. Gal - boisterous, naive, tender hearted Gal - was a great counterpart and match for Ettian. Their friendship was immediately believable, as was the strength of Ettian’s feelings despite everything he’s been through. And Wen as the hardened, ride-or-die misfit was the perfect foil for Ettian and a window into his life.
The only reason I took off half a star is ALSO one of the reasons I enjoyed the book so much, and that is because of the humanity of the characters. On the one hand, I got a little fed up with Ettian’s loyalties constantly flip-flopping around - one second he was promising he’s always have Gal’s back, and the next he’s dreaming of revolution - but I have to admit that his being so torn is such a human reaction to an impossible situation. And Gal going from being incredibly likable to borderline hard to deal with was hard as an empathetic reader, but also … that’s EXACTLY what Ettian was going through. So yay, writing characters with nuance and skill to make them feel real but ALSO boo, real-feeling people making dumb/selfish/cowardly choices.
But hey, cuddling in space.
Onto Book 2!
Content Warnings
Moderate: War, Violence, Death of parent, Vomit, and Death
axel_p's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
- 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? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, War, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Violence, Xenophobia, and Toxic relationship
puttingwingsonwords's review
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Bonds of Brass had me staying up past my bedtime because I just wanted to keep reading. At times, especially near the end, I felt like I was helplessly watching the characters putting themselves on an inevitable path to devastation… In a good way?
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Death of parent, and Violence
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcohol
breadwitchery's review against another edition
adventurous
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? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Gun violence
Minor: Alcohol and Blood
kew16's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
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? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Violence, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Death
Minor: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder
bluejayreads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I wasn’t sure about this book going in. I picked it up on author alone, because everything I’ve read from Emily Skrutskie so far has been good. By the time I got around to reading it the only thing I remembered was that it was sci-fi and set at some kind of military school, so I went in blind and more than a little doubtful.
I warmed up to the story pretty quickly, though. There was plenty of action, the protagonist is hopelessly in love with his best friend who turns out to be the heir to the empire that destroyed his life, and they end up on the run from people with vastly superior firepower armed with nothing but their wits and their military school education. Said best friend/heir was charismatic, funny, and a good friend and solid love interest. There was plenty of action and an interesting galactic world to explore. I was interested to keep going.
Then the middle almost entirely lost me. The only thing hampering the romance was Ettian’s insistence that it wouldn’t work out, the duo picked up a hanger-on who was teeth-grindingly obnoxious up until the penultimate scene, and at some point the goal “get Gal to his galactic ruler parents where he’ll be safe” became “Gal must return home a conquering hero” for no discernable reason (unless Plot Requires More Complicated Nonsense counts as a reason, because that’s the only one I saw). It wasn’t actually boring – there was plenty of action, plots and counter-plots, and the idea of the heroes leading a revolution turned on its head – but I couldn’t see the reasoning behind the characters’ choices so it all felt unnecessary.
I am also confused and a bit concerned about the themes and message of this book. On one hand, Ettian is a member of a conquered people dealing with the trauma of working for the empire that killed his family and destroyed his life while living in the colonized wreckage of his former world and choosing between bad and worse options for survival. On the other hand, everything else. Ettian allying with the colonial power is not only 100% a good thing but portrayed as the only reasonable choice, and his crisis at choosing the colonizer prince over the remnants of his genocided people takes him like three pages total to get over. The whole trilogy is called the Bloodright Trilogy because everything in this world hinges on blood rights – things pass only from parents to children and what kind of life you have is decided only by who your parents are. This is portrayed as universally a good thing and the best system. There’s even a bit about how crime only happens in a democracy and crime couldn’t exist if everything was based on blood inheritance. I am not sure what kind of message one is supposed to get from all this, but I have the feeling I don’t like it.
(I realize that there is potential for the other two books in the series to break down these ideas, but the message of “colonizers are the good guys and blood inheritance is the best, actually” seems promoted by the narrative itself, not just the characters. If the theme of the trilogy is going to be our protagonists realizing how screwed up this all is, absolutely none of it comes through in this book.)
Despite a pretty good climax and a solid ending reveal (even though I did see it coming as soon as I got how this world works), most of the conflict felt unnecessary contrived, and unless the next two books make some major changes I do not like what this book says thematically. I will not be continuing this series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, War, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Colonisation
Moderate: Torture, Fire/Fire injury, and Child death
Minor: Sexual content and Kidnapping
laesterlurch's review
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and War