Bonds of Brass

Bonds of Brass sounded like a lot of fun: space opera with a prince in disguise whose best friend/crush had no idea about his identity until others try to assassinate him. And it is fun and generally fast-paced with all that going down in the first 20 pages, but I didn't find the characters compelling enough for it to be a book that really stuck with me. (Plus the further I got into the book, the more I felt that Ettian could do so much better than the friend he's in love with, whose charisma and good qualities seemed stronger in Ettian's memories than in the present.)

But I did like Wen, Ettian, and their friendship and it did keep me interested enough to finish reading it, although I doubt I'll be reading the sequel.

Full Review on My Website

This was a fun ride. I'm sometimes overwhelmed by sprawling space operas, so this interplanetary story with a small but mighty cast of characters was a welcome relief.  I drew several parallels to Pierce Brown's Red Rising series (apart from RR's expansive cast) – propulsive pacing, an absorbing narrative, and a charming underdog looking to topple his subjugators. Ettian's personal journey and evolution of loyalty is quite compelling. Author Emily Skrutskie unspools his story slowly and pulls on his allegiances from several different directions.

The tone of Skrutskie's prose is casual yet sharp, which is always a nice combination and makes for a pleasant reading experience. I tend to gloss over extended space battle scenes, but her descriptions of space flight and aerial dogfights are vivid and engrossing.

Despite a lull in pacing and some rushed story beats in the back half of the novel, I enjoyed this to the end. I'll be interested to see how the future books play out, especially with what unfolded in the final few pages.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

See this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.

this book is so good

“it doesn't seem possible that in a galaxy where empires rule entire systems, where city-ships wage war, where annihilation is a threat that can be made good on, there's room for something as small, and tender, as a boy's gentle hand on my throat”

Y E A H

i would like to own this book in hardcover. thanks

I finished this book in about 24 hours in two reading sessions. It flew incredibly well with only the most minor of hiccups. Yet I would still rate Bonds of Brass only a 2/5. Why is that and why my review is actually 3/5 I will try to explain in as few a words as possible.

I do my best to buy books knowing as little as possible. More often than most I truly do judge a book by its cover. Though generally I read the first few lines of the summary here on Goodreads before making a purchase. Bonds of Brass I bough based on very little. All I knew was that there is an LGBT relationship between two men in a sci-fi setting. The reason why I am saying this is for it to be understood why I picked Bonds of Brass up in the first place.

Thankfully the relationship is great and my favorite part of the book. Gal and Ettian, our two main characters, are adorable lovable dorks. A lot of their decisions, especially those of Ettian who is our POV into the story, are influenced by their love to a point of being outright insane. There is a lot of tropes ranging from there being just one bed in a motel room to fake dating and a lot of pining. I LOVED IT. It was funny, it was great. I adore those two.

The characters as a whole, including a third main character Wen, are alright. I feel that the side-characters never got their time to shine, but given how the story goes I prefer the focus on Ettian and Gal. What I do not prefer are the chapters all about Wen that just weren't fun. As a character Wen is... I'm sure there is a word for it. I didn't like her about three chapters after she was introduced, when she became just uneeded in the story save for the ending.

I can stomach somewhat meh characters if the story is interesting. Sadly, for the life of me, I cannot do the opposite. The story in Bonds of Brass is contrived. It feels over-plotted, where the author forced things to happen to get the characters where she wanted them to be. This is all perfectly encapsulated in the ending that I absolutely and utterly dislike.

There is a reveal, a big plot twist, in the final chapter. It's so predictable that I outright dismissed it when I thought about it somewhere around...reading the summary on the jacket. The paragraphs leading up to it I begged the book not to do it, but it refused to listen. Ending is paramout and this was bad. Not ok, not meh, but bad.

Now to reveal why 3 stars and not the 2 that I initially wanted to give the book. There's a sequel coming. Bonds of Brass is the first book of a trilogy! I genuinely believe that the ending, which is the source of the sour taste the book left in my mouth, can be remedied in the second book. If it doesn't, I'll edit this review and change it to 2 stars.

Not to end the review on such an overly negative note, I want to say that I enjoyed Bonds of Brass. Truly, I did! I can't wait for the sequel; I just hope it's better.