Heart of Iron

“The Heart of Iron” is the first novel in a series which is written by Ashley Poston. The novel follows Ana, who was found as a child drifting through space with a sentient android called D09, Ana was saved by a space captain and his crew, that she now calls family. But D09—one of the last remaining illegal Metals—has been glitching, and Ana will stop at nothing to find a way to fix him. Ana's desperate effort to save D09 leads her on a quest to steal the coordinates to a lost ship that could offer all the answers. But, a spoiled boy beats Ana to the coordinates. When everything goes wrong, she and the Ironblood end up as fugitives on the run. Now their entire kingdom is after them—and the coordinates—and not everyone wants them captured alive.

I found the novel really fun as the novel is basically Anastasia, in space. The novel is a fast-paced and engaging novel. I found Ana quite annoying sometimes as she was a bit of a loose cannon, as she is willing to take all the risks and putting her own crew mates which are her so-called-family in harm's way to save D09 from permanently dying down due to his memory core glitch. I mean I get it, but he didn't want anyone to get hurt for him, so in a way she was disrespecting his wishes, but I did like the romance between Ana and D09. I also liked Jax as I found him a fun and enjoyable character with a cute romance. I gave the novel a 3/5 stars.

So I will try my best to be coherent, but I'm afraid that all might have left about three pages into this book.

First thing you need to know is that I'm now doing something I probably should have started eight years ago: using the preview function on Goodreads. (Or, that failing, the sample function on Amazon.) Hopefully this will keep me from starting a book to only realize by page sixteen that I want nothing at all to do with the book. (Like that last book I started.) Why this is important is because I previewed this book on Goodreads, hoping that I'd be somewhat interested in reading it so I could borrow it for my upcoming week. You see, I'm going to be very busy with work this next week and thought it would be nice to have a book downloaded to my phone that I could read at odd moments and while taking short breaks.

...

Basically, what I'm saying, was this book was supposed to last me until at least Friday at noon time. I was not supposed to devour the first half of the preview, borrow the book and subsequently read almost half of it before the end of the day and finish it the next evening.

So, I love this book. I love this book in a way I haven't loved a book in...a very long time. (After last year, I thought I lost my book mojo. No book I read for the first time last year got a five star rating from me. None.) This book is so...so my type of book.

This is Ana's story, but it's told from four different perspectives and I loved each one. I never felt, oh, them again. They're each interesting characters and have movement. They don't just float around while one character carries everything.

There's a found family. Aboard a spaceship. (Yes, please.)

There's a lost princess who is brave and stubborn and so far out of her depth.

There is one of the absolute sweetest romances ever between said lost princess and a ‘metal' (android) who is having anomalous feelings. And glitches. And they might be the same thing.

There is a far-flung universe that we've barely scratched the surface of and there are so many more stories to tell. (I need more Viera Carnelian in my life.)

There is plot. And action. And things happening besides romance!

There is also a rather...complicated M/M romance (that totally has its sweet moments) and a solid, established F/F relationship between secondary characters.

I don't know how to tag racial diversity, (because it's IN SPACE) but there is that, too.

On one hand, I'm almost a little upset I didn't read this book when it was first released - because I know I would have loved it then, too - but now I get to read the sequel without having to wait for it to be released. So, yay!

I love me a good crew! Lots of great action too and quite the ending. So glad I had the sequel on hand to jump into!

2.5 Stars

This was super disappointing. I did not really connect with any of the characters and the story did not interest me. It is unfortunate because I really enjoyed Geekerella but this had none of the same charm I was expecting.

4.5 stars

I really ended up enjoying this book. I wasn't sure if I would at first because some of my friends have given it so-so ratings, but I still thought I'd give it a try.

The characters are amazing. There are 4 narratives: Ana, Di, Robb, and Jax. Ana is pretty cool being a space pirate, thief who has a bit more to her while Di, her Metal is... interesting. It is hard to really connect to a robot, I think. Robb, though, is very interesting. See, I didn't find him to be a typical guy character and showing that even guys can be emotional/mentally abused and make horrible mistakes all while still being a darn good fighter, is very important. Jax... he wasn't as big of a character as Ana and Robb, but I still liked reading his chapters and seeing the conflicts that face him.
Even past the main characters though, I feel the side characters have so much life in them!

The romance... hmm... Ana and Di is so weird to me because he is a robot with little to no feelings at the beginning of the book. I don't understand how love of the romantic type could happen there, so that whole thing was a bit strange. Robb and Jax I think is adorably cute, if not a bit insta-lovey. They are honestly the best couple and I loved reading their scenes together. Besides Robb and Jax the captain of the pirate ship is in a relationship with one of the female crewmembers and I loved them too! It is always so heartwarming to read about healthy, loving long-term relationships.

There is a lot of death in this book. I found that it made the book seem more realistic. I don't think everyone on the “good” side will live through every battle. It just isn't going to happen, although the timing could be a bit... unsavory. At the same time, I can't help but feel it makes sense – you can't control when people die.

I enjoy Ashley Poston's writing and really fell into this one as well. The only thing that kept this from a 5 star is that there are a few things that I feel could be rectified easily with communication, but aren't/won't be because the story must go on. There were also a few times (rare times) when I felt I was just waiting for the book to end. I wasn't savoring it as much as I wanted to.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will be recommending it to others :) I look forward to the sequel.