Gearbreakers: This book will ruin your life and you will love it

Zoe Hana Mikuta’s Gearbreakers will ruin your life and I mean that in the best way possible. She makes you fall in love with every single character and then tortures, kills, or separates them from each other and makes your heart explode in your chest and tears fall from your eyes for at least 30 minutes after you finish reading.

If this doesn’t convince you to read Gearbreakers, I don’t know what else will.

Besides a complete emotional collapse, you can also look forward to possibly the best found family I’ve ever read. They are scruffy, sarcastic, and loveable fighters that will beat the crap out of each other but will also tear anyone limb from limb if they try to hurt one of their own.

But before I get ahead of myself, let’s talk specifics of this sci-fi story.

Gearbreakers is a queer, YA sci-fi book that will blow your mind

The story begins with Sona, a cybernetically enhanced pilot of Windups. Windups are pretty much these big robot/transformers that Godolia uses as weapons.

Sona’s life was destroyed when Godolia and their Windups came to her home and destroyed everyone she ever loved. But when she made her way to the city, she was soon recruited to be the thing she loathed the most. A Windup pilot.

But as much as she lets them believe she is with them 100%, she is actually making plans to destroy them piece by piece.

Her opportunity comes sooner than she expected when Godolia captures a Gearbreaker named Eris. Sona tricks her way into Eris’s cell and tries to get Eris to believe that she’s on her side.

Eventually, Eris believes her enough, and together, they break out of the pilot compound and make their way to the Badlands where Eris lives with her sister, Jenny, and her crew.

While in the Badlands, Sona finds the kind of family and friends she’s always wanted, finally gets a real chance to destroy Godolia for good, and begins having feelings for Eris.

Eris is a bad*ss in her own right. She makes taking down Windups look easy and she’s known for her skills even in Godolia. She is also the leader of her crew of fellow Gearbreakers.

Her crew consists of Nova, Juniper, Milo, Theo, Xander, and Arsen. They are the best, snarkiest crew a Gearbreaker could ask for. There’s also Jenny, Eris’s sister who is the best mechanic and inventor in the Badlands. Jenny is  NOT to be messed with. Seriously, she will break your leg.

At first, Eris and her crew are wary of Sona. And why wouldn’t they be? She’s the enemy. But as they spend more time together, Eris becomes Sona’s biggest supporter and defender. Her crew soon follows suit. Well…most of them do.

Once Sona gets acclimated to the Badlands and enough people trust her not to sabotage their missions, Eris, Sona, and the crew go back into the field to destroy more Windups. With Sona’s inside knowledge, the crew is better than ever. But Godolia is not to be underestimated. They didn’t get the power they have without being smart and strategic.

The group has to be on their toes if they want to destroy the city forever.

I cannot say enough good things about this book. The character development is superb, the relationship dynamics are perfection, and the overall plot will have you staying up way past your bedtime.

Eris and Sona’s relationship is shy and sweet which you wouldn’t expect for two warriors but that’s what makes it so wonderful. They’re protective of each other and partners in destruction as much as in love.

While this type of enemies-to-lovers story doesn’t always work, it completely does here. And that’s mainly because Sona is a victim of Godolia just as much as the people in the Badlands are.

Now, let’s talk about the ending. No spoilers, but…it will destroy you. I kept turning pages looking for more only to find nothing and then sobbed for 30 minutes.  It’s that shocking!

Luckily, this is not a standalone book! The second Gearbreakers book will be out in 2022.  We can look forward to more of these characters soon!

Gearbreakers is available now in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats.