This was fantastic. I saw it called “handmaid’s tale meets pacific rim” and I can’t argue with that. There’s giant 2-pilot robots and a dominant society oppressing women. There’s also a fair amount of Chinese history and culture—both positive and negative aspects.
It doesn’t feel like a YA novel to me but I understand why it was marketed that way. Still I wish it would have leaned a bit more into some of the more adult themes and world building.
Our main character was kind of awful in some ways—like being a murderer and overall cruel person—but I was rooting for her. I mean she’s pretty justified in her actions and has every right to be angry at the system! But I’m pretty sure she’s a villain now.
The romance is not the focus of the book, but it’s there. I don’t typically like love triangles, but this one was great.
There were some flaws here, but I just had so much fun with these characters and the plot here. Still with that ending, I don’t know if I’ll be picking the next one up. We’ll see!