Heart of Iron (Heart of Iron, #1) – Ashley Poston
Source: Goodreads
Ana and Di were found floating in an escape pod seven years ago, with no memories of what came before. They’ve built their own family out of Captain Siege’s misfit pirate crew, beings from all parts of the galaxy, ravaged by plague and run out by oppression. To Ana and Di, they are perfect. They are home. But Di, an illegal robot called a Metal, has started to glitch, and Ana will risk just about anything to avoid losing her best friend in the universe.
Robbert Valerio lost his father in the Metal rebellion that also took away The Iron Kingdom’s royal family. As the celestial convergence approaches, and with it the crowning of a new emperor, Robb finds new information that could be the key to finding his father. The possible proof that he survived the rebellion after all is too much to ignore, and Robb begins the hunt for truth.
As the luck of the goddess would have it, the search for an answer to Di’s glitching leads Ana right to Robb, and the two realize that there could be a lot more aboard the mysterious ship Tsarina than each originally imagined.
This whirlwind adventure takes the old-as-time story of Anastasia and launches it into space, where it takes on a life of its own. Multiple races from across the universe find danger, hope, and love (in many forms), in this interstellar saga. Poston does a fantastic job of world building through her characters’ eyes, showing the reader the world as they see it, rather than info-dumping huge amounts of data abut space colonies and future-world-orders. With plenty of nods to all the Sci-Fi stories of our youth, this book was a delight form start to finish. I, personally, cannot wait for the second and final book in this duology to be published next month.
This is one of those books that is definitely YA – the characters are mostly in their late teens – but also appeals to readers of just about any age. So far, there’s nothing inappropriate for younger readers either, so barring anything happening in the second book, this one would be safe for precocious younger readers who’ve exhausted everything else in the middle grade range.
HHC Rating: 5 Stars.
Other reviews in this series: Book 2 – Soul of Stars (Book available July 23rd, Review available August 13th) Other reviews for this author: Once Upon A Con, Book 1 – Geekerella Once Upon A Con, Book 2 – The Princess and The Fan Girl (Review Coming Soon!)
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