Title: Heavenbreaker
Author: Sara Wolf
Publisher:
Publication Date: May
ISBN: 9781649375704
Synopsis:
The duke of the powerful House Hauteclare is the first to die. With my dagger in his back. He didn’t see it coming. Didn’t anticipate the bastard daughter who was supposed to die with her mother—on his order. He should have left us with the rest of the Station’s starving, commoner rubbish. Now there’s nothing left. Just icy-white rage and a need to make House Hauteclare pay. Every damn one of them. Even if it means riding Heavenbreaker—one of the few enormous machines left over from the War—and jousting against the fiercest nobles in the system.
Each win means another one of my enemies dies. And here, in the cold terror of space, the machine and I move as one, intent on destroying each adversary—even if it’s someone I care about. Even if it’s someone I’m falling for. Only I’m not alone. Not anymore. Because there’s something in the machine with me. Something horrifying. Something…more. And it won’t be stopped.
Aside from being one of the most gorgeous books I own, Heavenbreaker also stands out with it’s unique speculative story that blends fantasy with science fiction in a medieval-inspired jousting competition where lives are at stake and no one is safe. This beautiful book has a stunning cover and uniquely designed sprayed edges, making it an excellent addition to any bookshelf.
This is a story of grief and devastating loss. It’s also a tale of secrets and unchecked power. Living on a space station hundreds of years after the fall of Earth, Synali’s story follows an arch of rage and redemption, seeking retribution for the unfathomable wrongs committed against her and her mother, all for Synali’s existence as a bastard child of a powerful upper class noble. Or so we think. As Synali fights against the upper class to avenge her mother’s murder, she begins to uncover secrets of the AI that is serving to aid her in her conquests. She rides the steed called Heavenbreaker and its sentience means that Synali is not entirely alone in this terrible world that she inhabits as she fights for justice.
While a unique plot set in an interesting intergalactic world, t he story itself is a little repetitive as Synali completes jousting match after jousting match. For every match she completes, a member of her father’s family is killed in retribution. This book is also marketed as a romantasy story, but romantasy it most definitely isn’t. While there are hints at a romance to come, there is very little in the way of relationship building between any of the characters. A very slow burn indeed.
The action centers around the intergalactic jousting and the political turmoil of the space station where the characters have made their home. It’s only in the final 20 pages that we get hints of a new movement to come. There is something more at play, politically and socially, in this story that is apparent through the majority of this first book. There is tension brewing among the nobles and division is coming. Synali appears to be a catalyst for change to come, but what that looks like, the reader does not yet know.
There’s a lot of division in the reviews, from what I’ve read, but this story is worth the read if you’re looking for something different. Plus, who doesn’t love a gorgeous cover to add to the bookshelf?
Happy reading!
Worn Pages and Ink 