Heavenbreaker

Heavenbreaker, Book 1

By: Sara Wolf

Narrated by: Ashley Bryce

Bravery isn't what you do. It's what you endure.

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.

Contains mature themes.

©2024 Sara Wolf (P)2024 Tantor

Best book I've read this year

I absolutely loved this book! It was such a ride seeing how everything was playing out with different pov's and learning the truth about the steeds, and so much more. I can't wait for the next book.

the theme

really liked the originality of the medieval mingled with Sci fi. I can't wait for it to become a movie or series!

Story Ruined by Multiple Mispronunciations

The narrator mispronounced and misread words throughout the audiobook. I also have the Kindle version of the book, so it was easy to see the difference between the text and what was read aloud. The worst & most common was the word “sigil,” which the narrator pronounced with a hard g instead of correctly, with a soft g (saying sih-gul instead of sih-jul). Given that all the noble houses in the story are identified by their sigils the constant mispronunciation was jarring and took me out of the story every single time. “Sigil” isn’t an uncommon word in sci-fi and fantasy-based fiction—why hire a narrator who doesn’t know the genre well enough to pronounce basic words? Other errors (for example, saying “ineligible” when the text says “illegible”) changed the meaning of sentences, sometimes enough that they didn’t make sense. The production needed much better quality control.

Overall 3/5

Very predictable, didn’t get good till about 2/3rd through the book. Then to be left on a cliff hanger

Five stars… with one exception

The book is absolutely fantastic. The world is vibrant, the characters have depth, the writing is beautiful. I would recommend this even to those (like myself.. until now) who don’t necessarily always enjoy space or science fiction themes. I am anxiously awaiting the next in the series. The only thing I was displeased with was the narrator. Although her voice is beautiful and she gives enough variation and in the voices of the characters, throughout the book she makes numerous errors, not only in reversing some words’ order to how they are written in the book, but saying entirely different words altogether. At one point she says “concrete” instead of “corporate” and this is very disappointing. But READ THE BOOK. It’s truly wonderful in every way.

How is this Romantasy?

There is almost no romance and what little there is feels forced. It would have been better without it. Liked the idea though. Will be reading the next one.

Great book!!

If you like books about robots and fighting and space themed this will be the book for you!

Fresh and exciting

A unique story with interesting characters and a surprising plot. This is modern sci-fi at its best.

Other reviews are too harsh

Man I thought I was in a for a train wreck based on the audible reviews of this book. I'm glad I started the book despite the harsher reviews. The narrator was good although she did mispronounce some words there was nothing so jarring that I couldn't keep listening. Her characterizations and voice were great otherwise. Was the story good? Yeah! The exposition was kind of a slog (and is the main reason I bumped to 4 stars) but ultimately it made for a solid world-building foundation as the book continued. Did this story break the mold? Not really, but it's still perfectly enjoyable. I think the sequel will be what really determines how I feel about the series overall. I'd say if you enjoy Iron Widow or complex revenge plots this would be a good fit for you.

A bit slow but the world is great

I think others will enjoy this more than me. Its a bit slow and there's a lot that I didn't think was necessary. But otherwise the characters are great and the world that the author built is great.