Bonds of Brass

I finished this book in about 24 hours in two reading sessions. It flew incredibly well with only the most minor of hiccups. Yet I would still rate Bonds of Brass only a 2/5. Why is that and why my review is actually 3/5 I will try to explain in as few a words as possible.

I do my best to buy books knowing as little as possible. More often than most I truly do judge a book by its cover. Though generally I read the first few lines of the summary here on Goodreads before making a purchase. Bonds of Brass I bough based on very little. All I knew was that there is an LGBT relationship between two men in a sci-fi setting. The reason why I am saying this is for it to be understood why I picked Bonds of Brass up in the first place.

Thankfully the relationship is great and my favorite part of the book. Gal and Ettian, our two main characters, are adorable lovable dorks. A lot of their decisions, especially those of Ettian who is our POV into the story, are influenced by their love to a point of being outright insane. There is a lot of tropes ranging from there being just one bed in a motel room to fake dating and a lot of pining. I LOVED IT. It was funny, it was great. I adore those two.

The characters as a whole, including a third main character Wen, are alright. I feel that the side-characters never got their time to shine, but given how the story goes I prefer the focus on Ettian and Gal. What I do not prefer are the chapters all about Wen that just weren't fun. As a character Wen is... I'm sure there is a word for it. I didn't like her about three chapters after she was introduced, when she became just uneeded in the story save for the ending.

I can stomach somewhat meh characters if the story is interesting. Sadly, for the life of me, I cannot do the opposite. The story in Bonds of Brass is contrived. It feels over-plotted, where the author forced things to happen to get the characters where she wanted them to be. This is all perfectly encapsulated in the ending that I absolutely and utterly dislike.

There is a reveal, a big plot twist, in the final chapter. It's so predictable that I outright dismissed it when I thought about it somewhere around...reading the summary on the jacket. The paragraphs leading up to it I begged the book not to do it, but it refused to listen. Ending is paramout and this was bad. Not ok, not meh, but bad.

Now to reveal why 3 stars and not the 2 that I initially wanted to give the book. There's a sequel coming. Bonds of Brass is the first book of a trilogy! I genuinely believe that the ending, which is the source of the sour taste the book left in my mouth, can be remedied in the second book. If it doesn't, I'll edit this review and change it to 2 stars.

Not to end the review on such an overly negative note, I want to say that I enjoyed Bonds of Brass. Truly, I did! I can't wait for the sequel; I just hope it's better.