Friends with ARCs | Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston

Collaborative feature with Alexa. We read ARCs together and post our reviews on the same date.

Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston
pub 2/27/18 by Balzer + Bray
Young Adult - Science Fiction
Received from pub via Edelweiss

Plot • Ana is seventeen-year-old rebellious member of a space crew that's become her family. She was found by their captain as a child along with her sentient android D09, who is her best friend and constant companion. When D09 starts glitching, Ana desperately finds a way to find fix him (which is where her defiant nature comes into play!). It's during her latest scheme to steal coordinates to a lost ship with possible answers that she crosses paths with an Ironblood boy after the very same thing. Nothing going as planned and both end up becoming fugitives and tentative allies. It's the latter that allows them to face secrets from the past and decide on a new future for themselves.

Characters • I liked most of the characters well enough but to be honest, I didn't really connect with any of them. I wavered between rooting for Ana and outright irritation. I much preferred the secondary characters and their romances (which were charming and diverse!).

Writing • It took a while to get into it, mainly because we're just thrown into the chaos of Ana's schemes and expected to care right off the bat but eventually I found myself enjoying the story for what it was. It's supposed to be a space retelling to Anastasia so it was fun to spot those little easter eggs.

Overall feelings • I liked it, but didn't love it and that may have to do with my expectations going into it. It's written as a light, honestly kind of fluffy, sci-fi space story. But given what I know and love about Anastasia (the heroine's search for family, the grandmother, Dimitri), I expected something a little deeper and with a lot more heart.

Favorite movie with AI • Star Wars because of R2-D2, C-3PO and BB-8.