Title: Heart of Iron
Author: Ashley Poston
Page count: 467 pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Seventeen-year-old Ana is a scoundrel by nurture and an outlaw by nature. Found as a child drifting through space with a sentient android called D09, Ana was saved by a fearsome space captain and the grizzled crew she now calls family. But D09—one of the last remaining illegal Metals—has been glitching, and Ana will stop at nothing to find a way to fix him.
Goodreads blurb
Ana’s desperate effort to save D09 leads her on a quest to steal the coordinates to a lost ship that could offer all the answers. But at the last moment, a spoiled Ironblood boy beats Ana to her prize. He has his own reasons for taking the coordinates, and he doesn’t care what he’ll sacrifice to keep them.
When everything goes wrong, she and the Ironblood end up as fugitives on the run. Now their entire kingdom is after them—and the coordinates—and not everyone wants them captured alive.
What they find in a lost corner of the universe will change all their lives—and unearth dangerous secrets. But when a darkness from Ana’s past returns, she must face an impossible choice: does she protect a kingdom that wants her dead or save the Metal boy she loves?”
So, this book left me emotionally wrecked. Which is how you know it’s a good book. Awesome characters, great aesthetic/world-building, and a beautiful cover. All necessary ingredients for a stellar book.
First off, I love how each of the 4 main POVs have a distinct voice. There’s Robb: the somewhat naive rich boy, Ana: the headstrong lost princess, Jax: the pilot with a chip on his shoulder, and D09: the logic filled android that reminds me of Data from ST: TNG. Each one goes through their own character development and own personal traumas that makes them each unique in their own way.
But her bunk was war,. and her mattress lumpy to fit her curves, and the crew was like her-forgotten, exiled, orphaned, refugeed,. Her family. Home.“
Heart of Iron by ashley poston, page 68
Second, I loved the way this book played into the whole “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb”. It really drove home the idea of bonds that are formed through choice are stronger than those that are forced upon us.
Third, the world-building. The idea of a futuristic society with AIs, androids, and space travel isn’t necessarily anything new. However, a futuristic society with all those things that still believes in prophecies and magic? That’s a little hard pressed to find. Mix in the fact that this series is based on the conspiracy theory that Anastasia Romanoff survived makes it very unique. Personally, I wish that there were more books like this.
I would definitely recommend this book for those who are fans of Aurora Rising and of the Romanoff’s. Can’t wait to read the sequel!!!
May the stars keep us steady, and the iron keep us safe.”
Heart of iron by ashley poston, page 5
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