Heart of Iron (The Iron Kingdom, #1)

by Ashley Poston

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.

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?

• ISBN13: 9780062652850
• Publish Date: 27 February 2018
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 480
• Language: English

Reviews

[Nessa Luna]

An Anastasia retelling, in space? Sign me UP! I love it when books are surprising, and Heart of Iron was certainly a surprising book. It went in a way I had not expected it would go and that made me enjoy it just a bit more. For a moment, about halfway through, I was afraid it was going to disappoint because Ana got revealed as being the lost heir already, I had not expected that to happen until the end but the story picked up SO MUCH after this.

I loved all the characters (especially Jax and Robb), I loved the relationships, and I really loved the Anastasia/Romanov influences throughout the story. If you loved the animated movie and if you love reading about the actual Romanovs, I recommend you try this book out!

DNF. Predictable. Just didn’t really care. Put it down and never picked up again (and I just can’t seem to make myself try). Got about halfway through.

[bgsbooks18]

I really enjoyed this book. It has given me a new out look on SiFi books. It had a few parts in the book that I would have never guessed. I look forward to reading the next book. I would highly recommended If you want to get into SiFi books.

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

I have really mixed feelings about Heart of Iron. As an Anastasia retelling, I thought it did an excellent job, but it comes back again to romantic relationships muddling up the plot. This is a huge pet peeve of mine and while it's more common in YA, it happens in adult novels as well. In the case of Heart of Iron, the twist at the end relied on a romantic relationship that had a good foundation, but developed in such a clunky way that I wasn't feeling it at all. Because the story relied so much on this relationship, I found my interest waning from time to time.

On the other hand, behind one odd relationship and another instalove one, there was a really interesting story here, and it kept me reading. The world building is really great and left me wanting more. We see bits and pieces of a space pirate's life, and a smattering of life in the Royal Palace, but not nearly enough to satiate. It's possible these settings and the political and cultural backgrounds will be more fleshed out in the second book - or, at least, I hope so, because these were my favorite parts. I feel like the history of this world and what happened during the Plague offers a whole story in itself, and that's what I'd like to see.

I think Heart of Iron will appeal to the general YA audience, complete with its mushy love story, dire betrayal, and swashbuckling infiltrations. I think Ashley Poston has a lot to offer this genre... I just want to see MORE of the things she didn't give us... and maybe fewer feelings?

[emruth13]

I really enjoyed this book! I did forget it was described as "Anastasia in Space!" but quickly figured out what the deal with Ana was. I loved the different POVs and was engrossed by the end. I can't wait for the next book to see how they deal with everything!

[alisoninbookland]

😬😐😬

This is such a beautiful looking book. I was hoping the story would live up to the cover but alas not. First of all, there were a crazy amount of typos in this book. Not sure if it was the Owlcrate version or the book but it was annoying to come across so many. The story had way too many narrators for my taste. I didn't enjoy jumping around between the main 4. It made it too difficult to connect with anyone. The characters felt shallow. I didn't really get to know them. The bare bones of the story were entertaining enough. I could pick out the pieces of Anastasia. Ultimately underwhelming and I've read better AI/human ~romances~ this year.

For more reviews and bookish adventures, stop by Alison In Bookland.

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
2.5*

This one was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I didn't dislike it or anything, but neither was I particularly eager to pick it back up. This is going to be one of those dreaded "meh" reviews where I flat out just don't have a lot to say about it either way. But I'll try! 

It did have some positives, of course. I enjoyed the relationships in the book. There were two main relationships, and I was quite invested in both. The characters were pleasant enough. I didn't quite fall in love with them, but they were certainly enough for me to root for and care about their outcome. I think that is kind of the overall theme for me: Everything was fine, there was nothing that made me hate it; there just wasn't anything that made me love it either. I did like that there were a lot of diverse elements weaved into the story; that was most definitely a major win! 

The world building was a bit lacking, and I didn't fully understand the dynamics. But really I think my main complaint was that it all felt so very predictable. I was never really wondering what was coming next because I felt like I knew already. As such, the stakes didn't feel terribly high, and nothing was really compelling me to keep reading. 

Will I Read the Sequel? Yeah, probably not. I mean, just too many books, too little time. I bet the cover will be gorgeous though. And if I see good reviews, I suppose my mind could be changed. So... maybe but leaning toward no. 

Bottom Line: Though not a bad book, just simply not enough to hold my interest. If you are a space fan (especially with royalty involved!) it could be worth a go! 

[paperbackjedi]

3.5

[Stephanie]

#BAESINSPACE! No, but seriously. I loved all those little points of view. I loved Di and Jax. Ana and Robb. I loved cinnamon roll AI units and rich sheltered boys who had something to prove to their crappy families. I loved the kickass orphan with a gun and the no touching! space pilots. While I waffled a little in the middle (it is Anastasia in Space and you knew the secrets, kinda, and the bad guys, kinda) the end was pretty great. Next one, please.

[Ashley]

Actual rating: 3.5.

I was actually fully prepared to give this 4 stars because I enjoyed it a lot, but then I didn't like how things turned up in the end. I really didn't like who turned into a bad guy.

Ending spoiler:

Ana is in love with a robot, D09 and he totally loves her too. In the end though, he gets a virus that turns him into a bad guy. He ends up stabbing Ana (though not fatally) and is installed as the new emperor. So the robot she loves becomes the bad guy who they're clearly going to need to fight in the next book. Ugh. Do not like.

I LOVED the Anastasia angle though. That was one of my favourite parts. Because you know it's Anastasia-esque it's pretty predictable, but I loved it anyway.

There was some awesome LGBT+ in this book.

- Main girl character loves a robot.
- Main guy character is gay and falls in love with the other guy character (who isn't quite human).
- Main girl's surrogate mother is married to a woman.

Also, heads up: this is clearly book #1 in a series.