Heart of Iron (The Iron Kingdom, #1)

by Ashley Poston

[Amber]

Heart of Iron was weeeeird, you guys. On the one hand, I enjoyed the space chase storyline and the action at the beginning. It did a great job of hooking me in. On the other, there was a weird romance that I’m unsure about, and then the plot got worse as the book went on. I have such mixed feelings about this book!

The romance was one part that really threw me. One of the main romances was M/M (and also interspecies but w/e) and I quite liked it aside from how rushed it was. It definitely needed more build up, but I liked both of the characters well enough to roll with it. The second romance was between a robot and a human, and I was kind of like ?!?! through most of it. I’m really not sure how to feel.

I didn’t realise this was an Anastasia retelling IN SPACE until part way through the book, because I pay no attention to synopses. The references to the original cartoon were well done, and I liked that my favourite character of all time – and my first childhood crush – showed up in the end. You probably all know who I’m talking about.

Heart of Iron did, however, start to drag towards the end. The last third was very meh, and I started to get bored, because it took a completely different direction to the first part of the book.

I might continue on with this series if I hear good things about the second book, but right now I’m not very invested in any of the characters or the plot.