Iron Heart (Crier’s War #2)

Disclaimer: I bought this book! Support your authors! Book: Iron Heart Author: Nina Varela Book Series: Crier’s War Book 2 Rating: 4/5 Diversity: Sapphic romance! LGBT+ characters aplenty! Recommended For…: sci-fi, robots, romance, war Publication Date: September 8, 2020 Genre: YA Sci-Fi Recommended Age: 16+ (grief, sexual content, romance, violence, gore, PTSD) Publisher: HarperTeen Pages: 400 Synopsis: For too long the cruel, beautiful Automae have lorded over the kingdom of Rabu, oppressing the humans who live there. But the human revolution is on the rise, and at its heart is Ayla. Once handmaiden, now fugitive, Ayla escaped the palace of Lady Crier, the girl Ayla had planned to kill . . . but instead fell in love with. Now Ayla has pledged her allegiance to Queen Junn, whom she believes can accomplish the ultimate goal of the human rebellion: destroy the Iron Heart. Without it, the Automae will be weakened to the point of extinction. But playing at Ayla’s memory are the powerful feelings she developed for Crier. And unbeknownst to her, Crier has also fled the palace, taking up among travelling rebels, determined to find and protect Ayla. As their paths collide, neither are prepared for the dark secret underlying the Iron Heart. In this stunning sequel to acclaimed author Nina Varela’s Crier’s War, the love that launched a revolution must now pave the way for a whole new era . . . and the ultimate change of heart. Review: For the most part I really liked this story. I liked the plot and I really think this series is great if binged. The characters are well developed and the world building is great as well. However, I did think that this book suffered from second book syndrome. The story didn\’t feel as captivating as the first and since you\’re reading the book from the POV of Crier and Ayla, you don\’t get a lot of action in this book. The romance was also kinda short. Verdict: A great duology!

In this sequel to Crier’s War, we continue the journey of Ayla and Crier. Ayla has fled the palace after her attempt to take Crier’s life, and runs to Queen Junn in order to share what she knows of Kinok’s plan of the Iron Heart and the Anti Reliance Movement. Crier is still in Rabu’s palace awaiting her marriage to Kinok, but she is also aware of his plans and wishes to stop them as well. If you don’t remember all the details after the first book, the sequel does a wonderful job at summarizing it enough to jog your memory. The heart of the story is Ayla and Crier working to stop Kinok and fix the political issues between humans and Automae. It has some eerie similarities with current politics in the world today. You’ll really see the issues that the characters are trying to address and hope that they are able to succeed. Behind the external conflicts that are facing our main characters is the internal conflict of the romance between them. While Ayla and Crier may have initially been enemies, they have gotten to know each other personally in the first book. Here, they must work to admit their feelings and overcome the hurdle of a relationship between an Automae and a Human. Again, nothing is rushed here nor does it feel too slow. It ends up feeling like a very natural and organic relationship. It’s a nice cherry on top for a queer relationship in a world where gender doesn’t matter at all in relationships. If I have any complaints, it is that some of the new characters introduced in this sequel feel a little rushed and underdeveloped. I wasn’t really able to tell them all apart by the end of the novel, but there were not many of them. The novel still does a great job at painting Alya’s and Crier’s stories, and many returning characters from the first book are also well incorporated here. I think this is a great duology overall, and a prime example of why some YA trilogies should maybe just be duologies to avoid that “second book syndrome”.

God damnit she\’s done it again!!! My mind, blown. My heart, burst. I could not stop thinking about this book when I was forced to put it down for such meaningless things like sleep or work! This was everything I needed the second book to be, it was full on \’fight for what\’s right\’, \’fight for your girl\’ and \’fight for yourself\’! I hope this series continues, but Nina Varela is such an amazing and captivating writer that she could write me a to-do list and I\’d fall in love with it. The characters grew further than they did in the first book, no one was lost and the inclusion of the new characters weren\’t over the top. I cannot say how much I fell further in love with Ayla and Crier as characters. The small stories Crier tells I want as a standalone (get on that!), and the way she wrote this and I was surprised with how it went especially the last 100 pages when I had to text my friend in full gay-booknerd panic that I just had to continue and that \”I was dead\” the whole time through the sheer magic that was in these pages! Read the book, obsess over the characters, and reread it all over again like I\’m going to!

I got through this in a day. Like the first book, I couldn\’t put it down. I will say I was disappointed with the ending, but up to page 350, it was a roller coaster ride of energy. The reason I was disappointed with the ending was because it seemed rather deus ex machina and everything that came after that moment felt somewhat contrived and a bit of a cop out. If the event between 350 and 360 had not occurred and things had been different I\’d have given it a full 5 stars. I also expected a bit more of a confrontation at the end, or at least a bit more of a struggle considering everything that had come before it. However, I did enjoy the read. The worldbuilding and the characters are excellent and I\’ll try to not let my disappointment with the last 45 pages cloud my memory of the whole.

I liked the last book a lot, but sometimes it felt a bit clumsy. I think this one rises above that in most ways, and I look forward to reading this again in the future. As with Crier\’s War, the relationship between Ayla and Crier is the lifeblood of the book, the heartbeat. Valera is a master of writing romance, and I felt myself unable to put the book down quite often. My only gripe here is that the ending perhaps felt a little rushed, a little anticlimactic. Still, it is but one blemish on a book I have come to adore. Very much recommended.

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