Seventeen-year-old Ana was found as a child, drifting through space with a sentient android (robot) called D09. They were saved by a fearsome space captain (pirate?) and the crew she now calls family. But D09 has been glitching, and Ana will stop at nothing to find a way to fix him… oh and did I mention he was illegal?

In her desperate effort to save D09, she is 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?

 

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I want to start off saying that I received this book in the March 2018 Owlcrate box (that my sister ordered me for my birthday); it’s a special edition, basically meaning it is signed by the author and has different cover art than the one released to the public…. but I love the kick-ass purple lined pages.

Anyways, Heart of Iron is an Anastasia retelling (shocking, another retelling), set in space. The human/robot romance kind of threw me off, it was just a little out there, but hey, to each their own.

Let’s start with Ana:

One of our main characters. She is kind of boring… a little flat. But she is still likeable in her own way. You can see her grow as the book progresses, little by little.

D09:

Also know as Di, he is Ana’s best friend and the love of her life. Their romance is this cute little budding flower, that I was so against in the beginning. It grew on me though. He was humanoid in the beginning and I loved reading his reactions to emotions and senses. His dry humor was great too.

The Ironblood, Robb:

He was acting out, more than likely due to.his fathers strange disappearance and more than likely death. Trying to live up to his family name and his mothers expectations. He grows a lot in the book, I hope to see more of him.

Jax:

Our last main character. He wasn’t one of my favorites, despite popular opinion. Yes. He was an awesome Pilot, but he was scared of himself. And oh so very hidden. I hope to see him progress more.

***

There are so many questions unanswered. I’m not sure if the author didn’t take the time to wrote it, or if she perhaps is going to do flash backs in the future.

I was super confused in the beginning, like the author wanted there to be a the triangle (or something) between Jax, Ana, and Di, but changed her mind a few chapters later.

The author touches on LGBT+, as well as “human rights,” and the like.

I’m not a big fan of books that change POV between more than a few people, but it worked a bit in the case.

Ugh, and damn that ending…

There were some spelling and grammar errors, I held that against the author.

Other than that, it’s totally worth the read and I look forward to book two.

I rated the book four stars.

-C