#bonds of brass

[dontyoulistentome]

Reading the second Bloodright Trilogy book and I just know the Captive Prince girlies* would love Bonds of Brass

*gender neutral

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Book names + authors under the cut

KJ Brandman/Mac Coyle- Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan & Cliff Chiang

Ettian Nassun/Gal Ump Ember- Bonds of Brass/Bloodright Trilogy by Emily Skrutskie

Gideon Nav/Harrowhark Nonagesimus- The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir

Tennal Halkana/Surit Yeni- Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell

[livingstonegordo]

[haveyoureadthisqueerbook]

[theanonymousbooks]

Juat finished Bonds of Brass by Emily Skrutskie and I am gonna go FUCKING INSANE waiting for the other two books to come from a nieghbor county library. God it was SO FUCKING GOOD. I usualy steer clear of sci fi but I am so glad I picked this one up goooood I need to read the other two tonight I can make it work somehow if the library just works really hard I know it's 10 at night thats no excuse.

[cloudcover23]

Just finished reading (listening to) The Bloodright Trilogy by Emily @skrutskie and it was SO FUN and I’m miffed!

Yes!

Absolutely miffed!

That there isn’t more chatter about it here.

It’s one of those sci-fi/fantasy universes where queerness is a totally normal accepted thing.

The best-written trans man I’ve ever read. The fact that he’s trans doesn’t even come up because there are no outright sexy scenes (NUMEROUS innuendos and implied sexyness? Oh. Hell yah). I’m only sure he was from little snippets and my own experience being one.

It’s got roommates to lovers (omg they were ROOMMATES)

Super exciting action scenes.

Secret, covert plans within plans inside a plan sandwich.

Some really cute “we know we both like eachother but we shouldn’t be together, and now we have to pretend to be together but we aren’t, and now we have to pretend we’re NOT together but we are” shit without too much angst.

I love how the author wrote the characters. Everyone’s motives and thoughts and actions make complete sense given a character’s personality and history, and it’s an incredibly colorful cast.

There are some really excellent character arcs.

Really good fun sci-fi action adventure shit without getting too into hard sci-fi territory.

Politicking and plotting and strategizing.

A bit of graphic violence. Not gonna lie. Just a smidge.

Uhhhgggg someone please read these and come yell with me. The audio books were really good too. Well, the first was hands down one of the best audio books I’ve ever heard. The second was not as good. The third was good and had 4 different narrators. You can listen to them for free on Libby if you have a library card.

[haveyoureadthisscifibook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Bonds of Brass | Author: Emily Skrutskie | Publisher: Del Rey Books (2020)

[wigglybug]

  fanart for @skrutskie‘s book cause i enjoyed it very much!

[skrutskie]

BONDS OF BRASS is on sale! Grab the ebook of the first book in the Bloodright Trilogy for just $2.99 from your preferred retailer before it's too late!

A young pilot risks everything to save his best friend—the man he trusts most and might even love—only to learn that his friend is secretly the heir to a brutal galactic empire.

Ettian’s life was shattered when the merciless Umber Empire invaded his world. He’s spent seven years putting himself back together under its rule, joining an Umber military academy and becoming the best pilot in his class. Even better, he’s met Gal—his exasperating and infuriatingly enticing roommate who’s made the academy feel like a new home.

But when dozens of classmates spring an assassination plot on Gal, a devastating secret comes to light: Gal is the heir to the Umber Empire. Ettian barely manages to save his best friend and flee the compromised academy unscathed, rattled that Gal stands to inherit the empire that broke him, and that there are still people willing to fight back against Umber rule.

As they piece together a way to deliver Gal safely to his throne, Ettian finds himself torn in half by an impossible choice. Does he save the man who’s won his heart and trust that Gal’s goodness could transform the empire? Or does he throw his lot in with the brewing rebellion and fight to take back what’s rightfully theirs?

[aurorawest]

Reading update:

What can I say that I haven’t already said about this trilogy? I loved the conclusion. I loved the casual queerness, I loved the politics of the world, I loved El and Liesel and Aad. I don’t want to spoil anything because there was a pretty excellent OH SHIT moment.

This was a weird read because I loved the characters and the premise. The beginning was great. But the middle just dragged a bit. I think I still rated it like 4.75 stars because I was able to forgive the draggy middle. Unfortunately I spoiled myself about the big twist, but tbh I had kind of wondered if that’s where it was going. Good read, excited for the second one. I actually almost moved it up in my TBR pile but decided I should probably read the literature that was next in the pile...

And okay you know what, this book was incredible. Gorgeous, aching, gutting. The intersection of immigration, the opioid crisis, and queerness was beautifully portrayed. Should be required reading.

This is one of those romances that was just...fine. I do like the small town romance trope, and I enjoyed the second book in this series well enough (The Beautiful Things Shoppe). In some ways I probably preferred this one. My main complaints are, 1. Stover’s prose, and particularly his dialogue, feels stilted most of the time, and 2. this book contained the worst description of an orgasm I have ever read in my entire life.

Currently reading:

SFF short story collection with queer characters. Pretty much every story has been very good. I just read Tamsyn Muir’s contribution.

ADJF;AKJFK;AJDF;AKDFKDAJ;F can I marry a book? Is that possible? Can I marry this book? Look, I loved Winter’s Orbit—I’ve recommended it to pretty much everyone I know who I think might even vaguely be interested in it—but I think I might love Ocean’s Echo even more. I LOVE Tennal. I LOVE Surit. I love their just barely budding relationship (I just finished part 1). This book is SO FUNNY too. How is it fair that it has great world building, wonderful characters, emotional depth, and it’s funny? Everina Maxwell is my hero.

I’m actually trying to savor this one instead of racing through it. We’ll see how well I do with that.

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Character, book, and author names under the cut

Zurah Saint Joseph- The Tarot Sequence by KD Edwards

Ettian Nassun- Bonds of Brass by Emily Skrutskie

Zhao Yunlan- Guardian / Zhen Hun by Priest

Blue- This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone & Amal El-Mohtar

[bran-writes]

Reading Now

So, I just bought Bonds of Brass and started it. I'm only a few chapters in but it's good so far!

And right in the chute after that is Gearbreakers... Look at that cover tho

[dontyoulistentome]

Can we talk about how Gal's panic attacks aren't This Whole Thing that make him Extra Tragic or anything. They're just there and he has the bestest friends in the galaxy to bring him down from them

[madlovenovelist]

Book Review – ‘Vows of Empire’ (#3 The Bloodright Trilogy) by Emily Skrutskie

Two leaders facing off against each other in a war… but can their love for each other fix it all? Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Romance, LGBT+ No. of pages: 288 Gal and Ettian have never been farther apart. Once, they were roommates and best friends, each suffocating under a secret of galactic consequence. When Gal’s came to light—that he was heir to the Umber Empire and all of its brutal…

[theanonymousbooks]

I need to crack open Gal empUmber's head and rotate his brain in my hands. You know that thing is cranking out such stupid little thoughts 24/7 I NEED a front row seat to the fucking calaminty that is his mind.