Godolia spreads their tyrannical rule with
Windups, enormous, mechanized weapons. They are opposed by the Gearbreakers, a group of rebels skilled at destroying Windups from the inside. Eris Shindanai, a Gearbreaker, is captured by Godolia. She meets Sona Steelcrest, a Windup pilot who secretly wants vengeance on Godolia. Together, they have a shot at ending Godolia's reign for good. This book by Zoe Hana Mikuta was published in 2021. A sequel was published called
Godslayers.
This book contains examples of:
- Aerith and Bob: Characters with names like Bellsona and Nyla sit right next Jenny and Victoria.
- Artificial Limbs: In the second book, Eris loses a hand and gets it replaced with a metal one.
- Battle Couple: Both Eris and Sona, and Jenny and Zamaya.
- Beta Couple: While there were hints they were together in book 1, in book 2 Jenny and Zamaya form a contrast to Eris and Sona often having romantic moments that are only glimpsed due to the limited POV, such as when Jenny and Zamaya have a romantic reunion after Jenny is rescued, while Eris is too focused on rescuing Sona.
- Blasphemous Boast: When Jenny threatens a Godolia technician and he mentions the Zenith, Jenny tells him that "the only God in this room is [her]".
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Sona is recaptured by Godolia and brainwashed into seeing the Gearbreakers as her enemies. She eventually breaks free of this in the second book.
- Cast Full of Gay: Eris, Sona, Jenny, Zamaya and Victoria are all interested in other women, while June and Arsen are both ace.
- Child Soldiers: The Gearbreakers start fighting Windups when they turn ten.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: The books are full of them, but special mention goes to June dying from a poison gas attack and Nyla getting her skull beaten in by Sona in retribution.
- Cyborg: The Windup pilots are cybernetically enhanced to connect to their mechas.
- Dead Guy on Display:
- At a ball Enyo hosts, the corpses of captured Gearbreakers hang from the trees to show what happens to those who resist Godolia.
- After killing Voxter, Jenny dismembers him and leaves pieces of him in felled Windups for the Pilots to find.
- Demolitions Expert: Arsen is the one who makes bombs for the Gearbreakers.
- Driven to Suicide: Enyo throws himself out the window of his office near the top of a skyscraper when Sona comes to take him away from being a Zenith, unable to live with what he's done as a Zenith.
- Electronic Eyes: Many of the Windup Pilots have these. Sona's left eye is artificial.
- Fake Defector: Nyla appears to have defected from Godolia to join the Gearbreakers, but is actually still working for Godolia.
- Feel No Pain: The Pilots no longer feel pain after their enhancements.
- First Church of Mecha: Many people, called Mechvespers, worship the Windups as representatives of the gods.
- Humongous Mecha: The Windups are huge mecha that Godolia uses to enforce their rule.
- In-Series Nickname: Eris takes to calling Sona "Glitch".
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: After Sona joins the Gearbreakers, Milo and Voxtor still call her 'it', not considering her to be fully human.
- La Résistance: The Gearbreakers resist Godolia's rule.
- Masquerade Ball: The second book has Enyo host a masquerade ball, which the Gearbreakers sneak into in an attempt to rescue Sona.
- The Mole:
- Voxter gives information to Godolia, having previously made a deal not to seriously threaten them.
- In the second book, Nyla is a spy for Godolia.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Zamaya often acts extremely detached, even when being affectionate with her girlfriend, so the moments where she openly worries over Jenny come across as significant
- Pass the Popcorn: The Gearbreakers' meetings get very heated, to the point that Eris' crew watches them with popcorn.
- Power Fist: Eris' cryo gloves can freeze metal, and Jenny's gloves shoot magma serum.
- Red Baron: Eris is also known as Frostbringer, while her sister Jenny carries the nickname Starbreach.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Eris is brash and hot-tempered, while Sona is calmer and more thoughtful.
- Rescue Romance: Sona and Eris meet when Sona rescues Eris from captivity and they slowly fall in love over the course of the first book.
- Resistance as Planned: Voxter made a deal with Godolia for the Gearbreakers to only take down nonessential Windups without posing a real threat, giving the people false hope. He later informs Godolia about the Gearbreakers' location when they come up with a plan that has a serious chance of ending their rule.
- Romantic False Lead: When the story starts, Eris is casually dating Milo, although he's clearly more into the relationship than she is. His inability to accept Sona as part of the team eventually drives them apart and then he is kicked off the team after trying to kill her. Eris eventually notes that her relationship with him was less healthy than her relationship with Sona.
- Sacrificial Lion: In book 1, Milo is a major character who is initially in a relationship of convenience with Eris and repeatedly tries to kill Sona. In book 2 he gets a brief cameo and then his body shows up as part of a display of Gearbreaker corpses at the Masquerade Ball.
- Shoot the Dog:
- During their escape from Godolia, Sona is forced to kill Rose.
- In Godslayers, the Gearbreakers kill two Mechvesper civilians in the process of sneaking onto a ferry for a rescue mission.
- Significant Name Shift: One of the main signs that Sona in book 2 is not herself is that her POV chapters are titled Bellsona, her full name which she dislikes going by. Once she shakes off the brainwashing they return to being titled Sona.
- Speculative Fiction LGBT: Gay relationships (such as between Sona and Eris or Jenny and Zamaya) are normal enough to go without comment and even an ace couple being ace is only brought up to point out that they're not likely to have an accidental pregnancy.
- The Password Is Always "Swordfish": Enyo's password to activate the system that kills any and all of the pilots in their Windups is a letter to number cypher of Eris' name, which he reveals to her cryptically in a letter he sent via Nyla. Sona speculates that this is because he knew that Eris was why his brainwashing didn't work.
