I first heard about Ashley Poston's Heart of Iron on YouTube, and it immediately caught my interest. A retelling of Anastasia set in space? Yes, please. I have very fond memories of watching the animated Anastasia film over and over again as a kid. I knew all the songs by heart and Anastasia and Dmitri were one of my first ships. My love for the movie hasn't exactly waned as I've gotten older either. I've been to see the Broadway musical in the theater twice over the past few years. Getting a chance to read a science fiction version of this story sounded amazing to me, so I started off my reading with incredibly high hopes.
The novel is split between four different narrators. The first, Ana, is an orphaned young woman with a mysterious past. She was found floating through space in an escape pod as a child by the fearsome pirate Captain Siege, and has been raised by the crew of that pirate ship ever since. She's a pirate herself now, and zips all around the galaxy helping out on dangerous jobs. Some troubling circumstances have given her a job of her own to do now though. Her trusty robot companion, D09 (or Di), who accompanied her in her escape pod as a child, is malfunctioning. She needs to find parts to repair him before he breaks completely and she loses her oldest friend.
The second narrator is Di, Ana's robot friend. Even though he is all metal and computer chips, he seems to be developing the capacity to feel emotions. He is hopelessly in love with Ana and would follow her anywhere, but he hates the idea of her putting herself into danger looking for parts to repair him.
The third narrator is Jax, pilot of Captain Siege's ship. He is a Solani, a race of beings with a close connection to the stars and the ability to see visions of the future. He has a knack for getting the crew through all sorts of dangerous situations with his clever flying skills, and is game for helping Ana with her mission to repair Di.
The final narrator is Robb, a rich teenage noble (known as Ironbloods in this universe). He doesn't fit in with the rest of his family, who are constantly scheming to secure greater political power in their star system. His father has recently passed away in a robot rebellion that also killed off the entire royal family, but he suspects that there is more going on behind the death than the official reports state. He wants to investigate exactly what happened the night of the rebellion, and holds out hope that he will be able to find his father alive somehow.
As the story progresses, all four of these characters come together and are drawn into a deadly political plot with grave consequences for anyone who tries to disrupt the plans of the powerful Ironbloods that control the government. The future of their world is at stake, and Ana's past , Di's faulty memory core, Robb's father, and Jax's ability to read the stars all combine to set our characters on a path towards either saving their kingdom, or watching it fall to ruin.
Overall, this story wasn't terrible, but it wasn't fantastic either. I thought that all of the characters were fairly likable and their narrative voices felt distinct from each other. Each of them had interesting moments and the constant switching between their perspectives helped keep the plot moving. My favorite voice by far was Di though, so I was always impatient to get back to his part of the story. The action sequences were appropriately exciting, especially at the beginning of the story when the plot was more swashbuckling than political. I enjoyed the romantic relationships throughout the story too (except for one really awkward element that I will get into later), and the diversity present in the cast of characters was truly great. The characters are, by far, the best thing about this novel.
Where the story let me down was the world building and plot. The way the world worked and how futuristic technology functioned within it was never fully explained. Things would be mentioned but left hazy, like how the Solani are unable to lie, for example, or the idea of people making unbreakable vows on "iron and stars." How do these things work? Why? We never find out. The background of the planets involved in the story are never really fleshed out and the plot points surrounding what exactly Metals (robots) are and how they work is left confusing as well--and this is a majorly important element of the story. The reveals that happen towards the end of the book didn't hit me as hard as they were meant to because I never fully understood how anything worked. The stakes don't feel high when you have only the vaguest idea of what is going on.
**Spoilers in the next paragraph**
The awkward bit that I referred to earlier cast a weird shadow on one of the relationships in the novel for me as well. Throughout the story, Ana and Di have a romantic relationship building up. I thought that idea of a romance between a human and a robot was really interesting, and I was enjoying it for most of the story. However, close to the end of the book it is revealed that Di was originally the personal robot assigned to serve Ana's birth family. He cared for her when she was a child and was the one who saved her life by escaping with her in the escape pod she was eventually found in. They refer to her sitting on his lap while he brushes her hair, telling her bedtime stories, etc. Now he has all these romantic feelings for her and it just seems...kind of wrong. It's like if Rosie from The Jetsons fell in love with Elroy. I couldn't feel the same about their relationship after learning that.
**End of spoilers**
I think the most frustrating part of the novel though was the fact that it ends on a real cliffhanger. It's not even one of those endings that can serve as a mini-ending and feel satisfying in and of itself. This is only half of a story, and I didn't like it enough to give it another 400 pages worth of my attention. I guess I'll never know how the story ends, although honestly it's not too hard to guess. I've been saying this a lot lately when it comes to my young adult reading selections, but this story really wasn't for me. Again, it's probably fine for its intended audience. Could I possibly be growing out of this genre? I've been reading young adult fiction since I was...well...a young adult. I'm definitely not that anymore. It's something to think about, anyway. In any case, this is another book I can safely donate to my classroom library and clear a little more shelf space with.
Challenge Tally
Clear the Shelves 2021: 22/50 (donate)
Total Books Read in 2021: 45
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