Mechanical Heart

Title: Mechanical Heart

Series: None (published as part of the Golden Braids collection)

Year: 2019

Author: Sarah Pennington

Summary: Can you save someone who doesn’t know if she’s alive?

Breen lives locked away, separated from the world by the walls of her clock tower and the machine of gems, gears, and magic that replaces her heart. That is, until an unexpected visitor appears in her tower, offering a dangerous gift: freedom. His promises awaken hope for a life unbound by the tower walls — but she knows that if he learns about her heart, it’s only a matter of time before he turns on her.

Josiah is powerless. Though he’s the crown prince of the mighty Chanian empire, he feels stifled by his inability to protect his people from the schemes of corrupt nobles. When he discovers a girl trapped in a locked clock tower, he thinks he’s finally found a problem he can solve . . . but more than just walls keep her captive.

From the royal palace to the streets of Rivenford to the tops of clock towers, secrets hide around every corner in this steampunk retelling of Rapunzel. Breen and Josiah hold the keys to each other's struggles — if they can break down the barriers that divide them.

Review: First off, this review is severely overdue. I was supposed to have it done and published back in August when the Golden Braids collection books were set for publication. Many apologies to the author!

But seriously, folks. The Golden Braids collection has some of the most unique Rapunzel stories I have ever read. Five different books, with five different perspectives on the classic tale, all by five different authors. You will not regret picking up any of these books. Add them at once to your TBR list.

This book. THIS BOOK. It's sooo hard to review because there's so much there. I mean, all the Golden Braids books were awesome, but I think this one nudges out the others for my favorite. Let me see if I can explain why. Wish me luck. I'm still kinda having mental repercussions from finishing it.

Breen is locked in a clock tower... but she enjoys her work there, cleaning the gears and making sure everything runs in tip-top shape. Besides, she could never venture out since society at large would consider her very existence an abomination; she will also be looked down on and be unable to communicate with everyone since she's deaf. And for the cherry on top, if she leaves the tower, she leaves behind her ability to live -- her mechanical heart runs on a magical crystal that won't last very long outside without being recharged. Madame Gottling may be hard on her, but her secluded life in the clock tower is the best thing for her.

Josiah is a prince who cares about solving people's problems. His days are mainly spent in the Senate, listening to the different arguments and laws and petitions and weighing in mightily with questions and research of his own. He takes a particular interest in how the people in his kingdom are treated. So, when he sees a lone figure silhouetted in the clock tower -- a place that should be off-limits to all people -- he decides to investigate. And he can't figure out why that lone person in the clock doesn't want to be rescued.

And from there, things only get more complicated. The Senate jumps into months of discussion surrounding the topic of blood alchemy. Illegal and mysterious, some claim that blood alchemy has the power to save lives. But that's only through a certain type of blood -- death blood, the blood taken from a dying body. Josiah is intrigued by the promises blood alchemy puts forward, but morally, is it the right choice for their kingdom to legalize the practice? If blood alchemy gets into the wrong hands, it could kill more innocent lives than it would save.

When I first started reading this book, I felt that I had opened a retelling of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, rather than a retelling of Rapunzel. Breen is, in some ways, a lot like Quasimodo. She's isolated in the tower, deafened by the bells, told she's an abomination, and likes watching the people live below the tower. She doesn't make friends easily, but once she's certain of their friendship, she's loyal to the bitter end. I don't know that I've ever read a book with a deaf heroine, but it fits so perfectly into this story. I really loved that angle.

If you read this book looking for the Rapunzel elements, you'll find them; if you read it without paying attention, you'll go right over them. They're definitely there (with the exception of the long hair; but we get a mechanical lift that's really cool instead), but they don't jump out into your face. Instead, Sarah wove them so seamlessly into the rest of the story.

The characters were so much fun to follow around in this story! Luis was fantastic, I adored Grace, and even Stephen made a small, heart-wrenching appearance from which I shall never recover. The sibling relationship between Josiah and Grace was super heartwarming; I love good sibling scenes like those! The evilness of Madame Gottling and her crew without seeming like it was a forced/sub-par wickedness -- wow.

I will admit that Breen got on my nerves a bit for the first half of the book, given her temperament towards Josiah. I know the her giving him permission to come visit made sense for the book, but to me, it just felt very annoying and rude on her part. Friends visit friends; that's how it works. But yes, I agree Josiah was pushy. He needed some boundaries; I just thought Breen and Grace took it a little too far. But that could be just me. I did like how we didn't have a huge, romantic angle as part of the main focus of the book. It gave the reader a lot more interest in what was going on to the world as a whole.

Which, yes, the world-building was amazing. I can't write a review of this without mentioning that. This is not a small, secluded kingdom we're talking about. Even just by reading this one book, we've got extensive glimpses into its past, its future, and how it interacts not only within its own borders but with the world around it.

For people not into a lot of politics talk, there are a lot of scenes in the Senate. It was fun to follow Josiah through the arguments and all, but I thought it was a lot of political talk to wade through. However, the blood alchemy is a huge part of the book, so I completely understand why those scenes are so important. The last scenes in the Senate were just golden; (no spoilers, but...) I love how our heroes got the last word.

Humor, political battles, daring steampunk, dark mysteries, tall towers, and epic adventures... there's just so much to love in this book. Seriously, if you haven't read it yet, you're sadly missing out on something spectacular. I just need to end my review here before I start writing another novel. Please just go read it.

Advisory: Some violence. Since the blood alchemists require "death blood" to practice, there are some descriptions of them killing people as well. Several injuries occur throughout the book, but I didn't think them terribly graphic. This may not be the best of books for a more squeamish reader, but it didn't bother me.

Some magic. The art was dubbed "magic" in the book, but to me it really just felt like an extended part of the steampunk aspect. The characters use a special kind of crystal that emits power for running things like machines and mechanical body organs. However, close quarters with a human body wears the crystal down until it needs to be recharged to be of use; recharging the crystal seemed to fall under the scope of the blood alchemy, as some of the death blood was necessary for the potion to recharge the crystal.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars