Aisha and Key are from opposite ends of the fleet, but when they both wake up from surgery as Scela, cyborg soldiers, they’re equal for the first time. All Scela are tools of the General Body, whether they’re from the frontend or the backend—though they’re almost always from the back end. Take Aisha, who took the metal to protect her younger siblings. Or Woojin who was given the choice of becoming Scela or a life in prison. Or even Praava, who wanted to use the salary to help support her sister’s important scientific discoveries. Everyone who becomes Scela has one thing in common: desperation. Everyone… except for Key. Key can’t remember why she took the metal. She has holes—holes in her memory and holes in who she is. Discovering the secrets those holes hide could prove disastrous, especially with the Factionists growing increasingly violent as they try to split the fleet. And the General Body has secrets of their own, secrets not just about Key, but about the entire fleet. Secrets that could change the entire course of human history. 

This is exactly the kind of sci-fi book I want to read. Really thoughtful worldbuilding that explores how humanity would adapt to living in space for hundreds of years on a quest to find a habitable planet, how social strata might develop throughout the fleet, how instability in the population could throw things off balance. Add in some political intrigue, government conspiracies, cyborg super soldiers, spaceships, and unlikely friendships and I’m just completely on board. 

This book has lots of body horror, be warned. The two main characters are both recently created Scela, humans heavily modified and combined with machinery to create cyborg soldiers. The disconnect between their former humanness and their new otherness as well as the adjustment to this new way of being are both really important part of the book. 

Overall? Just really good sci-fi. Pretty exciting from start to finish and it didn’t take me long at all to become invested in these characters and their story. I definitely recommend it for fans of spacefaring science fiction.

I had high hopes for Hullmetal Girls by Emily Skrutskie. There were quite a few good things about it, but it ultimately did not work for me.

[su_quote style="modern-orange" cite="Goodreads" url=”https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33382313-hullmetal-girls?ac=1&from_search=true"]

Aisha Un-Haad would do anything for her family. When her brother contracts a plague, she knows her janitor's salary isn't enough to fund his treatment. So she volunteers to become a Scela, a mechanically enhanced soldier sworn to protect and serve the governing body of the Fleet, the collective of starships they call home. If Aisha can survive the harrowing modifications and earn an elite place in the Scela ranks, she may be able to save her brother.

Key Tanaka awakens in a Scela body with only hazy memories of her life before. She knows she's from the privileged end of the Fleet, but she has no recollection of why she chose to give up a life of luxury to become a hulking cyborg soldier. If she can make it through the training, she might have a shot at recovering her missing past.

In a unit of new recruits vying for top placement, Aisha's and Key's paths collide, and the two must learn to work together--a tall order for girls from opposite ends of the Fleet. But a rebellion is stirring, pitting those who yearn for independence from the Fleet against a government struggling to maintain unity.

With violence brewing and dark secrets surfacing, Aisha and Key find themselves questioning their loyalties. They will have to put aside their differences, though, if they want to keep humanity from tearing itself apart.

[/su_quote]

I received an eARC of Hullmetal Girls via Netgalley, courtesy of Delacorte, in exchange for an honest review. 
When I heard about Hullmetal Girls, I was thrilled. I love queer military science fiction, and this was advertised as having an aroace character and a trans character.

I loved the world that Hullmetal Girls was set in. As you read, you can tell that Skrutskie put a lot of thought into the world surrounding the main characters. There were a few things that I wish were explained a little bit better - like what exactly the dyeworks were and why they were so dangerous - but overall, I enjoyed the worldbuilding. I loved the idea of the Scela and why they existed in this story.

This needs a content warning for outing without consent through a neural network, major surgery, loss of control of bodies, anti-Islamic-like religion statements, body horror, sibling death, terminal illness, and an aroace character witnessing memories of sex through a neural network.

I thought that everything was too easy for most of the characters. None of them really had any agency of their ownThe plot was something that science fiction and dystopian novel readers will be very familiar with, and I thought Skrutskie skipped the best part of the novel at the end when she jumped to the epilogue.

I really think where this book really failed was its queer representation. One of the female squad members is described as having XY chromosomes, but it's never touched on again.  Aisha Un Haad, one of our two point of view characters, is aroace. However, the only time it's mentioned is after she stumbles into two of her squad mates' memories of having sex through the neural network that they share, which several aroace reviewers have mentioned as being very triggering and reminiscent of corrective rape. That's when one of those squad mates comes out as pansexual. That's also never mentioned again.

Hullmetal Girls takes place mostly within its character's heads. I felt that we really should have seen a little bit more of the attraction or anything like that.

Consent is a huge theme in this book, thanks to all of the characters being in each other's thoughts and memories, so I understand what Skrutskie was aiming for here. However, I don't think those particular moments really worked in this story. It felt to me that Skrutskie was trying to make it clear that their queerness wasn't a problem in this world. I think she just took it too far and it wound up being entirely inconsequential, making those scenes feel pointless.

If she had taken more time with these moments and really unpacked them, or dealt with them later on in the story, it would have worked a lot better.

Overall, this book just didn't work for me. If you want some queer military science fiction, I would recommend Yoon Ha Lee's Ninefox Gambit trilogy.

[su_box title="ABOUT *BOOK TITLE*" style="default" box_color="#ff4400" title_color="#f2f2f2" radius="3" class=""]

Title: Hullmetal Girls

Author: Emily Skrutskie

Publisher: Delacorte

Length: 320 Pages

Release Date: July 17, 2018

Rating: ★★ / Two stars

Genre: Military Science Fiction

Representation: hijabi main character, aroace main character, pansexual side character, asian main character, trans side character

[/su_box]



Want to help support Let's Fox About It and help it go ad-free? Subscribe to our Patreon!

Disclaimer: All links to Indiebound and Amazon are affiliate links. If you buy through those links, LFAI will make a small amount of money off of the sale.

5 of 5 stars
This book is a phenomenal addition to Skrutskie’s works and sci-fi as a whole. The two main characters are Aisha, a futuristic-Muslim girl who becomes a government controlled cyborg to save her siblings, and Key, a girl from the upper tiers of society with no memories as to how she came to this life. There’s mystery, there’s action, there’s a corrupt political system, and all of these things come together to make a phenomenal plot. 

There were many things I loved about this book. I love how casually queerness is handled. I appreciate that Skrutskie used a blend of saying identifying words (Aisha states that she’s aroace) and allowing queerness to simply exist (Praava, another Scela on their team, is trans without it ever being directly stated). I loved how Key’s and Aisha’s stories move apart and come together over the course of the book. I enjoyed that Praava and Woojin round out their Scela team without feeling unnecessary or two-dimensional. The relationship among these four newly-made Scela is wonderful and makes me happy; what can I say, I love a good squad. 

Most importantly, the majority of the main characters are women and none of their roles are dependent on male characters. In a genre where it’s just as normal for this to be true as it is for it to be untrue I deeply appreciate Skrutskie’s inclusion of well written cis and trans women in her world. It may be a low bar to hope sci-fi writers will overcome but until more writers meet these expectations I will continue celebrating those that do. 

One small disappointment I had was the cover art. On the team of 4 Scela that make up the main characters, I believe Key is the only one that is white and hers is the only face visible on the cover. I’m also not positive that the trans rep will work for everyone (though to be fair, no one rep will work for everyone in a community). The references to Praava’s identity are casual enough that if you aren’t familiar with some common trans terms (like dysphoria or hormone therapy) you might miss it altogether. There are pros and cons to this method of representation and both sides should be considered when talking about this aspect of the book. 

Even with my small issues, I still give this book an enthusiastic 5 out of 5 stars. It is everything I want out of sci-fi books. I would recommend it for folks who are looking for a revolutionary dystopia (think Hunger Games or Divergent) but in space and without a significant romantic subplot. Though I haven’t heard anything about a sequel, I hope Skrutskie continues to write about characters in this world.

“An electric buzz settles into my skull, comforting and cradling, and I feel my heartbeat slow. This is right. This is what a Scela is meant to be. A living weapon, a replacement for the ancient guns that blew holes in the hulls of ships we lost so long ago that their names are no longer taught. We’re more elegant weapons. More civilized. Less clumsy or random. We’re built with the strength to hold this Fleet together.
For the first time in two weeks, I’m proud of what I am.”


It’s been 301 years since the Fleet left Earth to find a new planet. In that time, seven tiers of ships have emerged, originally divided by functions but now basically a caste system, with the First District holding the seat of government and the Seventh having Dickensian manufacturing ships, child labor and all. Naturally, with a system like that, you’re going to have some unhappy with the status quo: the Fractionists, who believe that separating the Fleet into smaller groups will help them find a habitable planet sooner. Lately, the Fractionists have gotten rowdier, and have led to a recruitment drive for the Scela, the surgically modified peacekeeping force for the Fleet. Out of dozens of applicants, only four survive the surgery, including our two teen protagonists: Key, a First District girl who has giant holes in her memory, the largest being why she decided to sign up, and Aisha, a Seventh District girl who signed up to buy a better life for her sister and ill brother. Things are not quite what they seem (are they ever?), and soon the fate of the Fleet is in their hands. Can they overcome their differences and work together?

“A grin breaks over my face, uncontrollably wide thanks to the augmentations. I can do this. I can command my body, be the perfect tool I was sculpted into, earn my place in the Scela ranks. I can carry the weight of the exo on my back—it’s nothing compared to what I’ve borne already.
I may not be a useful Scela yet. But I will be damned if I’m not a useful sister.”


One of the surprising – and enjoyable – part of the books is that the main focus is not on a romance, but on the friendship between the two teen girls. To start off with, the characters are a bit hard to like. Aisha is (understandably) so obsessed with her brother and sister that there’s not a lot else to her character. Key is a snotty snobby teen who basically thinks herself better than everyone else, especially the Fractionist hoi pollloi (the big reveal of who she actually is will probably not be a surprise to anyone).

The part that worked best for me was the bit of sci-fi horror mixed in. I feel like I’ve read a lot of scifi involving enhanced soldiers, but it seems like most of them can “pass” for normal humans. Scela soldiers, however, can’t be mistaken for anything else, even out of their mech armor, and part of the integration is a sort of AI mind that helps them control the new tech embedded in their bones. In addition, each team can be connected through an exosystem, which transmits some of their thoughts and strong feelings to the others. Through willpower, one of the team could seize control of the others, and, in fact, on missions the team is usually controlled by a higher level person’s orders. There were thought-provoking issues of consent here, one of the major ones being the characters’ sexuality. Aisha is aroace, Woojin is pan, Praava is trans hetero and Key has so many holes in her memory it’s just one thing she can’t remember. While these labels are mentioned, I didn’t really feel like they had any effect on the overall story, and the way in which they come out (the characters are forcibly outed due to the effects of the exosystem) left a bad taste in my mouth. As another issue of representation, Aisha follows the Muslim-esque Ledic religion. Before the Scela surgery, she wore a headscarf and regularly attended temple, and she still prays. One of the Ledic tenets is that they believe that through traveling they will earn a new home, and that God’s promised a planet for them. I’m not Muslim, so I can’t speak to how well most of it was handled, but several team members are dismissive of her beliefs, with Key being especially nasty.

As for the rest of the story, I liked several secondary characters (Aisha’s siblings, Zaire the dock worker, and Marshall Jesuit are the top of my list) and though I thought the plot was predictable, the pacing and overall tension were good. Overall, while I liked the book, I have concerns about some of the representation, so I’d probably give it 3.5 stars, rounding up to 4.

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Hullmetal Girls is a YA science fiction story set in the future. Earth is no longer habitable and humans have taken to the stars, flying in a fleet of ships through space looking for another planet to call home. But it’s been 300 years and still they’ve found nothing. The governing body uses Scela, mechanically enhanced humans as their super soldiers, keeping the people of the fleet in line. The story is told from the perspective of two newly modified Scela, Key Tanaka & Aisha Un-Haad. The two girls couldn’t be more different, but in order for each of them to succeed, both as new Scela and in their own personal agendas, they must learn to work together in their new bodies.

I really, really enjoyed this book. The more sci-fi I read, the more I realize it is one of my favorite genres. I love the spaceships and action and the complicated underlying themes. Not to mention the fantastic characters and the relationships that play out between them.

I included a trigger warning above for body horror. The scenes did not bother me, but I could see where it may be a bit disturbing to others. That said though, I think this allows the author to explore some important issues. What does it mean to be human? Does body modification make someone less human?

And how far are you willing to go to help your family? There are lots of family themes in this book as well. Both the traditional type and found family, which is my favorite. I thoroughly enjoyed this read and am definitely looking forward to reading more of the author’s work.

Thank you so much to Delacorte Press, Random House Children’s and NetGalley for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a book that did the impossible: it made me wish my metro ride was longer so I could keep reading. Twice.

Hullmetal Girls by Emily Skrutskie is the sort of book that I’ve been wanting for ages. Two young women undergo a literally life changing procedure that turns them into mechanically enhanced soldiers who aren’t exactly human anymore, each for their own reasons. Aisha Un-Haad volunteers for the procedure in a last ditch attempt to help her family while Key Tanaka has nothing but a blank space in her memory when she tries to remember why she would give up her life of privilege to become a Scela especially since many don’t survive the modification process. Aisha, Key, and the two other members of their squad have to learn not only how to live in their new bodies but also how to work together. If they excel, a top placement would mean that Aisha’s siblings wouldn’t have to worry about money. If they fail… To make matters more complicated, there’s a rebellion brewing in the fleet and Aisha and Key find themselves swept up in it, whether they want to or not.

There are a heck of a lot of things that make this book work. Actually… everything about this book works but part of what really makes it click is how the author handles the entire Scela concept. It would be so easy to just make them seem cool and wave off the integration between human body and mechanical enhancements after a chapter or two. Instead, Skrutskie leans into how truly horrifying the entire process is. Someone has to be truly desperate and out of options to willingly step into that chair. The descriptions are enough to make even the most strong-stomached wince a little. The entire squad (Aisha, Key, Praava, and Woojin) spends the bulk of the book adjusting to their new bodies and figuring out what exactly it means to not be human anymore. The exo is both a part and not a part of them and can govern their movements. Bodily autonomy doesn’t exist for a Scela. That’s almost as scary as the conversation process.

One of the things that really stood out to me was the representation within the book. Most of the main and supporting cast are all people of color. Skrutskie isn’t coy in regards to LGBTQ+ representation either. Two of the supporting characters identify themselves as trans and pansexual respectively. What really made me sit up and silently shriek with glee was when Aisha said she was aroace. There is painfully little asexual or aromantic representation within media and it’s often left to insinuation. To have a character (and to have it be a main character) casually say that they’re aroace means the world. I especially appreciated that it was just treated as part of who Aisha is and there wasn’t some giant storyline attached to it. More books should follow Hullmetal Girls’s example.

The only criticism that I really have is that occasionally, I had to pause and remind myself whose head we were inside. That said, I have nothing but the deepest appreciation for both of these angry girls. Far too often, women (both in real life and in fiction) aren’t allowed to be angry and when we are, we’re punished for it. Both Aisha and Key get to be angry about their circumstances and rightly so. Best of all, the narrative never punishes them for it. Honestly, I could read about angry cyborg girls who kick a ton of ass for the rest of my life and be happy.

Hullmetal Girls is a book that someone told me I’d love and wow were they right. And you know what? I think that you all just might love it too.

Hullmetal Girls takes the rigid classism and confined society of Snowpiercer and launches it into space for an action-packed space opera adventure. Aisha and Key each have distinct voices as narrators, especially Key - I thought getting an inside look at her elitist mentality was extremely valuable and appropriately disconcerting; she provides a good contrast for Aisha's "backend" upbringing. Their stories and perspectives seemed disjointed initially and it was hard to sink into one before being switched to the other, but things come together as they are unwillingly thrust into each other's lives, and the majority of the story delivers a smooth reading experience. The loss of autonomy in the Scela ranks was extremely fascinating and provides an uniquely unnerving element to the story. I'd recommend it for that alone, but it also boasts interesting world-building, excellent action and agonizing choices about the good of the many vs. the lives of the few.

Hullmetal Girls is YA scifi in the vein of scifi TV shows, movies, and books that I love. It tackles deep, difficult questions through technology.

What does it mean to have autonomy and will? 

What is your life when your thoughts are no longer your own? When turned into scela (mechanically enhanced soldiers), the girls change. They are bonded to other scela, and also to a machine, that wars for control with them.

Who are you, if you don't have your memories?

Key lacks any memories of her past self, and must uncover the blanks. She's prickly and angry because of it. Or is that who she always was before?

What risks are worth taking to promote stability or a good future?

Hullmetal Girls dives into these questions, and doesn't pull punches in exploring the horror of losing control of your body and will. The scenes of the girls transforming into scela are just the right balance of gruesome.

While I enjoyed that Hullmetal Girls dealt with big questions and tackled them through scifi, there was something in the book that didn't fully click. Perhaps it's just that I normally experience scifi narratives through third person, (or TV shows). There's a bigger sense of scope. And while first person offers emotional closeness, I felt like sometimes because of the story that's being told, the closeness wasn't as close as other YA books sometimes are.

The big picture plot took a bit of time to get going, and while the group dynamics were fun (think NYXIA style training sequences), I felt like some of the political plot was less original than the rest of the book. 

Still, this is the direction I hope YA scifi goes in. This book is clearly written by someone who likes the same things about scifi as I do, and it was a fun, different, interesting read, even if there were things that could have been better. 

(I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

[Excerpt}:

Rating: 3.5 stars

Spoilers ahead – you’ve been warned!

Young adult sci-fi with two female protagonists. What’s left of the human race in seven tiers of starships. The search for a habitable planet. Super-soldier peace-keepers and -enforcers known as Scela. This novel had all the makings of a fantastic read, although I’m sometimes worried about standalone fantasy/sci-fi books because it seems there’s usually a lot of content within these genres, and I find it hard to believe it can be easily packed in one volume.  However, that wasn’t the problem here. I did enjoy parts of “Hullmetal Girls” but not nearly as much as I thought I would. The premise had me really excited, but the actual execution was only mediocre.

Likes: the cover and the title. Aisha. The body modification of the exo (although I was grossed out at times). Marshal Jesuit (she was such a Tired Mom). The void jump scene. The diversity (Un-Haad, Tanaka, Woojin, Praava….but their sexualities – pansexual, aroace, trans (?) – were only mentioned very briefly).

Dislikes: a lot.

[Full review on my blog!]

3 stars (but only because I'm honestly undecided and have no idea what my feelings really are about this book)

So...what just happened?

I honestly am just a big jumble of EMOTIONS™ after this book because wow there were so many things going on and this was a wild ride.

I'm probably going to have to sleep on this decision, but the best way I can describe my feelings is this is an adult science-fiction plot shoved into the young adult format and I have a lot of thoughts about this.

There were so many political machinations going on that this felt adult sci-fi. If you've ever read adult sci-fi, you know there's usually a lot of "bigger picture" stuff going on rather than just focusing on the characters. It's oftentimes more detached, third person, alternating, and just has a wider, more intricate plot and less focus on the characters.

That's almost exactly how it was for Hullmetal Girls--the big, overarching plot was well-plotted and intricate--I had no idea who to trust and my loyalties kept wavering between the Fractionists (the rebel group) and the General Body (the government).

But, it was written in a very YA style. There were two points of view in first person and there was an obvious non-romantic bond between the characters that really grew. There was a lot of focus on saving family (more of a YA trope than an adult one) and their backstories made it feel like Skrutskie picked these characters to make this book more YA.

I guess what fell flat for me was just how the adult and YA aspects of this novel melded together into what's supposed to be a YA book. I love YA, but I feel like this book's concept would have had way more success in the adult SF sphere vs. the YA (but it still could have flourished as YA).

For it to appeal better to the general YA community, I feel like this needed to have gone more in depth with the characters and really dig into their personal feelings and desires. There needed to be at least a hundred more pages of personal thought and introspection to get that character growth that would really help the reader connect more with the narrators rather than the plot.

I feel like we ended up getting a little of each YA and adult--some introspection, but not enough for us to really relate to the characters, and a lot of political machinations.

This book is almost ahead of its time in the way it's trying to bridge the gap between YA and adult, and although I commend this, I feel terrible that it's not getting the love it deserves because I don't think we were prepared for something so badass and gritty.

A big par of this is just how YA isn't really used to this type of body horror. There's one thing to have prosthetic cyborg body parts in Cinder, or even LIFEL1K3. It's another thing to deal with cybernetic enhancements that actively make people stronger, faster, bolder while also tampering with their humanity and agency.

You read adult SF, and things like sentient artificial intelligence (and even romance with sentient AIs) are normal. If you read this in an adult SF headscape, it'd feel pretty normal too.

But for YA, the idea of cybernetic enhancement and losing part of your agency is very unfamiliar based on the history of YA sci-fi, and one of the reasons why I couldn't enjoy this as much as I wanted to was because I felt like we didn't get that background and introduction to how to deal with losing your agency in this way and what happens when characters bodies are tampered with to such a great extent.

A lot of the terms felt unfamiliar to me, and it could be because these terms are a norm in adult SF, or just because Skrutskie didn't introduce it in a way that I could understand.

For me, it was kind of like I was being thrust headfirst into a very new and different type of science fiction that I'm not entirely used to. It didn't feel like a space opera--wasn't melodramatic enough and was far too cunning.

So I guess we could call this not enough exposition, leaving the reader confused.

Despite all this criticism I have going on, there were a lot of great things about this book.

It's uber diverse: one of the MCs is aroace (also wears a headscarf & has the last name Un-Haad), the other I believe is Asian (last name Tanaka). Someone on their crew is trans (and Skrutskie slipped in this information so slyly wow) and also a WOC. The last person on their crew was (I think) an Asian boy.

So yeah, there's a bunch of diversity in this and it's really naturally scattered, which was nice to see in science fiction.

Plus, the ending was so wild. I ended up getting really sucked in for the last 20% of this novel as I finally discovered what group I'm supposed to be rooting for (think outside the box) and seeing the political machinations really fall into place.

Although I struggled with the cybernetic worldbuilding, I think the space Fleet-wide worldbuilding was done wonderfully and I understood the way the fleet worked and why the divisions existed and how they formed and why they continued to be perpetuated (rather than being thrust into District 12 being District 12 just because).

There's a lot of pluses to this--angry badass cyborg girls, bunches of diversity, a very cool plot, family and friendship and finding your people.

Overall, I think it was worth it for me to read this, but I do wish it was a little more polished in a way that it would be easier for a YA reader to connect with. Definitely recommend you check this out if the summary appeals to you!

This sci-fi standalone is about two girls, from different classes in a space fleet of human travelers, transformed into cyborg-like guards called Scela, and their story as they come together to save the lives of people. Hullmetal Girls is a little like Across the Universe mixed in with the plot of Mockingjay. Aisha becomes Scela to afford treatment for her dying brother and to keep her sister from the dye factories, while Key doesn't exactly remember why she signed up but imagines it is for the honor. The girls are different as day and night - Aisha is an underdog from the lowest tier, a devout, and would do anything for her family, while Key is privileged, ambitious and maintains a stoic exterior. Needless to say, both of them clash frequently throughout the book.

The most interesting part of the science-fiction aspect of this story is the Scela system - they are essentially having a second presence in their mind, like they are possessed, and for the most part, their exo guide them, and act like a mini-computer/AI in their head, connecting them telepathically to their respective quartets of teams, but it is also how they are kept in line by their superiors. Add to this, they lose autonomous rights when they become Scela, so a large part of the story arc for both the girls is them coming to terms with this fact. Aisha, being reluctantly recruited into treason, while Key suspicious of some of the actions of their governing General Body, would make one imagine that they have common goals, but the regular friction between the girls and their differing approaches to problems, coupled with them being secretive means it is a long while before they co-operate - but it is a development that builds up slowly and organically to a familial-like bond.

Besides the two of them being in a team, there is Woojin and Praava to complete the quartet. While the latter two don't have a POV, the fact that they are all telepathically linked means we get to see their minds too. Occasionally, the impulses of one would override the others and it doesn't become clear who is thinking what - which is how the exosystem operates and I liked how it was depicted. The difficulties of sharing a mind with complete strangers, having to trust them with your lives, to join them in missions - they have to grow into that, even when Woojin's control over his exo makes the others irritated, or Aisha's constant anxiety wears them out. I can't go into more about their reactions to certain events in the book, because that would be spoiler-y and would take too long to get into, but I like how they comforted each other even when they were not very fond of each other.

The only part of this book that I felt a little disappointed by was the world-building. Sure, in the start, it was easy to get into, with your mind filling the logical gaps in the basic structure the author weaves - for instance, the Fleet and the tiers was simple to understand. However, even until the end, the governing structure of the Fleet remained a bit of mystery to me - I must admit I don't see how individual ships were being managed by only a centralized Chancellor, or even the Fractionists being spear-headed by Yasmin. Seems like there should have been many Governor-like positions, or even ship Captains for governing individual ships in a god-knows-how-many-ships Fleet? It made for a simpler ending, but it did not convince me that such a system would work for 300 years, even with Scela intervention (also, all Scela are centralized only one ship in the entire Fleet instead of one ship per tier?)

Overall, it is a well-written science fiction novel about cyborgs and humanity's urges warring with human need.

I was most of the way through this book and stuck on why I was having so much trouble finishing it. It made no sense why I wasn’t devouring the book as fast as possible – it’s got spaceships and cyborgs and conspiracies and training montages! It’s got girl friendships and cool tech and interesting side characters and evil governments being taken down from within!

And…it’s the last one. Taken down from within. Because, as much as there’s a lot of stuff going on with factions and resistance groups and such, neither of our main characters actually have any motivation to take down the evil government. They’re just sort of stumbling through the plot, poked and prodded by circumstances and outside actors. Any urgency I felt in this plot was generally contained within individual plot points, and once those points ended, both of our main characters were like “m’kay, that was weird, back to training to be a good government lackey now.” Granted, this dynamic changed near the end, but it took long enough that my sense of connection had really waned. There was a sense of ‘okay, get on with already,’ rather than any emotional satisfaction from seeing their struggles come to fruition.

It’s really shame, because in the personal sense, their struggles were really great. Aisha and her family concerns and Key with her identity crises were both beautifully wrought, and made for compelling stuff…while we were in their chapters. But then we’d leave their chapters and go back to conspiracy plot and lose the emotional thread because they had no motivation for that other plot.

The sci-fi aspects were really great, and the body horror stuff was just the right amounts, with lots of chilling descriptions of the turning-cyborg process. The characters all learning how to handle their new, enhanced bodies and coming to terms with both the good and the bad parts of it were interesting to read. There was a mind-share aspect which I think could have been used to more potential, as is in the book it seemed more like an excuse to info-dump on non-POV characters, and then got ‘turned off’ when the plot needed it to be gone. But other than that, yes, cyborg goodness.

So, yeah. Good characters and setting, but not a lot of follow through on the tension which made for a rather fragmented read. I’d still suggest it for people who are interested in the subject matter, because it does deliver on the summary.

I received a free advanced copy of this book through NetGalley

I picked up this book by Emily Skrutskie because I loved her debut novel The Abyss Surrounds Us. I think I misled myself into believing that this would also be an LGBTQ+ romance because I binged this book when I was sick at home (hoping to get to the gay parts, and never getting there). I liked that there was some background representation present (trans, I think, asexuality) and think that these things are important, but would have preferred it to be more than just cursory inclusion. 

Although the plot was something I've seen on television and have read before, I greatly enjoyed the author's insight into the organic and technological integrations introduced in the book. Although the world building was a little slow for my tastes, it makes sense with the settings and the ages of the characters involved, but I can't help but feel the character building could have been pushed a little more. The tech and themes of humanity and questions surrounding that in relation to the plot helped keep the story engaging enough for me. Overall Hullmetal Girls was still an enjoyable read and maintained the strong narrative voice I have come to associate with the author.

Hullmetal Girls by Emily Skrutskie is a young adult Sci-Fi novel. Set 301 years after a fleet of ships leaves the Solar System in search of a new planet where humanity can survive, things have settled into tiers based on how close a ship is to the front of the fleet. A terrorist group, Fractionists, aims to take power in order to break up the fleet rather than keep it consolidated. The General Assembly's troops and enforcers, Scela, are made up of cyborg warriors. Those who have volunteer to risk their lives to see if they can join with an exo. 

Told from two different POV's of people who have decided to take that chance. Aisha Un-Hand has made the choice to become Scela in order to help her family. Her pay goes to medical care for her brother and to keep her sister from having to work a dangerous job. Key Tanaka cannot remember why she decided to take the exo. Her memories are disjointed or non-existent. Each is from opposite ends of the fleet and brings an opposing and complex perspective. As they and two other Scela recruits they are joined with go through training and assignments we find that things are even more complex than they seem between the General Assembly and the Fractionists and as Aisha and Key learn more and speculate it creates an added complexity to a story with an innovative setting and interesting dynamics.

Overall I enjoyed Hullmetal Girls by Emily Skrutskie both for some of the Sci-Fi themes, familiar and unfamiliar blended together, as well as for the layers of the story we are given as the characters learn more about their new and past selves and the underbelly of the Fleet. This was a very detailed book which gives us both social dynamics and technical futurism.

(I voluntarily reviewed an advance review copy of this book I received for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my open and honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.)

[Review will be published on Reader Voracious Blog on 7/12/18.]

"The Chancellor sees us the way humans do, the way I used to see Scela. We're tools. Weapons. Things to be wielded with force."

Hullmetal Girls is an ambitious science fiction novel that brings together many elements into an interesting (and frightening) future. The book gripped me with its first words, providing just enough of a primer of the world, the customs, and I had high hopes for this Battlestar Galactica mashup with cyborgs and a militaristic dystopian future. Unfortunately, this book fell short for me and didn't live up to my hopes.

It's been three hundred and one years since humanity left the solar system and took to space in search of a new planet to call home. They live in a fleet of ships that are all under Commander Vel's command and searching for a home together. Due to rising tensions from the Fractionists that want to see the fleet split up into smaller groups to search, Vel has requested a large recruitment drive for people to volunteer to become Scela, cyborgs in the General Body that are the military force of the fleet. 

Hullmetal Girls is told in the alternating perspectives of new Sclea recruits Aisha Un-Haad and Key Tanaka, but there are also two secondary characters that are part of their "unit": Woojin Lin and Praava.
--We are introduced to Aisha as she is going in for her procedure to be made into a Scela (what they call cyborgs) and serve in the General Body. We are present for the painful operation of her taking the metal. She is from the backend of the fleet, the poorer areas, and has chosen this to help her siblings.
--We are introduced to Key as she wakes up from the procedure in recovery and discovers that she has no memory of her life prior to the operation. By her mannerisms and drive, she deduces that she is from the front of the fleet, privileged in ways that mean she wouldn't need to choose this life. Is she a true believer?
The characters all took to the metal for different reasons; however, we learn that Key doesn't remember those reasons or anything from her life before.

"Nothing left for me except my exo and this new purpose I found in the fragments of myself."

Much of the story is consumed by the conversion to Scela and their training, and I was left wondering what the plot of the book actually was. While there were hints to the political situation and the potential conspiracies, for me they were mired down by the Scela conversion and training. I don't read a lot of science fiction with cyborgs so this may be something typical of the genre that isn't to my personal preferences. I found myself bored and skimming after about 40% of the book, and it wasn't until conspiracies arose and motives were questioned that I got back into the story a bit. 

I like a dual-POV story, especially with characters like Aisha and Key that obviously are from different situations and backgrounds; however, at times their inner monologues were very repetitive, adding to the feelings I had that the book was drawn out longer than necessary. I also found the character motivations a little blurred at times, shifting without reason as it suited the narrative. There are a number of occasions where Aisha or Key's position on a subject made a complete 180 with hardly any convincing or acknowledgement that they had changed their mind. 

There are many elements explored in this tale: religion (Ledic) versus... I assume atheism, as the Ledic disdain was clear but there was not contrast opinion or explanation of why it fell out of favor; utilitarianism (greater good) and gray morality; class systems and prejudices based on where in the fleet you were born. This book has a diverse cast of characters, and there are characters which identify as aroace and pansexual; however, it is important to note the sexuality discussion was all of two sentences. 

This is an ambitious tale of power, loyalty, and family set in space. I personally found the cyborg aspects (the conversion and training) to be the least compelling and wish that part of the story had been a bit shorter. There were breadcrumbs dropped in the early pages that come in to play much later, but I found the exploration and intrigue of the latter 40% of the book to be the most interesting and wish that they had been fleshed out more. Hullmetal Girls has a lot of elements being explored - religion, class systems, utilitarianism - but for me those components were overshadowed by the Scela narrative and left me wanting more. At its core, this is a story about the extent the government and its opposers will go for "the greater good," and how people get swept up into something they didn't sign up for. 

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Random House Children's / Delacorte Press, for providing me an e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

While I remain a big fan of this author and her apparently boundless and horrific imagination (that's a compliment, trust me) I found Hullmetal Girls to be maybe 2.5 stars out of 5 if I am being lenient. Maybe. I have to admit that I am disappointed by the lackluster effort that is her third novel. I expect big things from the mind behind The Abyss Surrounds Us and while this book has more than a few good ideas and a few clever science fiction angles, the messy execution of them makes it hard to stick around, much less immerse myself in Key and Aisha's POVs. 

This is a standalone so I understand the author didn't have the time of say her earlier duology to frame and fill her imagined world/starships, but there are many questions left about how the districts work; some subplots are woven into the gaps of the information but overall it's a patchy framework from which to hang a story. The setup of this space-dystopia is also unfailingly familiar to anyone whose read even just the Hunger Games. Skrutskie is usually brimming with originality and flair -- and while the second talent is on display with things like the Scela system, the "rich and poor numbered district' left much to be desired.

The worldbuilding is sink or swim when it comes to the hard scifi (and then comes the body horror, be prepared), but without enough information provided and the POVs felt indistinguishable. There is a definite uptick after about 65% in -- the story makes up somewhat for lost time by the end but it's not enough to entirely compensate. It takes a long time for basic details of Key and Aisha's life to be understood -- how the Scela work, what their function is within the ships, what the General Body means and how it ties into the story. It's clumsily rendered and often too late; I finished the novel because I was intrigued in one of the plots, but not due to any attachment to the characters themselves.

A swing and a miss for Skrutskie's third at bat, but I'll definitely be checking out her fourth.

This was my first time diving into a book by Emily Skrutskie, but you may be familiar with her already if you read The Abyss Surrounds Us. I still haven't read that one, so I went into this book not really knowing what to expect. I sometimes like that better because then I have no preconceived notions about what I should expect from a book. All I really knew was that it was about space cyborgs?? After reading this book, I have to say that is a pretty good description.

I have a lot of complicated feelings about this book, mostly because for awhile I really hated it! Not so much the book or writing itself, but I just couldn't stand the characters. They were annoying me so much! In this book, we get two perspectives from two different girls that have gone through the process of becoming part machine called Scela. They are tools for the General Body (the government on the fleet of ships) and don't have a lot of free will. Aisha, chooses to "take the metal" as they call it, because she comes from a lower class ship and she needs the money to make sure her siblings are provided for. The other point of view, Key, has no idea why she decided to become a Scela. I really understood Aisha, and I understood why she did this and why she was so worried for her siblings, but Key annoyed me for much of the novel. She just seemed like a real witch with a "B", and it wasn't really clear where that anger was coming from. She was really cold, and it just felt like she had all this really unfounded hatred for Aisha. It really irked me for most of the novel, and it wasn't until she figured out why she became a Scela that I really got to understand why she was this way. After this, her character development and the turn of the story got really interesting. It's why I feel so conflicted by this book! I was frustrated for so much of it, but in the end I was pretty satisfied with where the story ended.

This book uses the "Generation Ship" Scifi trope, which I have to admit I haven't read much of, but it definitely has a very Battlestar Galactica or Quarian feel to it. The world building of this group of people all just on a fleet of ships together searching the stars is what really interested me about this book. I liked the world building here, and I found it especially interesting how the class system between all the linked ships seemed to work.  I do feel like the conflict with the General Body was a little much. It was a little too predictable and it felt like the conflict was resolved way too quickly. This book feels like a standalone book, and I liked how it ended, so I don't think there needs to be another book, but it definitely felt like it was wrapped up way too easily in a bow. 

The way that the Scela work, and how the author describes the process in the first chapter was really hard to read. In that the physical description of it was straight up brutal! I was fascinated reading about how these tools of the General Body worked. I think the author really thought hard about the logistics of the Scela, and I think that really comes through in the writing.

One big thing that irked me about this novel was the diversity, in that it felt like it was just there to be on paper. We see a character that is trans, one that identities as aro-ace, and one that is pansexual, but there is literally one line in this book that really shows us that. It just felt like it was there to check off a diversity box. I think as a cis, white girl, I can't really speak to if that is good or bad, but to me it felt like there could have been a little more character development there.

Despite I few things that didn't work for me in this novel, I still really enjoyed it, and I think if you are a YA scifi fan you will enjoy this one too.

*I received a free egalley copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

DNF @70%

I never really loved this novel to begin with, but this far into the novel it's unbearable how uninterested I am in it. This story is told from the POV of 2 main characters, Key and Aisha. I started out liking Aisha but really disliking Key. She has a supremely elitist and classist attitude, that never got any better at 70% through the novel. But also Aisha became super unlikeable to me too. I also just found the plot very predictable and the use of robotic bodies very unsatisfying. The exo suits are essentially sentient, but I found the science explaining them to be very weak.

The one thing this book had going for it was the diversity. Aisha is aroace and she belongs to a religion that has similarities with Islam. Key is Japanese (based on her last name being Tanaka). A side character named Woojin is pansexual and another named Praava is a trans woman.

I really wanted to love this novel because of the praise for Skrutskie's other works, but this one just didn't work for me.

I picked up this book because of the promise of kick-butt girls in space. It had that and more!

The book pulled me immediately into the life and motivations of Aisha. Her religious beliefs give her every reason to NOT allow her body to be enhanced - except that it's her only chance to protect her sick brother and younger sister. Aisha's closely-held beliefs feel genuine and make her a stand-out in the YA spec fic market. The fact that she's caught between her beliefs and the cybernetic enhancements she'd taken on creates a constant source of tension in the story.

Aisha's beliefs also put her in direct contrast with Key, a girl of action, not faith. But beneath her tough exterior, Key struggles to hide her faulty memory, a difficult thing to do since their team has been augmented with mental connections which allow them to read each other's thoughts and emotions and therefore perform well as a team. Both girls struggle with the mutual acceptance and cooperation they'll need work together effectively and earn a spot among the elite units protecting the fleet.

I found this a quick read for space sci fi. Skrutskie includes plenty of world-building, but not world-building for its own sake, only as needed to move the plot forward. The story is told in first person, alternating perspectives, which allows the reader to really get to know both girls and move with them through the story. Twists and turns along the way keep the plot interesting. It will appeal to readers of Nyxia by Scott Reintgen and LIFEL1K3 by Jay Kristoff.

The review will be up on Tuesday.

4.5/5 Stars

Emily Skrutskie is back at it again with another thrilling SciFi novel that punched me right in the feels. Hullmetal Girls was one heck of a ride as a fleet of ships search for a survivable world and mecha soldiers enforce the rule of law (cue the BSG and Pacific Rim vibes). With phenomenal characters Aisha and Key as well as pulse pounding sequences and inner turmoil, this book is a definite must read.

Are you ready for some serious worldbuilding? While Skrutskie pulls from SciFi heavyweights, the mecha tech is truly a creative marvel. The way it integrates into the body and mind, the collective conscious aspects, the conflict and concern it creates. Seriously I've never seen or read anything like it. Plus the detail of description in the movement and feel of the body modifications was impeccable.

The rock of this story though is the characters. Aisha's love of family drives her decisions and Key's faulty memory fuels her rage. Both of them are dealing with heavy losses both mentally and physically. Rounding out the team are Praava and Woojin who add even more depth to the cast. Being in their minds throughout the book really forges a connection with the reader which makes the whole narrative more relateable.

Overall Hullmetal Girls by Emily Skrutskie reeled me in with a wicked cool premise of cyborg soldiers and delivered an incredible depth of story as well as some truly dynamic characters. Aisha and Key's voices make the reader truly think and the focus on the body and mind was real and refreshing. I absolutely recommend picking this book up especially if you're a SciFi fan!