King Harlan came up with a law that mandates highly proficient, talented people who possess "the essence" to submit an heir to be tested by the kingdom. Especially if you’re as talented and famous as the Neekay Pilsworth, also known as Warbird. She takes her 17-year-old daughter, Ebele, who had a rather sheltered and privileged upbringing, on her first major adventure. It’s Ebele’s self-discovery journey. As she meets people from different backgrounds and her perspective and opinions on life changes, she becomes more independent and finds her own voice.

The book briefly brings up the issue of classism and inequality; we see what it does to a child when they have to grow in their prodigy-parent’s shadow; the difference between the sheltered life in the countryside and life full of danger in a city.

And as much as I loved the concept of the essence magic, loved learning about how having a high abundance of essence changes or affects one’s body, I hated every second of reading about Neekay, Ebele's mother, talking about a sleeping teenage boy's genitalia. I hated when she was flirting with their servant or when she kissed the queen in font of her daughter, how she insinuated her daughter having sex with the boy who saved her life. The only explanation I could think of is that Warbird was meant to be an eccentric character. But that thin line was crossed, and her behaviour was not received well by many readers. There was no need for the nudity. Why emphasize, describe in a great detail teenager’s breasts. It didn’t enrich the story, it didn’t help to shape Ebele's or Aretta's character. It made me extremely uncomfortable to read about sexualization of 17-year-old children. If it’s a coming of age story, then be it, but it doesn’t have to be a grooming story.

To sum this up, I had a love-hate relationship with this book. “Gunpowder Girls” has something from fantasy, western, historical novel and even murder mystery. I liked the essence magic, the book cover and the plot twist in the end of the book. I can only imagine how difficult it is to be an independent author, especially nowadays, it seems to be an extremely competitive industry. Still, I genuinely believe that the book will only benefit from removing the scenes involving nudity. Please, let an editor and a sensitivity reader help you with the pacing and mentioned in other reviews issues. It can be a great coming of age story!

Oh boy this book was a wild ride, lets break it down
Gunpowder dolls speaks about a fantastic world where essence its the magical system, not everybody has it and you have to be born with it, the more essence you got, the better.
The essence its not thoroughly explained but it makes things go boom ( basically ) and super strenght and Im not sure what else because the warbird and Ebele are too busy being smug about their essence to actually tell us what is it about or how it works in depth.
Here we find Ebele and her mother Neekay, they travel to a small town in order for Ebele to participate in a tournament out of her confort zone, obviously she wins (they both are super proud of this fact the whole first chapter ) and in the way back the end un in a locked down city where Neekay, the Warbird, is charged with the awesome duty of catching all the noble killers. ( Quite literally they kill nobles) once they solve the case, the city opens up and they all can go home, of course she's helped by her awesome but not as awesome as her yet, daughter and some friends they make along the way.
Sounds pretty neat right? And it is, except for the part where our main characters and almost everyone actually seem like this one dimensional paper cut, "she's a war hero so she must act mean and superior at all times, Ebele is her daughter so she's suuuuper naive but also superior because wao she's the warbird's daughter" and so on and so on
This book would really really benefit from an editor, there are a lot of typos and spelling mistakes here and there.
Would I recommend it? Yeah, it was actually nice to read, but read it with a pinch of salt, ( and if you're the author please please please get at least some beta readers, this has so much wasted potential)
I thank the author and NetGalley for receiving an ARC for this book in exchange for an honest review.

Good premise but sloppy execution. It started off well with the story being interesting but midway the pace became slow and writing felt a little underdeveloped. overall not bad would love to check out future books from the author to see their growth. Also beautiful cover !!

Gunpowder Dolls offers a compelling blend of action, political intrigue, and character-driven storytelling. Ebele's journey from a determined markswoman to a key player in a city's power struggle is both engaging and emotionally resonant. The dynamic between Ebele and her mother adds depth to the narrative, highlighting themes of trust, legacy, and resilience. Baire's world-building is rich, painting Thrisanna as a city fraught with danger and deception. The pacing keeps readers on edge, with twists that challenge perceptions and alliances that shift unexpectedly.

Gunpowder Dolls is what could be described as a light-fantasy western young adult novel by author Teddie Baire.
I must admit that my thoughts on this book went on a rollercoaster. It started off great, but as I got deeper and deeper into the story I really struggled with getting through this book for a lot of reasons.

The good:
-The setting is nice, although quite simplistic
-I really liked the ‘’secondary’’ plots (or rather, everything else that was going behind the scenes of the main story line)
-I really liked Aretta as a character
-In general, I found the book quite a fun read, all things considered.

The bad:
-The writing, on a structural level, is really bad
-Boring plot-line
-Pacing is off (the main plot starts about 90 pages in)
-The protagonist is kind of boring (and her mother is really unhinged)
-The tone is all over the place, it’s a YA but there are LOT of things that left me absolutely gagged

The plot
Without spoilers, I can’t really talk in too much detail about the plot, but honestly? It really bored me.
The premise made it sound really exciting, but the reason the main character and her mother get locked in the city is incredibly stupid and the main ‘’villains’’ of this novel are faceless goons that appear only to be dispatched by our protagonists.

I would also like to add that the pacing of the story was overall… off?
We get about 90 pages of setup, with Ebele and her mother going to a tournament and meeting with Aretta, a major character in the story. This is all well and good, in fact, this part was overall quite interesting… but I feel that 90 pages of set-up for a 300 pages book is way too long; the real plot only really starts when the trio gets to the city afterall.
Also… the ending felt really sudden and unsatisfying, no spoilers of course, but I feel that dropping some exposition last minute wasn’t the greatest idea.
Still, I wanted to add that despite what I’ve said… the story was fun and engaging, I was quite invested and really wanted to see how it ended.

The characters
Hoo boy, I have a lot to say about the character, but I don’t want to make this review its own book, so I’ll try to keep it brief and contained to the main trio.

Ebele
The daughter of the Warbird, a famous hero. She and her mother are both nobles with the ability to use the essence, this book’s magic system.
She is….boring, I don’t really have a strong opinion of her because I really can’t picture the type of person she is. We know that she’s curious like her father and has the skills of her mother.
Also she cheats, like, twice? She is supposed to be promised to someone, but then kisses a guy and supposedly sleeps with another guy.
She really is her mother’s daughter, speaking of which.

The Warbird
Genuinely, a completely unhinged character. She is good to her daughter and Aretta (kinda), but holy damn, the things she says in this book are insane.
I already have a problem with the tone, something that will come up in the writing section, but damn she really likes talking about cheating on his husband and s*x. She’s black belt in making both the character and the reader feel uncomfortable.
I don’t think I can even write what happens at the end of the book when a specific character arrives in town…. Left me completely speechless, seriously. Woah.

Aretta
The last of the trio, she is a little asshole and I kind of like her. She’s by and far the best character out of the three protagonists and I really enjoyed her position in regard to Eretta, the Warbird and the other side characters in the story.
There is one really big negative regarding her, on the writing side, but I’ll get to it in due time.
Speaking of which

The writing
I would like to preface this last bit by stating the following
English is not my native language, so I don’t really feel well-equipped to give the author precise advices regarding writing
The author is self-published, and as such, I have to imagine that there was no editor involved in this book.
Regarding the last point, I feel that, if an editor would get involved, the book would automatically become 10 times better, and as such I highly suggest the author to look into that

Now, let’s break it down:

There is a lot of repetition, both accidental (same line repeated one after the other) and non (same word being repeated one sentence after the other, this isn’t as big of an issue as the accidental repetition but it really stands out).
Sometimes dialogue overlaps, making it hard to understand who’s talking at the moment (as in, the quotation marks aren't correctly used, or used at all, to distinguish one line of dialogue with another)
Regarding dialogue again, a lot of times the author ends their sentence with a question mark (?) when it’s clear from the context that the character isn’t asking a question (this happens frequently throughout all the book)
Near the beginning, a lot of the characters when asked something, or are being called out will respond with ‘’Yes’’ and nothing else. This only really happens in the first third of the book and, while I realize that it’s a bit nitpicky, I did find it quite jarring, especially when it happened back to back in the same conversation.
The author uses a lot of onomatopoeias, so to speak (characters saying ‘’mhhh’’ or ‘’Ah!’’ just so we're clear). However, the way said onomatopoeias are written and used… don’t exactly match up with the
effect (I immagine) they wanted to convey.

To give you a precise example of what I’m talking about, somewhere in the third half of the book, our main character gets burned, or rather, lit on fire. I cant copy the passage directly but she moans ‘’Emmm’’ which just… doesn't convey the right feeling, I should say.

The tone is all over the place, on Amazon it says that the book is aged 12-18 but I don’t think I’ve ever seen the word c*ck in a book before this one. Aside from this silly little thing, there are a lot of NSFW and unhinged moments in the book - most of them involving The Warbird saying something wild about their character (also there’s the last scene with her and Spoiler character and like…. woah).

Conclusion

I really wanted to like this book, and I must praise the author for finishing a project, something that I personally struggle with a lot. I can see that there is some potential hidden behind a mountain of bad writing and weird decisions… If I can give one single advice to the author, that would be: Hire and editor.

Despite all the negative things I’ve said, I want to reiterate that I enjoyed this book, despite its many flaws, there are some nice passages (the tournament and the second fight scene with Ebele come to mind).

Honestly, if a sequel were ever to come out, I’d read it. Still, as it stands, I can’t recommend it at the moment.

Final vote, 1,5 / 5

This book was read as an ARC via Netgalley

ohh.. this is gonna hurt. So, if the person reading this is the author and is sensitive to negative reviews, please don't continue reading this further.



To get things out of the way, I am the one who requested this arc; and it was because the cover was so pretty and I was interested in the mother-and-daughter duo aspect of it.

I liked some parts of this story. The competition in the beginning was interesting and once I thought it was interesting, it was fairly easy to breeze through the rest of the book.


Now, for the parts i didn't like: so much of the writing lends to the story and the banter feeling unnatural. It's in how the characters talk with each other and it's in the way events unfold. Spoilers below.

The mother and daughter duo didn't feel like a mother and a daughter. They didn't feel close even though I saw some light dialogues added to show the fun banter between them. It felt like there was an air of pompousness to the way they spoke to each other and everyone else. They both actually feel like they're talking down on everyone and when it becomes too much too often, they come off as annoying. I haven't even seen your skills and this dignified war hero status and you've already spoken to people like you think you're better than everyone else, and one of you is a teen girl at that? nope.

We have a Marquis banning the main characters from leaving the city they just entered mere hours ago and threatening them with branding them as the murderers just because they didnt want to help with said murder investigation and no longer felt safe to stay because of the ongoing said murders. The mother is a war hero famed for her gun skillls. She's not a legendary detective. What is she going to do with a murder investigation? Was there truly no one else that he needed to go as far as he had in threatening them? This entire thing felt so comical and cartoon-villain-y and made it incredibly obvious and palpable that it was a plot device just thrown in because plot needed to happen for the story to continue.

We have a girl (the main character), whose specific age I don't really remember (the least she could be is early teen), padding around naked to a man, "an assistant", for him to help her get dressed. What's ironic is the book even calls it out when another character asks her if she doesn't feel embarrassed about it. She said no and that he's dressed her since she was a baby. No. Even if I chalk her not recognizing the weirdness of a grown man padding dry a naked girl to her being too young, no sane mother is going to allow it. This was so obviously written by a man.

I was turned off from then on but continued because I didn't want to give a negative rating without an informed opinion.

An original concept. This reads as a fantasy western. This being said, it surprised me how good it was for such an odd genre. The characters are interesting, and the plot is sound. However, the backstory being missing does take away a bit from the story.

Firstly, the cover on this is absolutely beautiful and I am absolutely obsessed with it !

The story was a whole vibe from start to finish and I loved it ! .

I would recommend this book to everyone and anyone who loves to read !!

Many, many heartfelt thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the e-arc!

I am so glad that I requested this book once I became interested in the blurb of this title because I flew through the pages like my life depended on it. The writing was good, I felt immersed in the story, and loved the no nonsense attitude Ebele had at the beginning and as she discovered more of the world. I also liked Ebele was a girl who knew her way around with a gun and gun powder with shooting as her hobby which is rare to come by in the fantasy world. This book was a fantastic breath of fresh air.

The writing felt a little underdeveloped, but besides that it was a cool concept and I love the cover it is beautiful.

The big issue I had with this book was the satirical trigger warning thing at the beginning, it was almost if this book was making fun of people who check for triggers and personally I didn't like that.

Thank you for the advanced reader copy netgalley.

The prose is so terrible as to interfere with one's attempt to read the story. Of course everyone makes mistakes, and I know that maintaining a consistent tone in a fantasy world can be difficult, but this was... unpublishable. No one who looked over this manuscript knew how to use a comma correctly, and I actually winced at the reference to a "sir coat".

The main plot follows Ebele and her mother in their pursuit of assassins wreaking havoc in the city. The opening scene—a shooting competition—was very interesting as we learn about the magic system in the book. However, this was the only part of the story that truly captured my attention.

The rest of the book struggled with pacing and lacked the tension expected from a hunt for assassins. I had difficulty connecting with the characters, and at times, feel they're annoying. Additionally, the ending felt anti-climactic, leaving some questions unanswered.

In terms of writing, there are numerous spelling errors and a few naming error. I also noticed that the dialogue feels kinda stiff sometimes. All in all, while the premise and certain moments held potential, the overall execution failed to deliver a satisfying or cohesive experience.

Ebele’s journey introduces a fascinating concept where gunpowder can be manipulated with essence, adding a unique layer to the story’s world. The characters and assassin-driven mystery are compelling, but uneven pacing—slow to start and rushed towards the end—affects the overall flow. Abrupt POV shifts can also be distracting, but the originality of the setting and ideas keeps it engaging. A creative read with room for refinement.

This book was a very unusual plot. I felt like it needed more backstory. I wanted to like this book. It was definitely an unusual concept--manipulating gunpower with essence. I think it could have been a great story. But things got lost along the way and more info kept getting tossed in.

What I didn't appreciate was the vulgar coarse swearing and lewd language--I'm not a fan of it in adult books, and especially not YA. There are millions of amazing words and powerful phrases in the world--why must we always go for the base ones? (roll eyes)

Sex innuendos, lewd coarse vulgar language, violence--if it was a Netflix show it would have been rated MA. Throw in some LGBQ, and it's a summary of modern entertainment. No substance or value just sex, violence, and the LGBQ agenda.

3 Stars--only for the originality of the idea.

*I was given a complimentary copy of the ARC from the publishers and NetGalley. All opinions are 100% my own.

Surprisingly an enjoyable read. I like Ebele as the main character and the story and world building. Will gather my thoughts and will edit and add some more.

I liked the concept and storyline, but didn’t love the writing style (it didn’t fully grip me or make me feel immersed) and the pacing

This was surprisingly so good.
Honestly, I wasn't expecting too much because of the lack of reviews and knowledge of this book, but it was so good
I loved the characters and set up, but it was kind of underdeveloped in terms of pacing. Like at 50 percent, still not much had happened so then it felt more rushed towards the end. Also at some points it just switched povs which sometimes made me confused for a little bit.
But other than that, I really enjoyed this.

I thought this was such a great storyline and enjoyed the way this was creating the world around. It uses that concept perfectly and enjoyed the overall feel of this in the genre. Teddy Baire has a great writing style and was glad I got to read this. It uses the assassin element that I was looking for and glad it worked overall.

Gunpowder Dolls is such a good book. I totally recommend everyone to read this book as fast as they can because it's really good and the characters are fantastic.