•• “𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘦”

Okay look, I’m not going to pretend like it’s easy for me to write a review on a good day - cause it’s not. But this? This feels impossible.

How do you write a review for a book that sucked you in and then flipped the world upside down on you? That made you giggle, smile and swoon but also left a pit in your heart and stomach? How do you put words together to explain wanting to throw the book across the room after the last page but also wanting to immediately start it again? I’m at a loss. This book messed me up, big, but in the best way possible.

Thank you Netgalley for the review copy.

Ok. I don't love the ending, it kinda made me mad - but because I didn't see it coming, I can give props where they are due. I was having such a good time, until BAM - plot twist. Just mean, and now I have to wait for the next in the series?
Brynn lives among a people banished from land. An outsider in her own village - she has no memories of her life before being taken in as a child by the captain and his family. The Captains son -Kai - is her best friend and wants her hand, to join him in ruling their village. But Brynn is conflicted with how she feels and how she fits in, especially after a mysterious event at a neighbouring kingdoms market that unleashed a whole can of worms. And after running into the dark and mysterious soldier Acker. Secret identities, twisted loyalties, growing chemistry and elemental magic all come together for this romantasy story.

Rachel Schneider’s METAL SLINGER is highly entertaining and the perfect summer read for fans of romantasy.

This was good but blends into all the other current romantasy books that are out which left me feeling bored and meh. It wasn’t bad, I think I’m just bored of this genre right now. I think other romantasy lovers will enjoy!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️
🐟💡🗡️🏝️

Arghhh! This one was a beast, ya’ll. I don’t know if I loved it or love to hate it, but I’ll definitely be carrying on with the series. This review is so hard to write without spoilers.

Found adrift at sea as a child with no memory of her past, Brynn is raised among the Alaha, an exiled ocean-dwelling people. On a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Market ON LAND, things happen that upend her entire life. She meets Acker, prince of the Kenta people, gets kidnapped by him, learns her true density, falls in love, embraces her power…. Or does she?

I’m not sure how I feel about unreliable narrators and complete 180s in characters in the last 5% of a book, but seeing past events with new knowledge really gave me the best kind of whiplash.

World building - pretty decent! I love a well planned fictional world and this one fed me tidbits all along the way. No info dump, no long exposition which I appreciate so much. Writers, please continue to trust the intelligence of your readers like this.

Characters - every single character is nuanced. I didn’t always like any of them, I always liked something about them and (by the end) I also didn’t hate any of them. I just have more questions!

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

This book absolutely blew me away. I loved how the story challenges what loyalty and family really mean, all while delivering seafaring adventure and knife fights that had me on the edge of my seat. It’s a passionate, fierce read. I’m beyond excited for the sequel.

Holy plot twist, Batman! Did not see that twist coming from a thousand miles away!!

First - thank you to NetGalley for this arc before the book is traditionally published!

This book is definitely a romantasy fans bread and butter, heavy on the “romance” part of that.
I had a hard time understanding why the FMC was doing what she was doing.
Why was she looking into the weaponry?
Why was she nervous about going to the one capitol city?
Why was she not going back to that one place immediately? (being vague to avoid spoilers)
I do wish that there had been a bit more plot moving forward in this, since it felt like after they got to land not much happened until the last 2% of the book.

All that said - I did have a fun time with this and I’d be interested to see where the story goes in book two!
And again - that plot twist ending was twistiiiiing WOW!

I have mixed thought on this book. The first 25% is super engaging and interesting, and immediately sucks you in. The middle pacing gets a little slow for obvious reasons, but the story still feels solid.

At this point, the chapters start to feel a bit wonky, and there's no easy transition from one series of events to the next - its jarring, leaving you to catch up that the scene has now changed and we are an indeterminate period of time later. At one point, theres an ending to a chapter and I expected the scene to come to a closure in another few sentences... only to digitally turn the page and have a totally new scene at hand.

Things start to fall apart once the main characters reach Kenta's capital, and the book starts to feel like someone shuffled the chapters out of order, because theres a lot of things that are mentioned as if they are already known facts... only for the reader to actually read about the thing mentioned a chapter or a few later. And it's not just one thing, its quite frequent. I'm not sure if this was like this in the original indie release, or if things were rearranged for the trad publish, but its really confusing and throws me off of actually enjoying the book because I'm sitting there trying to figure out what's meant by [insert offhand comment], only to learn about it later in the book. I'm really hoping these issues are corrected before this book is traditionally released next month, because this 100% has the opportunity to be a 5-star read, and I will be noting them in my notes to the publisher.

I don’t know how to write this review without sounding completely unhinged, but Metal Slinger broke me in all the best ways. I feel betrayed, wrecked, emotionally sucker-punched—and I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.

From the very first chapter, I was hooked. The worldbuilding is sharp and immersive without being overwhelming, and the pacing never lets up. It’s a book that feels cinematic—fast, vivid, and emotionally raw. I went in expecting high-stakes action and complex characters. I got that—but I also got gut-wrenching twists, laugh-out-loud banter, and several moments where I genuinely thought I might have to put my Kindle down and go stare into the void.

The emotional stakes are so real. Without giving anything away, there’s a particular moment (and if you’ve read it, you know) that made my stomach drop. I felt like I had been personally targeted. And yet—through all the chaos and heartbreak—this story also made me laugh and feel hopeful. There’s just enough light to balance out the dark, and that makes the heavy moments hit even harder.

The characters are what truly make this book shine. They are messy, lovable, infuriating, and real. I cared so deeply for them that every decision they made felt like a personal investment. No one is safe, and nothing is predictable—but everything is earned.

Metal Slinger is one of those books that gets under your skin and lingers long after you finish. It made me feel everything—joy, rage, grief, hope—and I’m honestly still recovering. Fans of twisty, high-octane science fiction/fantasy with a punch to the heart: this is your next obsession.

Thank you to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for the ARC. I’m going to need a support group

What an amazing story and an amazing read! And that ending?! I didn’t see it coming and I’m usually good at guessing endings. This story is romantacy at its finest! Easy to understand world building and a lot of my favorite troupes in one story. Perfect for those who are just starting to read romantic fantasy. Thank you for letting me read an arc copy! I cannot wait for book two!

The blurb doesn’t do this book justice, the story is so much more. This book is extremely fast paced, for me this was exactly what I needed to read at the right time and it gave me all of those five star feelings.

I’m obsessed with all of the characters and their dynamics. The world and politics were so interesting to me while the magic system just captured me and was so entertaining. I didn't want to have to sleep or adult because that would require me putting this book down and that was the last thing I wanted to do. I spent so much of this book feeling giddy, kicking my feet and screaming!

So many twists and turns, never a dull moment. The way everything connects at the end is quite frankly, insane. You’ll either love or hate the ending I went absolutely feral about it.

What. a. ride !!!!

This book is officially one of my top five favorite books. Not only was the story intriguing and never boring but the slow burn burned slowwwwww, and I was feeling it!

Brynn is an FMC that I have never come across before. The way she was portrayed through the whole book and then how her character developed at the end was mind blowing.

I have nothing but amazing words for this book and want to give nothing away! If you love all the typical romantasy tropes you will LOVE this novel. I cannot wait for book two to be released and needed it yesterday.

I went into Metal Slinger blind, only vaguely knowing there was a plot twist at the end.

The pacing of the plot was inconsistent. It felt like Brynn/Jovie and Acker's journey to get to Kenta (I believe) took 50 million years, while the journey at the start of the book to get to and from the market and the reveal at the end went by super fast.

I enjoyed the banter between characters and how headstrong Jovie is. The chemistry between Jovie and Acker was undeniable.

I wish we had gotten more of an insight into what Jovie was planning, so the plot twist wasn't so jarring. I get that it made for more hype surrounding the book, but I don't think that made for a good reading experience.

Overall, the book was an easy read, and I was kept engaged so I will continue reading the series when it comes out.

I really wanted to like this, but I'm afraid it has deeply dissapointed me. The narration was lacking, inconsistent, and at times unnatural. The plot itself seems to be original there are ideas which, if developed well, could have been very interesting to read throughout a whole series. However, there were some unnecesary plot twists used only to grab the attention of the reader and make them keep reading; but the plot holes were the worst of all. It is extremely difficult to create a perfect fantasy worldbuilding of course, but this was too lacking and sloppy. The author seemed to literally forget how the world worked at times, like she was making it on the spot as she was writing the novel. The romance is there, the fantasy is there, but with both of them lacking, what really makes this an enjoyable romantasy? I can see the potential, but this book needed some more time to marinate well (and a good editor, please hire good editors).

I really wanted to like this book, but as soon as I started the first chapter, I felt like we were in the middle of the story already.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Press for a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Overall a 5 star read for me! I will say, it did take longer to get into, about 20%... BUT, and big “but” here, it makes a ton of sense as to why it needed that long for the entire story and plot to make sense.
This is supposed to be a duology, and I am truly not sure how we are going to close it all out in just one more book! Needless to say, I am so excited for the second in this enticing romantasy with tons of twists and turns!

I loved our FMC and our MMC, and I loved them together, their slow burn and the extra tension makes this extra special and everything I want. Our FMC is a strong warrior type and our FMC is morally grey and always yearning - my favorites! This first installment really goes into our FMC discovering herself and who she really is, which takes us into our plot…

So many twists and turns in this plot and some that I would have *never* seen coming, big moments of *what the actual* during my time with this story, and that just made it so incredibly good. I still think about these plot twists after my read and I know I’ll have to re-read this before the next one comes out to see if I catch any hints of the twists during the earlier parts of the novel. The world itself is dangerous, politically complicated, magical and on the edge of war.

The character arc/journey for Brynn, the plot and the worldbuilding are all tied in together, which makes for story telling that feels seamless and unencumbered. As the reader, we don’t know much going in, and even so it all unfolds in a well paced (but still pretty fast paced) style while the characters are getting to know each other and sharing their lives.

I would highly recommend this to all fantasy romance lovers, and even fantasy lovers that would like to try out fantasy with a stronger romantic plot!

I cannot wait for book 2!

Very well done romantasy story! Great characters, world building, and magic system plus plot twists that completely blindsided me. I will be thinking about the ending for weeks.

This was such a fantastic fantasy with an interesting magic system and an epic journey. The slow burn with all the tension was top tier, and I'm absolutely obsessed with Acker. I loved the hidden identity and found family aspects also. This has all the making for an amazing fantasy series, and I'm literally feral for the next book! That cliffhanger and plot twist at the end was absolutely diabolical and completely genius. I'll be not so patiently waiting to have my heart ripped out in the next book.

I’m stunned.
I think I’ve been sitting here trying to think of what to say in my review for 30 minutes
I’m speechless!
I enjoyed how this book throws the typical romantasy tropes on its head.
That ending was like a slap in the face though.
Apparently I need to start of list of authors I have beef with and Rachel in on that list now 😂

I really loved the main character, Brynn/Jovie—especially watching her learn about the different types of magic and develop relationships both old and new. The whole book carefully builds up her bond with Acker, her connections back home, and the new relationships she's forming… only for the twist at the end to seemingly make all of that irrelevant.

And revealing that she was a secret double agent in just one chapter? I’m still not sure how I feel about that. I have a lot of emotions when it comes to this story—conflicted, frustrated, impressed.

What I can say is that I’m genuinely impressed by the author’s ability to evoke such a strong emotional response. This book surprised me, and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing where the story goes next.