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Review: Metal Slinger by Rachel Schneider

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Book Cover for Metal Slinger by Rachel Schneider

Name: Metal Slinger
Series: Fire & Metal #1
Author: Rachel Schneider
Publisher: Self-Published
Format: Kindle (through Kindle Unlimited)
Genres: New Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Noted Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, Forced Proximity, Slow-burn
Steam or Spice: Spice-ish

Rating:

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Synopsis: Goodreads

Brynn has spent the better part of her life waiting for the chance to attend the annual market hosted by the Kenta, the very same people who exiled the Alaha to live a life over the sea. A rite of passage for all young guards, she’s not sure what to expect from it, but breaking a century- long peace treaty certainly isn’t on her map.

Neither is the encounter with an enemy soldier.

Returning home to Alaha, she’s confronted with the aftermath of the day’s events. The future is uncertain as the threat of hunger looms over the people. With rumors of a growing rebellion, Brynn and her closest friends promise to stick together.

When an unexpected visitor arrives, Brynn’s loyalty will be tested as she learns of a world of magic and treachery. Once her enemy, always her enemy, right? But the dark, knowing eyes of a stranger make her question everything…

…including her heart.

Review:

Metal Slinger was on my 12 Books to read in 2025 challenge – and honestly could have been there multiple times as it’s loved by BookTok! Onto the review…

Metal Slinger starts off with chaos, then chills out and takes you on adventure before throwing you back into unrelenting chaos. We begin as the Alaha people are venturing onto land (which is not their normal as they live on the water) for a market day – with everyone excited to eat something that isn’t fish (our introduction to Messer is still brilliant)… And chaos ensues almost immediately, resulting in the ‘peace’ between the Alaha and Kenta (land people) narrowly surviving the events that take place.

I really enjoyed the ‘thrown into the middle of it’ from the get go approach that Rachel took and I was immediately a fan of our FMC – Brynn. She’s thrown a bit off by the starting chapters and then it seems as though she just keeps narrowly missing solid ground again (so to speak). Brynn ends up leaving her life behind and joining Acker (a guard from Kenta)… To go into why definitely heads into spoiler territory, and so I won’t but I had to mention Acker because I love this man.

Acker is absolutely one of the best parts of Metal Slinger… He is our slow burn romantic interest and I loved it. Initially I kept thinking about Kai (the original love interest that gets left behind when Brynn leaves the Alaha people), but I grew to love Acker so quickly that it was kind of embarrassing how quickly I switched from Team Kai to Team Acker… But, if you read the book, I’m sure you will too…

I can’t say I enjoyed the journey that these two went on – but their relationship had my heart and I was cheering for them!! But listen. LISTEN! When a damn CHAPTER HEADING makes your jaw hit the floor you know the author caught you off guard. I had grown to love Brynn and Acker and their growing (but slow-burn) relationship and so for a simple chapter heading to have brought me to my damn knees… It was unexpected for certain.

I want to explain why it isn’t a 5 star review, and it’s simply because there were occassions where I felt as though information was missing. Previously, when this has happened I’ve docked a lot more than .5 stars for it… And the reason I haven’t this time is purely because of the ending of the book. The reveal that happens at the end makes me think that perhaps information wasn’t missing per se, but rather for as good as the twist is, perhaps it wasn’t executed the cleanest… So even though I loved the twist and absolutely cannot wait for book 2, there is a little part of my concerned for either the messy twist or the missing information… whichever reason ends up being the correct one…

I still loved Metal Slinger, and I absolutely will recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good romantasy because this is a good one! I’m intrigued as to where it will go next…

“I looked for you. In every market and podunk town, in every corner of every land, I searched each face for yours.”

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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Hello,

I’m Tyler-Rose

I’m rediscovering my love and enjoyment of reading and I’m inviting you along with me! I’ll be posting reviews predominently! But there will be posts talking about TBRs and Read-A-Thons / Reading Challenges as well!

Join me as I pick up my next read, curl up on the sofa with a cup of tea and venture into my next story!

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So, I went through my books read this year and realised that not only was I having rating regrets on a few books, but also that there were many months this year where I read a lot of excellent reads! As a result, picking the best and worst book of the month came down to ratings first, and what stuck with me second. Alchemy of Secrets by Stephanie Garber was described as an adult Caraval - and I adored Caraval so naturally I was hyped for this release. Then the reviews came out which made me nervous… I put it off until I drew it for a TBR prompt and then accidentally ended up buddy reading it with a friend. I had an excellent time doing so. Here’s the thing, there are so many books releasing next year, and there is no way I have heard about them all or have them all on this list… but this list are the ones I either have on preorder or reminders set to buy them (because I can’t keep surprising myself with these preorders that you have to pay for later!!). Oh it feels GOOD to have actually read book 2 in this trilogy! When I picked to reread Storm and Fury I knew I needed to actually continue the trilogy and finish it this time, so naturally I’m really pleased to have prioritised that and read Rage and Ruin!

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