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.
An advance review copy of the book was provided for review purposes.
