Steel Hearts: Lyndsey

By: Dawn Chapman

Narrated by: Stephanie Nemeth Parker

Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's Summary

Time to rendezvous: seven weeks. Failure imminent.

Lyndsey Collins is in a big damn hurry. She's on the wrong side of the galaxy — and running out of time.

Her primary mission — find Kyle Ranz — has been delayed and jeopardized by another equally important one: to capture a prototype mech that's guaranteed to wreak havoc in the Messa system.

On board the battleship Abyssinian, Lyndsey's loyalties to unexpected friends will be brutally tested against her resolve to get to Kyle. With every delay and detour, her good options all fade away like screaming into the vacuum of space. 

And thanks to the mixed blessing of Future Insight, she knows that people are going to die — and her choices will determine who.

Lyndsey faces insurmountable odds from threats both internal and external and shows all why she's earned her Steel Hearts.

©2020 Dawn Chapman (P)2020 Dawn Chapman

I loved this book!

If you follow my reviews you know how much I ❤ Dawn Chapman's writing. Steel Hearts is the first book in a spinoff series from Space Seasons! Well, in Steel Hearts we meet an exciting new character (Lyndsey) that actually knew Kyle before he was drafted! Her main objective is to join up with Kyle Ranz and his crew. But, the clock is ticking down and time is dwindling as she finds herself all the way across the Galaxy... and the ship she's on (The Abyssinian) is besieged by their enemies!
Add to that, Stephanie Nemeth Parker's nuanced performance just about had me in tears, as Lyndsey navigates though the needs of managing her goals, and her personal life!
So get Steel Hearts, or even better get Space Seasons too! (Assuming of course, that you haven't already read them!)

Blast Through and Loved It

I can honestly say that I think the first or second ever LitRPG that I picked up was by Dawn Chapman. I think that links her and me in some way and I know going into each one of her stories – just what I’m going to get. Along with knowing that she’s going to surprise me in some way. Steel Hearts was the same way – I knew the type of story I was going to get and the way that the RPG moments were going to be shown to me, but I didn’t realize how much I was going to fall for the characters even after just meeting them.

Steel Hearts throws us right into the action and within the first few minutes, I wasn’t sure who was going to live or not. Then, we’re introduced to each character and a little bit about the world. There’s enough going on that I didn’t feel like I needed to know everything. I think the confusion and the misdirection help since Lyndsey isn’t 100% sure what’s going on at all times either. It helps keep that disconnect going.

Lyndsey as a character was great – she was easy to like and once I found out about her back story, what happened, and a little bit about how she got where she was she instantly skyrocketed to “I want to see her survive and thrive no matter what” status. Early on we’re shown who she is and what makes her tick. She’s extremely quiet about what happened to her in the past until she finally opens up. After that scene, you can’t help but root for her.

Then, she leaves all the things that comfort her and goes into an unknown world. Just crazy to me, but her reasoning makes sense. I thought Chapman nailed the goodbye scene and really left me with tears in my eyes as she realizes things she realizes right at that moment.

Overall, this was a really enjoyable book that I absolutely flew through. A new world for me but I felt right at home there. Coupled with the great narration by Stephanie Nemeth Parker and I thought this was a surefire winner.

nice read

I read this as a stand alone and it was a great book and I am asking myself how did I miss the rest of the series. if you read this as a standalone its great but then you will be desperate to read everything else in the universe by Dawn!