While the action scenes were very intriguing and well written, I feel like the remainder of the plot just needed a bit of something more to really "round out" the story line. We didn't get to see a lot of the character growth in this one, almost like the characters ended close to the same as they started. Were I to experience the same things they did, I would expect it to change me in some way... Also one big premise of the set up was how tragic and awful things are a very regular occurance in this "world", but we really didn't get to see a lot of that. For the most part just about every character went through the story no worst for ware. I just really wish it could have been a little "more", the ideas are all there, it just really needed a bit more time to grow before publishing.

While the world-building in Mechcraft by Brian Fitzpatrick is quite good, and the premise enough to pull me in, I just didn't enjoy this book. It feels like so much potential just fizzled out. It generated some questions that weren't answered, but even then I think it would have been fine if I would have cared more about the characters. The story is action-packed and fast-moving, but just didn't keep me pulled in and interested. I think if a fast-paced action story is what you are looking for you would enjoy this, but I would have preferred to have more meat - I think I would have enjoyed the world the author created much more.
I received an ARC through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program ( )

I asked for this book in the Early Reviewers programs because the premise sounded amazing. A world in witch nanotech was part of people and could be used at will? Sign me in. I tough it would be more science fiction based, but it ended up being more like a fantasy thing. Not that I'm complaining about it, I love science fantasy!

But, I had my problems with this book and that's why it doesn't have a higher rating.

What I liked:
- The mechcraft "magic" system: it was really cool, with a cool origin story and it was really interconnected with the characters, plot and world in general. It gave characters a solid backstory and made them more interesting, it also gave them distinct personality trials based on how they used the nanos.

- The action: I love action scenes, and this books has a lot of it, so I was happy with them. They're well written, well paced and they're very engaging. It were also well used to established power levels, relationships, ideologies and to move the story forward.

What I didn't like:
- The ending: getting into spoilers territory here... I didn't like the ending at all. The final battle was really cool and has a lot of potential... but it ended up being kind of flat and without much consequence. I was expecting more dead, to be honest. Also, the "revelation" of Jake's parent arriving to "save the day" gave me the sensation that it should be a great twist but it wasn't twisty at all. The injuries some of the characters had seemed mortal, and I get that the nanos cured them quickly, but... they were too much for them to survive. I think Bex and Sasha should have died with the injuries they had. I also had the sensation that Trent should have died at some point but... anyway, that leads me to the other thing I didn't like...

- The lack of dead: for a world that cruel and for a villain as Sasha.... I tough more of the good guys were going to die, honestly. And don't get me wrong, I know some characters died, but they weren't a lot of important of even named ones... As I say before, I have the sensation that Trent was going to die, that everything was building to that, but in the end the author didn't want to do it.

Indifferent about:
- The characters: I wanted to get invested in them, honestly, I really wanted to relate to them or feel something for them... but I couldn't. Maybe it was because this a YA book and the characters are quite young and I'm an adult, but I just couldn't relate to them. They weren't annoying or anything, they were just... meh. The only one I liked, at first, was Sasha. I think she has a lot of potential but I'm disappointed that it ended up being just another crazy villain.

- The plot: honestly? I don't even know what the central plot was. Get Jake to safety, I guess? It didn't hook me much, I keep reading because I wanted to know how Sasha ended up lol ( )

The storyline was fast moving and the ideas were intriguing. But the human interaction was clumsy and simplistic. The characters were more stereotype than real, which was a shame. Also, I wanted to understand the nanotech better - did it replicate in side the human host? Otherwise I didn't understand how the various characters were unrestricted by size from creating what they wanted. ( )

While I enjoyed the fast pace of this book, it sometimes seemed disjointed. Some scenes felt cut short or rushed, but it was action packed and moved forward. The background on mechcraft was great and Jake's development throughout the story was a bit too mature for my taste but it was done sell. Its a good book for a quick read. ( )