Tuesday 13 August 2013

A Riveting Affair, a Steampunk Anthology


An anthology of three Steampunk Romances: 'Beauty and The Clockwork Beast', 'The Clockwork Bride' and 'Demon Express'. 

Beauty and the Clockwork Beast
First up is Rose and her Clockwork Beast. She goes to Sebastian, an old student of her father's, because she wants her help to construct her father's last plans: a teleportation device. But Sebastian is unused to visitors and tries to turn her away. But Rose is stubborn, a little annoyingly so, and stays, taking it upon herself to clear out Sebastian's musty home and help him come to terms with his nightmares.
What I loved about this was that even though Rose was incredibly pushy, she only cared about what was best for Sebastian. She knew how much he loved creating automatons and their friendship grew out of mutual respect. This was definitely my favourite, not just because I love Beauty and The Beast, but also the more believable and developed relationship

The Clockwork Bride
Aida Mulvaney is one of few female engineers, which makes her awesome! But she is a woman, and Irish, which apparently makes her a total waste. But Julian Capshaw doesn't think so and whisks her away to get married on an airship. Which would be completely romantic, if they hadn't just met. And I know that it is set in the nineteenth century and politically advantageous marriages were common, I still didn't believe their love story.
 But I did like the whole political angle, like their father's battle over technology. That, in a Steampunk novel, is totally believable. Plus, I loved Putnam's company, with its flying machines and little fairy spies!

Demon Express
Maisy Clark is a hunter, an assassin, and hot on the trail of the evil scientist making strange and dangerous creatures. Julian is an evil son of a bitch, with a creepy obsession with Maisy, which led me to believe that they had a fling before his true colours revealed themselves. Anyway, Maisy is tracking down his new hiding place but she has a distraction in the shape of the town marshall Jake Calloway. I really liked this one, even though the details were a little confusing because there were so  many, but by the end the layers fitted together nicely. Not to mention it had grave robbers, a cute law officer, a ghost and were-panthers! 

Published 25th May 2013 by Entangled. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for my e-copy.

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