The Girl in the Steel Corset (Kady Cross)

Title: The Girl in the Steel Corset

Author: Kady Cross

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Length: 473 pages

Rating: 2.5/5

Finley is not an ordinary Victorian housemaid. When an employer tries to take advantage of her, she lets her dark side fight back. Griffin King, an attractive orphaned duke, sees the value in her dark side and takes Finley under his wing. With his own mysterious powers, Griffin recruits Finley to help him fight a criminal called the Machinist.

I started off really liking this book. About half-way though, I wanted to chuck it out the plane window. I can’t tell you if it’s the book itself, or the steampunk genre that didn’t jive. I’ll have to read more steampunk to find out, but for now, let me tell you what I liked and didn’t like about this book.

Like:

1.      Finley is a Victorian girl with a backbone, and a wicked fighter at that.

2.      A good range of characters: There’s the attractive duke, his part-robot hulky best friend Sam, their brilliant scientist Emily, and an American cowboy with a secret, Jasper. I was also quite fond of Jack Dandy- the handsome criminal mastermind.

3.      My favorite part was the rich guy vs criminal guy aspect going on. I do love criminal bad-boys with good hearts who fall for heroines.

Didn’t like:

1.      Maybe this is the steam punk thing, but I really didn’t appreciate the explanation of things like flashlights and motorcycles as if they were the coolest thing ever. I get that it’s Victorian England, but in a science fiction/technologically advanced world. But it wasn’t exciting.

2.      An American cowboy? Seriously? What in tarnation was he doing in this book (other than setting up a sequel?) He wasn’t even introduced the first time he appeared- he was just there one day.

3.      Viewpoints were switching all over the place. Normally, I like a little variety. Here it was just too much.

4.      Not enough character growth throughout the book. I wanted to beat Sam over the head with a large rolling pin for being such a complete idiot over and over again.

5.      I figured out important plot points before they were revealed to the characters. Why would I keep reading when I know what will happen?

6.      Things were repetitive and the writing had moments of cliché. Perhaps this book could have used stronger editing to neaten these things up a bit, because despite all these flaws, there was still a good story with fun moments underneath. 

Clockwork Prince (Cassandra Clare)

Title: Clockwork Prince

Author: Cassandra Clare

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Length: 498 pages

Rating: 4.5/5

Actual text from my friend Meredith: “Have you read Clockwork Prince? I just finished it and I almost died like twenty times ahhhhh I need the next one RIGHT NOW!!!!”

I went out and bought this book the day it came out. To do it full justice however, I didn’t read it for several days because I had to reread the first book in The Infernal Devices series, Clockwork Angel, before I let myself read the new book, hence the above text message. My response to Meredith after reading? “Just. Finished. The. Book. O.M.G. Dyyyyyyyyinnnnnnnnggggggggggggg. I now need to read everything I possibly can about the book online.”

If these girl-ish squeals won’t convince you to read the book, I don’t know what will!

How about a short summary (short because I dare not give anything away!): In Victorian England, Tessa continues to search for a way to destroy the evil Magister with the help of two handsome Shadowhunters, Will and Jem. But the cunning Magister always seems five steps ahead, and Tessa must also fight to save her home from falling into the wrong hands, as well as trying to sort out her confusing feelings for both Shadowhunter boys.

Some things to consider:

1.      Cassandra Clare loves love triangles. And bad boys with dark pasts. Win-win? Only if Jem and Will don’t kill me with their awesomeness first. The character growth in this novel is great.

2.      All the good people in this book are young, while the evil people are old. Youth power! I refuse to grow up!

3.      Anyone else feeling a love connection between Cyril and Gabriel? What? Don’t give me that look of exasperation. Everyone else is pairing off…

4.      The poetry. Clever, brilliant, beautiful, but so much of it that it comes across as just a little too pretentious for me. The only thing that actually bothers me about this series thus far is the excessive amount of poetry.

5.      The cover is beautiful, and the perfect darker compliment to those of the Mortal Instruments series.

Go read Clockwork Angel, then Clockwork Prince. You won’t be disappointed.