Monday, April 29, 2013

The Girl in the Steel Corset

The Girl in the Steel Corse...
Today’s post is on “The Girl in the Steel Corset” by Kady Cross. It is 473 pages long and is published by Harlequin Teen. The cover has the main character with her back to the reader in a red dress with the steel corset showing. It is the first book of the Steampunk chronicles. It is Young Adult but anyone who likes Steampunk, girls with personality, or just fun plot will like this. There is nothing in this to offend anyone, there are some scenes with excitement but not very graphic and no sexuality or language.

From the dust jacket- In 1897 England, sixteen-year-old Finley Jayne has no one… except the “thing” inside her.
When a young lord tries to take advantage of Finley, she fights back. And wins. But no normal Victorian girl has a darker side that makes her capable of knocking out a full-grown man with one punch…
Only Griffin King sees the magical darkness inside her that says she’s special, says she’s one of them. The orphaned duke takes her inform the gaslit streets against the wishes of his band of misfits: Emily, who has her own special abilities and an unrequited love for Sam, who is part robot; and Jasper, an American cowboy with a shadowy secret.
Griffin’s investigating a criminal called The Machinist, the mastermind behind several recent crimes by automatons. Finley thinks she can help- and finally be a part of something, finally fit in.
But The Machinist wants to tear Griff’s little company of strays apart, and it isn’t long before trust is tested on all sides. At least Finley knows whose side she’s on- even if it seem no one believes her.

Review- It was a fun, quick read. I know that almost 500 pages is not really ‘quick’ to most but I found no trouble just putting this book away. The characters are interesting but the most interesting thing in my opinion is not even talked about in the blurb. Jack Dandy is an underworld boss and he is fun and interesting. He is part of the love triangle between Finley and Griffin but he is so much more than that. I did ask who the villain was very quickly but that is not a bad thing. Cross has a good grasp of pacing, dialog and plot. The only problem I have is that I feel the character development was a little too fast. Finley just rolled in and everything started happening but there is just not enough time really for me to buy all the development that happens in the story. Finley goes from hating and fearing her other self to integrating with it in about 100 pages. Maybe she was just that ready to deal with it but I did not get that feeling from the story itself. That said, that is the only problem I have with the story. I liked everything else. Cross is an excellent writer and she knows her books; if you are a classics reader then you will enjoy the references that she makes.

I give this book Four solid stars out of Five. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.

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