This steampunk
novel, the first of a trilogy, introduces us to Elle Chance, owner of her own
airship and daughter of a renowned inventor. To pay for her ship, she runs it
as light freighter. Most companies won’t hire her, though, so she takes what she
can get. So when she is offered an under the table job of transporting a small
box from Paris to England, she takes it. No sooner does she do
this, however, than trouble starts- and doesn’t stop for 400+ pages.
This is a 1903
where airships and horseless carriages are run on steam powered by mysterious
(to me) spark reactors -I never figured out if that was magic, or science, or
something in between. The world is divided into Light and Shadow, with fairies,
vampires, warlocks, fauns, airship pirates and I’m not sure what else. For a
long time, Light, the side of science and logic, has ruled, but members of the
Shadow side aim to put an end to that soon- and to end a long time pact with
some associates. Not only does Elle get embroiled in this fight by having the
box, but it seems she has a talent that both sides want, too. Of course, there
is the handsome, troubled hero, whom Elle finds attractive but cannot trust or
get along with, Hugh Marsh, Lord Greychester.
While Elle
seems to get past her troubles when she makes it safely home, that changes when
her father is kidnapped and she goes out for blood. As she and Hugh try to
rescue her father, the way this world works is unfolded for us and it’s an
interesting world, with some interesting characters in it.
Sadly, Elle is sometimes
not the most interesting of them. She starts out fine, brave, smart, and
capable of making her own way in the world. But meeting Hugh seems to rob her
of a part of herself and turn her into a teenager who reacts emotionally when
she shouldn’t and refusing to listen to important things about herself and her
family. I’m hoping that in the next volume she comes around and faces things as
an adult. Everyone is entitled to scared and petulant moments, but when it
becomes one’s personality, that gets irritating.
I’m also hoping
to see more of some of the characters introduced in this book: Adele the
absinth fairy, Baroness Belododia the (good) vampire, and Inut the half-faun
boy. They made more of an impact that one would expect for the limited number
of pages given to them, which is why I’m hoping they are given more space in
Book Two. Which I will be reading.
The above is an affiliate link. If you click on it and buy the book, Amazon will give me a few pennies. This in no way affects my review.
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