Tuesday 25 April 2017

The Girl In A Steel Corset by Kady Cross


The Girl In The Steel Corset by Kady Cross is a book that I've been wanting to read for a while now so it was super lucky that I found the edition with the prequel novella in a charity shop. I was so happy and grabbed it up immediately but it's sadly taken until now for me to actually read it.



What I Loved

So the first thing I need to say is that I actually read the prequel novella before starting the main story and I really enjoyed it. I feel like it was a really good little story but there were some issues with moving onto the main story later but I'll move on to them. All I'll say is that Phoebe was a great character and I wish I could have read more in that part of the story.

When it comes to the main book, I did enjoy the plot. The twists and turns and the villain were all so good. I didn't want to put the book down most of the time and it was an intriguing read. I loved Jasper and I loved Emily but most of all I loved Jack Dandy the most. This is pretty unusual for me as I usually hate the bad boy in the love triangle but he was honest compared to Griffin most of the time and I preferred that.

Speaking of bad guys the villain in this novel was fascinating. The whole idea of the villain might have been a little eh but you were wondering what was going on with the characters through most of it and I like that in a book evil so it worked well.


What I didn't Like

My main issue with this book was probably that you could tell it was written by someone who isn't British. The villain was called Garibaldi for christ's sake and I know I'm not the only Brit who read that as gary-baldy as in the biscuit. That was a total groan moment. Plus the way Cross wrote Jack's cockney accent sometimes. Writing thanks as fanks was completely unnecessary and actually really annoying

My other big issue was all because I read the novella first. I know it was probably written later but there was such a disconnect when reading one straight after the other. I mean she finds out about Griffin from Phoebe, she was fired for hitting a governess and she walked away from her role before August-Rayne. Then you read the novel and it's all different. It kind of feels like Cross didn't re-read the book before writing the novella and it's slightly annoying but doesn't take that much from the book, fortunately.

I also didn't like Sam much but I'm not sure if you're supposed to or not if I'm honest.

Finally, as much as I liked the steampunk aspects, it didn't feel very steampunk apart from having power and inventions. I'd kind of like a little more steam and clockwork so I wouldn't say this is a heavily steampunk novel but it's not much of a historical sci-fi either.

The Verdict

Overall it was a hugely enjoyable book even if the use of some things was kind of ridiculous. I would recommend this book if you already enjoy steampunk but it might not be the best introduction.


4/5 stars


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