Monday, May 21, 2012

Review: The Girl in Steel Corset by Kady Cross


The Girl in Steel Corset by Kady Cross
The Steampunk Chronicles #1
Release Date: May 24th, 2011
Number of Pages: 473
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
In 1897 England, 16-year-old Finley Jayne is convinced she's a freak. 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 . . . that she's one of "them."
If there is one thing that I absolutely love about this novel (well, beside the cover), it’s the world Kady Cross created. I’m a huge fan of Steampunk (since reading the Leviathan series by Scott Westerfeld), so I was really excited to read this book. I love the description, the Victorian vibe, and the idea of Organites… It all made the novel captivating.

On the other hand, the plot was slightly disappointing. It wasn’t boring or uninteresting, far from that. I simply felt like there was some aspects of the story were really rushed, while others slowed the plot.  It didn’t mean I wasn’t enthralled by the story (and mostly the world) Kady Cross created.

Character wise, I was easily captivated by Jack Dandy. Can I get a book only about him? There is simply something about him that makes me extremely curious. Of course, I have to talk about the main character Finley. If there is one thing about her that is certain, it’s that she is a kick-ass character. Still, I felt like she was a little all over the place. It doesn’t mean I thought she wasn’t interesting. The problem I have with her is that her relationship with the characters seemed off. One of the relationships that I felt the most rushed was the one between Griffin and Finley. He seems to trust her so easily, yet she is a complete stranger with a double personality. Talking about her personality, am I the only one disappointed that it seems to resolve itself without much help.

Overall, I have to confess that it is mostly the world and the descriptions that made the book for me. The villain may have been predictable to me, yet I’m still quite curious about what is to come in book two!

5 comments:

  1. I love the cover for this so much too as well as the world created within. I wasn't a big fan of Jack Dandy but then I never usually like the bad boy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The world was to die for, and the cover, I have to say, was one of the biggest reason why I picked this book.

      Delete
  2. I still cannot get on board the steampunk train even though I keep coming back to this book...but your comment on Leviathan has made me curious! I will start there , thanks for the pointer :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Leviathan was such an amazing series. If you like audiobooks, this series is amazingly well narrated. The narrator, Alan Cummings, is excellent. He created voices for every character, giving a life to the books. Still, the books are interesting because of the drawing, which are gorgeous.

      Delete