If you have read The Strange Case of Finley Jayne then you will be familiar with Finley Jayne, and recognise Griffin King, Duke of Greythorn, the main characters in this book. Griffin taks Finley in when she is fleeing (quite literally) from another job and almost runs her over. She soon discovers that Griff leads a band of Misfits each with their own extraordinairy powers, Sam with his amazing strength and healling abilities, Emily a genuis with machines, Jasper the quickest man in the West, and then Grfiin himself who has power over the Aether. Is this a place where Finley can fit in, she also has strange and frightening powers and bad case of split personality disorder! But they have bigger threats to face when the discover that a mad man named The Machinist is plotting against the Queen and they may be the only people able to stop him.
I really liked the world the Kady Cross has created, steampunk is such a fascinating genre and can incorporate many strange and wonderful things, and this book was full of strange and wonderful things. Like the steel corset in the title, although it wasn’t in it that often it was a great invention, a bullet proof corset, and of course it made a very eye catching title.
Although this book was mostly staged around Griff and Finley, what was great about this book was that the other characters in the grop weren’t just ignored or just given token appearences, Sam, Emily and Jasper, were all given time and had their own insecurities and strengths; you got to know them well. I think the whole group had a great dynamic which I hope she improves on in the next book. There was also a little romance in this book, or atleast some potential romance, but in the form of not one but two emerging love triangles! Sam-Emily-Jasper and Griff-Finley-Jack Dandy, I am not a massive fan of love triangles so I am hoping that it won’t be dragged out too long, although it probably will!
The only thing that I thought was weak was that The Machinist plot, I knew exactly who he was and what he was plannning early on in the book and couldn’t understand why they didn’t catch on as well. It was still fun to read along as there were soem good action scenes but it was frustrating when it was so damn obvious!
This was a good fun read, it was entertaining and I enjoyed the steampunk aspects of the book as well as the characters, I will definately be reading the next one when it comes out!
Favourite Quotes
…Griffin King could hurt her, as well, and he hadn’t. Instead of using force or violence against her, he used patience and understanding. She had no defense against that.
~
For a moment she thought to remind him that showing off his naked skin to a young woman was highly improper, but then another part of her told her to keep her mouth shut and enjoy the view, so that was what she did.
[about-author author=”Kady Cross”]
Thanks Lori : ) Yeah the prequel was good, I just liked the whole Xmen thing she had going on!
Suzanne
I enjoyed this one too but for some reason I liked the prequel more. Great review!
Loooved this one as well! A nice intro to steampunk I thought. Not too heavy but still just amazing! Glad you liked it!