Book Thoughts: The Clockwork Scarab

Title: The Clockwork Scarab
Author: Colleen Gleason
Series: Stoker & Holmes #1

First off, a special thank you to LibraryThing and Chronicle Books for providing my copy of this one!

I loved the premise of this novel -- relatives of Sherlock Holmes and Bram Stoker in a steampunk London, solving mysteries and taking out bad guys together. The world it's set in is super cool, and the allusions to the Sherlock Holmes stories and Stoker's Dracula are really fun to spot. And the characters are brilliant: you can see the logical Holmes tradition shining through Mina and the fierce vampire hunter in Evaline, but they also have emotions and insecurities that make them new, unique characters and not just another reiteration of the same detective or vampire hunter. I'm usually wary of split first-person narratives, too, but I thought Mina and Evaline had very distinct voices. The minor characters -- Dylan, Grayling, Pix, the other girls -- were also pretty great, although I'd have liked a lot more about Irene Adler.

The characters and the world were the strong points, and Gleason's way with words is excellent, but I felt that sometimes there were minor plot holes -- granted, the copy I got was an ARC so it's entirely possible those things have been fixed, but there were just tiny things; someone wearing gloves on one page that suddenly wasn't with no mention of having taken them off on the next. The plot on the whole was very well-organized. My only real complaint was that despite how much I loved all of the individual elements of the novel's world, it felt like a little too much: detectives and vampire hunting and time travel and steampunk and alternate histories and Egyptology... all of it was super cool, but together it was a little overwhelming.

All in all, though, it was a fun, quick read that kept me turning pages. Not one I'd be rushing to shove into all of my friends' hands, but I will definitely be looking for the rest of the series. I want more adventures with these characters!

Book Thoughts: Clockwork Angel

Title: Clockwork Angel
Author: Cassandra Clare
Series: Infernal Devices #1

I think I would have loved Clockwork Angel a lot more if I hadn't been very busy noticing all the similarities to the Mortal Instruments series (which I absolutely adored). That said, I still thought Clockwork Angel was pretty freaking awesome.

Tessa makes an excellent protagonist - her feelings about/relationship with her brother are awesome, especially later on in the novel - and I adored Charlotte, but I think my favorite characters are the boys. Henry is adorable and reminded me of a cross between Beetee from the Hunger Games series and Luna Lovegood...but Will and Jem were the best. I would love to be friends with Jem in real life, and Will... oh, Will. I can't decide whether I love him or want to strangle him - which means that I agree with just about everyone else in the novel. I kept comparing him to Jace from TMI, but fortunately it's been long enough since I read those that I was able to (mostly) come at this as an independent story, and I loved it.

I'd offer you some quotes, but a) I'd have to pick just a few favorites, and b) they'll be so much better if you find out for yourself.

The plot was awesome too. I kept wanting to find out what happens - I've gotten pretty good at figuring out endings long before I get there lately, but Clockwork Angel had some major twists that genuinely surprised me and were executed very well. I'm really not sure how much I can say without being too spoilery, but I do think the jacket description plays up romance too much. It's definitely there but it takes a backseat to the mystery and suspense, which was good. Once I started reading Clockwork Angel I did not want to put it down (I had to at times, but I'd have loved to read it straight through). It kept me turning the pages and I am so sad that I have to wait until next September for the second one!

Also I love the cover. The cover is awesome and 1800s-England-y (which is fitting) and Shadowhunter-y (also fitting) and I just think it's lovely. And the setting! England in 1878 is a delightful setting. And my friends can attest to the fact that I slipped into old-fashioned British English for a bit while I was reading it. Oops. Oh, and the literary references! *happy sigh*

Definitely, definitely read this one if you get the chance and like supernatural things. I simply loved it! I do think, though, that City of Bones and the rest of the Mortal Instruments series were better. So read those too!

Book Thoughts: Leviathan

Title: Leviathan
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Series: Leviathan #1

Would you rather oil your machines... or feed them?

This is the big question in this alternate-universe steampunk World War I. Leviathan follows Alek, son of the assassinated Austrian Archduke Ferdinand, and Deryn - aka Dylan - a girl disguised as a boy in the British air force.

The Germans, Austrians, Russians, etc. are referred to as "Clankers," because they rely on machinery - think the walkers from Star Wars. The British and French are the Darwinists, relying on the science of evolution to generate war machines that are actually alive. The Clankers and the Darwinists don't trust each other, never have, and war has long been brewing. This is the story of how it finally starts - and how Alek and Deryn are thrown together because of the enormous Darwinist airship Leviathan.

I really enjoyed the alternate history presented in this book. I'm a fan of steampunk, and the way the political history and world parallel ours but with different science is totally cool. And the characters are a lot of fun - even if I had hated the story (which I didn't), I would read the next book just for another couple hundred pages with Alek and Deryn.

Also, despite the fact that it's set against a backdrop of war, Leviathan really isn't a war book. The focus is a lot more on the characters and their small story than it is about the war they're caught up in.

I definitely plan to read book 2. Check this one out if you haven't :)

Book Thoughts: Etiquette & Espionage

Title: Etiquette & Espionage
Author: Gail Carriger
Series: Finishing School #1

I have never seen steampunk, high society, espionage, and paranormalcy (vampires and werewolves, anybody) all combined before -- especially not so artfully. The writing style threw me for a loop at first and I'm still not sure how to pronounce half of the names, but the story is engaging and the world is well-crafted, if a bit strange, and what really kept me reading were the characters. They're just fun! Sophronia and her friends get up to some truly hilarious shenaniganry and I need a second book to see how all of this with the prototype turns out! Even though it's the first in a series, though, the story was pretty well-contained. I do hope book two contains more of Soap and Vieve - they're easily my favorite characters. E&E is a very quirky read that may take you some time to get into, but give it the benefit of the doubt, because once you do get into it, it's a couple hundred pages of great fun.