Tag: Steampunk

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Review: Marking Time (The Immortal Descendants #1) by April White

by The Lit Bitch8 Comments on Review: Marking Time (The Immortal Descendants #1) by April White

Seventeen year old Saira Elian’s life is a lonely one. Her mom tends to disappear randomly for weeks at a time and when she returns they often pack up and move to a new location.

She hasn’t met her father nor does she really know anything about him and she basically has never known anyone she could call a friend.

Saira spends her free time tagging the underground around Venice Beach until one night she over hears a conversation she shouldn’t.

The next thing she knows she is being chased by a group of men when the police pick her up and arrest her. With her mother gone again she is taken in by her grandmother who lives in England.

When Saira arrives at Elian Manor she is in for a rude awakening, her grandmother begrudgingly took her in and she intends to make Saira into a proper lady while she stays under her roof.

Continue reading “Review: Marking Time (The Immortal Descendants #1) by April White” →

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Review: Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices #3) by Cassandra Clare

by The Lit Bitch4 Comments on Review: Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices #3) by Cassandra Clare

The Infernal Devices are without pity.

The Infernal Devices are without regret.

The Infernal Devices are without number

The Infernal Devices will never stop coming.

Tessa Grey is preparing for what should be the most joyous day of her life…..her wedding to Jem. Tessa loves Jem without question but there is still part of her that loves Will.

Though she tries to shut out her feelings for Will, it is hard to section off a part of your soul that only one other person can touch but somehow Tessa does it.

All the Shadowhunters at the London Institute are preparing for the wedding to take place when Gabriel Lightwood shows up begging to see his brother Gideon. Their father has turned into a giant man eating worm and he needs their help to stop him.

The London Institute agrees to help Gabriel and they all descend on the Lightwood home but soon discover something more disturbing than a giant worm….a warning scribbled on the walls of what was once Benedict Lightwoods study:  

Continue reading “Review: Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices #3) by Cassandra Clare” →

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Review: Timeless (Parasol Protectorate #5) by Gail Carriger

by The Lit Bitch3 Comments on Review: Timeless (Parasol Protectorate #5) by Gail Carriger

Agent Blue Bonnet here with a transmittal from the Parasol Protectorate secret society: Timeless by Gail Carriger is finally out! I discovered this series last year while I was participating in the Steampunk Reading Challenge over at Bookish Ardour. I absolutely loved Soulless (Book #1) and it has been an interesting series to watch evolve overall.

Timeless is Book #5 in the series–which seems to be the last installment I am sad to say. The first four books take place in rapid secession but this book is set two years after Book #4. Alexia Tarabotti AKA Lady Maccon, is settling into her new life–as best she can considering she is married to a werewolf and boasts a metanatural daughter.

Alexia is what is known as a preternatural, meaning she is born with no soul–she cancels out the supernatural abilities in other creatures and sets them ‘free’–in other words she gives them the ‘true death’–thus she is know in the supernatural sect as a ‘soul-sucker’. Her daughter, Prudence, is a metanatural which means she can absorb supernatural power on contact–earning the name ‘soul-stealer’. Both terms don’t bode well for the Maccon family. Most supernaturals fear both them, but others long to be free of the ‘curse’–immortality. Continue reading “Review: Timeless (Parasol Protectorate #5) by Gail Carriger” →

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Review: Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices #2) by Cassandra Clare

by The Lit Bitch4 Comments on Review: Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices #2) by Cassandra Clare

Lies. Betrayal. Danger. Deception. Anger. Adventure. Passion. Love. All of which await eager readers in Cassandra Clare’s latest installment of The Infernal Devices, Clockwork Prince. Clare flawlessly blends action, sci-fi/fantasy, YA, pararomance, and steampunk together magically.

While romance is a huge part of this latest book, it does not over power the adventure. For me, other YA sagas such as Twilight, the love story overpowered the action and adventure, especially in the second book making it less enjoyable but in this series….there was a delicate balance which made it exceptionally hard to put down!

In the midst of all the YA romance there is a richly satisfying mystery and adventure. Tales or betrayal, lies, deception, and unrequited love all cloak this book in a silky velvet darkness that  fully encompasses all the characters and plot not just a singular aspect of the story.  Add in the clockwork angels, automatons, and steam powered inventions and you have one perfectly constructed Steampunk novel! Continue reading “Review: Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices #2) by Cassandra Clare” →

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Review: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

by The Lit Bitch2 Comments on Review: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

What would you do if you had a face that could literally stop time? Or if you could really clone yourself? How about meet and greet your fav literary character? In the world of SpecOps and LiteraTec (Literary Detective division) extrodinaire, Thursday Next, all of these things are possible.

My sister recommended the book, The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, to me a few weeks back…and now that she wants to commandeer the book from me, I figured I better get a move on since she will be wanting it by Christmas no doubt.

This speculative fiction book is a hodge-podge mixture of sci-fi, fantasy, time travel, YA, mystery/detective novel, steampunk, and vampire/werewolf fiction all in one…and the best part, it’s all based on classic British Literature. Set in 1985 Great Britain, detective Thursday Next (a Crimean War vet) is living in an alternative universe where time travel (among many things) are all possible.

Next is sent to investigate a puzzling case, someone has taken Charles Dickens’s original manuscript for Martin Chuzzlewit. The LiteraTec task force suspects notorious mass murderer and thief Acheron Hades…except there is one problem, no one knows what he looks like except Next. Continue reading “Review: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde” →