Review: 4 Stars
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 30, 2013
So I actually read Badlands too, with every intention of reviewing it before, you know, today... but that did not happen. Which has little to do with this actual review except to let you know that later if (okay... when) I compare the two I'm not blowing smoke out of my butt.This time.Probably.But enough about me, lets discuss clockwork dragonflies. (It's really hard not to tell the dragonfly anecdote right now, but I've already said enough about me...) Henry was not so much a likable character in the first go round of this series. Actually "effin' deplorable" might be a better description for her, so expectations were not high when it came time to tell her story.Thankfully, as is so often the case, I was wrong.Henry becomes this beautifully flushed out three dimensional character with flaws and hidden strength and mother effing clockwork dragonflies. That she built. All on her own. Along with other automatons that she either built or modified from being simply functional to fully functioning works of art.Which just reaches out and grabs me by my steampunk nerdgirl heart every time.Carson, Henry's counterpart, is also a good character. Okay, honestly, I read the book like 10 days ago and while I liked Carson, I didn't like him as much as the male lead in Badlands and there wasn't much that stood out enough for me to remember him. Except for when they first meet at the ball. And his unwavering determination to follow his goals through to the end. And a lot of time spent recovering from wounds. Physical ones I mean since the emotional ones take the entire book to resolve and boy are they doozies....Well dang, apparently Carson did leave a mark.And that's without getting into the plot, which could be disturbing and, quite frankly, overly graphic at times. Not in the sense that this stuff wouldn't have happened. Probably in more graphic ways then it was described in the book. It was just a bit much for my delicate sensibilities. Honestly though, the plot was excellent. Gritty and real and exciting and holy crow was that all in 250 pages? They've got to be using some kind of temporal magic to cram that much in and not make it feel rushed.Excellent pacing, characters, story line and it's steampunk with clockwork dragonflies. What more could you ask for?4 stars