Review: Refreshingly Original
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 23, 2013
Refreshingly original while simultaneously being highly evocative of an alternate universe Sherlock fic - with Martians - I was immediately taken by this vividly drawn story.  I could practically feel the tendrils of fog and hear the clatter of hooves on cobblestone, as the author does an incredible job of conjuring up romanticised Victorian London on the page... that is, had aliens stealthily invaded the city and began replacing human beings with automatons.Mason, who has been forced into retirement from since the British Army has seen fit to replace soldiers with machines, not quite so accidentally comes into the employ of one Agamemnon Frost, who at the surface appears a dandy, but whose depths, Mason soon realizes, runs far deeper. Just how much we are not quite told, but as events progress, we do learn tantalizing bits and pieces about his past which always had relevance to the plot development.The characters themselves sparkle with chemistry. I enjoy a romance with subtlety, focusing on chemistry and tension rather than a relationship that seems contrived to get the pairing into bed. While nothing was resolved in this installment, the ending was still satisfying, possibly more so for the promise of what is to come in the second book.I did have a few nitpicks with this, however, mostly in the first few chapters. The writing started out somewhat clumsily, the plot a tad bit convoluted, though as the story progressed, so too did the writing, and many of the kinks in plot did get ironed out. Despite its minor flaws, this was a very enjoyable read, a vividly detailed world with a plot and romance intriguing enough to keep up my interest in this series.