Review: Full of action, witty banter a dash of romance, this one is sure to please
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 20, 2011
I stumbled upon Lindsay Buroker's work last spring while I was in Iraq and thoroughly enjoyed her novel The Emperor's Edge and the novella Flash Gold, the novella particularly sticking with me because of the underpinning of steampunk, a bit of action/mystery and tiny twinges of a blooming romance. The story just worked for me with plenty of action and the witty banter of the main character.Now Ms Buroker has released a second novella in the series, continuing the adventures of the two main characters as they try to wrap up some storylines that were hanging after the first story. Let us just say that the story is up to par with the first.This story continues right where we left off with the two main characters now working together on various enterprises and alkali still working on her dream, an actual flying airship. Gangsters are after her because they want the Flash Gold and we learn that the law is after Cedar, so we have many options for action here. Again with this chapter in the story, Ms Buroker provides us with excellent characterizations and wonderful character chatter. The witty banter between the two main characters provides the reader with depth of character and a genuine interest in their tale.There is a moment in the book that sizes this up perfectly. Cedar and Kali, who are undeniably in love with each other come face to face with a man who was in a bad relationship with Kali. Cedar immediately says "Want me to kill him?" out of the blue and it is a great moment in the book (and one laughed out loud at). As with all her works, character interaction is great and characters are fully developed. The exchanges between Kali and cedar are hilarious as they dance around being attracted to each other without saying it outright.If I had one gripe to give, it was that this was actually too short and provided almost no forward movement for Kali or Cedar. Their relationship moved forward, and some might argue that is not necessarily a good thing if you like that sort of Moonlighting long running love dance thing, but the mystery of the Flash Gold, the sidebar tale of running from gangsters or running from the law did not progress at all. That said, I would still recommend this as the sorry was good, filled with action and mystery, and the characters are fully developed and interesting.