Review: Excellent steampunk adventure!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 9, 2014
This is the 2nd Part of the The Kraken King and I got it from NetGalley to review.  The Kraken King is being released in 8 parts as a serial novel. The first release will be April 15th, then the books will release periodically until Part 8 releases on June 3rd. I really enjoyed the second part of this serial novel, I just love this world so much.In this installment Zenobia and Helene leave Krakentown, along with the Kraken King and his men.  They start their journey to a smugglers den where Helene and Zenobia hope to hop a ship to the Red City.I love that we are getting to see a whole new part of the world that we have been introduced to in the previous Iron Seas books.  There are a whole bunch of new dangers in this part of the world.Zenobia continues to be an excellent heroine. She is a lady and a writer, yet she still steps up and does what needs to be done.  I am enjoying reading about her a lot.  She is smart and witty and tough when she needs to be.Ariq is an excellent male lead.  He is thoughtful and respectful, but still dangerous.  He obviously lusts after Zenobia but is starting to respect her more and more for who she is.  He has a firm but fair hand in dealing with his men.  Also it is just a lot of fun to finally get to read about the feared Kraken King.As with all the stories in this series this story is an excellent balance of adventure, action, steampunk elements, romance, and mystery.  There is a magnificent fight with a boilerworm and some wonderfully breathtaking scenes between Zenobia and Ariq.  Those two have excellent chemistry together and the tension is delicious.  There are some wonderful steampunk contraptions, such as the Walkers they use to get across the desert.  Also one of Zenobia’s bodyguards has mechanical legs.  I really love the steampunk elements in this story too.This part stops at a good place, although I am still dying to know what will happen next.Overall an excellent continuation of the Kraken King story.  Reading this in installments is frustrating though!  I want to know what happens right now!  Highly recommended to fans of steampunk who are willing to tolerate some romance with their steampunk adventure.  In fact the whole Iron Seas series has had some excellent world building and steampunk elements.  I really love this series.