Review: I Loved It & I Don't Know What Steampunk Is!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 26, 2012
I purchased this book on the recommendation from a website that gives weekly tips on romance & mystery novels. Because I read fantasy from time-to-time I liked the premise, which is that Victorian England is a land with many 20th and 21st century conveniences, including airships and means of communication similiar to fax machines, but with a definite touch of magic, or, rather, magick. "Kilts and Kraken" is a stand-alone part of a series known as The Gaslight Chronicles, where descendants of members of the Knights of the Round Table are still defending England from wrong-doers.Our heroine, Geneva MacKay, is a doctor in Edinburgh who is asked by her father, a Kinght of the Order of the Round Table, to proceed with an injured laird, Magnus Findlay, back to his small island home that is part of the Hebrides. Magnus has been seriously injured in a attack on his person by a kraken. Initially reluctant, Geneva agrees to help transport the laird back to the island, with the assistance of a former fiance of Lord MacKay, who contacted him as she recognized some magical aspects in the injured Findlay. When Geneva and Alice arrive on Torkholm with the laird, they discover that he is healed rapidly by the magick of the island, which he can only leave for very short periods of time or he will die. There are various theories as to why the krakens have suddenly returned after an absence of over 100 years to start their attack. Those unhappy about the modern inventions coming to the island are sure that is the reason for the return of the krakens. Geneva finds herself attracted to Magnus, as he is to her, and agrees to stay on the island until the mystery can be solved.This is a fun novella, less than 200 pages long, and I read it in slightly over a day. In Geneva, Alice, Magnus, and others the author has created some delightful characters. Okay, we know from virtually the beginning who the baddies are, but that does not lessen the charm of the book. There is one short explicit sex scene in the book and a little mild violence. In addition to the characters, part of the attraction of the book is the way modern technology fits into the Victorian period (the book is set in 1859). I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy or romance literature, and I look forward to reading the rest of the series.