Review: 4.5 stars- bring on the next
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 15, 2014
**Originally written for Book Bliss book blog. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased and honest review**Review: 4.5 starsGeneral: **Note this is a spinoff, it is readable on it's own but I think reading the series it came from would give you a stronger connection to Jess as it's obvious you are missing something as you read this.**I loved so much about this! It didn't suffer as much of the confusion I find in many steampunk novels. The motions and the rules fit well together and there were no points where you had to backtrack to figure out a piece of tech or a section of the world. I loved that. The world an the rules were strong and well placed. I loved the deal with the tattoos and think the society was well thought out and easy to slip into.  The plot moved wonderfully and had wonderful action, romance and mystery sequences throughout that fit together seamlessly. I loved so many elements from the world, truly i was the world building that blew me away, an the plot of course. There was plenty of tension throughout that kept you page turning. I cannot wait to read more from this series.The setbacks? First person POV. Sometimes it works for me and sometimes it doesn't. In this case I felt it wasn't helping.  I wanted other opinions on Jess other than her own. I was able to relate to her but felt she "told" a lot of stuff and with another POV it could have been "shown" better.Characters: Jess- Jess is believable, head to toe. She's a very strong woman - not in your face butch female but strong and independent. She has taken on a lot with her powers, for her family and everyone else she loves. She holds her head high and does what needs to be done. But she's also nervous, in general and in who she is without her ability. Her relationship had a great tenuous feel that grew into something believable.Merric- Merric was almost the anti alpha male. He was strong and protective of course. But he also seemed distinctly shy and unwilling to an extent to fight for Jess. I felt their connection, especially on his end and loved that he wasn't just a hero with a bad past, but a hero who isn't perfect in today's time either. It was a nice change.