His Clockwork Canary: The Glorious Victorious Darcys
*Starred Review* In the second book, after Her Sky Cowboy (2012), in Ciotta’s fantastic steampunk Glorious Victorious Darcys series, Willie G. is the Clockwork Canary, a young, popular writer for the London Informer, a trendy Victorian tabloid. On the hunt for a good story, he has finagled his way into accompanying inventor Simon Darcy on his quest for a time-travel engine. Simon needs to find the carefully hidden object to win the Jubilee Science Committee Award and restore his family fortune. But Willie G. is actually Wilhelmina Goodenough, a time-tracking Freak with kaleidoscope eyes; the same Wilhelmina who broke off elopement plans with Simon 12 years earlier. They’ve both changed a lot since, but eventually Simon sees through the disguise that has fooled everyone else, and they discover that their ardor has not died. Together they search for the engine, navigating the complex, often deadly, societal maze formed when time-traveling hippies landed in Queen Victoria’s England, and an oxymoronic Peace War took place. Ciotta has written another imaginative, whirlwind adventure, featuring a daring hero and a spirited heroine, incredible inventions, and übernefarious villains. --Shelley Mosley