Heart of Steel (2011)

While HEART OF STEEL did not reach the romantic heights of Mad Machen and Ivy, nor the Iron Duke and Mina, it was viscerally satisfying to see the ferocious Captain Yasmeen meet her match in the adrenaline fiend Archimedes Fox. I was having a hard time understanding any relationship that started with mutiny and attempted murder, but as in previous books, appearances and respect trump all. The political climax of the story was academically interesting, and as always, reading how this alternate world was formed is pretty cool, but it was Archimedes's treasure hunting that really kept me going. Yasmeen losing her ship felt oddly underplayed, and thus, made my reaction to most of her plot line rather muted. It also seemed pretty far fetched when the architect of her tragedy conveniently popped back into the story (though I found it very interesting, and in character, that she didn't mind who meted out deadly revenge, so long as death occurred).

Full review to follow.

Sexual content: Several sex scenes, prostitution, and an attempted rape. ( )

Enjoyable, rollicking story, not too taxing. ( )

This went by fast, but...it was pretty good! Well, not if you want a thoughtful, balanced study of human nature or deep philosophical insights. The only balance was in how both he and she got their jollies. Actually, it was notable how much he made sure to jolly her. Ahem.

The overblown emotional response to everything was a bit tiring. Towards the end, she pulls out a dagger in a dramatic gesture, stating he may as well plunge it into her heart. Dude. Relax. But this made me think about why these books go for the constant high with regard to feeelings. Really, most of our time is spent in non-dramatic tasks. I don't know how exciting you can make that 10th load of laundry. At some point you go on autopilot and in a moment it seems like the day or week or month or year is gone. Reading this book with all the immediacy in every action, it's like prodding a long flaccid memory of excitement to life. I guess overdoing it is necessary to make it work, like needing to increase a drug dose in order to get the same trip? I dunno.

A better than average read for the beach towel. ( )

This is one of those annoying cases in which words are going to fail me, so I apologize in advance.

Meljean Brook picked up one of my very favorite romance plots in HEART OF STEEL. The heroine, Yasmeen, is a pirate with a heart of steel. The hero, Archimedes, is a reckless adventurer who’s never fallen in love. Most authors don’t deal with couples like this very well. They can’t write a romance between two independent, adventurous people without domesticating one or both of them, robbing them of exactly the qualities that make them so extraordinary. So even though it’s one of my favorite plots, the books adopting it almost always make me mad.

But HEART OF STEEL? Oh, it made me very, very happy. It’s fantastic. Not only does it feature a wonderful romance, in which Yasmeen and Archimedes bond during death-defying adventures and then head back to the cabin of their airship to bond in a different, extra-sexy way, it’s probably my favorite of the steampunk universes that I’ve run across so far. There’s a lot of research and imagination in Brook’s alternate history, with a Mongol Horde that held onto the dominance it attained at the peak of its empire, and then expanded further. Her gadgets and gizmos have just the right whiz-bang effect, just the right balance between impossibly modern and antiquated.

And Brook tosses out plot twists like they’re going out of style, sending her story careening along at a pace that would put most roller coasters to shame.

Both this book, HEART OF STEEL, and the first in the IRON SEAS series, DUKE OF IRON, are absolutely amazing. I actually caught myself slowing down while I was reading, which I never, ever do, to make the experience last longer.

Anyone who’s even slightly tempted by a steampunk romance should read these books. They’re top notch.
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Steampunk, zombies, and ass-kicking heroines. What's not to love? ( )