The Girl in the Steel Corset

Due to copy and paste, formatting has been lost.

I think that my feelings for The Girl in the Steel Corset could pretty accurately be described as STEAMPUNK=AWESOME. I'm a huge fan of STEAMPUNK, but it's just one of those genres that never quite made onto the YA group for whatever reason.

But there should be more, because they've found a fan in me. I liked Kady's rich descriptions of society, and the steampowered carriages, as well as the automatons and the lovely steampunk garb.

I liked that when the points of view switched; I was never confused. Each of the characters has their own unique personality. You'd think that there would be confusion, but no, I always knew exactly who was speaking, and I loved that.

I also loved the Jekyll and Hyde element, as well as the mystery of the machinist and the various other things that were going on.

Finley was my favourite character, but I also really liked Emily, Sam, Jasper, and Griffin. I love that none of the characters personalities were skimped on in favor of action. There was plenty of that too, but all of the characters were very fleshed out in spite of that.

Now, because I have to, I'll say something about the quasi-love triangle. I like both sides, but Griffin totally comes out on top for me. He's so much sweeter, and I like the way that he thinks about Finley. They're both swoony, though, so there is that.

All in all, my only problem with The Girl in the Steel Corset was that it was a tad predictable. Everything else about it was amazing. ( )

I enjoyed this book. Yes, it isn’t one of the books that I will stay up ‘till one for, it but it was one of the better steam punk/romance/YA novels I have read of late. The love triangle was a bit too predictable – though I still don’t get why Jack disappeared in the end – but other than that, it was alright.

Griffin was your typical dark, brooding Byronic hero. He lost his parents at a young age (10) and is bent on exacting revenge on his parent’s murderer. He is also, surprise, surprise, a duke – the highest title you can get without being royalty. Admittedly, he can be a bit big-headed at times and his sense of honour can be a bit overbearing but other than that, I find him to be a more-than-decent person.

I liked Finley’s powers best of all, though I don’t think she could have defeated Lord Felix so easily – all she had was raw strength with no techniques whatsoever, whilst Lord Felix has the advantages of a good education which would no doubt have included things like boxing and fencing. I find it interesting that the good half of her personality is dominant in her body – she can ‘feel’ her darker side rising, instead of the other way around – although I would have liked her to have been able to use her powers regardless of she self she was, as otherwise it kind of implies her evil side is superior to her good side.

Emily was my favourite character in the book – it’s not just that she keeps being described as a frail, delicate being but rather that she will put herself in front of Sam (who is a despicable person in my opinion, by the way) even knowing that she might not recover. I also like how she seems to be the only one in the group to rely on brains instead of brawns. She is the driving force keeping everyone together, the one inventing brilliant gadgets to guarantee her friends’ success without asking for acknowledgement of any kind. ( )

A really good series about superhuman kids in a Victorian steampunk era

Having enjoyed my first foray into young adult fiction with Gail Carriger's Etiquette & Espionage, I decided to give Cross's Steampunk Chronicles a go. The Girl in the Steel Corset is the first volume in the series and introduces a motley group of young adults with exceptional "gifts" fighting the bad guys in a Victorian world full of automatons. They have to discover the origins of their special abilities as well as the perpetrator of various dastardly deeds, culminating in an attempt on none other than Queen Victoria herself. Along the way, they have to learn to trust each other. The end of this first book sets the stage for the second novel, The Girl in the Clockwork Collar, which moves from Victorian London to New York City. ( )

This novel uses bits of steampunk and different classics to mold an all together original novel. The main character, who has aspects of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, encounters different clockwork machines and tries to discover who is trying to take over London along with a group of friends. ( )