Got this book as a First Reads giveaway.
Like another reviewer mentioned, the contest specified that this was a stand-alone book. It's not; it's the 4th in Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett's 'Havemercy' series. I've intended on reading the series, but I did plan on reading them in order. To anyone who hasn't yet started the series: I HIGHLY recommend reading them in order. It may be too late for me, but not for you!
I have a feeling that I might have given this book 4 stars if I'd read the prior books. Even considering that this is a sequel, it has a particularly slow start. If I already knew and loved the characters, I might have appreciated the updates on what was going on with them. But it took me at least 100 pages to feel even slightly familiar with who everyone was, what the world's situation was, and to feel like any kind of story was happening.
However, after that, I began to get into it. The characters definitely gained my affection, the world was interesting (although still somewhat confusing - it's a sort of Franco-Russian empire which has recently been at war with sort-of China and sort-of Germany?), and steampunk-style dragons are pretty cool. The plot, involving a couple of countrified scholarship students who come to the city to study and become embroiled in a plot involving both the aristocracy and a group of decorated war veterans, is entertaining.
I'd recommend this for fans of books such as Ellen Kushner's 'Riverside' tales. ( )

I read a lot of entire series this year because I only just found out about them, so they are all a little entangled in my mind. This is one of them, so if it doesn't appear completely cohesive, I apologize.
****It does contain some spoilers***

















I’m just going to come right out and confess I read these almost a year ago, but I really, really liked them at the time. The idea was very clever, I thought. Dragons that were built with a specific member of the flight corps in mind, in one case, the dragon had been built for one man’s brother, but his brother had died and he was genetically close enough that he could ride the same dragon. The dragons and the riders learn each others’ personalities—despite the fact they have been engineered, the dragons are sentient and learn. The series starts with the whole corps having been disciplined for their appalling behavior at an important event which involved women and large amounts of alcohol. It is decided, then, that they need “etiquette training,” and a young professor is sent in to teach them, supposedly, everything they are supposed to know. Naturally he meets with resistance and insolence, a naïve professor and a hardened flight corps—no problems here. There are characters that are lost through the course of the series, some of which I was surprised to feel sad about even though their characters were at times annoying—they all fit a purpose within the corps to make it a cohesive group, and their loss changed that. Steelhands centers on one young corpsman who has lost his hands in the battle in the previous book, and has new ones made from the same metal the dragons are constructed from, and how he learns to adapt as everything is different now. Two of the original Dragon Corps have decided to stay in the desert where the final battle occurred, but they begin to uncover mysterious and disturbing things about the dragons, which they report back to their old commander. Despite the fact that the Dragon Corps could generally be referred to at the beginning of the series as a very motley crew of men, they were a motley crew of men who depended and trusted each other to cover their backs, and they genuinely cared for each other. The idea of the importance of human interaction and relationships continues in Steelhands. Jones and Bennett have created a wonderful world populated by interesting people and creatures. I was lucky enough to have found out about the series when Steelhands was released, so was able to read all of them at once (one after the other, that is). I think sometimes that’s the most marvelous way to read books—to suddenly discover a new series that already has a few books out and just become inundated in their world, which was easy in this case. The characters are so different, yet fully realized, there is just enough description where is doesn’t become tedious, and the world-building is such that it makes perfect sense that these dragons exist. I’m hoping Steelhands isn’t the last one in the series, as I’m curious to learn more, but if it is, I’m very happy to have read the ones that are here. ( )

I read a lot of entire series this year because I only just found out about them, so they are all a little entangled in my mind. This is one of them, so if it doesn't appear completely cohesive, I apologize.
****It does contain some spoilers***

















I’m just going to come right out and confess I read these almost a year ago, but I really, really liked them at the time. The idea was very clever, I thought. Dragons that were built with a specific member of the flight corps in mind, in one case, the dragon had been built for one man’s brother, but his brother had died and he was genetically close enough that he could ride the same dragon. The dragons and the riders learn each others’ personalities—despite the fact they have been engineered, the dragons are sentient and learn. The series starts with the whole corps having been disciplined for their appalling behavior at an important event which involved women and large amounts of alcohol. It is decided, then, that they need “etiquette training,” and a young professor is sent in to teach them, supposedly, everything they are supposed to know. Naturally he meets with resistance and insolence, a naïve professor and a hardened flight corps—no problems here. There are characters that are lost through the course of the series, some of which I was surprised to feel sad about even though their characters were at times annoying—they all fit a purpose within the corps to make it a cohesive group, and their loss changed that. Steelhands centers on one young corpsman who has lost his hands in the battle in the previous book, and has new ones made from the same metal the dragons are constructed from, and how he learns to adapt as everything is different now. Two of the original Dragon Corps have decided to stay in the desert where the final battle occurred, but they begin to uncover mysterious and disturbing things about the dragons, which they report back to their old commander. Despite the fact that the Dragon Corps could generally be referred to at the beginning of the series as a very motley crew of men, they were a motley crew of men who depended and trusted each other to cover their backs, and they genuinely cared for each other. The idea of the importance of human interaction and relationships continues in Steelhands. Jones and Bennett have created a wonderful world populated by interesting people and creatures. I was lucky enough to have found out about the series when Steelhands was released, so was able to read all of them at once (one after the other, that is). I think sometimes that’s the most marvelous way to read books—to suddenly discover a new series that already has a few books out and just become inundated in their world, which was easy in this case. The characters are so different, yet fully realized, there is just enough description where is doesn’t become tedious, and the world-building is such that it makes perfect sense that these dragons exist. I’m hoping Steelhands isn’t the last one in the series, as I’m curious to learn more, but if it is, I’m very happy to have read the ones that are here. ( )

Need to pick up the beginning of the series before I can read and review with any amount of accuracy/knowledge!

In this novel the authors explore more of the Esar's dragon plot and progressing insanity from (once again) four different points of view. This time around our narrators are two past characters previously only touched upon, Edamo the former Chief Sergeant of the Dragon Corp and Balfour, a former dragon rider. In addition we have two new country folk who are on scholarship to Thermadone, Laure, a rough and tumble ranch hand and her fiancée (sort of), Toverre. Also in this story a little more back drop is given to some colorful side characters, including a return of Roy and Hal, my favorite characters from the original "Havemercy" book.

Overall I felt the book moved a bit slowly, I couldn't really read huge amounts at a time without seeking out alternative interests. Once again, I liked the characters and, once again, felt a bit cheated at the end when resolution of the varied relationships was skipped over or left to the imagination. I'm not looking for anything intimate, just an idea of if or how things work out. Although I suppose this resolution of the relationships from the last three books maybe addressed in later books of the series, I'm afraid I may not have the patience to seek them out to read them.

As I said before, I did like the characters here, but not once in the last three books have I felt the same spark while reading as I did with the original "Havemercy". Overall I'd say this is a middle of the road fantasy story, not too confusing, even if you haven't read the previous three books (at least I don't think it would be a problem) and if you like the mix of mystery and fantasy with political machinations and a little magic thrown in. ( )