Riveted (A Novel of the Iron Seas) (edition 2012)

Well, that was a huge improvement over "The Iron Duke." The first chapter or two dragged brutally owing to the insertion of exposition after every single line of dialogue or present-day action (and there was a little of that at the end, too, with clunky recapping of stuff that happened elsewhere, though the plot relied far less on that here than in "The Iron Duke," but then the obligatory world-building-for-newbs became less intense and you were left with two sincere people falling in like with each other.

Annika is delightfully uncensored in expressing her thoughts and feelings, and there are some interesting undercurrents concerning the ways families and tight-knit communities, and of course society as a whole, choose to define (and confine) individuals. David is a deeply good person (although there's one point where he doesn't show much imagination when he has a moral decision to make, but he kind of gets a pass because later he alludes to that moment and how you wake up one day with a better idea about how to handle a situation, but by then it's too late, and you know he's haunted by his actions, and you know he was tired and desperate when he made that questionable decision, and then you only feel sympathy for him) who is dealing with some deep-seated issues caused more by how society as a whole perceives and reacts to him than any physical injury he has sustained.

This isn't entirely four-star writing, but Brook has such interesting ideas at the root of her stories and this was definitely a four-star romance (with distractingly inaccurate cover art—put a brown paper bag over it or read the ebook!). ( )

She was a bi-curious engineer from Iceland, He was a native american vulcanologist with bionic legs and eye. Together they were swallowed by a mechanical whale and found love..... I think the author may have constructed the story by drawing elements out of a hat, but I liked it anyway. ( )

I really waffled on how to rate this one. I loved the characters and the riveting (yes really) emotion of this book, but I didn't like the story as well as #2. So really...4.5 stars (though it won't let me actually pick that). It totally made me cry. In a good way. ( )

I've loved steampunk for quite some time, even before I knew there was a term for it. Meljean Brook writes some of my favourite steampunk romance, which is why I was so excited when Tynga told me that RIVETED was available on Edelweiss.

RIVETED is a bit different than the other Iron Seas stories (which I talk about here and here). It features characters we haven't met before and it takes place in a previously unused setting: Iceland. This is good news for folks who haven't had a chance to read THE IRON DUKE or HEART OF STEEL (or their respective epilogue novellas) because it means you can jump in with little difficulty. There are references to secondary characters in previous books and you won't have as much knowledge about the Horde and other parts of the Iron Seas world but you will definitely be able to enjoy the book without any backstory. (Don't believe me? Hear it from the author herself.)

When I started reading RIVETED, I was quite excited to meet Annika and David and learn their stories. They both have such interesting backgrounds: Annika was raised in a secret village of women on Iceland and David is from the New World, unable to return home because he was infected with nanoagents and given new limbs by the Blacksmith. They meet under completely random circumstances and end up spending a lot of time together when David boards the airship that Annika works on. Watching them get together was really sweet, partially because their relationship is a slow boil. The previous couples in the series moved a lot more quickly. In fact, the previous two novels move a lot more quickly than than RIVETED, which starts out somewhat slowly and then builds to a crescendoing climax. For me, this meant that it took me a little bit longer to really get into the story but I truly enjoyed it as a whole. The set up is rather different than previous instalments, which have more action in the early parts of the novel, but I like that Annika and David had a chance to get to know each other before danger reared its head.

Perhaps my favourite part of RIVETED was getting to explore new parts of the Iron Seas world. Meljean Brook has developed some incredible mythology for Iceland and Annika's village and I was completely fascinated. I love the worldbuilding of the entire series but I thought Iceland's history was particularly compelling. The trolls were awesome and I love the way the technology was explored in this novel. I also enjoyed experiencing airship life from the perspective of a crew member, not the captain, which we got last time around.

While this isn't my favourite story in the Iron Seas series, RIVETED is a solid story that I thoroughly enjoyed. I love Meljean Brook's writing and think this series is a must for steampunk romance fans. Annika and David are unconventional people in a sometimes old-fashioned world and their love story is just so sweet and passionate!

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I regret to say that Riveted is not The Iron Duke. Not that it was a bad book but I think enjoyment of it depends on your interest and point of view. The Iron Duke had a great deal of action and adventure and some romance. Riveted had a great deal of romance and some action and adventure.

Not that Ms. Brook is a bad writer. To the contrary, not only does she avoid my pet peeves, bad spelling, bad writing and sloppy plotting but she is more than competent at developing character, moving the plot and just writing well. No complaints on any of that, in fact, well done.

But I am not a fan of romance. The sex was interesting but not overpowering. I will note it was more graphic in this book and perhaps a bit more frequent but I did not count. But the fact remains that all the real action occurs in the final quarter of the book.

I will not gripe about it though. If romance is more to your taste then you will find the book very good indeed. If not, read The Iron Duke or Heart of Steel. I think you will find them more to your liking. And I will be looking for her next Iron Seas novel, she is a writer worth reading.