Meljean Brook

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, show more 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. show less

I always end up falling in love with Brook's characters in both this series and her Guardian series. I find both her heroes and heroines complex, unique, sexy, and a little bit kooky. Our hero, Archimedes Fox, is always looking for an adventure, be it fighting zombies or treasure hunting. His newest adventure is falling in love, maybe with the thrill of getting his heart broken. He has set his sights on Yasmeen, captain of the air ship, Lady Corsair.

In the previous book she had left him for show more dead in a zombie infested Venice. Now he pursues her not only for love, but to get back a sketch by da Vinci she took from him in Venice. He needs the money he would make by selling it. Upon their reunion, they find themselves embroiled with the Horde rebellion when the sketch is stolen from Yasmeen.

The romance slowly built through the book. At the beginning Archimedes told Yasmeen he was going to fall in love with her. But Yasmeen was slow to accept her feelings for Archimedes. She needed a partner who could let her be in charge, to watch her back, and let her be her. It took her a while to trust him with that. The romance may have been slow, but it was fun and hot.

I adored this book just as much as The Iron Duke. Same awesome world building and characters, but with a different feel. Both Archimedes and Yasmeen have dramatic pasts, but are not as serious and dark as Rhys and Mina. It gave the book a lighter feel. Brook's alternative history is just plain fun and inventive. Definitely recommended. show less

I ADORE this series. And I LOVED this one. The characters are awesome, I really, really enjoyed both Annika and David. I'm sad the book is over. Only one slight complaint: For the life of me, I don't understand why Kalla didn't kill Lorenzo a thousand times over. There had to have been opportunities before Olaf came along, and even so, she knew he was killing LOTS OF PEOPLE. There is just no justification for sitting by, to me. I ended up rather disliking her, actually, between this and her show more condescending attitude to Annika. And I have mixed feelings about her relationship with Paolo but I pretty much am not comfortable with it. So it was kind of disappointing to dislike Annika's sister, but interesting, too, to not have things be neat and tidy. - On a different note but also needing to be hidden by spoiler warnings; I completely loved the lesbian viking commune storyline! Oh my god, so good and unique and well-constructed and wonderful. Fascinating. (4.5 stars) show less

In alternate-world Europe, the mysterious Iron Duke, Rhys Trahaearn, freed England from the Horde’s centuries-long control. In the nine years since the monumental event, times have changed, but very much for Inspector Mina Wentworth, whose Horde blood makes her life difficult.

When Mina’s latest case throws her and the Iron Duke together, they discover a plan that will be deadly to most of the British population, and are forced to cooperate with each other as they journey through Europe show more to stop the conspirators before it’s too late. Further complications ensue, however, when they cannot fight their attraction to one another…

Oh my gosh. I am head over heels for this book. Besides for being a hot and lingering read, THE IRON DUKE is also a stellar example of steampunk worldbuilding, and is a book that I know I will be returning to for years to come.

THE IRON DUKE is without a doubt the most well written steampunk novel that I have ever had the pleasure of reading. This is steampunk at its finest: an alternate-history England where man and machine cannot live without the other, where Meljean Brook unfolds scene after scene, detail after detail so elegantly one begins to wonder how this world could NOT exist.

Rhys and Mina are a pretty standard romance coupling, particularly Rhys as the dark, damaged, and very male love interest, but it is Mina who steals the show. Mina’s physical differences from most other Londoners ensured that she grew up quickly and does not easily trust people. Her outsider status, even among the people she’s lived with her whole life, captured my sympathies, and I was rooting hard for her the entire time to finally find acceptance and happiness.

THE IRON DUKE does not belong in the genre of books that I usually review, and as a result it’s hard for me to talk about why it’s so good. But mark my very inadequate words: if you like romance, and if you like steampunk, then you can’t get much better than this first book in Meljean Brook’s fascinating new series. I am so buying the next book as soon as it comes out. show less