I was unable to get very far into this book. I often read a novel (or more) each day, of many different genres, and it is rare that I fail to finish one. This one landed in my digital trash pile. I just could not get into the main character. The "salty language" didn't faze me, but I found Drew thoroughly unlikeable. He is described as extremely talented, attractive, etc., but I found his personality to be quite unattractive.

The only publicity stunt I found sillier than Drew's was the Japanese man who cooked and served his own genitals.

This is one of the most entertaining books that I've read over the last few years. I've read several Steam-punk novels, but nothing quite like this. The merging of Steam-punk with Bollywood set on an alternate world was really unique and exciting. All of the characters were well-developed and, despite the genre,
seemed quite realistic. Due to the writer's skill I was mentally transported into each scene. I could easily visualize each character and their settings. I loved the growth of the princess Aniri, from a rather immature young woman in love with the wrong man, to a kick-ass heroine who makes the right choices for her country and ends up with the right man. The development of their romance was lovely.

I cannot wait for the release of Second Daughter.

I really wanted to like this story, as it was the first review copy I received from Library Thing. However, I almost didn’t make it past the first page. Instead of reading quickly for enjoyment, I found myself trying to make sense of almost every sentence. Why would a woman kick off her high heels on the street? I would assume someone getting ready to commit burglary would want to be inconspicuous. Did she replace them with sneakers (to support her upcoming Spiderman trick)? Did she stow them in her backpack?

I almost stopped at this sentence in the first paragraph - “Outside the house a head inside a car move with crisp movements that spoke of military training.” Besides the awkward sentence construction, that makes no sense (as does much that follows).

Too many sentences are short and choppy and many are just phrases. I found several awkward phrases, such as "mansion house", "bespoke suited". Too little information is provided in some areas, too much in others. The main character's behavior & conversations made little sense. There is a possibility that an enjoyable story is buried in there somewhere, but due to the poor writing I stopped reading at 16% in.

I've enjoyed a couple of Danielle Steel's books in the distant past, but couldn't get beyond the first few chapters. It seemed as if she'd realized how popular genealogy was and decided to throw together something relating to it. It was very slow and boring and even though she spent a lot of time attempting to develop her main character, there was no depth.

Many of the sentences were poorly constructed. One example from page 77 - "The artifacts at the institute were ancient and fragile, and had been carefully preserved, and once again Brigitte was able to find a librarian, who in this case was not just helpful, but fascinated by the story Brigitte told". I don't mind long sentences, but...she should fire her editor.

I wanted to like it and I very rarely fail to finish a book. My mother recommended this to me as I've been an avid genealogist for over 20 years, but that wasn't enough to hold my interest.