Review: The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross

The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross (June 2012, Mira Ink, ISBN: 1848451121)

Review: The Girl in the Steel Corset follows on very shortly after the novella, The Strange Case of Finley Jayne, which is also included in this UK print version.

It's a steampunk Victorian England and Finley Jayne, is a sixteen-year-old who has two sides to her personality, a timid one and a 'dark' one which makes her super-strong, fast and fearless and appears when she is threatened. When the son of the household she's currently working for threatens her virtue, her darker self takes control and leaves him badly injured on the floor. Fleeing, she collides with a velocycle being ridden by Griffin King, the Duke of Greythorne. Finley is knocked unconscious and taken to the Duke's home which he shares with the super-intelligent Emily and the super-sized Sam.

It seems that Griff and his gang secretly help to protect the Queen and currently they are on the trail of the Machinist who is stealing objects from museums but also turning machines deadly; Sam has had to be "rebuilt" after an encounter with a rogue digging machine.

Finley has the choice: to stay with Griff and trust him or run, again...

The mystery of Finley's two natures is fairly swiftly explained but she is still an unknown quantity and is trusted in various degrees by the group. A violent confrontation between her and one of the gang ultimately seals her fate.

The Girl in the Steel Corset is an enjoyable read, there is a mystery (though not too taxing), some fighting, lots of gadgets and a love triangle developing, as Finley is drawn to both the "good" Griff and the "bad" Jack Dandy, a young crime lord.

The characters, including several strong female roles, are ones you are interested in and the story overall is intriguing. My only reservations are, first, the writing as I sometimes had to reread a sentence; at times there is a clipped-ness to it, a lack of punctuation and a wandering point of view and secondly there's the issue of the occasionally less than British sounding-ness of the characters. I'm not sure how many Victorians would say "We good?" and there is a rather inappropriate use of a swear word that rhymes with banker that must have a different use in the US.

Nonetheless I sped through it and look forward to The Girl with the Clockwork Collar.

Review: The Strange Case of Finley Jayne by Kady Cross

The Strange Case of Finley Jayne by Kady Cross (June 2012, Mira INK, ebook)

Review: I've had The Strange Case of Finley Jayne sitting on my ereader for a while after Harlequin (US) made it available free for a limited time. It is no longer free, but can bought in both epub and Kindle formats in the UK. The recent UK release of the first in the Steampunk Chronicles: The Girl in the Steel Corset meant I really ought to get on with reading it!

The Strange Case of Finley Jayne is a prequel novella which introduces series lead Finley Jayne. Set in an alternative Victorian England, where steam powered devices and automatons abound, Finley is not a normal sixteen-year-old. She has two sides and in her 'dark' side she acts without thinking and as she has super strength and super speed she can get into a lot of trouble.

Fired due to hitting the governess at her previous post, Finley is soon offered a job as chaperone to Lady Phoebe, a girl her own age, who is being forced to marry a much older Earl. Sensing something fishy about the Earl, Phoebe's mother hopes that Finley will investigate. What Finley discovers is shocking and drastic measures must be taken.

This is a delightful introduction to Finley and her world which left me keen to read more. There is a lot to be learnt about the mysterious Finley. There are glimpses of a rich, handsome Duke threaded through the story whom I'm assuming Finley will meet properly in the novels. As its only 70 pages long, the plot is quite straightforward and doesn't offer any great surprises and though it is set in Victorian London, albeit not the real one, the language is quite modern sounding and is a mix of English (eg arse) and American English (eg sidewalk).

I'm really looking forward to reading The Girl in the Steel Corset.

Free e-book of The Strange Case of Finley Jayne by Kady Cross

This novella was released last month. It's the prequel to The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross and can be downloaded for free until 20 April 2012 at Harlequin (epub format).

Finley Jayne knows she's not 'normal'. Normal girls don't lose time, or have something inside them that makes them capable of remarkably violent things. Her behavior has already cost her one job, so when she's offered the lofty position of companion to Phoebe, a debutante recently engaged to Lord Vincent, she accepts, despite having no experience. Lord Vincent is a man of science with his automatons and inventions, but Finley is suspicious of his motives where Phoebe is concerned. She will do anything to protect her new friend, but what she discovers is even more monstrous than anything she could have imagined...

An ebook exclusive prequel to The Steampunk Chronicles.