In 1897 England, 16-year-old Finley Jayne is convinced she's a freak. No normal Victorian girl has a darker side that makes her capable of knocking out a full-grown man with one punch. Only Griffin King sees the magical darkness inside her that says she's special . . . that she's one of "them."Am I going to get a mob of angry people burning down my house if I say that, whilst most people seem to have caught the Steampunk bug, I haven't really got to grips with genre yet? Seriously, I like it and I've read a few alright steampunk books but I don't get what the big fascination with the genre is... that's the reason that I felt a bit nervous starting this book.
This is, probably, the most enjoyable steampunk book I have read, simply because I LOVED the storyline and I ADORED the characters.
The mystery aspect of this book really gripped me, even though I knew who the criminal was from pretty early on in the book (it's made kind of obvious) I had no idea what their plan was and so I was kept guessing about what was going to happen, but this book is so much more than a mystery; it's a romance and a paranormal as well... I say paranormal but you could also see it as sci-fi.
Anyway, Finley was a great character, I liked the way she struggled to keep control of her darker side, it's like we were getting to know the spunky but normal Finley and suddenly hr dark side comes in and the contrast between the two was great. I liked both of the 'love interests' for different reasons: Griffin was sweet and caring with a sense of roguish charm about him whereas Jack was dark and dangerous and spicy, I preferred Griffin but Jack was a great addition to the book. I also liked Jasper, who is a bit of an enigma, Sam even though he doesn't think things through before acting and Emily who is tomboyish and smart and the 'inventor' that every steampunk book seems to have.
The writing in this book was great and the pacing was spot on, but if I had to criticise anything it;s that the point of view skips around a lot. Instead of just following Finley basically every character get's their own 'screen time' and at times it was disorintating as I didn't know exactly who I was following.
Overall, a very enjoyable steampunk book that may have piqued my interest in the genre. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.
Overall Rating: B
Released 24th May 2011 by Harlequin Teen (UK: Mira Ink)
Book bought by myself (eBook)
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