Sixteen-year-old Noli Braddock's hoyden ways land her in an abusive reform school far from home. On mid-summer's eve she wishes to be anyplace but that dreadful school. A mysterious man from the Realm of Faerie rescues her and brings her to the Otherworld, only to reveal that she must be sacrificed, otherwise, the entire Otherworld civilization will perish.I like a good steampunk book, I like a good faerie book. I like a good faeriee book with steampunk elements in it, I was not sure whether I would like a book where both feature largely in it. I'm still not sure how much I liked this book.
This book took me a while to finish, I couldn't read it in one sitting, I was enjoying it but for some reason I had to push myself to pick this book up again after I had put it down. Yet when i was reading it I did enjoy it.
At times it seemed like the plot and characters were being made up as the author needed them to. Nothing seemed planned out, V's role in the story seemed completely random and unprecedented and Charlotte's circumstances seemed too coincidental and didn't mould well into the story. Parts of this book were messy and unpolished, the part where Noli is in Kevighn's house went on forever and basically was a repeat of the same cycle:
Noli: I want to go home
Kevighn: *Need distraction* Oooh... here's a flower!
Noli: Oooh pretty flower!
That brings me to the characters. I did like Noli to start with, but she justs tarted to annoy me as the plot moved on and she started to expect everyone to do everything for her... what happened to rebellious hoyden Noli? I was also so annoyed by her indecision in the love triangle, especially since she constantly repeats that Kev is just a rake and V is lovely and sexy. Yeah, V was my saving grace in this book, aside from the fact that his storyline is utterly ridiculous and cliche I found him refreshing and likable.
I'm also not going to get into the steamy scenes (which aren't graphic but are still a little serious for the 12+ age recommendation of this book) and all of the descriptions of opium dens and prostitutes.
I feel terrible for writing such an awful review, since I did like this book but it was just very jerky and didn't flow and had a very unfinished feel... gah!
Overall Rating: D
Book released 8th August 2012 by Flux Books
Book received as an ebook via NetGalley for review
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