Title: The Girl with the Iron Touch
Author: Kady Cross
Series: Steampunk Chronicles, #3
Genres: Steampunk, Young Adult
Publisher: Harlequin Teen (Imprint of Harlequin)
Date Published: May 28th, 2013
Edition: Hardcover
Rating:
In 1897 London, something not quite human is about to awaken
When mechanical genius Emily is kidnapped by rogue automatons, Finley Jayne and her fellow misfits fear the worst. What’s left of their archenemy, The Machinist, hungers to be resurrected, and Emily must transplant his consciousness into one of his automatons—or forfeit her friends’ lives.
With Griffin being mysteriously tormented by the Aether, the young duke’s sanity is close to the breaking point. Seeking help, Finley turns to Jack Dandy, but trusting the master criminal is as dangerous as controlling her dark side. When Jack kisses her, Finley must finally confront her true feelings for him…and for Griffin.
Meanwhile, Sam is searching everywhere for Emily, from Whitechapel’s desolate alleyways to Mayfair’s elegant mansions. He would walk into hell for her, but the choice she must make will test them more than they could imagine.
To save those she cares about, Emily must confront The Machinist’s ultimate creation—an automaton more human than machine. And if she’s to have any chance at triumphing, she must summon a strength even she doesn’t know she has….
My Review:
Spoiler Warning: This review contains some spoilers for the book. Please stop reading if you haven’t already read the book and/or don’t want spoilers.
The Girl With the Iron Touch steps out of only Jayne’s world and introduces us to the most unlikely new character. When Emily is kidnapped Jayne and her friends must find her even though they don’t have much to go on to get the search started. Meanwhile Emily awakes to a horrifying reality: the very automatons that The Machinist created are trying to bring him back to life. Thankfully she meets and unlikely ally to help her.
The Steampunk Chronicles are fun and quick reads. Despite some scary possible outcomes, they are pretty light books that are pure entertainment. The characters are strong and relatable and the stories are engaging for the most part.
Unfortunately they’re also a little predictable and a unbelievable. I know Steampunk is a sub-genre of Sci-fi but even so I’m kind of getting a little bored of the brain transplant theme (used in the prequel The Strange Case of Finley Jayne and this book as well). I’m also kind of over The Machinist storyline. It reminds me way too much of the Infernal Devices series. I thought this particular storyline was through, but I have a feeling it’s going to be an ongoing theme.
I’m actually wondering if maybe Steampunk just isn’t a genre for me. I’ve already tried a few series’ within the genre and have found them to be mostly mediocre. Although, all of the Steampunk books I’ve read have been Young Adult books, so maybe if I tried an adult Steampunk I might like it better? Who knows.
Either way this is where me and this series go our separate ways. These books aren’t bad, but they’re just okay and for the most part they don’t really stick with me afterwards. I had mostly forgotten everything about the first two books in the series when I picked this one up. So just not for me anymore.
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