The Girl In The Steel Corset

All it took was the beautiful cover and a great review from Lisa for me to read The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross. Actually, it also took my sister checking it out from the library.

As far as steampunk literature goes, I've only read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This was my first exposure to the new wave of steampunk, and Cross does it well.

It's the story of Finley, a teenage girl with mysteriously dark, super human strength. She has a hard time finding a place to fit in Victorian England, where dirigibles fill the sky and robots serve as bartenders. A velocycle accident introduces her to Griffin, a young duke, who has unlimited resources and super-human secrets of his own.

Cross describes her book as "teen X-men meets the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen."

I spent the first three quarters loving this book. Cross does a great job with characters, details, and setting up a beautiful steampunk world of mystery and creativity, but the plot really dragged for me. Toward the end, I set the book down for longer periods of time before finally forcing myself to finish. By the time the final [anti]climactic scene came, I was thinking, "That's it?"

It looks like Cross set herself up for a series, but I don't plan on reading the next books, unless I hear that they have more complicated or intriguing plots than the first one.

All that to say, I would recommend this book, especially if you're interested in steampunk. Cross does steampunk extremely well, and it's a great introduction to a genre that is growing in popularity. This book has gotten some great reviews, so just because I didn't love it, doesn't mean you won't.