Review: Clockworks and Corsets by Regina Riley

Synopsis (via Goodreads):

Everybody's looking for something.

Captain Rose Madigan of the airship The Merry Widow is looking for a paying job for her all-female crew. Gabriella Upstairs, her newest recruit, is looking for a reason to be glad she's on board. And Madam Ruby of the Red House Bordello is looking for the secret laboratory of a missing mad scientist--and is willing to hire the airship. When they find the lab and its single occupant, Atom Loquacious, danger and passion start steaming up.

Everybody's got a secret.

Captain Rose is secretly too ethical to complete this job. Gabriella's secretly attracted to Atom. Madam Ruby's secretly hungry for power. And the secret Atom is hiding might just threaten the lives of everyone on board.

My Thoughts:  So.  I'm sitting here getting ready to write this review and I'm trying to figure out how to say this without coming across as an angry fan of steampunk.  Uggh.  I've already said it wrong.  See, I liked this book.  I think I would have liked it more if I had realized going into it that it isn't a self-contained novel.  It's the first in a serialized novel, which means that there's plot movement but no resolution.  Which means that I'm left hanging.

That's one of those things that you can plan for if you know it's coming, but when you don't know it hits you like a train and you're left floundering and weeping inconsolably on the side of the tracks.  The good news on this is that it looks like the second part of this story (Pistons and Pistols) will be out sometime in 2011.  The bad news is that there's no other news on it so I don't know if it's the final part of the story or one of many.  Isn't that cover pretty?  If only I knew more about it.

Anyway.  Now that my sad and angry inner steampunk fangirl has come to grips with being left mid-read, I do want to stress that I really did enjoy this book.  It's very tongue in cheek and slyly fun.  The hardest part for me to get a grip on was which of the characters was which.  They all have nicknames and keeping them straight was making my head spin.  What?  I'm not always good with names.

As for the characters, I loved Atom and Gabriella.  I thought Rose and Click were downright naughty.  I think that someone needs to keep an eye on Jayne.  I'm extremely curious to see what Madame Ruby has up her sleeve, so to speak. The sexy shenanigans start up almost from the first page and they don't let up.

I liked the writing and I liked the story.  If this had been a complete novel, I would have been the happiest steampunk fan in the history of the world.

More books by Regina Riley

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