Anne Renwick

Series Info/Source: This is the 7th book in the Elemental Web Tales. I bought a copy of this book on ebook.

Thoughts: Strangely I read this right after reading Kelley Armstrong's "Disturbing the Dead" which also deals with Egyptian mummies and mythology and is set in a Victorian-like period. Anyway, I enjoyed this book in the Elemental Web Tales. I always love the detailed dive into medical and technical aspects that Renwick includes in her stories.

This story alternates POV between Julia and Graham. The two have previously had a brief romantic history together, but Julia opted to marry an older man for the money to save her family from ruin. Julie studies mycology (study of mushrooms, fungus and yeast) and is trying to run her family's pub, while also studying at University in an effort to develop new yeasts for her unique alcohol brews. Graham has been in Egypt studying archaeological sites but is secretly also working for the King as a spy. They get sucked together to work on a mystery when Julia's husband turns up dead under mysterious circumstances and a clockwork creature is on the loose murdering people.

I enjoyed this book. It deals with some Egyptian mythology as well as having steampunk/clockwork elements. I liked learning about mycology and enjoyed the mystery here. I also enjoyed that Julia and Graham already have history together, which makes their romance more believable.

This was an entertaining read that I enjoyed. I struggle a bit to remember how this ties in to previous books. I know Graham's superior, Black, has been in previous books but I can't quite remember his story.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I enjoyed this and would recommend if you enjoy steampunk reads with a technical aspect, some romance, and a good mystery. I look forward to Renwick's future books in this series and always enjoy them.… (mais)

What do you get when you mix a little Jules Verne with a little romantic suspense and add in some steampunk espionage and a blue frog? Anne Renwick's A Trace of Copper! Although the author wrote a tough act to follow with the first two books the third is a worthy successor, although even less Jules Verne and more romance than the first two. With every Steam-Punk book I read I become more hooked on the genre, even though each of the author’s subsequent books becomes more romance and less romantic suspense, I hope future books see her return to what was so successful in the first book “I’m voluntarily reviewing an Advance Reader Copy of this book.”… (mais)

I think the worst part about this book is that I actually quite liked the characters and the plot for the most part. The mystery of the blue frog was interesting. What sucked though was the romantic complication. It was just so bloody stupid and it made me want to wring their necks. Without that I would've given it 3 stars but it annoyed me too much. Why not just tell her? They could've worked on solving the problem together. Especially since it's a stupid problem. And worse than that - it's her fking speciality. She is literally the expert he needed. I think there probably needed to be more gravity to the issue. Make it a more serious concern to induce tension/suspense, worry. Instead it turned out rather humorous which also would've been okay but fell slightly too short.… (mais)