Shannon Delany

I started this book, appropriately, on the day a massive snowstorm came to town.

I had fun reading this book, but it wasn't spectacular...which kind of stumps me.

The characters were, mostly, very well done. Everyone who seemed flat and one-dimensional on first sight became more complex as I read further. We've got Jordan, the main character, who we're told only lives to look pretty...but she does anything but swoon when fate comes knocking. We've got a romantic match...but neither is actually sure they're in love, though they do like and enjoy each others' company. We've got a heartless, torturing villain...who decides to take in an orphaned daughter he didn't know existed, who shines lights in the cracks of his life until he doesn't want to ignore them any longer.

So why don't I like this story more?

I think a major part of it was the bait-and-switch back cover text, which seemed to imply that this was Jordan Astraea's story, when it very much isn't, and that it would be set mostly on an airship, which only happened at the very end. (I'm not counting it as a spoiler in here, since it's on the jacket text.) The former is especially ironic, because I actually really like large casts of characters with interwoven stories--but I spent so much time wondering when Jordan was going to show up that it distracted from the story itself.

Part of it is also the complete lack of ending. I know most publishers won't sign a fiction author without a series deal, but this is getting ridiculous.

I was also incredibly unimpressed with the fact that no one seemed to notice the reason why Jordan's magic appeared so suddenly. The big "reveal" made me scoff, not satisfied to finally understand what was happening--and that's with the dose of generosity I give books for younger people.

I can't really figure out what age level this is aimed at. It seems like it should be YA--there are some incredibly bloody and dark moments. Weirdly, though, a couple of torture scenes are barely alluded to. This doesn't make sense to me, given the violence of other scenes, and left me wondering what kind of torture the characters were undergoing that left them pretty much physically functional and mentally clear when it wasn't actively happening.

The world building was a bit confusing--I couldn't figure out why so many things were capitalized until a long way into the book--but fresh. A steam-punk novel in which steam is dismissed as a waste of research and resources, since magic is so readily available. It took me a bit longer to than usual to feel like I understood the rules of the world, but not so long that I gave up (as I did with Secrets of the Fire Sea).

So yeah: a good bit of fun, some nice feminist moments despite its appearances to the contrary, a decent cast with some oversimplified and some unusually complex characters, and much-needed character growth on at least three counts. But not a book I'll be shouting from the mountaintops

Quote Roundup

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"You have been babied for far too long. As my youngest everyone has provided you with everything you might ever want for and--I daresay--a bit more. But you have chosen a path of your own. Finally. Now grow into it. Grow up and do things yourself."… (mais)