so here's the thing. i liked the premise of this book. i liked a lot of things about this book. in the end though i felt like it was too many storylines in one book. the separate plots in this book could have been parsed out into 2-3 books. it was a lot going on. her world building was great but it was a lot to take in all in the course of just one book. again, i felt like had this been the first couple of books in a series it would have been much better. i will give the second book a chance to see how it goes bc there are some really intriguing aspects here. ( )

Right on the heels of Year Zero, I have another book that got itself on my list based on the potential in its world building: The Unnaturalists. I mean, how can you not be intrigued by a world where London seems to have been yanked into another world, where Science[1] has grown into a religion.

You have things like people cursing with "by Saint Darwin and all his apes". A world where you hear someone say (with a straight face) "I turn my attention to another window, the one in which Saint Pasteur smites the Demon Byron for his licentious poetry."

Therein lies the problem with the world though. It never quite gelled for me. There is quite a lot of world there, just waiting to be tapped, but it seemed too busy. It seemed to be a steampunk London torn from our world some time in the past, sent into a world where magic still holds sway--which is particularly odd. How do you have Science grow to the point it has in this story in a world where there are literal living fairies and sphinxes hanging around?

Also, it was never entirely clear what the rules were in the world. I don't strictly speaking have to know what the worlds are for magic systems, but I do prefer that there are rules. I never get the impression that is the case here. We have the last Witch in the world; Architects which can do... something; Tinkers with the ability to commune with Elemantals (essentially animstic spirits); and all manner of magical beasties. Don't get me wrong, there were some particularly cool visuals, it just didn't quite get beyond that.

Beyond the world building, the writing style was odd. There were two story lines: a rich girl rebelling against Victorian gender roles and a Tinker boy from the outskirts with the only remaining Tinker magic among his people. The former was written in first person present tense[2], the latter in third person. I can see where the two characters tie together, but for the most part, there seem to almost be two stories going on in parallel.

Finally, the love story just felt strange. Pedant Lumin/Hal/Bayne/The Architect is referred to four different ways at different points in the book; it took me a while to figure out they were all the same person. As a result, I couldn't figure out who he was and what in the world Vespa saw in him. It felt like the author was trying to make him adequately interesting, but it felt forced.

Overall, it took me a while to get finish this book. It never quite got to the point where I just wanted to put it down, but at the same point, it didn't keep me turning pages. So it goes. I'm sure there are many people who would enjoy this style of book. I'm just not one of them. So it goes.

[1] This book realy likes proper nouns
[2] Which already has to fight an uphill battle in my mind
[3] Although I was at 7 before this book... ( )

I love this cover.. and on a side note I would wear that outfit!

**DNF'd at 18% (page 56 or 308), Start of Chapter 6**

I've been looking forward to this book since it's release. The blending of science and fantasy is one of my favourite aspects of Steampunk.

However, the key to a good steampunk novel is building the world so the readers can fully understand the vision the author wants to convey...something that did not happen here.

I don't mind being thrown into a world I don't know, but you have to explain things so that I understand what the heck is even happening. With this novel, I got lost in all the terms that were being thrown out. Even a glossary would work because I would be able to put two and two together and figure out the world.

I also found that it was taking a while to get to the plot. If that time had been spent establishing the world and setting a little more, I wouldn't mind. But I felt like nothing was happening and because I wasn't learning all that much about the world (or at least understanding what I was learning) I found myself losing interest.

It's a shame because I think I would really enjoy this book if I could get into it.

Check out more spoiler-free book and series reviews on my blog SERIESousBookReviews.com as well as read book series recaps!

Full Review: TBP
Actual Rating: DNF

Slow to start. Vespa Nyx is kinda hard to like at first. Would like to know more of Syrus Reed and the Tinkers, thougn, ( )