Series Info/Source: This is the fifth book in The Magnificent Devices series. Right now there are 22 books in this series. I borrowed a copy of this audiobook through Audible Plus.

Audiobook Quality (4/5)3: This audiobook series continues to be pleasant to listen to and I enjoy the narration.

Thoughts: This book jumps us forward in time quite a bit. Maggie and Lizzie are now 16 and trying to decide if they want to go to college or finishing school. Claire is finishing up her studies and ready to embark on a career as a scientist. That is until Lizzie’s past comes back to haunt them all.

This was another decent story in this series. I like these books but I never really love them. I think that the situation never really gets all that dire. Everyone is so nice to each other all the time and even the bad guys aren't horribly bad. There just isn't much to propel the story forward for me and the story is never all that exciting.

It was nice to read a story that is mostly from Lizzie's POV, although we hear from Claire as well. Lizzie was a bit more fun as a character because she is not as absolutely perfect as Claire is.

I am not sure I will continue on with this series since I just don't find these books all that exciting or entertaining. They are nice and have some good steampunk elements but aren't great.

My Summary (3/5): Overall this is another decent addition to this solid YA steampunk series. This series is perfectly nice and I have trouble pinpointing why I don’t like it more than I do. There are adventures, steampunk devices, and solid characters but it all feels a bit shallow to me and everyone is so nice to each other that there isn’t much to drive the story forward. It’s just a nice story but not all that exciting or mysterious. I keep saying nice but that word always pops into my mind when I listen to these...I always think “Well that was nice, not very memorable, but nice.”. I don’t plan on continuing the series at this point because I would really rather read something that grabs my attention that I love. ( )

Meh. It's no Gail Carriger but its alright . . . I suppose. Its touted as steampunk but fails in my opinion. It's still an ok story and isn't awful. ( )

Lady Claire was a naive young debutante when her family lost all money and reputation and she was left on the street with nothing but a high school level understanding of chemistry and an unbreakable will. She rapidly lept up the ranks of London's criminal underbelly, until she controlled it using a lightning gun, homemade bombs, and her very own airship. Claire, known to the underworld as "the Lady of Devices," was not content with this, and eventually invented artificial intelligence and achieved her highest ambition: to be named one of the Society of Engineers.

This book follows Lizzie, last seen as a frightening young child member of Claire's gang. Claire provided Lizzie with years of schooling and love, and now Lizzie is ready to make decisions about what kind of adult she will be. Unfortunately, she's rather taken with the idea of being a Society lady...I worried about Lizzie's priorities and shook my head at her choices, but they are perfectly believable for her, and in the end it all escalates into assassination attempts foiled by antigravity corsets, so I was left quite happy. This series is a huge amount of fun, and I love that the main characters are ladies but also scientific, imaginative, empathetic, honorable, and above all, brave. ( )

A Lady of Resources continues Shelley Adina's wonderful steampunk series Magnificent Devices. The young Mopsies, Lizzie and Maggie, play a large role in the previous four books, going from scavenging on the street, picking pockets and living in a gang of thieves to becoming part of Claire Trevelyan's ragtag family of orphaned misfits in Victorian England. Under Claire's care, the Mopsies learn what it means to be part of a "Flock" and to know true love and loyalty. In this, the fifth book of the series, the girls are now sixteen years of age and finishing up their schooling in Germany when Lizzie learns that she may not be an orphan at all, but has a father and half brother and even a set of grandparents. Desperate for the story of her own past, as well as enjoying the attention being lavished on her by her new and wealthy family, Lizzie is torn between her old world and her new one. Wanting desperately to fit in, she is determined to attend a Ladies Finishing school in France in order to learn all the rules and manners of the upper class so she doesn't embarass herself and will be accepted as one of them. She thinks that perhaps the life of married lady is one she might enjoy, much to Claire's surprise and disappointment, as she feels Lizzie should take her education further because she has such incredible potential, but Claire also understands Lizzie's desire for a family of her own and acknowledges that many powerful and influential women like Lady Dunsmuir, are wives and mothers and that they too have an important role to play. Yet when Lizzie begins to see some things that don't add up, and finds herself in a dangerous and desperate situation, she realizes that family is sometimes more than just the blood that runs in your veins, and that loyalty and trust and love are what really matters, and she calls on her "flock" for help!

Another wonderful read in which we learn much more about the Mopsies origins and how they came to be on the streets of London alone at such a young age. Highly recommended, as are all the books in this series. ( )

I remember really enjoying The Mopsies in the previous books of the series, so when I heard that A Lady of Resources was out I grabbed it pretty fast. And it was fun to read. Boisterous, action-driven and light fun.


Claire was still mentioned here, but the limelight was on Lizzie - one of the orphaned twins Lady Trevelyan adopted. Lizzie was all of sixteen, practically a grown girl, ready for her coming out and choosing her own path different from Claire's passions of a scientist and an inventor.


I could understand Lizzie and her desire to belong, but at the same time, after the grand adventures she lived through, her dreams of going to a finishing school in Switzerland and finding a husband were...well, trivial. Maggie and Claire certainly seemed to think so too.

It was hard to read about this growing divide between them, but have no fear, my dear reader! The splendid villain whom Lizzie accidentally uncovers and whose evil plot endangers the whole Britain will put that girl on the right track and reunite her with her family. Fancy that.

A nice read, great for younger teens who loved Untimed and Etiquette & Espionage. ( )