Steel

Jan 18, 2012 Ashleigh Paige rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: the-shameful-shelf-of-get-rid-of-it, a-whole-new-level-of-boring, take-your-sexism-and-get-out

Also appears on the Screaming Nitpicker.

After a loss at a tournament by just half a second, Jill feels blue and unsure of where she is going to go from there. Will she go back to fencing? Will she find something else to do? Her family goes on a vacation in the Bahamas, but Jill is unable to stop thinking about that half a second. Then she falls overboard during a boat tour and the strange rapier tip she picked up earlier in the trip takes her back in time to a time when pirates openly rode the C...more

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Mar 25, 2011 Erica (daydreamer) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: cover-love, i-own, pirates, 2011-reads, best-characters, best-endings, i-recommend-it, incredible, strong-heroines, swoon-worthy-male-love-interests, time-travel, would-love-if-it-were-a-movie, love-love-it, release-in-2011, ya

Steel. Ooh, shiver me timbers just thinking about it! Can I just say epically amazing! Oh yeah, this is the book. It is brilliant! I was so excited to read it and so ready to love it, and boy did it deliver! It’s everything it promises and more! It’s an incredibly exciting, roughish adventure that you can’t just help getting caught up in. I was engrossed from the very beginning, and couldn’t stop reading it.

The characters were brilliant. Jill was a strong heroine (I mean pirate, oh yeah ;). On...more Steel. Ooh, shiver me timbers just thinking about it! Can I just say epically amazing! Oh yeah, this is the book. It is brilliant! I was so excited to read it and so ready to love it, and boy did it deliver! It’s everything it promises and more! It’s an incredibly exciting, roughish adventure that you can’t just help getting caught up in. I was engrossed from the very beginning, and couldn’t stop reading it.

The characters were brilliant. Jill was a strong heroine (I mean pirate, oh yeah ;). On a vacation with her family, Jill finds herself caught in a time travel mess from a magical shard of a hundred’s old sword, and is thrust into a time where pirates run rampant. A ship with a woman captain, the Pirate Queen, finds Jill floundering in the ocean, saves her, and basically say it's either the ocean, or she signs on as one of the crew. So Jill agrees to become one of them. And she soon finds her place amongst these dogs, she starts to feel like one of them, and she learns that there’s so much more to piracy than she thought. Like the killing. But living with these pirates a long time from home doesn’t deter her. She presses on, hoping to find a way home, but even so, begins to like, if not love, life on the seas as a pirate. And then there’s Henry. The cute, young pirate who lives life carefree and thrills at the thought of fighting. And the description of Henry when Jill first saw him… *excuse me while I faint.* But the love aspect was barely there. This story is more about the adventure and pirate intrigue than any budding romance. But it was still there, if just a little, and it was done nicely.

Carrie Vaughn throws you right into this tale, with vivid details of pirate life and fighting. She weaves magic, pirates, and fencing into a completely engaging, thrill of a ride. I couldn’t have asked for more. It was everything I was looking and hoping for. I loved how Carrie integrated fencing into it, and the fencing terms as titles of the chapters. Steel had a very Pirates of the Caribbean feel. If you like those movies, or pirates in general, I highly recommend this book. I really loved it, it’s still got me worked up with excitement! I think I will have to read Carrie’s YA debut novel, Voices of Dragons soon, which I'm guessing has the same type of adventurous, pure excitement feel to it!(less)

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Apr 01, 2011 Ashley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Review originally posted at: A & C Book Junkies - ARC Review: Steel (By Carrie Vaughn)

This was my first Carrie Vaughn experience and I must say, it was a rather pleasant one. This story is about a teenager, Jill, who is a highly competitive fencer. She lives fencing; she breathes fencing; she is fencing. Or so that is the mantra she goes by when the novel first beings. Have you ever wanted something so badly, come within its grasp, only to lose it completely? Well, that is where we meet Jill...more Review originally posted at: A & C Book Junkies - ARC Review: Steel (By Carrie Vaughn)

This was my first Carrie Vaughn experience and I must say, it was a rather pleasant one. This story is about a teenager, Jill, who is a highly competitive fencer. She lives fencing; she breathes fencing; she is fencing. Or so that is the mantra she goes by when the novel first beings. Have you ever wanted something so badly, come within its grasp, only to lose it completely? Well, that is where we meet Jill. She is determined to win to the point where losing is all she can think about when it happens. And then, on a family vacation after Jill's entire fencing world has seemed to crash down upon her, she finds a piece of a rapier. On a trip a sixteen year old girl does not want to be on, after losing a fencing championship that would have placed her as a potential olympian, finding a piece of history seems to brighten up her mood. It is through this historical artifact that Jill's entire world is turned upside down. She ends up going back in time to a period where Pirates –– like Blackbeard –– still roamed the open waters in large quantities.

Vaughn's writing transforms the reader from a hot tropical destination, the the high waters where swash buckling pirates still looted, raided, sailed by their own rules, and fought. History is fascinating; to be able to transport yourself into a different time period is an exhilarating idea. This book does that; it is able to grasp the reader by the collar and drag them into the water with Jill and resurface in a foreign time as a pirate. Honestly, who has never thought of how cool being a pirate would have been?

What I really loved in Steel was the female empowerment that was interwoven into the text throughout. Jill, firstly, is a teenage girl with a love fencing. Although fencing is safe, it is a sport that allows women to pick up a sword and fight. Secondly, Jill has somehow traveled through a space time continuum that places her in the midst of a pirate battle. At first scared, Jill is able to overcome her fears and live life as a pirate would have. The third aspect of the book that was fantastic for enabling female empowerment was the fact the Jill's new captain is a woman. Marjory Cooper is Captain of the ship that finds Jill and well respect to boot. Filled with men, the few women aboard have had to disguise themselves, assert power, and show enormous bouts of strength in order to survive in a male dominated world. I feel like this statement of female strength and power is a comment on the social order as it stands today. Women need to stick up for what they want and infiltrate the patriarchy, rising to the top themselves and flipping the social order on its head.

Where the novel tended to falter for me was in the relationship between Jill and Henry. Henry is a fellow pirate who helps Jill acclimatize to life at sea on board a pirate vessel. Their relationship felt rushed, especially in how everything takes place during the novels climax and ending sequence. I really enjoyed Henry as a stand alone character, but as a companion for Jill it would have been nice to see a little more in terms of character development. The book also fell flat at the end. I sat there feeling incomplete, like I missed something. Since the middle of the book was so strong, you expect a strong ending. Sadly, I didn't see that strength carried through till the end.

Vaughn has brought back the fascination with Pirates that was reinstated into culture by way of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. No, there is no Johnny Depp, but there is a vividly painted picture of what being aboard a pirate ship was all about. Through Vaughn's attention to detail, clothing, and scenery –– with the addition of real life documented pirates in the book –– the novel was fascinating and creates a thrilling ride of action, strength, determination, and hope that all will enjoy.

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May 12, 2011 April rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: for-review, ya, fantasy

I’m not gonna lie, I find swords to be pretty badass weapons. Fencing is a beautiful sport, evoking that scene in The Princess Bride when Wesley and Inigo Montoya are fighting. In Steel by Carrie Vaughn, swords and fencing take center stage.

Read the rest of my review here

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Nov 28, 2011 Mara rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-to-avoid, adventure, time-travel

I had complete misgivings even before I started reading this book, and my misgivings only proved to be correct - not in all instances, mind you, but in many of them. In the Afterward, the Author claims that she did a lot of research regarding historical piracy. I have to question how much research she thought "a lot" was, because hardly any of it made itself known in the story. To be fair, she also admitted that she ignored some of what she researched because clearly she wanted her pirates to be...more I had complete misgivings even before I started reading this book, and my misgivings only proved to be correct - not in all instances, mind you, but in many of them. In the Afterward, the Author claims that she did a lot of research regarding historical piracy. I have to question how much research she thought "a lot" was, because hardly any of it made itself known in the story. To be fair, she also admitted that she ignored some of what she researched because clearly she wanted her pirates to be heroic and moral.

Um, well, there is her first mistake. Pirates were - and still are - criminals; no better than today's street gangs. There was no pirate code or pirate's honor (true, captains made rules according to their individual standards. There was no specific code, like the Articles of War, that all pirates followed), their voting system was anything but fair or civil (again, look at today's street gangs and how they replace leaders; it was no different then), and pirates were, in fact, known to be terrible seamen. While the Author does mention in her Afterward that pirates who captured slave ships would sell the slaves for profit, it just illustrates further her poor attempt to make heroes out of villains when her pirates free the slaves they capture. So what is it exactly that makes them pirates?

Ah, yes, and female captains . . . Now, I can understand why the Author made the "good" pirate captain - Margery Cooper - a female. If she hadn't, then it would have been a prime setup for bad, but accurate, things to happen to Jill among "rogue and tumble" men who certainly had no regard for a woman's virtue. And Captain Cooper could have been extremely unbearable as most female pirate characters are in stories, but I still protest at how unlikely it would be in real life for Cooper to become - and then maintain - her position as captain. There is a reason that history only knows of two famous female pirates (not counting the few in the Orient; Chinese piracy was an entirely different kettle of carnivorous eels); women were considered bad luck.

To top this off, there's the name of the "bad" pirate captain. I don't know what made the Author think that Blane was a threatening name. I kept picturing a Californian surfer Ken-doll whenever I read his name. He made Captain Shakespeare from Stardust seem threatening. But then it all made sense, when it was revealed that the whole premise of the story was, in fact, much like a Barbie-and-Ken relationship. I'm afraid that I am not joking. Blane was the only unforgettable character simply because of his unbelievable name. Jill was not too annoying (she whined a bit much), but many times I mistook her for an inanimate object, she was so lacking in personality, and for someone who had just been launched from the 21st century into the early 1700s among a bunch of murderous criminals, she takes to it all very well - indeed, she takes to it so well and thinks so little about her family, that it actually bothered me. I hate it when characters take forever to come to terms with their situation, but she is too okay with it. And the romance between her and Henry (who was also another inanimate object) was so gradual that it came as a shock to me when they started expressing feelings for one another.

But all of this I could have handled fairly well (perhaps, even Blane's name) if there hadn't been the terrible fact that the Author made the worst mistake that so many modern sea-faring writers make: she didn't research her sailing terms and the workings of a ship in general, and she never actually went to sea on a tallship. In the Afterward, she says that she consulted someone on these things. Either she completely disregarded his information or he knew just as little as she did - or a combination of both. I have an actual tallship sailor living in my house to confirm any flaws the Author made - i.e. my sister -, and goodness, were there many. First rule for all people who want to write a sea-faring story: research, research, research! You have to immerse yourself in it; read books that historical sailors actually used, history, technical books - indeed, you need to make yourself seasick on it. There is nothing more painful, more horrid, than authors who insist on writing sea-faring stories and don't do proper sailing research. If an author is not willing to do this, then either find a different genre, or write the story in first-person; from the perspective of a character who knows absolutely nothing - and learns absolutely nothing - about sailing.

Steel by Carrie Vaughn was torturous. I didn't think I would get through it, honestly (had it resembled Pirates of the Caribbean any more - and thankfully it really didn't that much, to give the Author some credit - I would not have). Pirates simply cannot be cast as moral, heroic people. They simply can't. If they're moral, they're not pirates.
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Jun 21, 2011 Janus Vielle (The Blair Book Project) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: owned-ebook

I like this book. It has two things I am elated about: pirates and fencing.

I’m a frustrated fencer. I wanted to try out in fencing when I was in college. I even had a friend train me for about 2 sessions. Unfortunately, time was a hindrance and I couldn’t get myself to train again, so that’s about all my fencing experience! Ha! Ha! I didn’t even get to hold a sword! Bummer!

Anyway, I felt like I was in a class taking up Piracy 101 because while reading through this, I’ve learned a lot about the...more

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May 12, 2011 Misty rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: cover-appeal, historical, juvenile-ya, pirates, own, read-in-2011, timeslip

There are a lot of elements to Steel that seem as if its bound to be a win.
Fencing? ☑
Pirates? ☑
Time travel? ☑
A touch of romance? ☑
They’re all there. But I never really connected to Steel the way I would have liked.

I mean, it was enjoyable enough, but there were some things that held me back and created a bit of a disconnect. Jill was a bit too moody and petulant for me. I get that she’s a teen (and probably a spoiled rich one - who else fences?), and I get that super competitive people are...more There are a lot of elements to Steel that seem as if its bound to be a win.
Fencing? ☑
Pirates? ☑
Time travel? ☑
A touch of romance? ☑
They’re all there. But I never really connected to Steel the way I would have liked.

I mean, it was enjoyable enough, but there were some things that held me back and created a bit of a disconnect. Jill was a bit too moody and petulant for me. I get that she’s a teen (and probably a spoiled rich one - who else fences?), and I get that super competitive people are really hard on themselves and can get pretty pissy when they don’t do as well as they want/anticipate. But that’s part of why I’m not friends with a lot of super competitive people. I don’t want to watch you sulk, or listen to you bitch and moan.

And realistically, I think this was part of the point. Not only is it part of Jill’s character, but it’s this whole transformative growth mumbojumbo wherein Jill realizes that losing a fencing match is maybe not so important in the grand scheme of things. And her turnaround begins pretty quickly, so it really shouldn’t bother me the way it does. But the fact is, the Jill I met in the beginning of the story stayed with me throughout - in my head, at least - and prevented me from really loving the book. It felt a little too after-school-special, and I’ve always doubted that the spoiled rich kids who learn the value of blahblahblah in those specials actually change and remember said value for long.

Now, lest you think I completely dislike Jill, let me correct you: I did like her and root for her, but part of that, I think, was just that she’s the main character and therefore who I was supposed to root for. My irritation with her was for the most part slight, but it was there, and it contributed to my mehness about the book.

Also a contributing factor was the “unreality” of it all. I mean, yes, she’s a fencer and she ends up on a pirate ship where she learns where her skills really come from, historically, and how to put them to good use and actually swordfight, not just playact, and golly isn’t that swell. But I never had a real sense of time in the book (was she there days? Weeks? Months? I don’t frakking know.), so I found it sort of silly when everyone is willing to let her fight Mr Big Bad. She’s a high school fencer, for jeebus sake. I think it would have taken him about .02 seconds to run her through in reality. Again, it was kind of after-school-special (which I’ve just realized abbreviates to ASS), and I just didn’t buy it. I think maybe younger kids, tweens and early teens, would eat this up and not have a problem with the lack of believability in this respect, but it nagged at me.

Those two larger things aside, I liked the book well enough, though I never felt compelled to read it. The piracy was rollicking and fun, and pretty well researched, I’d say (though a bit sanitized), and there was a good feel to the book, a good sense of place. Whether in the Caribbean or on the ocean, it all felt very scenic and pretty fully realized, and I enjoyed that. The reader gets to learn the world and explore it through Jill, and from that aspect it worked for me. In the end, I didn’t feel it was a waste of my time, but it didn’t keep me on the edge of my seat, either. I think it will find a welcome audience with younger girls, and I think seeing strong women like Pirate Queen Marjory Cooper and Jill (later in the book, when she’s left bratty behind) will be welcome to the young girls who do read it. But I wanted more, and have a feeling it will fade from memory pretty quickly.(less)

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Aug 05, 2011 Claire rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2011

3.5

I love the idea for this book. Such a great change from what I have been reading lately.
I enjoyed Jill, the main character. I felt the author really captured her age. I enjoyed the characters and really liked Captain Majory Cooper.
The plot was a little unexpected for me, but I liked where the author took the book.
For me, the book hit a lull in the middle but I'm glad I picked it up again. The ending was exciting. I really enjoyed the authors writing and the adventure she created. I could te...more

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Jan 18, 2012 Spark740 rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: No one . . .except extremely bored people

This is another time travel book I happened to pick up off the shelf. A girl finds a piece of an old sword and gets transported back to pirate days, where she is made part of the crew of a lady pirate. Overall, this book reads like the light hey-ho tale it's meant to, but there are many many flaws. For one, Steel veers the complete opposite direction of Waterfall by Lisa Bergren - the main character is inadequate to defeat people in the pirate age. Sure, she is a fencer, but in the final battle...more

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Dec 10, 2012 Ashlyn added it

In my opinion of Steel, by Carrie Vaughn, is a well written book. Jill, the main protagonist, is well rounded character. Steel is defiantly a page turner! It has time-travel, magic and a teensy-tiny bit of romance for the girls.
Steel can relate to my life because Jill just lost an important match for her pre-Olympic fencing career, so Jill’s unsure of herself. So the storyline is basically Jill trying to find herself. I, as well as many of my peers, are trying to find ourselves. It’s the simple...more

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Dec 02, 2012 Lauren Swanson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: realistic-fiction

I just read Steel by Carrie Vaughn. A little about this book is this girl named Jill is walking by the beach and finds the end of a sword. Later her family goes on a cruise and she has the end of the sword in her pocket. She takes a nap and wakes up on a pirate ship. The pirates tell her that they blew up the cruise ship and found her floating, so the put her on their ship. So now she is part of the pirate crew. Captain Cooper put her on her ship because she has the end of a sword that belongs...more

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Sep 19, 2012 Ana rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I've just read "Voices of Dragons" by the same author and got curious about her writing in a standalone novel. It's not as bad. When I finished this book, although I didn't like the ending, it made me feel complete. Like this story was over and I can move on to the next one.

The main character irked me most of the time but I ended up liking her a lot. Flaws and all. And she does have flaws...In the beginning of the story, Jill is shown as a slightly spoiled and immature girl and we literally watc...more I've just read "Voices of Dragons" by the same author and got curious about her writing in a standalone novel. It's not as bad. When I finished this book, although I didn't like the ending, it made me feel complete. Like this story was over and I can move on to the next one.

The main character irked me most of the time but I ended up liking her a lot. Flaws and all. And she does have flaws...In the beginning of the story, Jill is shown as a slightly spoiled and immature girl and we literally watch her grow. I find this author very skillful in that aspect. Her development of characters is really amazing. But that's pretty much all the good I have to say about this book.

Seems to me that I never get completely satisfied after reading a book written by Carrie Vaughn.

The plot is literally what's said on the book cover. Beware! There will be no surprises after reading this:

"It was a slender length of rusted steel, tapered to a point at one end and jagged at the other, as if it had broken. A thousand people would step over it and think it trash, but not her.

This was the tip of a rapier.

Sixteen-year-old Jill has fought in dozens of fencing tournaments, but she has never held a sharpened blade. When she finds a corroded sword piece on a Caribbean beach, she is instantly intrigued and pockets it as her own personal treasure.

The broken tip holds secrets, though, and it transports Jill through time to the deck of a pirate ship. Stranded in the past and surrounded by strangers, she is forced to sign on as crew. But a pirate's life is bloody and brief, and as Jill learns about the dark magic that brought her there, she forms a desperate scheme to get home--one that risks everything in a duel to the death with a villainous pirate captain."

I'm serious! You just read the whole plot!

And the ending? It was shocking!! They put the sword back together, she fought the bad guy, won the duel, said goodbye to her pirate friends, grabbed the sword and launched herself to the waters. And surprise: instead of drowning she is saved by her father and the guide from the tour boat. Life goes back to normal. THE END.

PS: I'm cruel. I know.(less)

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Jul 10, 2012 Kereesa rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Action YA fans

Shelves: 2012, fantasy-all-others, ebooks, friendship, grrl-power, teenage-romance, time-travel, young-adult

Steel was not exactly what I expected it to be. I mean I knew it was going to be about a fencer who travels back in time and joins a band of pirates; I read that much in the synopsis. The fantasy, blood magic part? That was kind of surprising, though not utterly ~~game~~world breaking.

Steel is very much a YA novel. Unexpected time travel, obvious goal, evil bad guy, cute good guy, tough-as-nails mentor figure...I probably could go on. It's also, weirdly, a obviously plotted novel. Jill's goals/deve...more Steel was not exactly what I expected it to be. I mean I knew it was going to be about a fencer who travels back in time and joins a band of pirates; I read that much in the synopsis. The fantasy, blood magic part? That was kind of surprising, though not utterly ~~game~~world breaking.

Steel is very much a YA novel. Unexpected time travel, obvious goal, evil bad guy, cute good guy, tough-as-nails mentor figure...I probably could go on. It's also, weirdly, a obviously plotted novel. Jill's goals/development are set out in such a way I could basically predict every move, emotion, and insight she found herself faced with over the course of the novel.

That's not to say Steel is bad novel by any means. It's just to say it wasn't mind-blowing, nor did it offer anything too surprising that I didn't already see coming.

Well, except for the blood magic. That, dudes, was wacked.

The romance was pretty lack-luster, and I felt meh about the entire situation. The novel, as a whole, instead really focused more on the friendships Jill had with the variety of pirates we meet, and though I enjoyed the other characters, I didn't feel much for them (I was pretty meh about Jill). The best proof of this I can give you is that it took me a minute to remember the MC's name and I finished this book maybe 3/4 hours ago. When I can't remember their names, it usually means there wasn't much there for me to remember/get acquainted with/memorable.

The plot, as I've kind of mentioned, was pretty standard for a YA novel, and featured an interspersion of mentor-fighting sessions and mentor-wisdom moments as Jill learned more and more about how a ship works and scrubs the deck multiple times. Oh, and gets freaked out by the historical issues around her: Piracy, merchant ships, slavery....

The writing was fairly decent, though it did feel like it was one of the those tell not show styles at certain moments. I never felt like I got anywhere near Jill's head throughout the novel, in spite of the fact that her inner feelings are discussed, etc... As a character she felt kind of flat weirdly.

I like the sword play? I think that's about all I can say.

All in all, I liked Steel. It was fun, somewhat fascinating, and an easy read for me to zip through. Arr! 3.5/5(less)

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Jun 11, 2012 Giselle rated it 4 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It was a very interesting read with the perfect blend of historical fiction and fantasy. I remember thinking it was a bit slow at one point but it quickly sped up again and kept my interest hooked for the rest of the story. The author did a great job creating the book's environment. While reading, I felt like I was immersed in the time period and loved how the author created such a believable world. The villain was deliciously evil and I was glad with how he ended...more

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Mar 25, 2012 Mitch rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book felt more like a historical tour of a working pirate ship than a real adventure. I think when writing this the author got a little too excited/carried away by all the pirate facts she compiled and forgot to focus on developing the plot as much. As a result, even the main character Jill admits the thing she learned after everything was how fiercely independent lady pirates are, not exactly a great sign.

Jill’s basically a tourist on the working pirate ship. She’s forced to scrub the deck...more

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Feb 23, 2012 Terri rated it 3 of 5 stars

Plot and characterization were okay. Jill finds the bit of sword, and then falls overboard during a day cruise with her family. She is transported back to the 18th century and gets picked up by pirates. Now, any normal person would probably be freaking out, but let’s give her the benefit of the doubt: even if she’s an extremely chill person, Jill should have spent more time wondering how she time traveled and how to reverse it. Once she attributed it to the sword, she never wondered HOW the swor...more Plot and characterization were okay. Jill finds the bit of sword, and then falls overboard during a day cruise with her family. She is transported back to the 18th century and gets picked up by pirates. Now, any normal person would probably be freaking out, but let’s give her the benefit of the doubt: even if she’s an extremely chill person, Jill should have spent more time wondering how she time traveled and how to reverse it. Once she attributed it to the sword, she never wondered HOW the sword did it, or why. She often mentions that she would like to go home, but she doesn’t seem anxious and doesn’t think about it when she’s not around other characters. She spends most of her time thinking about dueling and staying away from the sketchier pirates who might want to rape her. Her thoughts never seemed to go beyond the superficial: “Hm, I time traveled and now I’m surrounded by pirates. Geez, that one is leering. Oh look, a lady pirate. I think I’ll stand next to her. Hey, there’s a cute boy!” The most profound her thoughts ever got was when she realized she had never dueled with the intent to injure, much less kill, and that she was going to have to learn to fight differently. While I didn’t dislike Jill, I wasn’t particularly attached to her either.

My other problem with the plot was that they never explained why the sword found Jill, or why the time travel worked, or what connection it had to her. There was a “shocking” revelation (mild spoiler so I won’t go into detail) near the middle that explains why Captain Cooper hates Blane (our requisite evil, antagonist pirate), and there was a thin connection there, but nothing that called out Jill specifically and nothing that would have forged a magical connection strong enough to pull her 300 years into the past. Thin characterization aside, the action of the book was fine. There are things going on and Jill is busy, and she seems to enjoy being on the ship and being at sea, especially since most of the seedier elements of piracy are not a factor with a female captain and only one bloody battle.

The writing was fine, but nothing special. As I mentioned above, Jill didn’t have a lot of depth as a character, so naturally none of the secondary characters did either. Steel is 304 pages, so it’s a reasonable length for YA, but it just never did it for me. If you see it at the library or borrow it from a friend, you’ll probably enjoy it, but you won’t be missing out on anything if you don’t read it.(less)

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Feb 13, 2012 Barb Middleton rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, ya

I checked this book out from my public library in Minnesota as an eBook and read it on my computer. It’s a fun pirate adventure that would be better in the Middle School Library versus the Lower School Library because of the content.

Jill is a fencer who is trying to win a tournament that would place her in the Junior World Championships. She loses and is so disappointed she can’t even have fun on her family’s vacation in the Bahamas. She finds the tip of a magical sword on the beach and puts it...more I checked this book out from my public library in Minnesota as an eBook and read it on my computer. It’s a fun pirate adventure that would be better in the Middle School Library versus the Lower School Library because of the content.

Jill is a fencer who is trying to win a tournament that would place her in the Junior World Championships. She loses and is so disappointed she can’t even have fun on her family’s vacation in the Bahamas. She finds the tip of a magical sword on the beach and puts it in her pocket. Later that day she falls off a tourist boat and finds herself 300 years back in time on a pirate ship. The pirate Captain, Marjory Cooper, makes Jill a crew member and takes the magical sword piece from Jill. The sword belongs to the pirate Edmund Blane who has poured dark magic into it and who is deeply hated by Captain Cooper. Blane wants the sword tip back and feels its magic calling him. When Jills path crosses Blanes on the high seas, she has to learn to use her fencing skills not just for sport but for life and death.

There is a gruesome twist in the plot regarding the sword, Cooper, and Blane. The pacing picks up after Jill ends up with the pirates. Jill has to learn to believe in herself and goes through internal conflicts as she lives the pirates life. I kept waiting for Jill to surprise people with some modern knowledge about herself but she doesn’t say much. I also kept expecting her to protest more about where she was when she first ended up with the pirates – at least ask what year it was.Later, I expected her to share more with Henry since they were friends and had kissed, but she doesn’t. I thought the doctor’s character, Emory, could have been developed more as well. I kept waiting for Jill to talk about modern medicine but she only thought about it in her head. The character of Blane is one-sided and not that of a complex villian. We don’t learn why he chose dark magic and acted evil. I wanted to know more about him.

The book is violent with battles, implied rape, and murders. In the beginning of the story, Jill gets drunk on rum and Henry is supposed to keep an eye on her. Later on Jill is quite sick of rum and would give anything for a Coke. There is the threat of Jill being raped when she is first captured by the pirates. The book is similar to Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary “Jacky” Faber, Ship’s Boy by L.A. Meyer and Graceling by Kristin Cashore.
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Nov 20, 2011 Amy rated it 2 of 5 stars

I picked this up at the library for a couple reasons. Books in which time travel is involved, is something I love, and it also involves pirates. Two awesome ingredients. The result? Not so fantastic.
Jill just lost a fencing tournament and is still beating herself up about it, even on vacation. Then she finds this fragment of a blade which she keeps as a souvenir. However, this blade piece is “enchanted” and takes her back in time. Rescued by a pirate ship, she is forced to sign the code and beco...more I picked this up at the library for a couple reasons. Books in which time travel is involved, is something I love, and it also involves pirates. Two awesome ingredients. The result? Not so fantastic.
Jill just lost a fencing tournament and is still beating herself up about it, even on vacation. Then she finds this fragment of a blade which she keeps as a souvenir. However, this blade piece is “enchanted” and takes her back in time. Rescued by a pirate ship, she is forced to sign the code and become a member of the crew (women crewmates weren’t all that rare apparently, and the captain of this particular ship is a woman). While trying to figure out how to get home, she learns of the captain’s on-going battle with another pirate captain, learns better sword-fighting techniques, and figures out more about the magic blade that brought her there. Also, she likes this one dude.

Okay, so picking this book up I was excited, but I knew it was going to be more “meh” then anything else, and I was right. It’s too short to have a major, highly interesting plotline or very well-developed characters, so it’s a good short read, but nothing majorly amazing.

The whole “what does this magic piece of blade do and how can it get me home?” plot aspect got highly confusing to me. That entire aspect, the main point, was so complicated and entangled that by the end, I barely knew what was going on.

Also, as much as I love romance (it’s hard for me to read a book that doesn’t have romance in it), I wish she’d left it out of the story. While the dude (I forget his name, he’s THAT memorable) is hot and a fun sidekick kind of guy, you just know they're romance is going to be for only about 2 days because she’s got to go back to her time.

I DID enjoy the way the author showed the pirate culture. While pirates should never be looked upon as heroes, the author explains the miserable conditions on the merchant/soldier ships and then contrasts that with the fair, lawful, and democratic ways of the pirate ships. The pirates also voted on all decisions and their punishments were fair. Overall it was a much better deal for a sea-loving man to be a pirate (of course, there’s the whole “it’s illegal” part of piracy) then a sailor on a merchant ship where whipping and brutal treatment were commonplace. When they found castaways, they made them either sign a code, joining the crew, or they were kept in the brig until the next port where they were released.

I don’t know. This book is a quick, interesting read, but it isn’t ground-breaking or a new recommendation of mine. If you don’t mind the whole “underdeveloped everything” aspect, go for it.

Content Warnings: Honestly, I can’t remember. I know there is one kissing scene.(less)

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Nov 07, 2011 Stina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Stina by: Carrie Vaughn

Shelves: authors-i-ve-met, finished-in-2011, to-give-to-the-nieces

I didn't think I had time to read this book (and I was probably right), but I picked it up and next thing I knew, I was on page 66. Must be all that Pandora Celtica I've been listening to lately. And I find fencing interesting. (Fun fact: 2/3 of my fiancés were fencers.)

There was much to like in this book, and I'd call it a fun and quick read. I can't help but think, though, that it isn't as dark or edgy as it could be. I know it's a YA book, but the intended audience is clearly a bit more sophi...more

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Jun 05, 2011 Donna rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, fantasy, young-adult, library

When Jill, a modern girl who's a skilled fencer, discovers a piece of an old sword during a Bahamas vacation, she's transported back in time and falls in with a female-led pirate crew.

After how much I adored After the Golden Age, my expectations for this one may have been a little too high. It falls on the more juvenile side of the YA spectrum in terms of both story and structure, which is also not what I was hoping for.

The fighting and sailing are thoroughly described, but were given more focus...more

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Apr 30, 2011 Ea Solinas rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

Swords, pirates, and a teenage girl who finds herself catapulted three centuries back in time. Carrie Vaughn's third standalone novel "Steel" centers around all three of these things, and it turns out to be a solidly enjoyable swashbuckler with a "fighting woman" slant, and a semi-realistic look at the life of a pirate.

Jill is still smarting over losing an important fencing match when her family goes on vacation in the Bahamas. But she does find a personal "treasure" -- a rusty rapier tip burie...more Swords, pirates, and a teenage girl who finds herself catapulted three centuries back in time. Carrie Vaughn's third standalone novel "Steel" centers around all three of these things, and it turns out to be a solidly enjoyable swashbuckler with a "fighting woman" slant, and a semi-realistic look at the life of a pirate.

Jill is still smarting over losing an important fencing match when her family goes on vacation in the Bahamas. But she does find a personal "treasure" -- a rusty rapier tip buried in the sand. That tip somehow transports her back in time, right next to a real-life 18th-century pirate ship -- the Diana, commanded by the stern Captain Marjory Cooper.

And since she has no idea how to get home, Jill has no choice but to join the pirate crew. However, the metal shard that transported her back in time also has some powerful significance for Captain Cooper -- it's part of the magical sword of Captain Blane, a cruel cutthroat who wants to establish a pirate empire in the Bahamas. And Jill's fencing skill might just come in handy in stopping Blane.

When most people think of pirates they think of yo-ho-hoing men with big bristly beards, but Carrie Vaughn has obviously does some research into the FEMALE pirates that existed in real life. And she doesn't hold back from the gross and unglamorous parts of pirate life -- one fun scene has poor Jill scraping barnacles off the bottom of the boat.

The story itself is a pretty simple, straightforward one -- most of it involves the search for Blane, and Jill dealing with the day-to-day life of being a reluctant pirate and trying to find a way home. Vaughn's prose is smooth, strong and full of robust life, and she actually weaves the whole "fencing/sword" theme into the story.

The biggest problem with the book is that for a pirate story, it's rather bloodless. There are some gruesome moments (AMPUTATION!), but the Diana's crew doesn't ever have to really kill people. Even the slave traders are left alive.

But the characters are all solid -- Jill is an endearing 21st-century heroine, who struggles with 18th-century life but thankfully doesn't whine much. She has a semi-romance with one of the pirates and befriends a few others, but the real chemistry here is with the fiery pirate Cooper, who is a strong, independent woman with a terrible past.

Swords, piracy and time-travel form the core of "Steel," a simple but entertaining tale of swashbuckling on the high seas -- for people who appreciate butt-kicking girls.
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Apr 20, 2011 Suelibevg rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 16, 2011 Novel Novice rated it 3 of 5 stars

The comparisons to the Disney franchise are inevitable. Steel by Carrie Vaughn follows 16-year-old Jill as she travels back in time, and finds herself in the midst of a pirate crew sailing the Caribbean. But make no mistake: there are no signs of Captain Jack Sparrow here, and Vaughn lets you know in an author’s note that it’s deliberate.

Her decision to make her pirates a little tamer than some of the more vicious tales is also deliberate. That’s because more than anything else, Vaughn wrote the...more

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Dec 27, 2011 Emily Duncan rated it 4 of 5 stars

I’m a bit sorry to say that I’ve become quite the bit of the pirate book snob. The amusing thing about that statement is that I can’t say I’ve read a huge quantity of pirate books. What I have read, though, are all of the Jackey Faber books which are pretty much supreme in their historic accuracy as well as accuracy in describing all things nautical.
So, I’m trying to approach this book without my pirate bias. Because this was quite a good book. I enjoyed it quite a bit. The story focused and...more I’m a bit sorry to say that I’ve become quite the bit of the pirate book snob. The amusing thing about that statement is that I can’t say I’ve read a huge quantity of pirate books. What I have read, though, are all of the Jackey Faber books which are pretty much supreme in their historic accuracy as well as accuracy in describing all things nautical.
So, I’m trying to approach this book without my pirate bias. Because this was quite a good book. I enjoyed it quite a bit. The story focused and revolved around the fact that Jill, the main character, is an incredibly good fencer. The story begins with Jill at a fencing tournament, and the outcome of the tournament is basically her drive throughout the entire book. Especially when a magicked bit of sword sends her a few hundred years into the past to the golden age of piracy.
The ship that Jill is dragged about is the Diana and her captain is one Marjory Cooper. I felt like the book was hastily narrated. I never really got to know any of the crew aside from the captain and the one crewman, Henry. Everyone else was just another man (or woman, as there were two on the ship) on the crew. Everything was kind of set aside for the sake of the plot moving quickly. With that said, the crewmen that we did see I did like. Cooper seemed a blank at times, a stereotypical pirate queen rather than someone who could potentially be quite fierce. Henry was great, though. He was a great romantic interest character. I did like him a lot.
The story revolves around a magicked broken sword, the pirate captain who owns the sword, and Cooper’s need for revenge. Overall, I liked the plot. I liked the revenge twist, the blood magic (blood magic! Oh, happy day! The magic in this was actually really cool, even though it was never really explained. It was a plot device, but I liked it, nonetheless. Usually piracy and magic aren’t mixed…) the viewpoint of a normal girl trying to get along with a pirate crew. What was greatest about the book, though, was the fencing, the swordplay. Jill was a fencer, so all of the terms were correct and the swordplay scenes were really well done. That was what made the book enjoyable for me, especially. I liked that Jill’s ‘claim as main character’ was her fencing skill and it was used throughout the entire book.
My complaints, though, were with the accuracy. Let’s face it, the author even says that though she attempted to be as accurate as possible, there are scenes that are just not. (Let’s put ALL of the famous pirates in the same tavern at once! Yes!) That kind of bothers me. The portrayal of the pirates wasn’t the most accurate either… It just felt like it was toned down for the sake of the YA genre (which, ok, really, the Bloody Jack series proves that you don’t need to tone down anything when dealing with these subjects). Another thing that I had issue with was how every time the ship was described, it just sounded amateurish. Now, I am not a firm believer of writing what you know, but I do believe that when you are writing a novel with pirates, for it to be successful, it has to come off like you know everything about the ships. There was one point when Jill is describing pieces of the ship (after she’s been there for some time) and in the narration she says something like ‘oh and that piece, I don’t remember what that piece is called.’ I mean, that’s an amateur move. If you don’t know what that piece of sail is actually called, either look it up, or leave it out. I understand that the narration was from Jill’s POV and she was a normal, modern, teenage girl and not a well learned sailor. However, there has to be more confidence in the descriptions of the ship and the use of terms.
Aside from those details, the book was enjoyable. I really liked it, it was better than a lot of the pirate books I’ve come across. Though, in my eyes, the Bloody Jack series still reigns supreme. Jacky Faber is still the pirate queen.
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Apr 06, 2011 Kristy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, i-think-you-should-read-this

Well, shiver me timbers: this was better than I had expected matey.

The Good:
C’mon it’s about pirates!!!!!
Female “hero” who actually fights
The rapier’s story and history
The characters
Feeling connected to our main character and knowing what she was thinking and feeling.
It was fun.
Original.

The bad:
A little bit “pirates of the Caribbean” girl-style for me. And, the fact that in the Author’s Notes in the back she specifically says her pirates are not “movie-pirates”. Disagree.
It wasn’t as exciting...more

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Jan 12, 2011 Lydia Presley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, fiction, young-adult

I think I am going to be kinder in this review then I want to be for two reasons mostly.

I read this book after reading a fantastic novel with pirates, seafaring terms and a cast of brilliant characters.
I really, really loved the cover. It's gorgeous.
In Steel, Carrie Vaughn sets up a story about Jill, a fencing student who just barely falls short of making the mark. The chapter titles are fencing terms, which is interesting in itself and sets the mood for each chapter well.

However, it also means...more

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Jan 24, 2012 Adriana rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, romance

I have never read a pirate book.... you're getting excited already aren't you? Yes, my friends I said a pirate book. And not just any pirate book (I don't think you can ever say that with a book liked this but whatever) a pirate book with time travel.

Jill is a Fencer. Once she started she never looked back but now her resent loss is starting to get to her. Half a second. That's all it took. And she knows she shouldn't be moping especially while she's on vacation in the Caribbean but she can't st...more I have never read a pirate book.... you're getting excited already aren't you? Yes, my friends I said a pirate book. And not just any pirate book (I don't think you can ever say that with a book liked this but whatever) a pirate book with time travel.

Jill is a Fencer. Once she started she never looked back but now her resent loss is starting to get to her. Half a second. That's all it took. And she knows she shouldn't be moping especially while she's on vacation in the Caribbean but she can't stop thinking about it. She finally gives in to her mother's persistence and joins her and the rest of her family on the beach. She takes a walk and seems to walk endlessly to a place that just illuminates peace and quiet. She just wants to leave. She doesn't want the pressure. And then that's when she feels something at her feet. It doesn't feel like a shell... She leans down and picks up a rust covered sword. Not just any sword. A rapier. What her fencing originated out of. It must have been there for hundreds of years! She could give it to a museum... It's only a part of a rapier but she still pockets it and before she knows it she's not on vacation. She is not with her family. There are a bunch of men who surround her. Big, burly men with gold piercings and menacing weapons. She's on a pirate ship. It's the rapier. She knows it. It's the key to getting her out of there but she doesn't know how. Maybe the Captain's connection to it can lead her back home. Meanwhile she befriends another pirate her age that has a sly grin on his face all the time. As well as discover adventure on the high seas and that maybe her life isn't as bad as she thought it was.

Well first of all it's a pirate book so I liked it instantly. I mean when do you get to read about pirates anymore? It completely entrapped me into their world and I loved every minute of it. Jill was a bit annoying sometimes. It was brief little moments. The whole pressure situation and seeing something that gives her a revelation that she could have it worse seemed kind of fake. Well... unnatural the way it was written. I did like her otherwise. She's got guts. I have a hard time believing the captain was so nice and she was a girl. I know there has been girl pirates and I should think this all a good thing but it was still weird to me. I just didn't like how she was presented. It was a very interesting and fun book to read. I would have never thought I'd be reading a book about pirates or time travel. It was something completely new so I liked it for that. I'd like to read one now that had less back story. I just want pure adventure.

http://shesgotbooksonhermind.blogspot...
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Sep 21, 2011 Caroline rated it 3 of 5 stars

While looking at the library listings for pirate books for my daughter, I came across this book. Intrigued, I decided to pick it up (despite being in the middle of reading another book). This is the first Carrie Vaughn book I've read, and, to be honest, while I loved the premise of it and thought it a fun adventure, I wanted it to be something more.

The book was fast-paced and definitely plot driven. I fell in to the Caribbean setting and loved the descriptions, especially the ship and life aboa...more

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Apr 17, 2011 Chinasa Izeogu rated it 3 of 5 stars

Jill, 16, is a talented fencer but loses in the qualifying championships to go to the Olympics. Disappointed with her performance she mopes about the loss during her family vacation in the Caribbean a week later. On a beach excursion she stumbles upon a piece of a rapier, rusted with age. She decides to keep it and takes it with her on a party boat tour of the ocean. Rough weather approaches and she is caught off guard and slips overboard. Unfortunately for her the hands that fish her out are no...more

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Mar 24, 2011 Isamlq rated it 3 of 5 stars

I didn’t think I'd enjoy a story about a girl and pirates, but I did. The story just works. A little bit of magic and a lot of adventure and this outlandish tale of a girl finding herself in place unknown was a fun read. From a romance angle, the story is kept relatively clean… not many passionate embraces here! But that’s OK, because it's a story driven by and steeped in adventure. The hints of magic didn't hurt either. And while I wanted the magical part explored a bit, as it stands I am satis...more

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topics	posts	views	last activity
What's The Name o...: YA Fantasy: Girl finds sword in the sea that transports her to a pirate ship in the past [s]	8	16	Mar 26, 2013 11:06am
2nd book	7	56	Jun 19, 2012 08:33pm

title link	preview: Steel
avg rating	preview: Steel Goodreads rating: 3.37 (3187 ratings)
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