I mentioned in my review of the first instalment of this series that I felt I hadn't quite finished with Alexia and her companions and felt compelled to continue on with the series. This isn't unusual - I often, if not always, back-to-back books in a series out of impatience to know the ending. That's also in no small part owing to the fact that I tend to jump in feet first and buy all of a series at the outset and have no self control...Occasionally, that habit leads to me being disappointed by the later novels simply because I've treated it as one long novel and I become frustrated if the style changes or the characters shift unrealistically or something - I definitely wasn't disappointed with this one!

There isn't a great deal to add, as it happens, to this review that I didn't say in the first - the characters are still utterly irresistible and the new ones (particularly Madame Lefoux!) fit right in and don't upset the dynamics anymore than the story dictates. There's a bit more of that beautifully naive and enthused Victorian science - ah to be excited about being able to communicate with people at a distance again without having to employ pigeons...

The eagle-eyed among you will note that I gave the second book half a star less than the first. This was simply because I felt that the mystery side of this one was slightly weaker - its still there and the story is still intriguing, it still has great pace and still flows fantastically but there's something less...original about it. I don't mean that as harshly as it sounds because, don't get me wrong, this book is still excellent! In fact, what are you doing reading this?! Go read Soulless!

Overall: This is another amazing steampunk novel that is every bit as fantastic as Soulless. If you like the first, you'll love this one! I would, without a shadow of a doubt, recommend these books to anybody even remotely into paranormal fiction looking for something new (and a little bit different) to love :)