I love Steampunk, so was excited to receive this copy for review. Reading the back copy, this seemed like the perfect book for me. The alternate history and the setting attracted me to this. This book had a lot of intriguing elements to it. I loved the concept of a "forensic sorceress". Some of her descriptions were very well done. Emma Bannon was a great strong female character.

But somewhere along the line it just all fell flat to me. I have been noticing that as Steampunk is becoming more popular the quality is beginning to suffer. This seems like a prime example. Authors are seeming so focused on the world building that either the plot or the characters suffer. With this book in particular, I had a real hard time warming up to any of the characters. Even Emma, who was clearly the best developed. I found the world building awkward and confusing at times. I had a real hard time caring about the plot or what was going on. In the end I had zero emotional investment in the book and just kept wanting it to be over.

A few pet peeves: everyone in this book kept getting pale. I understand this as a way for writers to show reactions, but seriously how realistic is that? I personally have rarely seen this in real life and in this book everyone is going pale everytime something mildly shocking happens.

One of the biggest pet peeves for me is when an alternate world is created and they change names just a little bit. London vs Londinium. Victoria vs Victrix. For some reason this really irritates me. It just seems pointless. I know your in London, I get that it is an alternate world. Don't try and invent a different name that sounds kind of the same. I can handle a different reality and it take place in a town called London. It seems insulting and ridiculous to the reader.

I guess I didn't have a lot of nice things to say about this book. It was a big disappointment and I won't be looking into the next installment