The Girl in the Steel Corset (Steampunk Chronicles, #1) in And So It Begins Reading Challenge

Apr 16, 2012 Paula Phillips rated it really liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. With the year 2011 , it brought with them a new form of literature known as Steampunk and many novels started to turn up published with this theme , one of them in particular was The Girl in the Steel Corset which I have above the English and German Covers. The Girl in the Steel Corset captures the reader's attention from it's outstanding cover of a girl in a red dress with her back to us , it's almost like she is trying to escape from whatever is holding her back. The Girl in the Steel Corset t With the year 2011 , it brought with them a new form of literature known as Steampunk and many novels started to turn up published with this theme , one of them in particular was The Girl in the Steel Corset which I have above the English and German Covers. The Girl in the Steel Corset captures the reader's attention from it's outstanding cover of a girl in a red dress with her back to us , it's almost like she is trying to escape from whatever is holding her back. The Girl in the Steel Corset turns out to be a young girl by the name of Finley Jayne , the year is 1897 and the location is England. Finley , has always felt a bit out of place as she has a side to her that when she is irritated , hurt or angry appears and takes over. This side can be violent and one night whilst working for Lord Felix August-Raynes , he comes to her drunk and tries to rape her . Finley cracks and soon a full-blown fight escalates and then Finley scared runs , whilst running she is nearly hit by Griffin and his friend Sam. Griffin King is one of the richest men in Britain and he and his friends though have a dark secret, they each have special abilities. Griffin has spent his life pursuing and continuing his father's work bringing in a team of specials . He has his right-hand man Sam who is part mechanical and Emily who is a whiz at machinery and other abilities and of course Jasper- an American Cowboy with a dark secret. The team are hunting down a serial killer known as The Machinist and when they discover Finley , she could be the asset to their team. The downside though is that no-one believes in Finley except for Griffin , who we can read is smitten and I'm sure we can sense a start of a romantic engagement between the pair. We discover the true identity of Finley's father and why she is the way she is. Reading the book - I figured Sam to be almost like Frankenstein , Jasper like Dorian Gray and Finley Jayne reminded me of the Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde but in her case Dr. Jekyl and Miss. Hyde. Can the pair teach Finley to get her powers and abilities under control ?
The Girl in the Steel Corset has all the bits and bobs for lovers of Historical , Supernatural, Steampunk, Mystery novels. It also reminded me alot of a younger almost-teen like version of the movie starring Sean Connery "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" mixed with Beth Fantaskey's book "Jekyll Loves Hyde".
Stay Tuned readers as I bring forth to you Books #1.5 and #2 ...more

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Mar 23, 2011 CrystalBookSnob rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2012-favorite-reads, reviewd

4.5 Stars

I really want to love steampunk. I do! But steampunk and I have not had the best track record. I read Clockwork Angel before I even knew there was a genre called steampunk and then realizing how much I loved it I decided to read another steampunk novel. So I picked up The Iron Thorn and it was absolutely horrendous which is why the Girl in the Steel Corset sat on my shelves for so many months. I had to get over my trauma! So I was pretty skeptical coming into this book but I’m so glad I 4.5 Stars

I really want to love steampunk. I do! But steampunk and I have not had the best track record. I read Clockwork Angel before I even knew there was a genre called steampunk and then realizing how much I loved it I decided to read another steampunk novel. So I picked up The Iron Thorn and it was absolutely horrendous which is why the Girl in the Steel Corset sat on my shelves for so many months. I had to get over my trauma! So I was pretty skeptical coming into this book but I’m so glad I finally picked it up!

I really enjoyed the changing of perspective throughout this book because, honestly, Finley was not my favorite character. From Finley, we get most of the book and we get to see how she is feeling and the way that she has dealt with this alter ego or darkness that she has mysteriously had inside herself her whole life. From Griffin, we get the history of his family and coincidently, Finley’s family as well and see the results of the science experiments their fathers worked on together.

Jack is such a great character! He’s wealthy, handsome, dangerous, dark and mysterious which makes him a perfect bad boy type! But bad boy in the 19th century! So of course, there’s somewhat of a love triangle going on between bad boy Jack and good guy Griffin vying for Finley’s affections. But it’s not an annoying love triangle so it’s really a tossup between the two of them for me.

I really loved Emily and Sam! Emily has a knack for working on machines and discovers that she can even communicate with them. Sam, whom she is in love with, is gravely injured before the story starts and she replaces many of his body parts with machine. They’re so cute because they’re constantly dancing around the chemistry that they have and everyone can see it! I really hope we get to see more Emily and Sam in the next book!

The Girl in the Steel Corset is such a rich story! Not only is the main storyline a mystery about an evil man called the Machinist but the reader also gets a good amount of history and the character’s pasts. I have to give The Girl in the Steel Corset 4.5 hearts for making me fall back in love with steampunk.
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