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goingmissing's review
3.0
Solid 3.5 stars. I loved the characters and their relationships, but wasn't too fussed about the actual action. I'm interested in reading the follow-up short stories though, to see where this wonderful, diverse cast of misfits end up.
tansy's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
4.0
Fun, Lovecraft-flavoured, steampunk/gaslamp-fantasy adventure story, although the narrator's Victorian slang takes some getting used to. It's not quite a romance; there's a love triangle of sorts at the heart of the story, but it doesn't get resolved in the way you might expect. I'll definitely be reading the next two books in the series soon.
digthewriter's review
4.0
Audio narration review. It was hard for me to get into this book mainly b/c of the MC's accent and the author's style of writing. It was a lot of back and forth and I gave up on it several times. I originally got it back in August 2017. However, it def. has a lot of A. Hall's humour and I enjoyed 95% of the story.
Naturally, I hated that there's a minor cliffhanger w/ Byron Kaye and I should have expected that there are like 5 more books in this series. Sigh.
lillian_francis's review
5.0
Damn it, this book nearly broke me.
I have to confess I struggled with the first chapter of this book. It was late and I was tired and the combination of both probably wasn't conducive to the style of storytelling involved in this tale.
But today, I got back into it and devoured the last 75% in one sitting.
This is not a romance, a least not in the traditional sense. There no HEA or even HFN for our narrator, young Piccadilly, but we do see the relationship of two of the secondary characters through his eyes, and oh, how this relationship tugged by poor heart in opposite directions. I often find it hard to connect with relationships told by third parties, but with this one I felt every every pleading word and heartless wounding, and I was rooting for Ruban and Milord with a keenness that left me raw and bloody --and bitterly sad during one of the two sex scenes in the story.
As for the rest of the tale it was filled with airships and revenge, and whores and opiates, and kraken and mechanical dead men. Not necessarily in that order. And the strangest mismatch of characters ever brought together on a aethership.
And as for Piccadilly, he is left with the promise of something more.
I have to confess I struggled with the first chapter of this book. It was late and I was tired and the combination of both probably wasn't conducive to the style of storytelling involved in this tale.
But today, I got back into it and devoured the last 75% in one sitting.
This is not a romance, a least not in the traditional sense. There no HEA or even HFN for our narrator, young Piccadilly, but we do see the relationship of two of the secondary characters through his eyes, and oh, how this relationship tugged by poor heart in opposite directions. I often find it hard to connect with relationships told by third parties, but with this one I felt every every pleading word and heartless wounding, and I was rooting for Ruban and Milord with a keenness that left me raw and bloody --and bitterly sad during one of the two sex scenes in the story.
As for the rest of the tale it was filled with airships and revenge, and whores and opiates, and kraken and mechanical dead men. Not necessarily in that order. And the strangest mismatch of characters ever brought together on a aethership.
And as for Piccadilly, he is left with the promise of something more.
dokudanjou's review
5.0
Holy crap! ... I mean, holy crap!! This was amazing!
It took me a little bit to get used to the writing style (I admit to some traumatizing Huckleberry Finn flashbacks), but good lord am I glad that I did! Talk about characters that leave you desperate to find out what happens next. I mean, this forcibly hauled me out of my "wah wah, I don't want to read anything not about Raksura" slump! I thought I was doomed!
Also, I am thrilled to pieces that there is a Byron Kae story after this one. Because one can never, ever have enough Byron Kae. More, more I say!
It took me a little bit to get used to the writing style (I admit to some traumatizing Huckleberry Finn flashbacks), but good lord am I glad that I did! Talk about characters that leave you desperate to find out what happens next. I mean, this forcibly hauled me out of my "wah wah, I don't want to read anything not about Raksura" slump! I thought I was doomed!
Also, I am thrilled to pieces that there is a Byron Kae story after this one. Because one can never, ever have enough Byron Kae. More, more I say!
bridget986's review
1.0
2016 Challenge: 9/50
For a romance novel, I found this book hard to follow. The narrator jumped all over the place and was also writing in an some sort of British vernacular which didn't help my comprehension of what was going on. I had to read this class but I'm just going to bullshit the paper since he doesn't check our knowledge of the books in class
For a romance novel, I found this book hard to follow. The narrator jumped all over the place and was also writing in an some sort of British vernacular which didn't help my comprehension of what was going on. I had to read this class but I'm just going to bullshit the paper since he doesn't check our knowledge of the books in class
mousegoddess's review
5.0
Frabjously fantastical and wondrous. I adored this story. I mean, the plot itself would have won me over, but the WAY it was told is what did it for me. It was told in the first person with the hearkening forward and back that real life storytelling often has. And the voice of the storyteller was consistent. I sometimes read first person narrative and the author will slip, whether dialectically or in tone, and that was NOT a problem here. This was absolutely lovely and...yeah, recommend. Highly recommend. Muchly.
One addendum to my recommendation, if you're someone who can't handle reading anything other than prestige dialects, you might want to steer clear. If you also have trouble reading slang just for dialectical reasons, this story may be a struggle for you. HOWEVER, if you're one of the latter, I saw someone else here did a tiny little lexicon of words. I'm so used to them that it didn't even OCCUR to me that there would be a difficulty, so kudos to that reviewer! I can't remember who it was, but it was on the first page.
One addendum to my recommendation, if you're someone who can't handle reading anything other than prestige dialects, you might want to steer clear. If you also have trouble reading slang just for dialectical reasons, this story may be a struggle for you. HOWEVER, if you're one of the latter, I saw someone else here did a tiny little lexicon of words. I'm so used to them that it didn't even OCCUR to me that there would be a difficulty, so kudos to that reviewer! I can't remember who it was, but it was on the first page.
jce's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
lizshayne's review
4.0
Hall is a delight and I will never get tired of his take on Lovecraftian Horror. (Now with 1000% more queer people!)
I'm so pleased with my decision to never read the originals and only read the contemporary riffs.
I'm so pleased with my decision to never read the originals and only read the contemporary riffs.