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ladyknightmeg's review
4.0
Grigory’s Gadget is a YA Steampunk novel about Zoya Orlova and her group of friends who are trying to leave their unpleasant home for a better life in the city of Mirgorod. Their plans are quickly overturned when the ship they book passage on is attacked by pirates and the friends are unwillingly recruited to be part of the crew.
Zoya soon discovers that the pirates are interested in what she believes to be a useless, albeit mysterious family heirloom, and the challenge is on to protect herself, her friends, and the gadget.
No slow starts here: The book was extremely fast-paced and full of action from start to finish with despicable pirates and a ton of surprising characters. I had an easy time picturing the group of friends and the world in which they lived, and honestly could really see this as some sort of animated show. Some of the characters and steampunk technology even reminded me a bit of Treasure Planet.
My favorite character was probably Alexi who is one of the pirates on the ship that shanghai's Zoya and her friends. He was a bit mysterious and bitter when the reader first meets him, but as the story progresses you learn more about him and what makes him tick.
The setting is interesting and provides a good deal of the conflict. It is a dystopian steampunk world that I don’t really think I want to live in! I also like the twists and turns in the plot that related to dystopias versus perceived utopias in the book. The grass isn’t always greener!
One thing that I struggled with was a connection to Zoya, the book’s protagonist. The book is in objective point of view, which is not a point of view that I read very often. Over all Hennessy does well with it, but I felt that I wanted to know more about Zoya and on occasion struggled to feel what she and the other characters were feeling. I wanted to learn more about her and her past and hope that there is more opportunity for that in future books! In addition I felt that a couple of the others in the "main group" of characters were not significant enough to be necessary to the story.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes YA Steampunk, and some fans of YA fantasy. While the book is mostly in the steampunk genre, it did have quite a few elements that I enjoy in YA fantasy - lots of action and adventure across a fantastical world.
Zoya soon discovers that the pirates are interested in what she believes to be a useless, albeit mysterious family heirloom, and the challenge is on to protect herself, her friends, and the gadget.
No slow starts here: The book was extremely fast-paced and full of action from start to finish with despicable pirates and a ton of surprising characters. I had an easy time picturing the group of friends and the world in which they lived, and honestly could really see this as some sort of animated show. Some of the characters and steampunk technology even reminded me a bit of Treasure Planet.
My favorite character was probably Alexi who is one of the pirates on the ship that shanghai's Zoya and her friends. He was a bit mysterious and bitter when the reader first meets him, but as the story progresses you learn more about him and what makes him tick.
The setting is interesting and provides a good deal of the conflict. It is a dystopian steampunk world that I don’t really think I want to live in! I also like the twists and turns in the plot that related to dystopias versus perceived utopias in the book. The grass isn’t always greener!
One thing that I struggled with was a connection to Zoya, the book’s protagonist. The book is in objective point of view, which is not a point of view that I read very often. Over all Hennessy does well with it, but I felt that I wanted to know more about Zoya and on occasion struggled to feel what she and the other characters were feeling. I wanted to learn more about her and her past and hope that there is more opportunity for that in future books! In addition I felt that a couple of the others in the "main group" of characters were not significant enough to be necessary to the story.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes YA Steampunk, and some fans of YA fantasy. While the book is mostly in the steampunk genre, it did have quite a few elements that I enjoy in YA fantasy - lots of action and adventure across a fantastical world.
travlnbard's review
4.0
What fun!!
This is the story of five friends who are moving to a different land when they are set upon by pirates. It is such a joy to read a truly unique story! While steampunk is not a genre that I generally enjoy, this story is much more adventure with a steampunk flavor. The gadgetry while part of the story was not overpowering or distracting.
Pros:
1. Very unpredictable
2. Likable characters
3. Fun story-line
4. Questions are eventually answered
Cons
1. Slow character development
2. The author is intentionally vague (i.e. why are the friends leaving their homeland; who's side characters are on; character's motivations)
I think I would have enjoyed it more if in the beginning we learned more about each character so they became separate individuals in the reader's mind. (I kept getting characters confused early on and more personality would have helped). However this was an excellent first book from this author and I will definitely be reading more from her. I highly recommend Grigory's Gadget.
This is the story of five friends who are moving to a different land when they are set upon by pirates. It is such a joy to read a truly unique story! While steampunk is not a genre that I generally enjoy, this story is much more adventure with a steampunk flavor. The gadgetry while part of the story was not overpowering or distracting.
Pros:
1. Very unpredictable
2. Likable characters
3. Fun story-line
4. Questions are eventually answered
Cons
1. Slow character development
2. The author is intentionally vague (i.e. why are the friends leaving their homeland; who's side characters are on; character's motivations)
I think I would have enjoyed it more if in the beginning we learned more about each character so they became separate individuals in the reader's mind. (I kept getting characters confused early on and more personality would have helped). However this was an excellent first book from this author and I will definitely be reading more from her. I highly recommend Grigory's Gadget.
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