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billiegoat's review
4.0
I loved it so much I had troubles putting it down. Loved the new characters and thrilling happenings that had me on edge and in shock. I laughed out loud and cheered for my favorite travelers, Cedar, Wil, Rose May, Captian Hink and his crew and the Madder brothers. Can't wait to start the next book.
cmbohn's review
4.0
A very exciting and dramatic conclusion. Those witches! Loved Rose's romance though. Can't wait for the final book.
suzrae73's review
4.0
what a great adventure!!!! Sorry I waited so long to read this one after Dead Iron, but was good to see Cedar and Rose and Mae again..... Can't wait for the next one and won't wait near as long to read it.... :)
mmelibertine's review
3.0
I enjoyed this book. I did. It has more of the beautiful world building I love, and somewhat more of the characters I've become so invested in. But there's less of the adventure I've enjoyed and far more of the romance I anticipated but wasn't especially looking forward to. There's a noticeable and jarring amount of repetition particularly where the romance is concerned. (If I never again have to read about someone ~feeling something they never thought they'd feel again~ it'll be too soon.) Monk's writing shines better elsewhere: in the Strange, in combat, in the details of the steampunk world and the airships themselves. I hope the third book is a return to that form.
veronica87's review
4.0
Tin Swift picks up a few weeks after the end of the first book. It continues the adventures of Cedar and Company as they trek east, each with their own purposes for doing so. Like book one, Tin Swift continues to tell the story from the third person POV of Cedar, Mae, and Rose however there are some new characters this time around and two of them also get added into the POV mix. The result, sadly (at least for me), is a decrease in the POV chapters from Mae and Rose. One thing that I enjoy about this series is its strong women and I hate to lose any time with them. We do get some exciting airship battles so I can't complain too much. There is some romance but it's not a huge part of the story which worked out fine for me as this is primarily an adventure tale.
velocitygirl14's review
2.0
The premise was pretty good and it whiled away an afternoon. I was annoyed at the lame happy ending for a character that should have died to make more of an impact, but was given a happy ending instead. Shoddy plotting there. The names were utterly ridiculous and didn't fit in with the pseudo wild west steampunk setting.
Almost no Frist Nations or Hispanic characters were mentioned. If they were, they were clearly stuck in the "others" box. Main chracter was a cypher and the secondary male lead was more interesting and I'd rather read more about him than Cedar Hunt. I wasn't impressed and it was a bit bloodless. Better than other steampunk books, but certainly not the best.
Almost no Frist Nations or Hispanic characters were mentioned. If they were, they were clearly stuck in the "others" box. Main chracter was a cypher and the secondary male lead was more interesting and I'd rather read more about him than Cedar Hunt. I wasn't impressed and it was a bit bloodless. Better than other steampunk books, but certainly not the best.
suzjustsuz's review
4.0
4.5 stars. I liked this one even better than the first. Lots of action, we got to know the characters even more and there was certainly character development, and two budding romances as distant secondary story lines. If I had a negative it would be that I'd like a bit more action on the romance front but the story didn't suffer for the slow pace and lack of detail in that regard.
Airships abound in this book and it's great! I love the steampunk elements and lore in this series and how Monk has combined the steam with the magic. I love the way she's woven the magic and supernatural through the lore, even the way the good guys have and use magic is gritty - down and dirty.
I loved the dialog in this book. Not only did it afford some wonderful character development but I found myself laughing out loud on more than a few occasions. Monk uses the dialog to help set the world building, the tone of the story, and the period, in an entirely engrossing and believable way that had me giving accents to each character in my head.
Although I have other new releases waiting for me I'm going to jump right into book 3, which is the only other one currently out in this series, because it's just that good.
Airships abound in this book and it's great! I love the steampunk elements and lore in this series and how Monk has combined the steam with the magic. I love the way she's woven the magic and supernatural through the lore, even the way the good guys have and use magic is gritty - down and dirty.
I loved the dialog in this book. Not only did it afford some wonderful character development but I found myself laughing out loud on more than a few occasions. Monk uses the dialog to help set the world building, the tone of the story, and the period, in an entirely engrossing and believable way that had me giving accents to each character in my head.
Although I have other new releases waiting for me I'm going to jump right into book 3, which is the only other one currently out in this series, because it's just that good.
audreyintheheadphones's review
4.0
So perilously, perilously close to being a five-star book. So close.
Let's start with how this book opens in the super-fun part of Happily Ever After, namely the bit that comes after that, when everything's gone to hell. I LOVE THIS. AUTHORS: DO MORE OF THIS.
No wait, let's start with how this book was everything I really wanted Bioshock: Infinite to be that it wasn't. I really felt some strong parallels between Booker DeWitt and Cedar Hunt, and Alabaster Saint and Zachary Comstock, and the whole corrupt-general-looking-for-post-Civil-War-revenge portion of the game.
And the airships! The airships are wonderful. They are probably my favorite airships ever, due in no small part to the sheer technical excellence of Monk's writing ("The ship's frame screeched under the strain of the dive, her tin bones singing out like a hundred wet fingers over fine crystal"), and how lyrically and extensively they are described. Let us pause here now for the wanton Thank You For Awesome Worldbuilding Dance.
*shimmies*
And just like in the first book, randomly lovely details appear unexpectedly but consistently, now with the added bonus of Captain Hink, who is hilarious. There is also a scene I am not going to spoil for you, but will simply say that it seemed an entirely accurate portrayal of what happens when a hero tries to get his swerve on while the rest of his airship crew is trying to sleep in the same room.
The disconnect between the steampunk Western and the dark fairy stories I felt in the first book don't appear in this one, mainly because the steampunk Western section has clobbered the fairy story into submission. The fairies kind of do their dark and evil thing around the edges of this great big glorious steampunk Western with AIRSHIPS, which I don't think I mentioned that I loved more than a day off, because I am very picky about my AIRSHIPS and having thought it over these are definitely my favorite AIRSHIPS ever.
I did kind of wish that the Madder brothers had had a larger role in the story, and I did object to a major impetus of the story being a thing that happened to one of the characters that I am only going to say HOY, ICEBOX (aka Booker, Catch!) at, which is why we are not seeing our elusive special friend Mr Fifth Star here. But seriously, there is so much *zzzzzip bang! whoosh!* here, and so much action and adventure (AIRSHIPS!) and so many beautiful things that I am hard-pressed to complain.
*recommences worldbuilding dance*
Let's start with how this book opens in the super-fun part of Happily Ever After, namely the bit that comes after that, when everything's gone to hell. I LOVE THIS. AUTHORS: DO MORE OF THIS.
No wait, let's start with how this book was everything I really wanted Bioshock: Infinite to be that it wasn't. I really felt some strong parallels between Booker DeWitt and Cedar Hunt, and Alabaster Saint and Zachary Comstock, and the whole corrupt-general-looking-for-post-Civil-War-revenge portion of the game.
And the airships! The airships are wonderful. They are probably my favorite airships ever, due in no small part to the sheer technical excellence of Monk's writing ("The ship's frame screeched under the strain of the dive, her tin bones singing out like a hundred wet fingers over fine crystal"), and how lyrically and extensively they are described. Let us pause here now for the wanton Thank You For Awesome Worldbuilding Dance.
*shimmies*
And just like in the first book, randomly lovely details appear unexpectedly but consistently, now with the added bonus of Captain Hink, who is hilarious. There is also a scene I am not going to spoil for you, but will simply say that it seemed an entirely accurate portrayal of what happens when a hero tries to get his swerve on while the rest of his airship crew is trying to sleep in the same room.
The disconnect between the steampunk Western and the dark fairy stories I felt in the first book don't appear in this one, mainly because the steampunk Western section has clobbered the fairy story into submission. The fairies kind of do their dark and evil thing around the edges of this great big glorious steampunk Western with AIRSHIPS, which I don't think I mentioned that I loved more than a day off, because I am very picky about my AIRSHIPS and having thought it over these are definitely my favorite AIRSHIPS ever.
I did kind of wish that the Madder brothers had had a larger role in the story, and I did object to a major impetus of the story being a thing that happened to one of the characters that I am only going to say HOY, ICEBOX (aka Booker, Catch!) at, which is why we are not seeing our elusive special friend Mr Fifth Star here. But seriously, there is so much *zzzzzip bang! whoosh!* here, and so much action and adventure (AIRSHIPS!) and so many beautiful things that I am hard-pressed to complain.
*recommences worldbuilding dance*
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