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chelseavbc's review against another edition
5.0
This review was originally published at Vampire Book Club.
Meljean Brook’s Heart of Steel is a straight-up adventure. Daring escapes, explosions, zombies, treasure hunting and one man’s quest to fall in love with the woman with a heart of steel.
While Heart of Steel is set in the same world as The Iron Duke, the tone is different. At times it’s rollicking, others deep, but where the first Iron Seas book brought the heat often, the second offers a slow burn. We met both Captain Corsair and Archimedes Fox in the first book. She the captain of Lady Corsair (Yasmeen), a mercenary airship, and he the hero of adventure novels. At the end of the last book, Archimedes had found himself flung overboard into a zombie-infested Paris. And Yasmeen was sad to see him go.
He wasn’t gone though. Not Archimedes Fox. Months later, he finds his way back to her determined to fall in love with her. Yasmeen’s past won’t let her open her heart, but she’s willing to take him to bed. He declines, sure he can make her long to kiss him. Instead he helps her seek vengeance and she helps him seek treasure. Both looking for purpose and a new place in the world.
Watching these two fall for each other is poetic. It’s never easy or quick. The gradual building of trust and complete acceptance resonates and makes the wait for that kiss very much worth it.
There are some nice twists and Yasmeen is ruthless. Sometimes you just need a hero who knows when to let his lady do the ass kicking. Archimedes gets this, and it’s undeniably sexy. Expect bar brawls, wild use of machetes, assassinations and the like.
Bottom line: Heart of Steel has characters worthy of adoration, a gripping adventure and a romance to cheer for.
Sexual content: Kissing, sex
Meljean Brook’s Heart of Steel is a straight-up adventure. Daring escapes, explosions, zombies, treasure hunting and one man’s quest to fall in love with the woman with a heart of steel.
While Heart of Steel is set in the same world as The Iron Duke, the tone is different. At times it’s rollicking, others deep, but where the first Iron Seas book brought the heat often, the second offers a slow burn. We met both Captain Corsair and Archimedes Fox in the first book. She the captain of Lady Corsair (Yasmeen), a mercenary airship, and he the hero of adventure novels. At the end of the last book, Archimedes had found himself flung overboard into a zombie-infested Paris. And Yasmeen was sad to see him go.
He wasn’t gone though. Not Archimedes Fox. Months later, he finds his way back to her determined to fall in love with her. Yasmeen’s past won’t let her open her heart, but she’s willing to take him to bed. He declines, sure he can make her long to kiss him. Instead he helps her seek vengeance and she helps him seek treasure. Both looking for purpose and a new place in the world.
Watching these two fall for each other is poetic. It’s never easy or quick. The gradual building of trust and complete acceptance resonates and makes the wait for that kiss very much worth it.
There are some nice twists and Yasmeen is ruthless. Sometimes you just need a hero who knows when to let his lady do the ass kicking. Archimedes gets this, and it’s undeniably sexy. Expect bar brawls, wild use of machetes, assassinations and the like.
Bottom line: Heart of Steel has characters worthy of adoration, a gripping adventure and a romance to cheer for.
Sexual content: Kissing, sex
snarkymotherreader's review against another edition
4.0
The last we saw of hero, Archimedes, he was being forcibly placed into zombie-infested territory by the lovely captain on the Lady Corsair, Yasmine. He had dared to challenge her authority, so what better way to punish him than feed him to the wolves – er, undead flocks of flesh-munching humans?
Fast-forward to the fate of captain, my captain. It seems karma wasn’t very happy with Yasmine’s behavior regarding Archimedes, so to even the karmic playing field, unknown invader(s) board Yasmine’s ship in search of a sketch – a sketch she stole from Archimedes – and destroy the ship during their exit.
Yasmine and Archimedes could not have been more different than the protagonists from The Iron Duke, Rhys and Mina. Where Mina had accepted that people would view her differently due to her heritage, Yasmine flaunted her differences. Mina was unsure of herself and her sexuality around Rhys; Yasmine took sex when she wanted it and how she wanted it. Both couples are complex and vexing, one of the reasons I love this series so much.
Heart of Steel caught me in its grasp quicker than did The Iron Duke. The romance was tougher to develop, and the absolute control Archimedes contained when confronted with a fiery vixen bound and determined to get in his pants was both adorable and awe-inspiring. My favorite aspect of the book, though, wasn’t the romance – it was the bits and pieces we were fed about Yasmine’s life prior to becoming a captain. It was intense and emotional and shed a whole-new light on the tough-as-nails pirate. I give Heart of Steel 4 1/2 tombstones for resurrected heroes, lusty pirates, and the voyage to find true love.
Fast-forward to the fate of captain, my captain. It seems karma wasn’t very happy with Yasmine’s behavior regarding Archimedes, so to even the karmic playing field, unknown invader(s) board Yasmine’s ship in search of a sketch – a sketch she stole from Archimedes – and destroy the ship during their exit.
Yasmine and Archimedes could not have been more different than the protagonists from The Iron Duke, Rhys and Mina. Where Mina had accepted that people would view her differently due to her heritage, Yasmine flaunted her differences. Mina was unsure of herself and her sexuality around Rhys; Yasmine took sex when she wanted it and how she wanted it. Both couples are complex and vexing, one of the reasons I love this series so much.
Heart of Steel caught me in its grasp quicker than did The Iron Duke. The romance was tougher to develop, and the absolute control Archimedes contained when confronted with a fiery vixen bound and determined to get in his pants was both adorable and awe-inspiring. My favorite aspect of the book, though, wasn’t the romance – it was the bits and pieces we were fed about Yasmine’s life prior to becoming a captain. It was intense and emotional and shed a whole-new light on the tough-as-nails pirate. I give Heart of Steel 4 1/2 tombstones for resurrected heroes, lusty pirates, and the voyage to find true love.
elliefufu's review against another edition
3.0
Heart of Steel, The Iron Seas #2, by Meljean Brook
Grade: C
“Perhaps drugging the woman he intended to fall in love with wasn’t the accepted method of kindling a passionate romance, yet Archimedes considered it the most sensible way to proceed.”
Archimedes Fox is a man with nine lives and a basket full of luck. Months earlier Yasmeen, captain of the Lady Corsair airship, threw Archimedes off her ship and into the zombie infested waters of Venice never expecting to see the man again. But zombies are no match for Archimedes and he is on a mission to get back a very rare and valuable sketch da Vinci and to win over Yasmeen and finally fall in love. Even with all the luck in the world Archimedes and Yasmeen still have a very long and up hill battle to get the sketch back and get revenge for Yasmeen and her crew that were murdered. Together they must travel Europe and fight zombie, horde rebels and try to get back all that they have lost while still saving themselves.
Heart of Steel is the second book of Meljean Brook’s Iron Seas series and sadly not as good as the first book The Iron Duke. The Iron Duke was my first experience with reading steampunk novels and from the first couple of pages I fell in love. I found Heart of Steel to be a complete one eighty from the Iron Duke and not in a positive way. The book started very, very slow and if I hadn’t have loved the first book so much I would have stopped reading after the first fifty pages. I honestly can’t say if I didn’t enjoy this book that much because I loved Iron Duke so much or if it really wasn’t very good.
I loved Archimedes and Yasmeen in the Iron Duke and was so excited to read their story and adventure. As I mentioned before this was a highly anticipated read and review for me but it started out so slow and actually kind of boring. It does get good, very good actually but it takes almost a hundred pages for this to happen. Archimedes is hands down the best character in the book and helps keep things fun and interesting. Without him I would not have been able to finish this book and wouldn’t have made it past page five.
This series made me a huge fan of steampunk but I felt that the steampunk aspects like the bugs, horde and zombies take way too long to appear. The whole adventure part of the book takes way to long to come about and that’s what makes this such a difficult and frustrating book. Archimedes is an treasure hunter and Yasmeen is a bad ass captain and for some reason it takes forever for them to find a good fight and get into some trouble with zombies. When they finally do it’s amazing and I couldn’t put the book down but it just took forever to get to this point.
You do not need to read the Iron Duke before reading Heart of Steel but it would certainly help and I would suggest doing so. I did like this book but I didn’t love it like I wanted to and found myself very disappointed because of it. I think that this series is going to be amazing and I really hope that there are going to more books because I think Mrs. Brook has created one of the most imaginative worlds I have ever read and I want to explore every single part of it.
Grade: C
“Perhaps drugging the woman he intended to fall in love with wasn’t the accepted method of kindling a passionate romance, yet Archimedes considered it the most sensible way to proceed.”
Archimedes Fox is a man with nine lives and a basket full of luck. Months earlier Yasmeen, captain of the Lady Corsair airship, threw Archimedes off her ship and into the zombie infested waters of Venice never expecting to see the man again. But zombies are no match for Archimedes and he is on a mission to get back a very rare and valuable sketch da Vinci and to win over Yasmeen and finally fall in love. Even with all the luck in the world Archimedes and Yasmeen still have a very long and up hill battle to get the sketch back and get revenge for Yasmeen and her crew that were murdered. Together they must travel Europe and fight zombie, horde rebels and try to get back all that they have lost while still saving themselves.
Heart of Steel is the second book of Meljean Brook’s Iron Seas series and sadly not as good as the first book The Iron Duke. The Iron Duke was my first experience with reading steampunk novels and from the first couple of pages I fell in love. I found Heart of Steel to be a complete one eighty from the Iron Duke and not in a positive way. The book started very, very slow and if I hadn’t have loved the first book so much I would have stopped reading after the first fifty pages. I honestly can’t say if I didn’t enjoy this book that much because I loved Iron Duke so much or if it really wasn’t very good.
I loved Archimedes and Yasmeen in the Iron Duke and was so excited to read their story and adventure. As I mentioned before this was a highly anticipated read and review for me but it started out so slow and actually kind of boring. It does get good, very good actually but it takes almost a hundred pages for this to happen. Archimedes is hands down the best character in the book and helps keep things fun and interesting. Without him I would not have been able to finish this book and wouldn’t have made it past page five.
This series made me a huge fan of steampunk but I felt that the steampunk aspects like the bugs, horde and zombies take way too long to appear. The whole adventure part of the book takes way to long to come about and that’s what makes this such a difficult and frustrating book. Archimedes is an treasure hunter and Yasmeen is a bad ass captain and for some reason it takes forever for them to find a good fight and get into some trouble with zombies. When they finally do it’s amazing and I couldn’t put the book down but it just took forever to get to this point.
You do not need to read the Iron Duke before reading Heart of Steel but it would certainly help and I would suggest doing so. I did like this book but I didn’t love it like I wanted to and found myself very disappointed because of it. I think that this series is going to be amazing and I really hope that there are going to more books because I think Mrs. Brook has created one of the most imaginative worlds I have ever read and I want to explore every single part of it.
emreadswhatshewants's review against another edition
5.0
UGH MELJEAN BROOK YOU RUIN ME. Why did I wait so long to read this?? I LOVED EVERYYTHINGG about it. Instant fave for me
ginnikin's review against another edition
Fun! Much better dynamic than between Mina and Rhys.
spiringvenus's review against another edition
3.0
I like Yasmeen. I like Fox. For some reason I kind of like them as a couple.
librovert's review against another edition
4.0
I loved the alternate history world that Meljean Brook created in [b:The Iron Duke|7864587|The Iron Duke (Iron Seas, #1)|Meljean Brook|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1400110737s/7864587.jpg|11022865], so I was excited to finally get back into this series.
In The Iron Duke, Yasmeen threw Archimedes Fox off of her airship after he tried to take it from her, so I was really curious about how their relationship was going to get from that to the kind of relationship that always happens with the two characters named on the back of a romance novel. I was not disappointed.
Neither Yasmeen nor Archimedes are typical romance characters, but they totally fit here and I love how their characters play off each other.
In The Iron Duke, Yasmeen threw Archimedes Fox off of her airship after he tried to take it from her, so I was really curious about how their relationship was going to get from that to the kind of relationship that always happens with the two characters named on the back of a romance novel. I was not disappointed.
Neither Yasmeen nor Archimedes are typical romance characters, but they totally fit here and I love how their characters play off each other.
andimontgomery's review against another edition
3.0
I really loved The Iron Duke - it was one of my favorite books of 2010. But this one, well, just didn't grab my interest.
anzuk's review against another edition
4.0
“And what will you do if I fall in love with you, instead?”
He grinned. “Then God help us both.”
First impressions
Aaand of course Germany gets the cool cover. Again. Just look at it.
And compare it to this slimy thing we have. I wouldn’t like to be seen in public while reading this book. People would think I was reading an Erotica book. Yes, Erotica because most people wouldn’t know what an actual Erotica cover looks like. They are still optimistic and think it looks like the Germany cover and not this [protect your eyes, kiddies, this is gonna sting]:
Spoiler
Try reading this in public. Paperback, not eBook.
Anyhow, I was expecting Heart of Steel to be exactly like [b:The Iron Duke|7864587|The Iron Duke (Iron Seas, #1)|Meljean Brook|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312522759s/7864587.jpg|11022865]. Typical romance blah-blah-blah and they lived happily ever after. The end.
The plot
Yasmeen, mercenary captain extraordinaire, has no regrets after pushing treasure hunter Archimedes Fox to a ravenous pack of zombies after his failed attempt to take control of her ship, the Lady Corsair. She also got her hands on an extremely valuable item Archimedes had found before his tragic death, a sketch of a flying machine drawn by the great inventor Leonardo da Vinci. Lady Luck seems to be on Yasmeen’s side.
The truth is that Archimedes is not dead, but very much alive. He is on a mission to recover his sketch and the perfect retribution seems to be conquering Yasmeen’s heart. Little does he know that Yasmeen is not your typical damsel in distress and winning her heart of steel won’t be an easy task.
My thoughts
Take your average alpha male character. His personality to be exact. Then change his body from male to female. The result would be Yasmeen.
“If you even suggest to my crew that you’ve threatened your way aboard my lady, I’ll rip out your spine.”
He could see she meant it. God. “That’s unbearably arousing.”
Yep, they’re a match made in heaven. She is manlier than him and he is into S/M. It's nice to see this in a story though. I’m so sick of damsels in distress and uber-alpha males and over-oiled bare chests on book covers.
Oh wait; there is an overly-oiled bare chest on the cover. But don’t let it trick you. I was actually surprised by how deep the story is. It’s full of details, scientific terms and great ideas. It feels like Meljean Brook read my review of the previous Iron Seas book, [b:The Iron Duke|7864587|The Iron Duke (Iron Seas, #1)|Meljean Brook|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312522759s/7864587.jpg|11022865], and followed some of my suggestions.
Another surprise was the lack of sex.
Chill, of course they have sex. I was thinking that they’d go for it since twenty percent. And before that we’d get too many pages of lustful thoughts and mindless flirting. Wrong. I was in seventy six percent when something happened. Seventy. Six. Percent.
Amazing! And it wasn’t boring. Far from it. The romance built up naturally and by the end their feelings felt genuine. That’s a rare thing to find in romance novels.
A short conclusion
Heart of Steel was a wonderful surprise. I started it in order to clear out my sequels shelf and ended up reading a very good book. It came exactly when I was starting to lose faith in Romance novels. If you are in the mood for a great adventure full of action, strong characters, witty dialogues and don’t mind waiting a while before the romance picks up then Heart of Steel if the book for you.
Favorite quote
And he had more fears now to replace it: fear for her life, fear that when this expedition was over and her vengeance satisfied, he’d never see her again. And though he knew her heart was steel, though he looked forward to the longing of an unrequited love, he also knew the fear that she’d never feel the same in return.
Review also posted on
dreamerfreak's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Violence, Drug use, and Gun violence