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A review by kblincoln
Roar of Sky by Beth Cato
5.0
The thing about Cato's Blood of Earth series (this is the third/finale) is that she manages to take really important ethical questions about race and the use of power in wartime, and turn it into an adventurous, romantic tale with flying airships and seven-tailed foxes.
The first book in this series like catnip for me: alternate WWII history, a lovely, sweet romance, cross-dressing, mixed raced heroine, Japanese myths, and California/Oregon location.
While the locations of Hawaii and desert California aren't catnip for me, there is a time in the book where Ingrid yearns for the cool, misty green of the California Central Coast, and it tugged at my memories of doing my MA in Monterey. And she also manages to make finding bread, jamu-pan, and other baked delicacies into an integral part of the story--which I just love.
And on top of all that, Roar of Sky features Ingrid and Cy doing two remarkable things you don't often find in either Urban Fantasy or Steampunk: adventuring with a disability in a realistic way that impacts the adventure and maintaining a sweet romance wherein the Beta Male does NOT try to rein in the more powerful woman by trying to protect (cage) her or extract promises of being careful or not going on missions.
Ingrid's legs are messed up because of actions she took in the second book. She has leg pains and spasms, she can't really climb ladders, and this fact is not glossed over or forgotten during the action. She even has rash and soreness from the braces Cy constructs for her.
Ingrid and Cy fly around, connect up with lost loved ones, confront Theodore Roosevelt's agenda, and confront the terrible and powerful Ambassador Blum. There is a satisfying ending that ties up loose threads. I sometimes don't make it to the third book in a trilogy if the second one is too slow. But this one would be a sad one to miss.
The first book in this series like catnip for me: alternate WWII history, a lovely, sweet romance, cross-dressing, mixed raced heroine, Japanese myths, and California/Oregon location.
While the locations of Hawaii and desert California aren't catnip for me, there is a time in the book where Ingrid yearns for the cool, misty green of the California Central Coast, and it tugged at my memories of doing my MA in Monterey. And she also manages to make finding bread, jamu-pan, and other baked delicacies into an integral part of the story--which I just love.
And on top of all that, Roar of Sky features Ingrid and Cy doing two remarkable things you don't often find in either Urban Fantasy or Steampunk: adventuring with a disability in a realistic way that impacts the adventure and maintaining a sweet romance wherein the Beta Male does NOT try to rein in the more powerful woman by trying to protect (cage) her or extract promises of being careful or not going on missions.
Ingrid's legs are messed up because of actions she took in the second book. She has leg pains and spasms, she can't really climb ladders, and this fact is not glossed over or forgotten during the action. She even has rash and soreness from the braces Cy constructs for her.
Ingrid and Cy fly around, connect up with lost loved ones, confront Theodore Roosevelt's agenda, and confront the terrible and powerful Ambassador Blum. There is a satisfying ending that ties up loose threads. I sometimes don't make it to the third book in a trilogy if the second one is too slow. But this one would be a sad one to miss.