madscibrarian 's review for:

Arabella of Mars by David D. Levine

4.0

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When I first heard about this book I knew immediately that I would want to own it. It sounds just like my cup of tea-- a regency era steampunk space traveling adventure with a girl disguising herself as a boy.

I think this novel is very well crafted. There is a lot going on across the entire book, but it is sectioned off nicely by chapters. I was never overwhelmed with the world, the science, the characters, the plot, or any other elements because they're introduced gradually overtime. It was also really refreshing to reach an end point of a chapter and feel satisfied to pause my reading if I wanted to continue later. This also means that the plot itself was laid out well. It had a wonderful flow that causes one event to lead to the next.

I also really enjoy the blend of the sci-fi, fantasy world. It's fantasy because atmosphere exists between Earth and Mars, making it possible to travel between Earth and Mars by airship. The sci-fi, other than the airspaceship and automata technology, comes in at Mars where we find out that Martians do exist and have a well-developed culture and society. Arabella even has a Martian nanny to teach her Martian ways. I definitely would like to learn more about the Martians and possibly any other lifeforms that exist within this universe.

One thing I was not completely sold on by this novel is the romance. I love a good romance as a side-plot of a series, but I do not completely understand where Arabella's

and the Captain's

feelings come from. I was not really anticipating/on the edge of my seat waiting for the characters' to admit their feelings like I usually am. The novel has a lot of other great things going for it and this doesn't take much away, but it is the main reason why I didn't give it a 5 star rating.

I think it's a great start to a series and I will definitely pick up a copy of the next book.