Saturday Snippet Reviews | The Clockwork Dagger & Alienated

There are times when Heather & I finish a book, but don’t have time to write a full, comprehensive review… or even a shorter “flashbulb” review.  BUT we still want to share our thoughts with you on what we’ve been reading. That’s why every Saturday we’ll be featuring 2 “snippet” reviews — short, sweet, to-the-point reviews that we’ll try to keep to 2-7 sentences.  So we hope you enjoy these!!

 

 

Rife with political intrigue, danger, adventure and romance, The Clockwork Dagger proves to be an entertaining tale and one of the most satisfying steampunk novels I’ve picked up in a long while.  The world is fascinating — two countries in the middle of a long-waged conflict, mired in corruption and plagued by a failing infrastructure, ineffectual leadership, disease, poverty and general suffering.  But there is also magic, beauty, technological marvels, honor and bravery, and Cato does a fantastic job of realizing this world and showcasing its interesting complexities.  I particularly love the mix of technology and the supernatural (i.e. Octavia’s belief in the Lady and her abilities) that the author has developed here. It makes for an interesting dichotomy/melding of faith and science.

 

The characters are also quite well-developed and the relationship development pretty well done. I like both Alonzo and Octavia, and I like them together; they make a good team. Mrs. Stout is also quite a treat.

 

In regard to the story, The Clockwork Dagger is rather fast-paced, and it is an interesting puzzle in that a lot of the novel takes places on an airship.  Thus, you have a certain number of suspects with which to work within in a confined area, which of course leads to all kinds of compelling drama.

 

Overall.  The Clockwork Dagger is an enjoyable mystery/adventure, and I’m eager to see where Cato takes Octavia next.

 

I loved this story. At first glance, this looks like a fun, cute, romantic story with an alien exchange student thrown in for good measure. Just to give it a twist, right? Wrong. I was blown away by this little beauty. It has a little bit of everything. Great dialogue, fun characters, adorable romance, political/social issues. This world completely explodes with awesome.

Overall, this story puts a new spin on the old “new kid” at school idea and turns it into something wonderful and new. If you like fun stories, with a some depth and a lot of unique character and development, this one is definitely for you.