Review: The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross

The Girl in the Steel Corset
(Steampunk Chronicles #1)

Author: Kady Cross

Publication Date: May 24th, 2011

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Genre: Steampunk / Paranormal

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Synopsis:

In 1897 England, 16-year-old Finley Jayne is convinced she's a freak. No normal Victorian girl has a darker side that makes her capable of knocking out a full-grown man with one punch. Only Griffin King sees the magical darkness inside her that says she's special . . . that she's one of "them."

My Thoughts: I had a lot of fun reading this book. I haven't really read much steampunk, but I'm going to have to say it's something that I'm so far really enjoying. The story is told in a third person point of view and mostly tends to revolve around the actions of Finley Jayne, Griffin King and Samuel Morgan. Basically, there is a bad person out there who is preforming random crimes. Griffin is convinced they are related and are being preformed by someone refered to as The Machinist. Griffin's team (which consists of Finley, Sam, Emily and Jasper) sets out to discover The Machinist's plot and save the country. This story takes place in a Victorian London setting (of course!) and was a quick, fun read. It was full of mystery, romance and some great paranormal aspects.

I really enjoyed the characters in this novel. Finley would have to be my favorite and is a kick butt girl, with two personalities. Literally! She is fighting to keep control of her dark side constantly. But Griffin is trying to her learn to control that side better. Griffin has some pretty mysterious powers of his own, and is a duke to boot. He can basically get away with most things. One of my other favorite characters was Emily. She is absolutely brilliant! She has an understanding of machines and I might be a little biased in liking her because she is a red head and Irish! Sam is a bit of a grumpy character. He despises Finley and is repeatedly trying to get Griffin to give her the boot. He's a bit stubborn and is basically indestructible (for the most part). Jasper is an American cowboy, he's a pretty sharp shooter and is great guy, very honourable. One character I haven't mentioned yet is Jack Dandy. He is pretty much a crime lord in London, but can be pretty helpful in his own ways. Still a great character.

So with lots of characters there has to be some romance right? Of course! We actually are treated to TWO love triangles in this book. No, they aren't over bearing and in your face, screaming at you to acknowledge them. They are actually worked into the story very well.  The main one isn't even a love triangle at first. It's between Finley, Griffin and Jack. But it seems Finley's good side is attracted to Griffin and her darkside is attracted to Jack. So technically there are four people in the love triangle at first because Finley's two personalities are very different people. So who knows who she will pick after the personalities are joined as one. Thus Love Triangle #1 is created. The second love triangle is between Emily, Sam and Jasper. Sam has always been there for Emily, but he's a bit cranky. So insert the polite and flirty Jasper and who knows who Emily will choose. She has feelings for both guys, but it's definitely going to be a hard descision for her.

Overall this is a great read and I really, really liked it. I would recommend it to readers who like steampunk with a mix of paranormal and mystery. I would probably compare this to the Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare. So if you liked that, you will probably enjoy this as well. If' you've never read steampunk and are looking for a book to venture into the genre, this would be a great place to start!