I started playing in a Steampunk tabletop game a few months ago, and while I'm somewhat familiar with Steampunk culture I thought reading a bit more about common technologies and society structure couldn't hurt. It was research of a sort, but the most fun kind! And hey, I found the book for 60% off when Borders was going out of business, so even if it wasn't that good it wasn't a big loss.
As the The Girl in the Steel Corset was categorized as a teen novel, I didn't have very high expectations and thought it would be an easy read. But the book pleasantly surprised me in how GOOD it was! The characters of the novel are all teens, and have the required amount of teen angst, but not the excessive Twilight kind. I smiled at the angst rather than rolling my eyes (or wanting to claw them out). The story also found a way to pull in many classics of Victorian science fiction, as well as tidbits of Victorian history, in a very non-cheesy way. The parents of of the main characters made a journey to the center of the earth - but the focus was more on what was found there and how those items could be used, rather than the journey itself. There was the prerequisite inclusion of automatons, but it wasn't excessive. Psychic abilities and ghosts are explained in a simple way, but a logical one.
The story took so many of the things I love about the Steampunk phenomena (strong women, steamcycles, chivalrous romance, and alternative science) as well as some of the things I usually don't like (mechanical limbs, dreadlocked girls, Queen Victoria herself, and gunslingers) and combined them in such a way that I liked everything. In fact, the only drawback to the book is that is the first of a series...and the only one published thus far.
So great job, Kady Cross! PLEASE keep them coming!
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