Gifted with incredible powers, the young healer is about to embark on her first mission, visiting suffering cities in the far reaches of the war-scarred realm.
by Beth Cato —
This fast-moving novel is full of magic, mystery and romance and is an enchanting steampunk fantasy debut.
As a genre that dates back to the early 1800s, steampunk is somewhat paradoxical.
It is a blend of the old and the new, the purely scientific and the magical. In the story, Octavia Leander, orphaned as a child, was doomed to grow up on the streets until Miss Percival saved her and taught her to become a medician.
Gifted with incredible powers, the young healer is about to embark on her first mission, visiting suffering cities in the far reaches of the war-scarred realm.
But the airship she is traveling on is plagued by a series of strange and disturbing occurrences, including murder, and Leander herself is threatened. Suddenly, she is caught up in a flurry of intrigue:
The dashingly attractive steward who is trying to help her may be one of the infamous Clockwork Daggers — the Queen’s spies and assassins — and her cabin-mate harbors disturbing secrets of vast proportions.
But the danger is only beginning, for Leander discovers that the deadly conspiracy aboard the airship may reach all the way to the crown itself.
$14.99 — Harper Voyager, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007.
Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 33, Number 5, October/November 2014.
September 26, 2014
Book review, October/November 2014 Issue