I don’t know what happened here. How a book about an alternate history steampunk WWI where one side has Clankers, and the other genetically engineered flying beasts that double as airships could be so exceptionally uninteresting and generic, I really don’t know. Also one of the MC’s is the son of the murdered Archduke Franz Ferdinand. And the other is a girl who dresses as a boy! Also, also it was narrated by Alan Cumming! And yet, my mind wandered constantly while listening, and I had to force myself to finish.
Maybe I shouldn’t have done audio on this one. I only found out after I’d nearly gotten halfway through that the original hard copy has illustrations, and as wonderful as audiobooks can be, they haven’t yet managed* the feat of communicating visual art by voice.
*Although there is an amusing bit in Aziz Ansari’s Modern Romance where he tries to describe all his graphs and visual aids, and ends up getting sassy.
Maybe if I would have read this years ago, before I OD’d on YA, or maybe I just wasn’t in the mood. Or maybe the characters were flat and uninteresting, and the story lacked anything that I found to be compelling, like the literary equivalent of tofu. You’ve got to add in flavoring to make that shit taste good. Otherwise it’s just empty calories. This felt like empty calories, and I have way too many books to read to waste my time on them.
Probably won’t be continuing the series, but never say never, I guess.
I definitely read this one last year at some point but remember almost nothing about it. The drawings were pretty neat but it was definitely not a memorable book by any means. I have yet to read any more in the series…
Ha! That doesn’t bode well for me continuing it, either.
This one’s on my library hold list, but maybe I’ll skip it. Great review!
Thanks! I always feel bad though when a review of mine causes someone not to read a book, even though I know that’s a stupid reaction. I mean, like, it’s a REVIEW. It’s fulfilled its purpose . . .
Think of it this way – you’ve gifted me time to read another book that I might actually love. Our tastes are similar enough that I can tell my time will be better spent elsewhere.
I read this probably 4 years ago and quite enjoyed it. But, I had never really read YA up to that point, and found the fluffiness of it a novel experience.
Plus, I read it mainly because I was a fan of the artist, Keith Thompson (http://www.keiththompsonart.com/).
I tried getting my wife to read it, and I’m not sure if she even finished the first book.
But I’m going to hold on to my fond memories of it, even if no one else likes it.
Hey, other people like it! It’s not just you! I fully expected to like it, too. And I think I might have under different circumstances. Oh, well. It’s not like it’s a bad book!
I read the whole trilogy and I’m trying hard to remember if I think the series improves. I know I enjoyed it at the time, though partly because of the whole steampunk element. Apparently, to go off Goodreads, I really enjoyed the first two but was dissapointed by the third.
So you don’t recommend that I continue?
I remember the series fondly, but apparently I was dissapointed by the fact that the series didn’t explore the alt-history world it had created enough. I wanted less character work and more steampunk WWI I guess. Honestly, I think if this one didn’t work out for you I don’t think the rest of the series is going to pick up much.