A Conspiracy of Alchemists

A Conspiracy of Alchemists by Liesel Schwarz
3/5 stars
Del Rey, 2013
324 pages
Adult Steampunk

Source: Received an e-ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

When I read the summary for this book, something about it made me think of Gail Carriger's Soulless books, the first one of which I enjoyed (haven't had a chance to try the others). But when I picked this one up to read, it just wasn't clicking for me. I had to make myself concentrate and give it a fair shake in order to be able to see its merits.

I will get to why I didn't love this in a second but first I really want to applaud the steampunk elements. I thought every bit was pretty fantastic. This was no halfhearted attempt to cash in on the steampunk frenzy; this was a carefully planned and written incorporation of some of the most interesting parts and it pays off. As I've been discovering, I really love the idea of steampunk and it's great to read it being done well.

On the less positive side, I just had trouble clicking with Ellie Chance, our main character here. She is very special and talented, which is only just starting to be unraveled in this first book. But she's also incredibly stubborn, including shutting out people who have information, no matter how vitally important it might be. There are several places when she ducks out of learning something that might have helped her to know. The other main character is Mr. Marsh and I really liked him. He's a Warlock and although his character is somewhat mysterious, I enjoyed the time we got to spending learning about him.

There are a few other characters but the story mainly rests on the two already mentioned, which surprised me. I expected a much larger cast to populate this bustling world and it made me try all the harder but ultimately unsuccessfully to fall for Ellie. Future books have a lot of room to play with and I hope that those who liked this first book will continue but I will not be.

Cover: Not that much of the book takes place in Paris although that is the opening scene. Actually a lot of the story takes place while traveling so a train or dirigible might have been more fitting.

Dearly, Beloved

Dearly, Beloved by Lia Habel
3/5 stars
Del Rey, 2012
482 pages
YA Zombie

Source: Received an ARC through Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review.

Well, I have a lot of feelings about this book so I'll try not to ramble. My immediate thought is that your opinion of this book will probably hinge on your feelings about Nora and Bram, who I liked and tolerated respectively in the first book Dearly, Departed. Although there are also four other POVs (for a total of six, an increase of one from last time), the bulk of the story rests on them. And quite frankly I did not like them very much this time around.

I actually preferred the other narrators: Nora's best friend (and my favorite character in Dearly, Departed) Pamela, suffering from PTSD and consequently not as kick-ass as before; Laura, a new character who uses her decaying zombie body to grow plants and whose naivety helped set her narrative apart; Vespertine, a rival of Nora, whose past is sort of revealed and yet there were some confusing moments where she seemed to be at war against herself; and Michael Allister, would-be suitor to Nora, fervently anti-zombie, and kind of deranged. And yet I much preferred him to Bram, because in all honesty, I am icked out by the idea of a human/zombie romance. That this reanimated body is moving around while also still decaying in on itself and moving closer to the permanent death it should already be in-it's hard for me to wrap my mind around. I also found Bram and Nora a bit sickening together as established couples sometimes are with Nora abandoning Pam in her moment of need and basically having indistinguishable narratives. The main way I could tell their chapters apart was who "I" was gushing over and if Bram thought about being a zombie.

Another minus was the interminable length-it seemed like it took FOREVER for something to happen. A plus though is that I expected certain plots to go one way but then they went a different way, so at least there were some surprises in store for me. I just wished this novel had been a bit more condensed. I don't think everything needed to be included.

Overall: A letdown after the enchanting freshness of Dearly, Departed; I'm left hesitant to pick up the third part next year.

Cover: I really preferred the pink of the first book. This has the same model, I believe, but I don't like the colors as they don't stand out the same way to me.

 

Dearly, Departed

Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel
Del Rey, 2011
471 pages
YA; Steampunk; Zombies
4/5 stars

Source: Received an ARC through Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review.

I was captured by the striking cover of this book so I requested it from Amazon Vine. Then I realized it was a zombie book so I opened it hesitantly as I haven't liked the few zombie books I've tried. However this one blew me away! It's a unique mashup of steampunk elements, zombie convergences, mystery, romance, and amazing world building.

Setting: New Victoria in 2195, living in a society that has reverted back to their idea of gentility and culture as epitomized by Victorian society in order to deal with the rebuilding of society after mass chaos and death. While the surface seems mostly calm, there's a secret roiling beneath the surface that the government is trying hard to repress. That secret is the existence of zombies, humans brought back to life for a limited period of time even as their bodies continue to decay. I'm not sure the steampunk elements were fully utilized but the world that was described fully captured my attention.

Characters: This novel is told in five alternating perspectives, which was a little much for me; not sure if they were all necessary. I'm not going to share two of them because it might spoil you but I will describe three of them. First is Nora Dearly, who I felt was the main character. She is newly orphaned and ends up kidnapped by a squad of zombies. Among those zombies is Bram, about two years undead but still in possession of most of his dignity and brain. Their star-crossed love forms a subplot. While I loved them becoming friends and hanging out, I can't really support a relationship between someone living and someone dead (this is why I don't support vampire romances either).  This is especially heartbreaking because zombies only reanimate for a couple of years so the clock is ticking on them.

A third character is Nora's best friend Pam, who originally doesn't seem like much but demonstrates tremendous strength of character as the zombies get out of hand. I think she ended up being my favorite character especially because I couldn't get behind the love story. I loved how kick-ass Pam was and how she didn't crumble despite having many reasons to do so.

Plot: I really don't want to give too much away but I felt like the plot moved at a decent pace and a lot happens over the many pages of this book. Admittedly some probably could have been cut such as the two perspectives I didn't describe but I was mostly absorbed and enthralled by this unique book.

Overall: A great introduction to a promising new series; there's so much in this book that I didn't touch on in this review so all I can say is go read!