Steampunk is a literary genre that confused me, if I thought of it at all.

When it did cross my mind all I could envision was people dressed in outfits involving lots of leather, corsets, top hats, a few random gears thrown in and goggles. Always the goggles. But the why of it all escaped me. I turned to the internet and Dictonary.com gave me a definition…

“A subgenre of science fiction and fantasy featuring advanced machines and other technology based on steam power of the 19th century and taking place in a recognizable historical period or a fantasy world.”

… clear as mud now right?

But what I’ve decided is, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what Steampunk is or isn’t because as the writing gets better, the genre matters less. Not to say that I wouldn’t have wanted the author to describe this alternate history full of magic and technology as well as she did. No, quite to the contrary. Because she described it so well and because her characters were so rich, there was no confusion. I didn’t read a “steampunk” book.

I read a book about a sister whose brother was kidnapped. I read about oppression and freedom. Class warfare and  outright warfare. I read about evil beings that weren’t and good citizens that weren’t either. I read about trust and I read about love.

Sure, there were some crazy gizmos in amongst all that but, at the end of the day, the gizmos weren’t what had me flipping pages long after I should have turned in for the night.

Would I recommend it? Don’t let a funny word like steampunk scare you off, give it a try, I think you’ll like it.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review