Steampunk superheroes. Unfortunately, this book wasn't quite as awesome as I had hoped it would be. It was a good story but I had two main issues with how the story was told - first, the language style of the narrative was confusing at times, and almost made me give up on the book very early on. The second was the rather heavy-handed characterization of certain characters to be of the "there there, dear, don't worry your pretty little head" variety of males to Sarah.

An interesting premise, though the execution does need a bit of work. ( )

Meh.

Well, this may be the first "steampunk superhero" story, but I have to admit I'm not a big fan of superheroes in general, and I found the story to be unexceptional (and unfinished - it's a cliffhanger with a sequel on the way).
I try not to complain about typos in ARCs (there are many), but the lack of commas before a character's name throughout the book seemed to be more than a typo (it was consistent), and was very distracting. (There's a difference between "You know, John" and "You know John.")
Anyway, the story is about a young (and irrelevantly beautiful) woman, Sarah, who happens to be the daughter of a member of a sort of faux-Justice League in 19th-century New York. Their leader dies and wills the leadership of the group to his automaton. However, a traitor who wishes to circumvent his will, and oh, also bring about the end of the world, is secretly at work. Sarah and the automaton are the only ones who realize the truth.
The superhero group's powers rest in the fact that their recently-deceased leader was an inventor who discovered some sort of radioactive substance with which he produces "fortified steam." The portrayal of this energy source is every bit as ridiculous and unrealistic as Spiderman being bit by a radioactive arachnid.

It has a lot of loose ends (characters who appear briefly never to re-appear, &c). Perhaps these will be tied up in future books, but I won't go out of my way to find them. ( )

I finally bailed out about page 193. I kept thinking that the plotting would get better because I liked the concept so much...but it never did. Worse, instead of merely suggesting a Victorian environment, Mayer actually uses the longwinded, meticulous (and glacially slow) Victorian prose style. The whole reason I wanted to read the book was to see how a young woman dealt with the adversities that being a heroine in that day and age would throw at her (as the jacket copy suggests the book is about), but she's barely in any of the chapters. Excellent concept, poor execution. ( )

The funnest thing I've read all year. Like reading Verne or Wells. Just great fun all the way through from characters to plot to humor. A truly fun experience. Couldn't put it down. Can't wait to read the next installment! Highly recommended. ( )