I wanted to like this book, and I gave it several goes, but it just didn't make a lot of sense. It was either very tedious, or suddenly very extreme things happened. I didn't understand the world it was set in and there seemed to be a mash-up of several different genres and themes going on. ( )

As an infant, Juanita was given up and put on the asylum train. Destined to be forgotten with the rest of California's unwanted people. But guided by the spirit of her dead husband, Juanita's great grandmother boards the train and rescues her before she ever reaches her destination. Years later, Juanita has inherited her great grandmother's gift of seeing spirits and receives a vision. She must stop the trains and save those trapped in the asylum. If she doesn't not only will her village be wiped out but innocent of the asylum will be murdered one by one.

This is not a story for those who want nonstop action. It's what I call a build up book, taking it's time to develop the characters and the world around them. Unfortunately, it does miss the mark on some key points with its world building. Character backgrounds are left out, and the politics of the world are completely omitted. This leaves the reader wondering how exactly the world works. Juanita's spiritual powers also have no defined rules. They seem to come and go without any apparent pattern. ( )

First - this is not steampunk. There's a couple interesting devices - an airship and a "Clockman" - but they both run more on magic than by mechanics. And while a steam train plays a part, that doesn't make it steampunk - or every oater ever written fits the genre. I would classify this more as magic realism, or surrealism - partly because, to my eye, actions, motivations, and results seem to cluster randomly. Right at the beginning, the old woman sets up two complicated distractions to cover her escape (and thereby harms at least one person who never harmed her)...and then deliberately informs the authorities (or one of them, at least) of her intention of escaping. Why that worked - why she wasn't recaptured as soon as she got away from the medicines she was holding hostage - I have no idea. Motivation (aside from "wanna escape"), action, result - no logical path from one to another. And that's before various spirits and magical beings, most of whom are probably not who they claim to be, start showing up. I also class it with magic realism because the other books I've read in that genre share this one's ugliness. I was skimming, after a while, but every time I stopped and read a scene a) it was about sex (from one of her allies groping her, to straight-out rape for fun and money) and b) it was foul. The rape is obvious, but even consensual sex came with a heavy load of grief and/or guilt. I don't even see how the end follows from the immediately previous scene, let alone what the flow of the whole thing was. If you like that sort of thing, you'll probably like this - not for me. ( )

Jaunita has had an interesting past, she was abandoned and left on a train going to an asylum for the poor. Luckily she was saved by her great grandma Zetta and the ghost of Zetta’s husband, Javiar. She ends up in a small village where at the age of fifteen she has a mystical vision of a dead captain in an airship. She is told that it is her mission to put a stop to trains carrying California’s unwanted masses to an asylum where they will live and work until they die. A plan is in place to murder part of the asylum’s inmates to bring the asylum’s population down and Jaunita may have to murder people to put a stop to it.

Jaunita will not be alone though, she will have the help of her ghost ancestors and will meet other characters with complicated pasts. Jaunita will learn that her family has a dark side and she herself will have to do some horrible things to fulfill her mission. Jaunita is on a path that will change history along with her life, the question being can she live with the new person she will become? Jaunita lives in an alternative nineteenth-century steampunk world where spirits communicate with the living and our loved ones never really leave our sides.

If I was to use one word to describe Laurel Anne Hill’s The Engine Woman’s Light I would use “different.” Laurel Anne has created the world that made me think of an old western with steampunk elements and spiritualism thrown in for good measure. The way the settings are described really bring everything to life and you can see yourself living in this world with its vivid descriptions. Since I haven’t read too many westerns or much steampunk, this book was like entering a new world, which was easy to get hooked on. Right away you are invested in Jaunita’s story since she was a baby she defied all odds. After being abandoned and saved, she is forced into a lifechanging mission that she has to accomplish whether she wants to or not.

One thing I like about this story is that all the characters are shades of gray. Some characters here can be considered good, but sometimes they do bad things. There is a theme of redemption that runs through this book for a couple of the characters and even Jaunita wants to be redeemed for some of the actions she is forced to suffer through. The spirits in Jaunita’s family have done bad things in the past and are looking to get redemption through Jaunita and some of their actions have a bad effect on her.

Another theme in this book I liked was the idea that the people you love or have a connection to, are never far away. Jaunita’s ancestors still talk to her, even though they are dead. Even Jaunita’s dead mother who she never met is always close to her. At one point we discover that two of the men in her life have a connection to her going way back. While reading this I felt that Laurel Anne Hill wanted to get the idea across that we are all connected whether we think it or not and even when someone is gone, they are never really gone.

One of my favorite scenes in The Engine Woman’s Light is when Juanita is starting to have feelings for the man she calls Guide. When Guide reveals who he really is and what he has done in the past, Jaunita’s heart is broken, but they stay together to continue their mission and their relationship changes. Everlasting love is also a theme in this book as well as accepting someone for the good and bad they did in life. If you like books that transport you to a different time and place, then check this one out. ( )