*Genre* YA, Steampunk*Rating* 3-3.5*My Thoughts*To say that I am a fan of Colleen Gleason's writing would be an understatement. I loved her Gardella Vampire Chronicles series that features Victoria Gardella, Max Pesaro, and Sebastian Vioget. I have also read her new spin-off series featuring Macey Gardella that is set in the US during the 1920's. I really would love to hear from the author in regards to the familial ties aspect that has me slightly confused. Maybe she can draw a family tree starting with Victoria down to Macey!The Clockwork Scarab is set in 1889 London where steam is the lifeblood of the city. Electricity has been all but outlawed by those who have a controlling interest in keeping steam around permanently. Steam plays such a vital part in this story, that you will be remiss if you don't pay attention to the different gadgets that are introduced. For me, I loved the steamcycle (Motorcycle) that a certain Inspector Grayling rides around at break neck speeds.The story focuses on the fact that young women have disappeared and later turn up dead and it leads to a mystery surrounding the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet. When Sherlock Holmes very own nemesis Irene Adler invites two young women with very distinctive but different backgrounds to investigate at the behest of the Crown Princess Alexandra, you just know there will be hi-jinx, danger, mystery, along maybe a love interest or 3. 17-year old Evaline Stoker is the half-sister of Bram Stoker; yes the one who wrote Dracula. She's been called into fighting vampires (Venator) for a living and follows in the footsteps of her great grand aunt Victoria Gardella. Although she's been blessed with super speed, strength, and healing, Evaline has a tendency to freeze at the sight of her own blood or someone else's. She's a very cocky individual who believes that she can rush into situations without any fear for her own safety.By all descriptions, Evaline is a beautiful society maven. She's been receiving invitations from single men looking for a wife and her sister in law is all but rushing her out the door so that she may be married and be on her own. That idea is so London during the Victorian era. I mean, heaven help us all that there shouldn't be strong, independent women who don't need men to support and hold them down, while controlling them like slaves. ::cough:: sorry, hair ball.17-year old Mina Holmes is a prodigy of sorts. Her Uncle is none other than Sherlock Holmes and her father is famous in his own right. She's got the same inquisitive mindset and doesn't really care what society thinks about her plain Jane appearance or the fact that she avoids London’s society altogether. She prefers to spend hours in her lab examining different sorts of evidence and creating things while using her own brand of inquisitiveness and logic in order to find answers to mysteries. She also carries a steam stream gun. I had a bit of a problem with Mina at times because her ego knows no boundaries. She in such a hurry to prove to others that she doesn’t need anyone to help her, that she falls flat on her face. But, in the end, the partnership with Evaline should be interesting to follow as the series goes along.I know you are all asking yourselves about the romance since Gleason is widely known for her steamy sex scenes. Since this is a young adult novel, I’m hoping it’s not rushed into, but explored slowly. The Clockwork Scarab actually introduces three men that cross paths with Mina and Evaline while they are batting the mysterious villain.There is Inspector Ambrose Grayling who keeps bumping into Mina at the most inopportune times. Whether or not this means that he actually likes her, or thinks she’s a wicked pain in the arse, remains to be seen.The next character is Dylan Eckhart who is somewhat of a time traveler by mistake. I really liked Dylan since he comes from 2016 and is American who has to restrain himself from saying too much about the future. I liked that he’s strangely enthusiastic about being back in 1889 where he meets Sherlock Holmes, and Dr. Watson, as well as Bram Stoker. I would go as far as to say that he is the most interesting male character introduced.The last character calls himself Pix. I think the chemistry between Pix and Evaline, definitely needs to be explored a bit more. He is such a different bred in comparison to the cockiness of Evaline.Obviously, since this is book # 1 in the series, not all answers are wrapped up. It will be interesting to see in what direction Gleason goes in the sequel which will be released in the Fall of 2014.*Recvd via Edelweiss 05/03/2013* Expected publication: September 17th 2013 by Chronicle Books
GizmosReviews
*Genre* YA, Steampunk*Rating* 3-3.5*My Thoughts*To say that I am a fan of Colleen Gleason's writing would be an understatement. I loved her Gardella Vampire Chronicles series that features Victoria Gardella, Max Pesaro, and Sebastian Vioget. I have also read her new spin-off series featuring Macey Gardella that is set in the US during the 1920's. I really would love to hear from the author in regards to the familial ties aspect that has me slightly confused. Maybe she can draw a family tree starting with Victoria down to Macey!The Clockwork Scarab is set in 1889 London where steam is the lifeblood of the city. Electricity has been all but outlawed by those who have a controlling interest in keeping steam around permanently. Steam plays such a vital part in this story, that you will be remiss if you don't pay attention to the different gadgets that are introduced. For me, I loved the steamcycle (Motorcycle) that a certain Inspector Grayling rides around at break neck speeds.The story focuses on the fact that young women have disappeared and later turn up dead and it leads to a mystery surrounding the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet. When Sherlock Holmes very own nemesis Irene Adler invites two young women with very distinctive but different backgrounds to investigate at the behest of the Crown Princess Alexandra, you just know there will be hi-jinx, danger, mystery, along maybe a love interest or 3. 17-year old Evaline Stoker is the half-sister of Bram Stoker; yes the one who wrote Dracula. She's been called into fighting vampires (Venator) for a living and follows in the footsteps of her great grand aunt Victoria Gardella. Although she's been blessed with super speed, strength, and healing, Evaline has a tendency to freeze at the sight of her own blood or someone else's. She's a very cocky individual who believes that she can rush into situations without any fear for her own safety.By all descriptions, Evaline is a beautiful society maven. She's been receiving invitations from single men looking for a wife and her sister in law is all but rushing her out the door so that she may be married and be on her own. That idea is so London during the Victorian era. I mean, heaven help us all that there shouldn't be strong, independent women who don't need men to support and hold them down, while controlling them like slaves. ::cough:: sorry, hair ball.17-year old Mina Holmes is a prodigy of sorts. Her Uncle is none other than Sherlock Holmes and her father is famous in his own right. She's got the same inquisitive mindset and doesn't really care what society thinks about her plain Jane appearance or the fact that she avoids London’s society altogether. She prefers to spend hours in her lab examining different sorts of evidence and creating things while using her own brand of inquisitiveness and logic in order to find answers to mysteries. She also carries a steam stream gun. I had a bit of a problem with Mina at times because her ego knows no boundaries. She in such a hurry to prove to others that she doesn’t need anyone to help her, that she falls flat on her face. But, in the end, the partnership with Evaline should be interesting to follow as the series goes along.I know you are all asking yourselves about the romance since Gleason is widely known for her steamy sex scenes. Since this is a young adult novel, I’m hoping it’s not rushed into, but explored slowly. The Clockwork Scarab actually introduces three men that cross paths with Mina and Evaline while they are batting the mysterious villain.There is Inspector Ambrose Grayling who keeps bumping into Mina at the most inopportune times. Whether or not this means that he actually likes her, or thinks she’s a wicked pain in the arse, remains to be seen.The next character is Dylan Eckhart who is somewhat of a time traveler by mistake. I really liked Dylan since he comes from 2016 and is American who has to restrain himself from saying too much about the future. I liked that he’s strangely enthusiastic about being back in 1889 where he meets Sherlock Holmes, and Dr. Watson, as well as Bram Stoker. I would go as far as to say that he is the most interesting male character introduced.The last character calls himself Pix. I think the chemistry between Pix and Evaline, definitely needs to be explored a bit more. He is such a different bred in comparison to the cockiness of Evaline.Obviously, since this is book # 1 in the series, not all answers are wrapped up. It will be interesting to see in what direction Gleason goes in the sequel which will be released in the Fall of 2014.*Recvd via Edelweiss 05/03/2013* Expected publication: September 17th 2013 by Chronicle Books
