Tag: steampunk

Book Review: Clockwork Magpies – Emma Whitehall

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In today’s blog post I’m sharing my thoughts on a book recently published by Northodox Press. They recently advertised advanced reader copies available for reviewers and the cover caught my eye immediately! From there I went to look up the book and it sounded absolutely fantastic. Northodox Press were brilliant in providing a copy to me at my request and I am grateful to be able to share my honest review based on that today.

 

Clockwork Magpies – Emma Whitehall

Goodreads – Clockwork Magpies

By day, Ida is a quiet, standoffish maid in the employ of spoiled Lucinda Belmote. By night, she is the infamous sneak thief known as the Rat Prince, terrorising the wealthy inhabitants of Loxport; especially Lucinda’s lecherous suitor, Lord Devon Casterbury.

Soon the boundaries between her dual lives begin to blur, as her mask begins to drop around a delightful waitress and a charming jeweller who both insist on befriending Ida. All the while she is thrust into a conflict surrounding new and dangerous materials that could upend the order of the city, land her behind bars or worse: in Lord Casterbury’s employ.

A thrilling romp through the Steampunk city of Loxport, Clockwork Magpies is a story of found family, crimes plotted over tea and scones, and the sinister power of glowing gemstones.

 

My Thoughts…

Clockwork Magpies is a great palate-cleanser read. It’s just over a few hundred pages, so easily long enough to invest into the characters and the storyline. But at the same time, it’s not a huge commitment. And certainly for an avid reader like me, it doesn’t take very long to read at all! I read this within a few days… and the fact that I enjoyed it so much made this even easier to do!

I don’t often read steampunk themed novels, however if done right they blend well into the fantasy genre. Clockwork Magpies does this seamlessly! Industrial Revolution-esque technological advancement is the vibe in Loxport, and coupled with that is an antiquated social class and society that illustrates that there are leagues to go compare to our modern society.

Ida is a maid for a widower of the elite and considered more fortunate than most for that position of servitude. Her background is one much more humble, but her mother’s ambitions and nefarious skills has kept them all alive. These skills have been passed on and perfected by Ida, who is known more infamously for her thievery in the guise of The Rat Prince. She is well placed to choose her next victim, being connected to the upper circle. She has always taken care to keep these two personas separate, but events in the book watch them collide in spectacular fashion.

I enjoyed Ida’s personal character development arc for a number of reasons. At the beginning of the book, she is a focused young lady whose only real drive is to provide for her family still living in relative poverty. She does this out of a serious sense of duty and because it’s the only link she has left to her mother, the woman she loved and revered. But they are toxic to her. They only use her for financial aid and berate the way in which she provides for them.

Over the course of the narrative she becomes less dependent on them and teaches us readers a powerful lesson – that we can still do the right thing by such people, but in a way that removes the suffering from the toxic relationship. I feel like this is something people even today struggle with. It’s nice to have that represented in a book and allows the opportunity to raise awareness of these types of struggles. 

Ida’s focus means she does not permit herself friends. They are only connections that could unveil her secret identity. But, somehow Clem and Edith wheedle the way past her defences with steely determination. They teach her that friendship can offer some powerful allies and support when it’s needed the most.

Identity is a common theme throughout the book, and there are a couple of stand-out quotes I’d like to highlight. I personally really liked them and it’s advice that more people should take: –

“Seriously though, don’t let other people tell you who you are. Or what you are and are not good enough for.”

“My point is, we make ourselves into the people we want to be. Hang the rest, leave it all behind.“

The ending implies that there could be a sequel, and hand-on-heart I sincerely hope so! I feel like Clockwork Magpies lays the foundation for what could be a fantastic series! There is a lot of scope for this series to be taken further; I would love to see more of the dynamic between Ida, Clem and Edith. 

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Sunday Summary – 13th February 2022

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Good evening and welcome to my Sunday Summary post for this week. As always, I hope you’ve had a great one?

On Tuesday I shared a Top Ten Tuesday post with you. This week‘s topic was around the theme of love. Now you know I’m not a big romance person and so to make this thing work, I decided to cover my top ten books I’d love to re-read. It’s a bit of a flimsy connection, I know. However, I’ve found a lot of books lately that I’ve decided I want to re-read. Therefore, it made sense to me to document these all in one place so I can go back to them later!

My Friday feature this week was a First Lines Friday post. I didn’t set myself a particular challenge or topic from which to choose my book from this week. However, I didn’t struggle to find one. And I’ve been thinking a lot about my reading just prior to setting up my blog, and in particular, Terry Pratchett. He has been a big influence on me and so it felt only natural to feature one of his books in this post.

 

Books Read

This week has been great for reading progress! As of last week‘s Sunday Summary update I was just over 10% through Clockwork Magpies by Emma Whitehall. I really enjoyed this book and I’ve flown through it this week (no pun intended)! It’s a great steampunk fantasy novel and and I really enjoyed the steampunk element. It’s not something I read a lot of, however I do really enjoy it. This book has not long been published and I received an advance reader copy in order to share my thoughts. I can’t wait to do that with you very shortly!

I then picked up Son of Mercia by MJ Porter and of sharing this post, I am around 60% of the way through the novel. Son of Mercia is a historical fiction novel which will appeal to fans of Bernard Cornwell and The Last Kingdom series. It’s because of my love of this that I agreed to sign up to the blog tour, and I’m honestly glad I did! The story is told (at least for a significant majority so far) from a unique viewpoint. I’ll share more of the details of that in my blog tour post on the 21st; it’s not what I was expecting but I think it’s better for that! I can’t wait to finish this over the next few days and to share my post with you in about a week’s time.

I have also picked up The Original Folk and Fairytales of the Brother’s Grimm one evening this week. I only read a few stories so it’s not a significant contribution, but it is there so I’m documenting it here. Once I’ve got my blog tour read out of the way, I plan to read this before bed a little more to help me get through it. As it’s short stories it’s not a book to read in one big lump. It’s better to pick up and put down little and often in my opinion.

 

Books Discovered

I confess that there are quite a few books added to the list this week! What’s interesting about them is that there is a wide variety of genres and stories represented in the selection. It goes a long way to proving how diverse my reading tastes are.

At the beginning of the week I was listening to a podcast by A Need to Read which featured Stolen Focus by Johann Hari. Stolen Focus is a non-fiction book which discusses a number of different causes to the human dilemma of our inability to concentrate. Some of the statistics are quite shocking – teenagers can focus on one task for only 65 seconds at a time, and office workers average only three minutes. Isn’t that dreadful? I want to read more about this and the studies that have been done into it, that’s why I’ve decided to pick up this book. Who knows, maybe even I can find ways to improve my own attention span!

The next book on my list was added to my list as a result of an Amazon recommendation (albeit for some reason they recommended the second book of the series to me!) This book is an epic fantasy adventure style novel, but the thing that stood out to me is the sound of the characters, and an author I really like has highly recommended this book. So, I’m really interested to give The Black Hawks by David Wragg a go.

The third book on my list is also a recommendation from a podcast called Currently Reading. Yes, I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts lately! Although Kaytee and Meredith talk about a lot of books in their podcasts, Meredith’s review of The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg really stood out to me. The Kingdom is a theme park, and the protagonist Ana is an AI within the park. However, when a park employee, Owen, is murdered, Ana is accused and an epic trial of the century ensues. One of the interesting things that drew me to adding this to my list is that the story is told through a variety of mediums. Courtroom testimonies, interviews and Ana‘s memories are examples of the way in which the narrative unfolds. It’s very unlike anything I have read before and for that reason, I can’t wait to give this a go!

Last night I went to see a show produced by a local theatre group  – The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It was a fantastic performance and hats off to everybody involved. Naturally, it has drawn the bookworm in me to want to pick up the novel by Victor Hugo.

It has also been my birthday this week, and I was very lucky to receive copies of A Cuckoo’s Calling and The Silkworm. A Cuckoo’s Calling was already on my TBR, but I have added The Silkworm to my list as I now have a paperback copy of each sat on my shelf waiting to be read!

 

Coming Up…

This week I am going to be reviewing Clockwork Magpies by Emma Whitehall. Now typically it takes me a lot longer to get round to reviewing books after I’ve read them. However as Clockwork Magpies has just been published, I’m keen to share my thoughts with you whilst the publication launch is still fresh in the minds of anyone who may be interested to read it, or equally to put it on peoples radar if they haven’t heard of it yet. I really, really enjoyed reading this book and I’m sure that will come through in my review!

Later in the week I’ll be back with a Shelf Control post, and I’ll be featuring the next book on my TBR and sharing with you just why I’m excited to read it!

And finally, I’ll be rounding off the week with another Sunday Summary update.

What have you been reading this week?

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Sunday Summary – 6th February 2022

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Good evening and welcome to my Sunday Summary post for this week. As always, I hope you’ve had a great one?

Earlier this week I shared a brief wrapup for January and my TBR list for February. I decided to combine these two posts as more often than not, there is a degree of overlap. The start of my reading list for February is related to my reading progress in January. Naturally, it felt like a good fit and it also saved me from writing a separate post!

My Friday feature this week was a Shelf Control post. The featured book in this week’s post has been on my TBR for quite some time – since 2017. As someone who has been reading more science fiction of late, I’m excited to get around to this particular book. I like the sound of the synopsis (albeit as brief as it is)… and I hope to read it soon!

 

Books Read

 

Reading progress has been very hit and miss over the last couple of weeks. Last week was a complete lull, after the week prior in which I read a hell of a lot.

This week I found a bit more of a healthy balance. My main objective of the week was to finish reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and I’m pleased to say I have! I’ve been enjoying my re-read of this series. I haven’t read these books for about 10 years now, and they’ve aged really well. Despite being older, it doesn’t matter. It hasn’t impacted my enjoyment in the slightest. I am particularly enjoying the later books in the series as the plot becomes more developed and a little bit darker. I can’t wait to read and enjoy the last one… and call this re-read complete!

In addition, I have also started Clockwork Magpies by Emma Whitehall. This was an impulse addition to read last month. I had seen the publisher advertising advance reader copies of the book to bloggers like myself, and I really loved the sound of it. I love fantasy and the steampunk element really appealed! I only picked this up fairly briefly one night this week, but I’m already over 10% through! It’s a bit shorter than the books I’ve been reading of late, so I expect I will get through this one quite quickly in the next week or so.

I have also made more progress with A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin. I’ve listened to a good few chapters this week, and most probably do an amount to a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, progress is progress! This is a serious I could read and listen to over and over again. I’m in no rush to get through it.

 

Books Discovered

Once again it has been a quiet week on the TBR front with no new books added to the list!

 

Coming Up…

My first post next week is going to be a Top Ten Tuesday post. This week’s theme is a ‘love freebie’, and I’ve decided that I’m going to be sharing a post with the topic of ‘Books I’d LOVE to re-read’. As I think you will know by now I am not a romance person by any stretch of the imagination. It’s the only way I can get this thing to work, but I will also be good for me because there are a number of books I have featured recently and said, “Hey, I want to read that again.” It will be handy to have it all in one place for reference later.

On Friday I will be sharing a First Lines Friday post. I’m going to keep it wide open this week so I can feature absolutely anything I want!

And last but not least, I’ll be rounding off the week with another Sunday Summary update.

What have you been reading this week? Do you have any recommendations for me? As always, I’d love to hear from you!

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January Wrap-Up & February 2022 TBR!

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Hello everyone and welcome to today’s January Wrap-Up and February TBR post. I’ve decided to combine these two posts so I can briefly talk about what I have read in the last month, and also share what I plan to read over the next month. More often than not there is some degree of overlap and so I think it makes sense to share both of these. I’ll try to keep it concise so it’s not too long!

 

January Wrap-Up

I’m pleased with the last month’s reading progress. At the beginning of January I was around halfway through The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. I was kindly loaned this by my sister’s boyfriend Chris to read and I’m glad he shared it with me! It has a great diversity of genres and topics and it was a really interesting read because I probably wouldn’t have picked it up myself. That’s the good thing about recommendations; it encourages you to push the boat out sometimes.

Next I picked up a fairly short read, The Feedback Loop by Harmon Cooper. I deliberately picked up The Feedback Loop next because it is a reasonably short book at just under 200 pages. I’m really glad I did this as it kept up my reading momentum. I read The Feedback Loop in just a couple of evenings – a record for me in the last few months!

After that I went on to read Dune by Frank Herbert. This particular book had been on my TBR for just under five years. I had casually picked it up once before, reading the first 20 odd pages as a means of trying the book out. I came to the conclusion that it wasn’t going to be a light read and I think that’s why I haven’t picked it up since. I’m glad I did in the end however. I was right in that there was a lot to take in at first and I didn’t start off particularly quickly. However, once I got about a third of the way in and I had gotten all the foundation information laid out, I was flying! It was definitely worth the investment and I really enjoyed this book in the end – all 529 pages of it!

I concluded the month of January with two ongoing reads – Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and The Original Folk and Fairytales of the Brother’s Grimm. At the end of the month I was just under half way through Harry Potter and about third of the way through the folk and fairytales. I discovered that The Original Folk and Fairytales of the Brother’s Grimm was not a book to read on its own and was better to read concurrently with another book. So, this is why I started Harry Potter at the same time.

So, that’s that I got up to in January! And now onto the important bit – what am I planning to read this month?

 

February TBR

Fixed Reading List

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Naturally I’m starting the beginning of this month by finishing off my January reads. I’m currently just over halfway through Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Although it’s a chunky book it’s proving really easy for me to pick up and read. So, I’m hoping to get this wrapped up in the next couple of days!

 

Son of Mercia

As a huge fan of Bernard Cornwell, I was really excited to receive an invite for the blog tour for Son of Mercia. It is set at around the same time period and given that I’ve loved Bernard Cornwell’s series so much, I thought it would be great to read something similar but from a slightly different perspective. I really like the sound of the synopsis and I can’t wait to give you my thoughts on this book on the 21st of February!

 

Clockwork Magpies

Last month I saw a promotion for review copies of Clockwork Magpies and I fell in love with a synopsis immediately. Although I’m not reading too many advanced reader copies at the moment, I decided to make an exception for Clockwork Magpies. It’s a steampunk style of fantasy novel with a strong female protagonist that I think I can get behind. It’s a little bit different and I hope I love this as much as I expect to! It’s also quite a short novel as well at just over 250 pages, so it shouldn’t take long for me to devour at any rate!

 

The Original Folk and Fairytales of the Brother’s Grimm

Originally I had planned to sit and read throughThe Original Folk and Fairytales of the Brother’s Grimm as it is last month. However, I’m finding that it’s easier to pick up in small bursts. A lot of the stories are very short and so in my opinion it makes good companion reader. It’s great if you fancy a little bit of a change of pace, or just fancy something different. So, I will be reading this throughout the month alongside my other reads.

 

Mood Reads

Diary of a Young Girl

I am a big fan of historical fiction and in particular, one of my favourite topics is World War II. Having said that though, I regret to say that to date I have not read the diary of Anne Frank – not in full. Something in the back of my mind tells me I read an extract from it in my history lessons a long time ago. It’s a harrowing story but it’s one that I want to take the time to read. I’ve added it to my list for reading this month as I’m hoping to start reading a lot more. It’s definitely becoming more of a habit again. If I don’t get to it however, it’s not the end of the world.

 

One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest

I’ve got the urge to pick up a classic this month and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest particularly catches my eye. I really like the idea of the synopsis; it’s been on my list for a long time (along with plenty fo other books). Again, if I don’t get round to this by the end of February then I’ll carry it through to my fixed reading list in March. If I can take off another book from the TBR then I will be very happy though!

As with last month, my designated mood reads aren’t fixed and I might choose to pick up something else entirely! And, you are always welcome to change my mind; if you have a book recommendation I’d love to hear it!

Have you read any of the books on my TBR? What are you reading this month? Let me know!

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Publication Day Push: Unbroken Truth – Lukas Lundh

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Hi everyone and welcome to today’s review of Unbroken Truth as part of the publication day push blog tour! If you enjoy science-fiction and or mystery/thriller novels (or a combination of) please read on because this book may just be for you!

As always, I want to say a massive thank you to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources and to the author, Lukas Lundh, for organising the tour.

So, would you like to read more about the book and my thoughts?

 

Unbroken Truth – Lukas Lundh

Goodreads – Unbroken Truth

Beneath the arcane Rustpeaks lies the city of Lansfyrd, where visibility is at an all-time low and airships rumble through the skies. Detective Lentsay “Len” Yoriya is a former homicide detective stuck at a burglary assignment as punishment for loving the wrong person. But when a xenophobic radio-shaman is murdered and the killers try to frame the city’s oppressed insectoids, Len sees a chance to prove her worth. Though high-profile murders are rarely uncomplicated.

In the city’s affluent quarters, Len’s partner Vli-Rana Talie works as a lector at the university, studying the history of a species that once ruled the world. As the temperature rises for her partner, Vli will soon realize that delving into history, that some would prefer was forgotten, will carry risks of its own. Especially when the ambitions of empires are affected.

Meanwhile, there is an election coming up, and the tension simmering in the city is reaching a boiling point. Vli and Len must find what allies they can and face the powers that threaten their home.

History never ends, and unless its lessons are heeded what was once the past might become the present.

 

Purchase Link –  https://books2read.com/UnbrokenTruth

 

My Thoughts…

I really enjoyed the combination of science-fiction, steampunk and mystery in Unbroken Truth. I find myself saying it every time I review a sci-fi novel – but I really do need to read them more!

Unbroken Truth has a complex, in-depth universe in which the main storyline is set. Lansfyrd is home to a number of different peoples and species, and simmering tension between them is coming to a head at the start of the narrative. Each societal group is well-thought-out and defined, so it’s easy to follow. The novel does have some of its own unique terminologies, but I feel this is introduced slowly and explained where necessary so it isn’t overwhelming or confusing to read.

Many of the main characters within the novel come from each of these different backgrounds. I love how well they as individuals interact with each other despite the overall tension between groups. They prove that being different doesn’t mean you can’t get along. Len, a police officer, is in a relationship with Vli, a lector at the university. Their cross-racial relationship doesn’t meet with everyone’s approval, however, and Len is prevented from promotion for it.

I enjoyed Vli’s interest in the history of the world and her position as a lector gives us access to learning about it as and when she discovers new things. I enjoyed what was explored already in the narrative as it shows that the setting of the novel has been thoroughly developed.

There are a lot of political conflicts in the narrative, which are the basis for the story. It’s funny, because I’m not one for politics at all, with the exception of reading it in books. Most of my top reads have political undercurrents and I enjoy the tension and action that causes. The same was the case for Unbroken Truth. The murder of Yolban Tördek stinks of eninga involvement, but the blatancy of the clues leaves Len and the team to think the murder had been committed to framing them. So then, who is responsible? As the plot unravels to a gripping ending, I couldn’t put the book down!

Unbroken Truth is, I hope, an introduction to a series. Whilst it reads perfectly well standalone, there is a lot of potential in the characters and world for a series. I hope this is explored further, and if it is, I’m interested to see where the narrative takes us next. I’m also interested in learning more about the history of the universe created – what more could there be to discover?

 

Author Bio

Lukas Lundh grew up around books and started writing in early childhood. He speaks English, Swedish and Japanese from living in New Zealand as a teen and studying for a year in Japan in early 20s.

He is educated in philosophy, game design, creative writing and is currently working on a history degree.

Between reading course books which inspire history flash-fictions, Lukas writes everything in between space opera, fantasy steelpunk, and post-ap war dystopias.

His debut novel, a steelpunk spy thriller, Unbroken Truth, is available for pre-order. He doesn’t blog, but he is active on twitter.

 

Social Media Links – @LundhLukas