Book Review: Corsets and Clockwork

Title: Corsets and Clockwork

Author: Multiple Authors

Genre: YA Romance/Steampunk

Book Blurb:

Dark, urban fantasies come to life in the newest collection of Steampunk stories, Corsets & Clockwork. Young heroes and heroines battle evils with the help of supernatural or super-technological powers, each individual story perfectly balancing historical and fantastical elements. Throw in epic romances that transcend time, and this trendy, engrossing anthology is sure to become another hit for the fast-growing Steampunk genre!

Review:

Wow, it's been a while since I've actually finished a book! Anyways, Corsets and Clockwork (C&C) was a delightful collection of steampunk tales with a romantic twist. I actually started this anthology several months ago, but lost interest about 25% into the collection . . . I guess that's the danger of short story collections, no? You lose interest with one story and then rather get distracted by other books (*cough Game of Thrones cough*) and it may be a couple days or weeks (or months!) before you return to the book.

Either way, I was glad I decided to pick up C&C after my brief dip of interest because there definitely were some hidden gems.  Some of the stories that I really enjoyed are:

"Wild Magic"

"The Airship Gemini"

"Under Amber Skies"

But my top two favorites were definitely "The Clockwork Corset" and "Tick, Tick, Boom."

First of all, you know I'm sucker for strong FMC who have the tendency to get in trouble, which is exactly what Imogen offered in "The Clockwork Corset". In a way, this story reminded me of a steampunk retelling of "Mulan" if you replaced Mulan's father with a certain love interest of Imogen.  Also, the fact that Imogen had common sense (oh my goodness you will not believe how little common sense some FMCs . . . or even MMCs . . . can have in steampunk/Victorian era stories) really upped my approval factor.  And also, the bitter sweet ending was quite satisfying--just the right combination of tragedy, love, and a little mechanical engineering magic.

Perhaps the plot (or should I say "character"?) twist in "Tick, Tick, Boom" was its highlight. Just when I thought I had all the characters figured out BAM a secondary character I thought to be shallow (spoiler alert!) turns out to be another secondary character I thought was pretty awesome. (So yes, there was a Jekyll and Hyde thing going on.)  Also, a protagonist who is a kick ass engineer and also happens to plotting against the demise of her father's business empire? Sign me up!

Granted, as there were the highs of C&C, there were also the lows. I know I could've skipped over the less than engaging stories, but then I wouldn't have the satisfaction of saying "I read this whole book!" (I know, I know. Shallow of me, but it's the little things in life, no?)  I can definitely think of one story that just seemed to drag on forever.  BUT, in the end, I'm glad that I read C&C.  It's hard to infuse the same amount of depth in a short story compared to a novel, and so I thought the authors did an excellent job overall with creating relatable characters. (Though it would've been fun to read some stories from a MMC's POV, as each story had a FMC!)

Cheers and happy readings!

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