RELEASE DATE: February 20th, 2018
AUTHOR: Deborah Schaumberg
GENRE: Young-Adult, Historical, Steampunk, Magic.
PUBLISHER: Harper Teen
SUMMARY:
Gangs of New York meets Cassandra Clare in this debut YA fantasy set in 1882 Brooklyn
New York, 1882. A dark, forbidding city, and no place for a girl with unexplainable powers.
Sixteen-year-old Avery Kohl pines for the life she had before her mother was taken. She fears the mysterious men in crow masks who locked her mother in the Tombs asylum for being able to see what others couldn’t. Avery denies the signs in herself, focusing instead on her shifts at the ironworks factory and keeping her inventor father out of trouble.
Other than secondhand tales of adventure from her best friend, Khan, an ex-slave, and caring for her falcon, Seraphine, Avery spends her days struggling to survive.
Like her mother’s, Avery’s powers refuse to be contained. When she causes a bizarre explosion at the factory, she has no choice but to run from her lies, straight into the darkest corners of the city. Avery must embrace her abilities and learn to wield their power—or join her mother in the cavernous horrors of the Tombs. And the Tombs has secrets of its own: strange experiments are being performed on “patients”…and no one knows why.
I have mixed feelings about this book. I really enjoyed it but I didn’t love it. The concept of this book was amazing and the world building was a total perfection, but sadly I couldn’t connect with the characters and the pacing seemed slow to me and it literally dragged in the middle. I’m really not fan of slow reads but if you can handle them then you might enjoy it more than I did. I liked the characters, but the romance was totally meh. I love triangles in my YA but this one was awful. Don’t worry, you can still enjoy this book because it wasn’t the central focus of the story. Anyways, For a debut, it was a good start and I hope the next book is much more improved and better.
The story is set in the 18th Century New York, Brooklyn where dangerous gangs roamed around the city and young kids worked in the iron work factory to survive. In this dark forbidden city, Sixteen Year old Avery Kohl lives with her inventor father. She used to live a normal easy life dreaming about going to a collage and marrying a wealthy husband but all of her dreams were collapsed when her mother was taken by the mysterious crow masks who works at the Tombs Asylum, a place for deranged people like her mother who could see something others couldn’t. Now she’s living at Slums and working hard to get back to her old life. When the same symptoms begins to show on Avery, she fears that she’ll face the same fate as her mother. So, she hides from the Crow Masks and struggles to spend her days by working at the Ironworks Factory, hearing the adventurous tales of her best friend Khan who’s an ex-slave, and caring for her pet falcon Seraphine. When Avery’s power starts to become uncontrollable, she makes an explosion at the factory which creates a huge trouble for her. She believes that she finally needs answers that only her mother can give but she’s in the Tombs. Her father has restricted her to meet her because it was dangerous to her because if she get caught by them then she would get locked up like her mother and face the horrors of the tombs forever. Against her father’s wishes, Avery decides to meet her mother even though it was risky and when she sees the state of her mother, she feels bad that she couldn’t do anything. When she learns about the strange experiments done on the patients, Avery is determined to get her mother out of there with the help of her mother’s people from the gypsy camp.
The characters were good but I can’t seem to connect with any of them. Avery is strong yet Vulnerable. She’s pretty likable character who’s good hearted, compassionate, selfless, and very protective. I really liked her relationship with her fellow factory workers who’re younger than her. It’s pretty sad seeing boys that young working at an iron factory facing all the abuse. The side characters were intriguing but they weren’t fleshed out well enough. I really wanted to know more about Khan and Indigo. The romance was totally meh. Khan and Avery were best friends since young and their relationship is beginning to turn into something more but suddenly comes another guy and bam, she loves him. Even though I like the other guy, I wish it wasn’t so abrupt because it felt quite unrealistic and nonsensical. Anyway, I really liked the boys Geeno, Leo(12), Tony(14), and Oscar(12) but my favorite was Geeno. He’s pretty adorable and a very smart kid. Dr. Spector is a creepy and mysterious villain. He’s only a human but he’s totally giving off the vampire vibes.
The plot was interesting but It didn’t excite me enough to love it. The pacing a bit frustrated me because It really moved a bit slower than expected and I wanted more action. It’s a historical fantasy and the author did a great job in executing the historical and steampunk part but when it came to the fantasy part everything seemed okay-ish but not well detailed. However, I liked the Idea behind this concept and I really enjoyed the Steampunk elements in this book and I had already figured out what’s Avery’s father is building in his secret basement. The writing was good and easy to understand. The story was told in Avery’s first person POV. The world building was amazing and felt authentic, I would give it an A+. I think it’s the major highlight of this book. The author described everything in detail and gave a clear image.
Overall, I liked it but I didn’t love it! Even though It didn’t blow my mind away, I still want to continue this series and hope the next book is much more improved and more action packed.
Recommend it?
Yes!
Despite my issues, I still highly recommend this book to everyone because it’s a case of it’s not you, it’s me. So, definitely give it a shot.
MY RATING:[3.5/5 Stars]
I hate you didn’t love it more Raven!
LikeLiked by 1 person
ahaha! I wanted to love this book but slow reads aren’t for me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Me either
LikeLike
I haven’t seen this book around all that much, but it does sound interesting! I know what you mean about slow reads, I usually tend to dislike them, unless the overall build-up of it is rewarding in the end. And I also know what you mean about enjoying the book, but still having problems with it, I never know what to rate the book when that happens! But this was a great review! ❤️
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sometimes I can handle slow reads if the plot was interesting and I love the characters. In this book, I had trouble connecting with the characters and the slow pacing made things worse.
Thank you! 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
I really enjoy books set in New York. I think that the concept does sound interesting, but the slow pacing would bother me as well. I hope that you enjoy your next read a bit more. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, it’s an interesting concept and the author did a wonderful job on the world building. If you like historical fantasy then give it a shot.
Thank you! 😊
LikeLike
I’m sorry you didn’t love this one. Not connecting with the characters can really tank a book for me. I like the cover of this one, though!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not connecting with the characters when you like the plot is a bit frustrating. I like the cover too! ☺️
LikeLiked by 1 person
Excellent review but damn not connecting with the characters is really raining on your parade!
LikeLiked by 1 person
ahaha! Thank you, Sophie!
LikeLike
Not connecting to characters is always so brutal, why can’t we connect to all of them?! I’m so sorry, Raven. But the story sounds very interesting! Here’s hoping you love the second book even more and can find that connection to the characters. *fingers crossed*.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, it’s a total bummer! It really has an interesting plot. I hope the next book is much better.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m sorry you didn’t like this more Raven. I did wind up connecting with it more and only gave it a 4.5 instead 5 because I thought the pace slowed in the middle.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was an interesting read and I can understand why you loved it. I really tried hard to connect with the characters but I couldn’t. I hope the next book works out for me.
LikeLiked by 1 person