A great idea for a book but one that needs a lot of textual cleanup to get it right.
931538
<div id="video-block-R2VUKTMQWH0898" class="a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block"></div><input type="hidden" name="" value="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/E13nllazkMS.mp4" class="video-url"><input type="hidden" name="" value="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91i-Qx5rFVS.png" class="video-slate-img-url">&nbsp;As is often the case I received this book in exchange for a review.  Also as usual I'll be completely honest because readers and authors both deserve that much at least.

The overarching concept here is that we're looking at a steampunk novel with a rather dark and ominous theme to it.

To the positive, I love the setting and the plot the author has chosen.  If you look past the book's issues you can see a delightfully dark and entertaining plot unfolding.

Unfortunately, to the negative, the author's writing stumbles terribly.  While the author has a great story his choice of words is contradictory and distracting.  It really subtracts from the novel as a whole and leaves the reader struggling to stay focused on what he's really trying to say.  A few examples:

p8: "Nathaniel raised his hand and scratched his beard stubble ... His beard was long enough to not be stubble..."  -- is it stubble or not?

p38: "a lady, casual by glance, stood next to a pillar looking with intent"  -- is she casual or is she intent?  And I'm not sure what 'casual by glance' even means??
p38: "... steps as precise as her casual garments ..."  -- precise and casual are near antonyms so it seems an odd comparison
p38: "... each step nearly shattering the floor ..."  -- shattered is a bizarre choice of words unless you're walking on a glass floor which the character is not

p60: "<lots of tense build-up> ... the whip extended with excellent craftsmanship..."  -- Author is building a sense of mood or tension but then diverts rather oddly to talk about the craftmanship of the whip and that breaks the mental flow of the passage.

So in summary, it's a shame.  It's like a cheese sandwich that's burned on one side.  You know there's good stuff in there and you really want to love it but that one burned side is a distraction and you just can't get past it.  Suggest a good sound editing to clean things up.
4156141
I would give give but... The book really needs a good editor. I would get caught up then bam misspelling or grammar something. Good book otherwise
4468704
The author could've used a little professional help with this one. While it's a good story of a tragic event it might've included some embellishments and build-ups to the obvious conclusion. Plus - find a new proof reader too many grammatical errors and misspellings. Plenty of maps photos helped.
117555
I really like the idea behind this book and most of it was good. The problem comes with some trite similies and metaphors that made the author seem like she was trying to hard.

Also there was a character that just disappeared halfway through with a very shakey explaination. Why would a character who was repeatedly described as "needy" just get up and leave peolple she was depending on, in the middle of the night? It just felt like the author didn't want to deal with the character anymore and took an easy way out.

Overall it was a good book, but it just seemed to need just a shade more polish.

D
1283215
This could have been a great story. But the typo's, missing words and added words made it hard to follow sometimes.  If the author corrects this mistakes I think she could be a good author
667679
Great book but the formatting made following dialogue a big problem. Otherwise I'd give it full stars.
1986249
The idea is great, but I found it lacking in substance, could have used much more information.  Also could use an editor.  Issues with grammar and repeating information, if corrected, could make it a better read.
701641
This is a good start to an interesting story, but it needs a little work in the area of detail and description. For example much of the book specific jargon is undefined and that makes the story difficult to follow.
3025241
The premise and the story are good.  I enjoyed the book.  I recommend that it be edited.  I found many mistakes in the book including punctuation and grammer.  Once properly edited it will be a very good book.
2037259
The story is fun and easy to read but it really needed a proofreader. It is sad when the names of the characters can not be kept straight. Maybe the next books will have it all together .
4481702
This book is OK. There were three typos that were very annoying. The logic presented in the book is very vague. This book needs an editor to help the author flush out their idea more.
4514277
This could have been a great book. It had a good story line but it needs a lot of editing. At times i had to reread certain parts because the editing and wording was horrible. I finished the book but it was hard. The author needs a better editor.
4254674
I enjoyed the story line but I can't give more than 3 stars because of an excess of typos and other mistakes that made reading it sometimes a chore of deciphering. The author told a good, involving story and I am not being picky just because I'm a retired teacher. Actually, Spell Check alone cannot catch all the mistakes because sometimes the typos turn a word into another word that happens to be spelled correctly but doesn't make sense in context.  For that, a real live person with a pulse rate and heartbeat has to care enough about the submitted work to actually reread it before turning it in to be published as is.  I'm going to read the sequel out of curiosity and because I liked the characters enough in "Wild Thing" to want to find out what happened to them.  I just hope it has been edited better.
886659
I would have loved to give this book 4 or more stars....premise was great, loved the characters and the two POVs.  BUT (and it's a big one) IT NEEDS A BETTER EDITOR!!!  Please get it fixed!
3582882
This is a great story that just needs to be better organized. I finished the book because I was anxious to see how the story ended, and I would love to read a sequel. My opinion is a better editor would have assured an easier read.
1596488
I agree with Aries Warrior - the book has an excellent premise and is quite interesting, but there are so many grammatical and spelling error throughout that it is distracting.  But the format of the book does make it an easy read on the Kindle.  Please write more books but find someone who can do a good job with editing.
3894299
At this point I wouldn't recommend this book to young readers because of the multiple typos that get worse as the books go along and the obvious editing that is needed. I am afraid it will encourage bad writing behaviors. Once the book is cleaned up I think it's a fun read with a great idea behind it.