Lorena Dinger
This is the first full-length novel in the Aether Psychics steampunk adventure series by Cecilia Dominic. This book was so much fun! Getting to know both the lead and secondary characters was a pure delight! Don't miss this treat--grab a bowl of popcorn or your snack of choice and dig in! I found our heroine, budding archaeologist Iris McTavish, to be a refreshing change in that she was a lovely balance of clever, brave, resourceful, thoughtful, and kind. She was determined to find her own way in a time when women's choices were normally quite constrained, yet she remained quite feminine and likeable while doing so. Many authors have trouble pulling that off. I found our main hero, Edward Bailey, sweet and adorable. I understood his quirks, having responded in a somewhat similar way to past trauma myself. But Edward grows a lot over the course of this story, and his actions by the end of the story caught me quite off guard. I loved watching the romance between Edward and Iris slowly develop. I was going to say that it's such a sweet story, except in so many ways it's not, there are some very dark moments, and yet the overall feeling I get is still very warm and sweet. I don't know how Ms. Dominic pulls that off, but I love it! I was also quite fond of the steampunk world the story is set in, though despite the lovely details provided in this book, I found myself wanting to know more. I am hoping we'll learn more about this fascinating world in the subsequent Aether Psychics novels, which I'm looking forward to reading. The plot was fun, providing plenty of twists and turns. There were elements of science fiction, paranormal fantasy, mystery, suspense, and historical romance, and I think this would probably please fans of many of these genres. The pacing seemed good to me, and the book was well-written. I was quickly drawn into the story and never had trouble suspending disbelief. The ending sufficiently ties up the events of this book to provide a satisfying ending for now (no cliffhangers), while leaving plenty of threads open for the subsequent books in the series. I didn't notice any typos or grammatical errors in the ebook I reviewed, and it was cleanly formatted. The language was clean, and there were no sexually explicit scenes, although there was a bit of violence and a couple of deaths described without any gory details. This should be appropriate for a wide audience. I really enjoyed the narration by Alicia Foreman. Her performance was well paced and appropriately conveyed the story’s mood and the characters’ emotions. I enjoyed her character voices. I think this is a great choice for listening. I received a free copy of this ebook and audiobook from the author and volunteered to provide an honest review.
