YA on the younger end, Espionage in Victorian London, Steampunk, nominated for or won a good bunch of awards around 2010-2011 though I'd never heard of it before. Pretty fun. ( )

Having previously read the first 2 books in the series many years ago -- before the 3rd and 4th hadn't been written -- i looked forward to coming back and re-reading this when i finally collected all four books: it was as enjoyable as i remembered it.

It's the kind of steampunk that isn't going to explain the workings of everything to you.   The best way to approach this series is to just leave your curiosity on the shelf as to how everything actually works, not question the science behind it all, and simply allow yourself to be taken along for the ride.

And it's a good ride that never lets up from beginning to end with some great characters that draw you into their story.   Arthur gives us some well-likeable, root-able goodies while conjuring up some despicable, evil-doing baddies to balance everything nicely, and even throws some double crossing in to make things fun -- just coz.

Just some good old, well written, steampunk fun.

And i'm looking forward to devouring book 2 as i dive straight into that without a rest.   It really is quite unputdownable. ( )

Just couldn't get into this one. Might try it again later. ( )

Some of the dialog felt a little strange to me but overall the book was enjoyable. ( )

I'm not much for writing reviews, but I had a hard time putting this book down. I definitely enjoyed it. ( )