By the way, my picture here doesn't do this cover justice. The colors are a tad more vibrant and her hair is actually red. This is the danger of trying to take a photo of a cover for an e-book. I had to avoid the glare from the light in my room.Still, the cover looks amazing even like this.
Summary:
"LEAVE IT TO CHANCE. Eleanor “Elle” Chance, that is—the intrepid heroine of this edgy new series that transforms elements of urban fantasy, historical adventure, and paranormal romance into pure storytelling gold.
In a Golden Age where spark reactors power the airways, and creatures of Light and Shadow walk openly among us, a deadly game of Alchemists and Warlocks has begun.
When an unusual cargo drags airship-pilot Elle Chance into the affairs of the mysterious Mr. Marsh, she must confront her destiny and do everything in her power to stop the Alchemists from unleashing a magical apocalypse."
In a Golden Age where spark reactors power the airways, and creatures of Light and Shadow walk openly among us, a deadly game of Alchemists and Warlocks has begun.
When an unusual cargo drags airship-pilot Elle Chance into the affairs of the mysterious Mr. Marsh, she must confront her destiny and do everything in her power to stop the Alchemists from unleashing a magical apocalypse."
My Thoughts:
I really enjoy reading steampunk novels. I don't think I'm crafty enough to be able to write my own version of alternate history in a novel to be able to have my own steampunk adventure. However, I am more than happy to simply immerse myself in the worlds created by others. That being said, let's jump into discussing A Conspiracy of Alchemists, which is on sale today!
Let's start with the main characters: We have Elle, who is an airship-pilot, is very good with mechanics, enjoys physics, and is also beautiful. Seriously, she seems to have it all: brains, beauty, and she can fight back...though she is not a strong fighter so that keeps her from being too perfect. Also, in a world where there is magic (as in both warlocks and alchemists), Elle does not want anything to do with it, which is too bad because she is basically the epicenter of this potential magical apocalypse mentioned in the summary.
Moving on to Mr. Marsh. He is a man of many secrets, but I felt drawn to him from the very beginning. He is wealthy, good-looking, and tries to be a perfect gentleman, particularly around Elle, but come on, it is obvious from the beginning that Elle and Marsh will end up together. It doesn't matter what story it is, every one will have some elements that are fairly predictable. That does not mean that I did not enjoy watching the both of them struggle against what they were feeling, particularly Marsh since Elle is sort of supposed to be off-limits. Oh well.
Though not a character that we get to see a lot of, I have to mention Elle's father. I don't really care how he was described in the book; I kept imagining him as Maurice from the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast. He just struck me as a somewhat kooky inventor, but I enjoyed that and it gave my imagination a nice image to associate with him. Huh, and now that I think of it, the Chance family's housekeeper actually makes me think of Mrs. Potts. That's just me though; other people probably imagine that differently, which is the beauty of our individual imaginations.
Anyway, I thought this was a fun read, rather intriguing. I loved seeing how the inventions of cars and helicopters and coffee/cappuccino makers fit into this steampunk Europe. This book starts in Paris, travels to England, and then heads off to Italy and then Constantinople, which means getting to see all of these beautiful locations and how each of them has different aspects of steampunk incorporated, such as automatons and the different modes of transportation.
Oh, did I mention that there are vampires...I mean Nightwalkers...in this book? Yeah, a number of them plus the Alchemists are the villains in this book, and it really works. Now, I will say that there was one surprise close to the end of the book, where a character believed to be good turns out to be working with the bad guys, which was a definite shock to me.
This was definitely an intriguing world and according to Goodreads the sequel will be out in August, so I am very much looking forward to this. It reminds me of other steampunk books I've read and reviewed here, such as Soulless by Gail Carriger and The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook. Now I can add Liesel Schwarz to my steampunk author shelf. Another 5/5...because I totally want more Marsh. :)
A Conspiracy of Alchemists at Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-conspiracy-of-alchemists-liesel-schwarz/1110955422?ean=9780345545077
A Conspiracy of Alchemists at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Conspiracy-Alchemists-Chronicles-Light-Shadow/dp/0345545079/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362498647&sr=8-1&keywords=A+Conspiracy+of+Alchemists
Let's start with the main characters: We have Elle, who is an airship-pilot, is very good with mechanics, enjoys physics, and is also beautiful. Seriously, she seems to have it all: brains, beauty, and she can fight back...though she is not a strong fighter so that keeps her from being too perfect. Also, in a world where there is magic (as in both warlocks and alchemists), Elle does not want anything to do with it, which is too bad because she is basically the epicenter of this potential magical apocalypse mentioned in the summary.
Moving on to Mr. Marsh. He is a man of many secrets, but I felt drawn to him from the very beginning. He is wealthy, good-looking, and tries to be a perfect gentleman, particularly around Elle, but come on, it is obvious from the beginning that Elle and Marsh will end up together. It doesn't matter what story it is, every one will have some elements that are fairly predictable. That does not mean that I did not enjoy watching the both of them struggle against what they were feeling, particularly Marsh since Elle is sort of supposed to be off-limits. Oh well.
Though not a character that we get to see a lot of, I have to mention Elle's father. I don't really care how he was described in the book; I kept imagining him as Maurice from the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast. He just struck me as a somewhat kooky inventor, but I enjoyed that and it gave my imagination a nice image to associate with him. Huh, and now that I think of it, the Chance family's housekeeper actually makes me think of Mrs. Potts. That's just me though; other people probably imagine that differently, which is the beauty of our individual imaginations.
Anyway, I thought this was a fun read, rather intriguing. I loved seeing how the inventions of cars and helicopters and coffee/cappuccino makers fit into this steampunk Europe. This book starts in Paris, travels to England, and then heads off to Italy and then Constantinople, which means getting to see all of these beautiful locations and how each of them has different aspects of steampunk incorporated, such as automatons and the different modes of transportation.
Oh, did I mention that there are vampires...I mean Nightwalkers...in this book? Yeah, a number of them plus the Alchemists are the villains in this book, and it really works. Now, I will say that there was one surprise close to the end of the book, where a character believed to be good turns out to be working with the bad guys, which was a definite shock to me.
This was definitely an intriguing world and according to Goodreads the sequel will be out in August, so I am very much looking forward to this. It reminds me of other steampunk books I've read and reviewed here, such as Soulless by Gail Carriger and The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook. Now I can add Liesel Schwarz to my steampunk author shelf. Another 5/5...because I totally want more Marsh. :)
A Conspiracy of Alchemists at Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-conspiracy-of-alchemists-liesel-schwarz/1110955422?ean=9780345545077
A Conspiracy of Alchemists at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Conspiracy-Alchemists-Chronicles-Light-Shadow/dp/0345545079/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362498647&sr=8-1&keywords=A+Conspiracy+of+Alchemists
Other Readings:
Well, I've been bouncing around and reading a few pages of one book and then jumping over to read a few pages of another book, so although I've been reading a lot, I still have quite a few books to finish...including The Water Witch by Juliet Dark, Quintessence by David Walton, and Magic Kingdom For Sale--SOLD! by Terry Brooks.
No comments:
Post a Comment