I really wanted to like this. I like steampunk, Cthulhu, and plucky heroines, so this should've been right up my alley...right?

Wrong. Sadly, depressingly wrong.

To begin with, this book needs a good, thorough editing pass. There's an embarrassingly obvious typo on the second page, and at one point a character's name changes mid-paragraph. Further, it's blindingly obvious that our heroine only missed a Big Obvious Clue early on so the writer could make its revelation a cliffhanger for part two. Instead of causing suspense, though, I was unable to believe that Little Miss Sherlock had spotted all these tiny details (necessary to drive the story) while missing the big neon sign this clue was by comparison. (She even got a hint just two pages later!)

As much as I'd like to be able to say that I enjoyed this novella, the best I can say is that I hope the author gives it the solid rewrite it needs. At least this part was free; I'm glad I read it before buying the omnibus. ( )

Gears of a Mad God; A Steampunk Lovecraft Adventure by Brent Nichols

I seem to be going down Steam-punk lane recently. This is an interesting book and it was a fun read. I'm not sure if it qualifies as Steam-punk just because it has steam driven things in it and the heroine likes to wield wrenches work on steam machines and even toss around a few very large heavy gears. Alas though it has Steam-punk in the name so we'll go with it.

This reminded me more of a who done it book. A bit of the games a foot. It's a mystery.

It is a nice introduction to the main character and possibly the supporting cast.

Colleen Garman has lost most of her family and has only tenuous threads to the family of her boyfriend Roland. As the story begins and introduces her, she's discovering that her only real family, her uncle, has passed away. She makes rather hasty arrangements to cross the Canadian Provinces to take care of her uncles affairs.

She discovers that her uncle is accused of taking an axe and attacked a school prior to his death while in a jail. She meets Jane, her uncles girl friend. And, she discovers there are strange circumstances to her uncles death. While attempting to take care of her uncles affairs she is thrust into a conspiracy and the hunt for possible ancient myths.

There is a lot of action and sleuthing and danger in this novel. Colleen comes to a point where she's almost certain that this is not the type of life for her, but now that she's been tagged by the evil organization she's not sure how she'll get out of it all.

Part of this story is Colleen examining just what she does want out of life. Mostly, again, it's all an introduction to what seems possibly to be a series of novels.

My usual quibble with these types of novels is that they seem to be unregulated in size. The goal seems to be an endless number of tiny serial pieces. They often seem incomplete.

Thankfully this one seems larger than many and does comprise a fully rounded novel within itself so it has more going for it.

I would say that this novel stands complete within it self as much as each of the short stories of the Sherlock Holmes series were.

I enjoy a bit more character development and involvement and this story could easily be a five for me if it had that.

J.L. Dobias ( )