Bonus post today! As I said over the weekend, I have several book reviews that I owe you guys, so you will be getting some extra love this week. 🙂
Today’s review is A Clockwork Heart by Liesel Schwarz. I got this one as an ARC from Net Galley to review on the podcast. If you’re interested in hearing what we talked about on that episode, you can find it here. This is the second book in the Chronicles of Light and Shadow series. I reviewed the first book, A Conspiracy of Alchemists, on both the podcast (click here) and on this blog (click here). And now on to the review.
Don’t mess with the girl with a gun in her corset.
A Clockwork Heart continues the story of Elle Chance, an independent young airship pilot, and Hugh Marsh, a warlock-turned-human. Their relationship, which began in book one, is developed even more here, since they have gotten married. This presents its fair share of problems though. Hugh gave up his powers to be with Elle, which was a huge sacrifice. While he admires her independent spirit, he still wishes that she was home more often spending time with the man she claims to love. Yes, I’m on Hugh’s side here. Mostly. Elle resents being told what to do (as always). She does not want to give up her entire life, despite the fact that Hugh pretty much gave up his to be with her. They are constantly at odds with each other, when Elle decides to take a charter to Singapore.
I have some issues with Elle as a character. For the most part, she comes off as being very selfish. I admire strong female characters, but not when they are completely out for themselves and no one else. Elle doesn’t want to be held back, either by her responsibilities as a wife, or her responsibilities as the Oracle, the guardian of the barrier between Light and Shadow. Granted, she is very young still, and by the end of this book, she has grown up a little bit. She is a very well written character, don’t get me wrong, she was just very hard for me to like as a person at times.
While she is gone, Hugh ends up getting captured by a strange woman/creature named Clothilde, who is a Woman in White. Basically, a witch, and a very powerful one, capable of controlling thunder and lightning. She has been capturing people and replacing their hearts with ones made of clockwork, earning her victims the nickname “Tickers.” These Tickers basically become zombies, and are under Clothilde’s complete control. Elle has to find what happened to her husband, and ultimately stop Clothilde. She is joined by Loisa Beladodia, a vampire, friend of Hugh’s, and my favorite character in the series.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit, despite my issues with Elle. This book was a step up from the first book, which I always like to see with newly published authors. Her settings are beautifully haunting, her characters are interesting, and the plot for this just kept getting more and more intricate and creepy. The next book in this series, Sky Pirates, is set to come out next year and I will definitely be picking it up.
Has anyone else read this book? If so, please let me know what you thought!
Categories: Books I've Read
Life With No Plot 
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