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shane_tiernan's review against another edition
3.0
This was fun. I liked the first half better than the second. There's definitely some (yucky) romance involved that I'm not used to in the fantasy books I usually read.
Some of the dialogue was pretty witty and had us both laughing. Pretty cool world/faction setup but even with pretty dark bad guy it still seemed a little lite.
Some of the dialogue was pretty witty and had us both laughing. Pretty cool world/faction setup but even with pretty dark bad guy it still seemed a little lite.
dshnaper's review against another edition
3.0
This book could have used 200 fewer pages. Just because you have a steampunky turn of the century idea, doesn't mean you have to use it. Though convoluted at times, I'm ready to dive into the sequel. We'll call it a win.
novelsbycaitlin's review against another edition
5.0
Did not expect to like this book that much. Wow.
Honestly the only "downside" to this book is that it can feel slow at times. Lots of conversation and information being thrown about. It can be a bit tedious at times to trudge through but by halfway the danger is cranked to max its difficult to put the book down let alone walk away.
Anyways, action, adventure just the right amount of romance, now add in a steam punk magical post civil war historical and you get THE NATIVE STAR. An awesome book.
Honestly the only "downside" to this book is that it can feel slow at times. Lots of conversation and information being thrown about. It can be a bit tedious at times to trudge through but by halfway the danger is cranked to max its difficult to put the book down let alone walk away.
Anyways, action, adventure just the right amount of romance, now add in a steam punk magical post civil war historical and you get THE NATIVE STAR. An awesome book.
tracey_stewart's review
2.0
In a lot of cases, it's incredibly helpful to be able to listen to a sample of a book on Audible before buying. It often makes all the difference in whether or not I'll commit to a book. Unfortunately in this case the sample was completely misleading. It was terrific – it was creepy and fascinating, and brought in the Civil War and my goodness what are these terrible men up to? So I bought it, and, still looking for a good fantasy set in the period, listened to it.
The problem was that the sample was part of a prologue; the book proper skipped from South Carolina to California, from the mysterious happenings in a haunted barn to an unpleasant young woman casting a love spell. And it is with this young woman, Emily Edwards, that the story stays until the epilogue.
She is not a likeable character. It is excused as extreme pragmatism, the tendency to set aside everything else in favor of what is necessary. For example, though she does not want to do it, and in fact dreads the consequences, she determines to place a love charm on a young man of decent fortune in order to keep herself and her adopted father from the depths of starvation they have recently endured. She's snappish, stroppy, and closed-minded. She's racist, too.
Harassing her and her Pap is Dreadnought Stanton, a wizard who keeps trying to instruct them in how things ought to be. Now, it's a common enough trope that the hero and heroine bicker until they inevitably become lovers (and usually after). Sexual tension is shown through sparring, when an author can come up with no better way to do it. However, this guy is introduced so negatively, with so much apparent malice, that it's very, very difficult to stomach it when these two do, inevitably, become a couple. And, of course, bad as he is, she's even less pleasant. It's not believable.
The onomatopoeia was excessive. Every action in the book makes a sound, and every sound is conveyed.
There were holes in the story that were immediately obvious. How does a hick farmer in the nineteenth century Midwest know that glucose is sugar? How is Miss Magic-Negator Emily supposed to ride in a magic-driven biomechanical device? And if it's not magic-driven, what does keep it together? The bad guy – with an incredibly awful accent – gives Our Heroes something to drink before they realize who he is, and then he brags about how he slipped in a compulsion potion. Everyone ends up with at least a mouthful, and it has obvious and bad effects on Stanton – and it seems to take forever for anyone to worry about what that sip might have done to Emily.
It didn't take long for me to recognize a sort of a pattern in the book: O no terrible danger what will they ever do … oh. Never mind. Not so much. O no Stanton's been injured again he's bleeding … oh. Never mind. Not so much; he's fine. O no … etc. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Unfortunately, a weak narrator did not help a weak book. Pronunciations were all over the place, and drove me crazy – everything from mispronunciation of common enough words like "vestibule" and "impudence" to a mangling of "trompe l'oiel" that made me, a former art student who spent an entire semester painting one trompe, grit my teeth. "Black Maria" is pronounced as though it had something to do with Natalie Wood's character in West Side Story. Some of the trouble is the usual misplacement of emphasis in sentences; it's as though narrators can't hear what they're saying, and "narration" overrides natural speaking patterns, and often changes the thrust of what was written. And what a shockingly bad Italian accent for "Grimaldi". And an even worse Russian one.
One very brief bright moment in the narrative was a line which – unfortunately unintentionally – made me smile, because of its absurdity: "Get yer goldurn hands offa my cockatrice." Second place in unintentionally hysterical lines goes to: "Miss Edwards – will you bring out the nut?"
But about three quarters in I swore that if I had had to hear "carissima mia" one more time I would scream. And very shortly after I made a note:
AAAARRRRGH
The problem was that the sample was part of a prologue; the book proper skipped from South Carolina to California, from the mysterious happenings in a haunted barn to an unpleasant young woman casting a love spell. And it is with this young woman, Emily Edwards, that the story stays until the epilogue.
She is not a likeable character. It is excused as extreme pragmatism, the tendency to set aside everything else in favor of what is necessary. For example, though she does not want to do it, and in fact dreads the consequences, she determines to place a love charm on a young man of decent fortune in order to keep herself and her adopted father from the depths of starvation they have recently endured. She's snappish, stroppy, and closed-minded. She's racist, too.
Harassing her and her Pap is Dreadnought Stanton, a wizard who keeps trying to instruct them in how things ought to be. Now, it's a common enough trope that the hero and heroine bicker until they inevitably become lovers (and usually after). Sexual tension is shown through sparring, when an author can come up with no better way to do it. However, this guy is introduced so negatively, with so much apparent malice, that it's very, very difficult to stomach it when these two do, inevitably, become a couple. And, of course, bad as he is, she's even less pleasant. It's not believable.
The onomatopoeia was excessive. Every action in the book makes a sound, and every sound is conveyed.
There were holes in the story that were immediately obvious. How does a hick farmer in the nineteenth century Midwest know that glucose is sugar? How is Miss Magic-Negator Emily supposed to ride in a magic-driven biomechanical device? And if it's not magic-driven, what does keep it together? The bad guy – with an incredibly awful accent – gives Our Heroes something to drink before they realize who he is, and then he brags about how he slipped in a compulsion potion. Everyone ends up with at least a mouthful, and it has obvious and bad effects on Stanton – and it seems to take forever for anyone to worry about what that sip might have done to Emily.
It didn't take long for me to recognize a sort of a pattern in the book: O no terrible danger what will they ever do … oh. Never mind. Not so much. O no Stanton's been injured again he's bleeding … oh. Never mind. Not so much; he's fine. O no … etc. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Unfortunately, a weak narrator did not help a weak book. Pronunciations were all over the place, and drove me crazy – everything from mispronunciation of common enough words like "vestibule" and "impudence" to a mangling of "trompe l'oiel" that made me, a former art student who spent an entire semester painting one trompe, grit my teeth. "Black Maria" is pronounced as though it had something to do with Natalie Wood's character in West Side Story. Some of the trouble is the usual misplacement of emphasis in sentences; it's as though narrators can't hear what they're saying, and "narration" overrides natural speaking patterns, and often changes the thrust of what was written. And what a shockingly bad Italian accent for "Grimaldi". And an even worse Russian one.
One very brief bright moment in the narrative was a line which – unfortunately unintentionally – made me smile, because of its absurdity: "Get yer goldurn hands offa my cockatrice." Second place in unintentionally hysterical lines goes to: "Miss Edwards – will you bring out the nut?"
But about three quarters in I swore that if I had had to hear "carissima mia" one more time I would scream. And very shortly after I made a note:
AAAARRRRGH
allisonjpmiller's review against another edition
4.0
I must confess that I almost didn't continue reading this one after the first few opening scenes; it starts slow and doesn't give the reader a hint of what it will become until Emily and Stanton are on the road to San Francisco. From there, it blossomed into a quick, addictive read for me. The worldbuilding was great; Hobson introduced a complex magic system with real consequences and some truly unsettling implications. The darker aspects of the story were well-balanced by the brilliant humor.
I also need to praise Stanton as a character. Too many men of the sci-fi/fantasy world have become entirely predictable stereotypes - blank canvases for the reader to project upon. But Stanton is starkly defined, full of personality, deeply flawed, and incredibly funny. He jumps off the page, and that's a feat.
Diving straight into the sequel.
I also need to praise Stanton as a character. Too many men of the sci-fi/fantasy world have become entirely predictable stereotypes - blank canvases for the reader to project upon. But Stanton is starkly defined, full of personality, deeply flawed, and incredibly funny. He jumps off the page, and that's a feat.
Diving straight into the sequel.
musictcher06's review against another edition
5.0
I found this book terribly addicting. I became quickly attached to Emily Edwards and her Pap. I would pick it up with the intention of reading 2 or 3 pages and promptly read at least 10 pages.
Its very refreshing to read a paranormal book that doesn't have sex as a main component! And now I've started the second book hoping that it is just as captivating!
Its very refreshing to read a paranormal book that doesn't have sex as a main component! And now I've started the second book hoping that it is just as captivating!
rebeccazh's review against another edition
4.0
Reread (22/12/15) both this and The Hidden Goddess
Really enjoyed it. Great writing, packed with details, atmospheric, takes its time with descriptions. Enjoyed this quite a bit. Was surprised by how I started out disliking both Emily and Stanton and just could not picture them together, but gradually becoming sold on them as characters and as a couple. They have a dynamic that's really fun to read. Love the setting/worldbuilding and its cast of characters. Plot twists were great and most were pretty unexpected.
Really enjoyed it. Great writing, packed with details, atmospheric, takes its time with descriptions. Enjoyed this quite a bit. Was surprised by how I started out disliking both Emily and Stanton and just could not picture them together, but gradually becoming sold on them as characters and as a couple. They have a dynamic that's really fun to read. Love the setting/worldbuilding and its cast of characters. Plot twists were great and most were pretty unexpected.
nakedsushi's review
4.0
As soon as I finished this book, I immediately rated it 3.5 stars in my head. After a few more hours, as I sit down to write a review, I think it deserves 4 stars.
The characters, the alternate-history world of the Wild West (or is it the Weird West??), the magic system, and the plot all came together to make a very engaging read. So engaging that I read the entire book in less than 24 hours.
The whole heroine who holds the secret to world salvation/devastation is not a new plot device, but it worked in Native Star. It's a fun romp with pleasant characters, a sweet romance, no blush-worthy mentions of naughty bits, and giant evil mutations.
The characters, the alternate-history world of the Wild West (or is it the Weird West??), the magic system, and the plot all came together to make a very engaging read. So engaging that I read the entire book in less than 24 hours.
The whole heroine who holds the secret to world salvation/devastation is not a new plot device, but it worked in Native Star. It's a fun romp with pleasant characters, a sweet romance, no blush-worthy mentions of naughty bits, and giant evil mutations.
adularia25's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting mix of Steampunk and American West. It is a romance novel, but the adventure is great too! In fact, it's just how I like my romance novels - the main interests argue constantly, yet work toward a common goal, meanwhile swashbuckling action occurs! OK, this isn't a pirate book, but you get what I mean. Not to mention, the character names are just great. I also like how the magic and mechanics mix. The fact that the main character is a witch rocks too. It has non-stop exciting action as the protagonists travel from coast to coast trying to outwit their foes. One of the most fun Steampunk books to take place in America.