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grimmlan's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
lorialdenholuta's review
4.0
I'm continuing to enjoy the ride of the storyline of this series! I was very happy to see Tigg brought into the spotlight. And it's hard to believe I could ever have thought Alice was a one-off character that wouldn't persevere. She's now my favorite. Very enjoyable read.
mon_ique's review
3.0
Plot was really good, and I love all the different characters, but I feel some events went uncontinued for the sake of continuing the plot and that was a little annoying, but almost everything else I loved.
By this book, though the Lady of Devices only makes rare appearances (which isn't that noticeable considering all that goes on), and it seems like everyone is used to killing somebody, especially the Lady... So, maybe like a three and 1/2 rating for this one?
Spoiler
Like what happened to Maggie talking with Jake about his problems? And then all of a sudden, they don't get mentioned again, and he's ok.By this book, though the Lady of Devices only makes rare appearances (which isn't that noticeable considering all that goes on), and it seems like everyone is used to killing somebody, especially the Lady... So, maybe like a three and 1/2 rating for this one?
sailaranel's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
romanticashale's review
4.0
I adore this series. It's not that it's super well-written or anything (I mean it's good but it's not the best) but I just adore the characters and all the adventures. It's been a great ride reading all these.
carrieknits's review
4.0
Not sure who the Gentleman of Means was, but it was another good addition to the MD series.
princess_starr's review
4.0
We’ve come a long way with these books. I bought the first one in post-Gail Carriger haze of “But I want more of this!” and taking my chances with a cheap e-book series. (Not that I’m knocking self-pubbed e-books and e-authors, but it is pretty much taking your chances with the material, like with any book.) And it was just so much fun and enjoyable and honestly took me by surprise. And while the Magnificent Devices series isn’t hundred percent perfect at times (The Love Woes of Alice Chalmers), I still really loved reading these books and couldn’t wait to get to the next one.
Picking up with the explosive, and somewhat jarring ending of A Lady of Integrity, A Gentleman of Means picks up with Lady Claire preparing to move on from university to the promised position at the Zeppelin Airworks and her impending, very delayed marriage to Andrew Malvern, as well as her continued worry about the whereabouts of Gloria Meriweather-Astor after her disappearance at the end of the last book. There is a lot going on with Claire’s character that does feel frustrating, or just so much flogging on the same three plot points over and over again—Claire can’t get respected and taken seriously as an engineer because she’s a GIIIIIIIIIIIIRL, her stubbornness for always going on adventure to save the people she loves—and I did get frustrated by these plot points, because well, it’s already a fantastical world, why aren’t there more lady scientists and engineers and inventors? Why does it have to examine the inherent sexism of the era? But I think that it works because it’s something that we still see going on right now. Despite the lack of electric guns or steam-powered airships or automatons, there’s still a massive divide in science between men and women, and having scenes of Claire calling out her superiors at the Zeppelin Airworks on being regulated to “fetching tea and sweeping the floor at night” (despite their explanations of “Well, yes, but all the junior engineers do that”) carries more weight because Claire continually gets treated as if she’s just filling time until she and Andrew finally get married. I wouldn’t say that this series is a women-in-STEM call to arms, but I think it’s encouraging, especially given that half the main female cast are inventors or engineers (yes, I’m counting Lizzie in this).
I also like that Andrew’s continued frustration about Claire’s heroic streak finally comes to boiling point, and that it’s not just manufactured drama to throw in at the last second. When he leaves Claire and breaks off their engagement, it doesn’t feel like “Oh, he’s just mad because Claire’s not going to be a good little wife and stay in the household” (even though Claire does interpret it as such—which also makes sense, given her frustration with Count Zeppelin and her superiors). Andrew is genuinely worried about Claire’s wellbeing, especially given everything’s that happened to her since the end of the second book, and even in the last few months in the book’s timeline. And it’s not just the death-defying near misses and walking away from exploding steam-powered forms of transportation—even if Claire did manage to walk away, there’s still the possibility of PTSD and psychological damage, which we see with both Ian Hollys and Jake. I do wish that we could have seen more of Jake’s PTSD outside of him snapping at Tigg and Maggie (Jake has always been kind of there, especially after the timeskip), because most of the PTSD storyline was carried by Ian. And I did like the fact that it was shown that Ian isn’t instantly better once he settled down in his estateor finally admitting that he’s in love with Alice and that these problems will also linger. (Although I’m not sure if I like the explanation of “He’s a broken man! He’s a gentleman who was treated like a commoner *gaspshock*” Right, so what’s your “reason” for Jake’s PTSD? Also may I remind you this series starts off with Claire being thrown out on the street and having to fight for her possessions back?) While I appreciate that Adina does show how being in the work-prison affected Ian and Jake, she does kind of fumble the handling of that storyline.
The other thing that I do have a bit of an issue with is the nature vs. nurture argument that suddenly pops up, and the extended idea of “Honor thy father and mother”—well, fathers anyway. We get a pretty direct parallel between Gloria and Tigg and their respective fathers: Gloria finally finding out that her father was behind not only the failed invasion, but also the assassination attempt in Lady of Resources (honestly? Bit of a stretch), and Tigg finally meeting his absentee father and learning that he’s there to kill Alice. On the whole, it really isn’t as egregious or drawn out as it could be, seeing as both Gloria and Tigg are horrified by their respective fathers’ action and distance themselves.But the fact that Gerald Meriweather-Astor suddenly sacrifices himself to save his daughter and Gloria’s reaction is to go “Oh, my father wasn’t such a terrible person after all!”
Yes, I know he was desperate to find Gloria again, but really the way Gerald treated Gloria throughout this series, and the treason attempts, I’m not exactly weeping tears over him. At least Tigg went “You know what? Yeah, you loved my mother and you made her happy. You still abandoned us and tried to kill my friends. I’m going to make my name on my terms. It’s a minor point, but it still bothered me.
Let’s talk about Gloria—for as late in the series as she appeared, she got the single best character development through the second half of this series. From her first big appearance in Brilliant Devices and very coolly telling Claire “I know what you think of me, because it’s what my father thinks of me—that I don’t care for anything but frippery and I’m not important. Well, I’m tired of it,” and actually paying that off in her trying to figure out the situation as she’s being spirited away by Captain Hayes and trying to rescue herself. (To varying degrees of success, seeing as Gloria hasn’t had much experience going undercover as Claire and the flock have.)Not only did I love the twist that Captain Hayes is really work for the Walsingham Office in order to bring in Gloria’s father for treason, but I loved Gloria’s reaction of “Really. Really. I’m a prize now. You know what, screw all of you, I’m out.” I also really loved the fact that she and Captain Hayes don’t end up a couple at all and that Gloria Meriweather-Astor, business woman, is a major thing.
Still hoping for a Gloria spin-off series, as there’s mention to Gerald’s dealings in the Californias. (Spin-off? Perhaps a return of Lord Sewlyn YES I KNOW IT’S BEEN FIVE BOOKS AND SEVERAL YEARS IN THE TIMELINE YOU JUST DON’T KILL OFF A MAJOR CHARACTER LIKE THAT AND WITH NO FANFARE. I didn’t even like Lord Sewlyn AND I’m still going “Omg when is he coming back THERE ARE STILL LOOSE ENDS.” Again, this is what I mean by the series taking me by surprise.)
While A Gentleman of Means is much more of a character story and finally wrapping up Claire’s journey from an outsider from a disgraced family to finding her flock and happiness, there’s still a lot of great fun at adventure to it all. I really enjoyed reading this, and finally getting to the end of a long boiling plot and a solid payoff from the first book. Yes, Claire got what she wanted, but there’s still a long way for her to go personally, and she’s inspired other young ladies to follow her lead (not necessarily in the engineering department, but rather standing up for what you believe in). And while not every volume was perfect, so much of this series was just fun to read. Even the books I wasn’t too wild about, I still had a grand time reading and I did look forward to the next adventure.
And although my experience with Shelley Adina outside of Magnificent Devices hasn’t been…good so far, I am really hoping that she’ll return to this world for more adventures.(THE ADVENTURES OF GLORIA MERIWEATHER-ASTOR AND CAPTAIN ALICE CHALMERS PLZKTHX.) (All About Us aside, I’ve read the excerpt for Immortal Faith and…look, I don’t know if I could handle Amish vampire romances. I’m just stepping away from that one.) But I will miss this universe if/until that happens, and Lady Claire and all of her extended flock. I do very much recommend this series for just being a genuine surprise when it could have been an easy cash-in on a burgeoning subgenre, and it’s a delight to read.
Picking up with the explosive, and somewhat jarring ending of A Lady of Integrity, A Gentleman of Means picks up with Lady Claire preparing to move on from university to the promised position at the Zeppelin Airworks and her impending, very delayed marriage to Andrew Malvern, as well as her continued worry about the whereabouts of Gloria Meriweather-Astor after her disappearance at the end of the last book. There is a lot going on with Claire’s character that does feel frustrating, or just so much flogging on the same three plot points over and over again—Claire can’t get respected and taken seriously as an engineer because she’s a GIIIIIIIIIIIIRL, her stubbornness for always going on adventure to save the people she loves—and I did get frustrated by these plot points, because well, it’s already a fantastical world, why aren’t there more lady scientists and engineers and inventors? Why does it have to examine the inherent sexism of the era? But I think that it works because it’s something that we still see going on right now. Despite the lack of electric guns or steam-powered airships or automatons, there’s still a massive divide in science between men and women, and having scenes of Claire calling out her superiors at the Zeppelin Airworks on being regulated to “fetching tea and sweeping the floor at night” (despite their explanations of “Well, yes, but all the junior engineers do that”) carries more weight because Claire continually gets treated as if she’s just filling time until she and Andrew finally get married. I wouldn’t say that this series is a women-in-STEM call to arms, but I think it’s encouraging, especially given that half the main female cast are inventors or engineers (yes, I’m counting Lizzie in this).
I also like that Andrew’s continued frustration about Claire’s heroic streak finally comes to boiling point, and that it’s not just manufactured drama to throw in at the last second. When he leaves Claire and breaks off their engagement, it doesn’t feel like “Oh, he’s just mad because Claire’s not going to be a good little wife and stay in the household” (even though Claire does interpret it as such—which also makes sense, given her frustration with Count Zeppelin and her superiors). Andrew is genuinely worried about Claire’s wellbeing, especially given everything’s that happened to her since the end of the second book, and even in the last few months in the book’s timeline. And it’s not just the death-defying near misses and walking away from exploding steam-powered forms of transportation—even if Claire did manage to walk away, there’s still the possibility of PTSD and psychological damage, which we see with both Ian Hollys and Jake. I do wish that we could have seen more of Jake’s PTSD outside of him snapping at Tigg and Maggie (Jake has always been kind of there, especially after the timeskip), because most of the PTSD storyline was carried by Ian. And I did like the fact that it was shown that Ian isn’t instantly better once he settled down in his estate
The other thing that I do have a bit of an issue with is the nature vs. nurture argument that suddenly pops up, and the extended idea of “Honor thy father and mother”—well, fathers anyway. We get a pretty direct parallel between Gloria and Tigg and their respective fathers: Gloria finally finding out that her father was behind not only the failed invasion, but also the assassination attempt in Lady of Resources (honestly? Bit of a stretch), and Tigg finally meeting his absentee father and learning that he’s there to kill Alice. On the whole, it really isn’t as egregious or drawn out as it could be, seeing as both Gloria and Tigg are horrified by their respective fathers’ action and distance themselves.
Yes, I know he was desperate to find Gloria again, but really the way Gerald treated Gloria throughout this series, and the treason attempts, I’m not exactly weeping tears over him. At least Tigg went “You know what? Yeah, you loved my mother and you made her happy. You still abandoned us and tried to kill my friends. I’m going to make my name on my terms. It’s a minor point, but it still bothered me.
Let’s talk about Gloria—for as late in the series as she appeared, she got the single best character development through the second half of this series. From her first big appearance in Brilliant Devices and very coolly telling Claire “I know what you think of me, because it’s what my father thinks of me—that I don’t care for anything but frippery and I’m not important. Well, I’m tired of it,” and actually paying that off in her trying to figure out the situation as she’s being spirited away by Captain Hayes and trying to rescue herself. (To varying degrees of success, seeing as Gloria hasn’t had much experience going undercover as Claire and the flock have.)
Still hoping for a Gloria spin-off series, as there’s mention to Gerald’s dealings in the Californias. (Spin-off? Perhaps a return of Lord Sewlyn YES I KNOW IT’S BEEN FIVE BOOKS AND SEVERAL YEARS IN THE TIMELINE YOU JUST DON’T KILL OFF A MAJOR CHARACTER LIKE THAT AND WITH NO FANFARE. I didn’t even like Lord Sewlyn AND I’m still going “Omg when is he coming back THERE ARE STILL LOOSE ENDS.” Again, this is what I mean by the series taking me by surprise.)
While A Gentleman of Means is much more of a character story and finally wrapping up Claire’s journey from an outsider from a disgraced family to finding her flock and happiness, there’s still a lot of great fun at adventure to it all. I really enjoyed reading this, and finally getting to the end of a long boiling plot and a solid payoff from the first book. Yes, Claire got what she wanted, but there’s still a long way for her to go personally, and she’s inspired other young ladies to follow her lead (not necessarily in the engineering department, but rather standing up for what you believe in). And while not every volume was perfect, so much of this series was just fun to read. Even the books I wasn’t too wild about, I still had a grand time reading and I did look forward to the next adventure.
And although my experience with Shelley Adina outside of Magnificent Devices hasn’t been…good so far, I am really hoping that she’ll return to this world for more adventures.
hufsatee's review
4.0
Still in love with this series. I don't think I'd complain if she just kept adding more books. This is a great long-term haul for a steampunk fan. Lots of steampunk ingenuity, female badassery, and intrigue and danger!
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