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A review by natyjaeger
The Queen of All Crows by Rod Duncan
4.0
I literally gave squeak when I was accepted for this book! I love steampunk and I had read the series that precedes this one (The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire, review to come!) and loved it so much! This author doesn't get enough love in my opinion!
This is the story of Elizabeth Barnabus, a detective, who detests the Patent Office for the role they played in the ruin of her family. In this novel, she must however learn to work with them when airplanes and ships start disappearing under a new menace that is unseen. Her friend Julia was in one of those airplanes - and now Elizabeth will do whatever it takes to find out if she is dead and what happened to her airplane. And for that, she must become a spy.
I love Elizabeth and Julia and their friendship is so nice to read! I devoured this novel in a few days and really loved it. Rod Duncan's writing style is very pleasant to read, descriptive but not overly much, and his characters are very unique! I won't go into the plot a lot not to spoil it, but it was very creative and I liked this novel even more than I liked the previous series. I'd say it's better to read The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire to get the context of Elizabeth's life and her relationship with Julia, with John Farthing, with the Patent Office, but I think it also works by itself.
This story takes place mostly in ships, which I thought was very interesting! The technologies used were intriguing but not described in an overwhelmingly way, so that if you're not a big sci-fi fan, I think you'd still enjoy it! There's adventure, pirates, lots of women, great characters and a smart main character. What else do I need to say? I recommend this novel highly!
This is the story of Elizabeth Barnabus, a detective, who detests the Patent Office for the role they played in the ruin of her family. In this novel, she must however learn to work with them when airplanes and ships start disappearing under a new menace that is unseen. Her friend Julia was in one of those airplanes - and now Elizabeth will do whatever it takes to find out if she is dead and what happened to her airplane. And for that, she must become a spy.
I love Elizabeth and Julia and their friendship is so nice to read! I devoured this novel in a few days and really loved it. Rod Duncan's writing style is very pleasant to read, descriptive but not overly much, and his characters are very unique! I won't go into the plot a lot not to spoil it, but it was very creative and I liked this novel even more than I liked the previous series. I'd say it's better to read The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire to get the context of Elizabeth's life and her relationship with Julia, with John Farthing, with the Patent Office, but I think it also works by itself.
This story takes place mostly in ships, which I thought was very interesting! The technologies used were intriguing but not described in an overwhelmingly way, so that if you're not a big sci-fi fan, I think you'd still enjoy it! There's adventure, pirates, lots of women, great characters and a smart main character. What else do I need to say? I recommend this novel highly!