The Girl in the Steel Corset: Review

Title: The Girl in the Steel Corset

Author: Kady Cross

Release Date: May 2011

Published By: Harlequin

Pages: 473

Goodreads Rating: 3.85 stars

Review: In 1867, Finley has a secret thing, a darkness inside her that surges forth with strength far beyond what her normal self has. Only Griffin King knows what she is - one of them. He takes her in to join him, Emily, and Sam to track down a criminal mastermind, the so-called Machinist. But as the Machinist tries to tear them apart, everyone's coming under question, and even if Finley knows what side she's on, not everyone believes her.

For some reason, I have some sort of aversion to steampunk fiction. I really don't know why because the basic concept certainly intrigues me, but all my forays into the genre never ended very well. Still, I decided to give THE GIRL IN THE STEEL CORSET a try, and I was pleasantly surprised. The plot was well-crafted to make a gripping story that effortlessly weaves several threads together, and I found myself wrapped up in the fast-paced first half of the book.

Unfortunately, from there I found both the pace and my interest waning. It wasn't so much that it got slower that made me like it less but more that I couldn't connect to the characters very well. It wasn't that any of them were particularly unlikable, but I never really cared for Finley, Griffin, or any of the others. Once the plot started dragging a bit, I had nothing to keep me interested, and I started counting down the pages (or rather, percent as I was using my Kindle) until it ended.

THE GIRL IN THE STEEL CORSET was better than I expected, and it starts off with a fast pace and intriguing storyline. From there, the pace dropped off a bit and I didn't enjoy it as much, but I still basically liked it. Overall, this book just wasn't much for me, but I would still definitely recommend it to anyone who loves steampunk or wants to try out a book in the genre.


I received a free copy of this book from the publisher for review. This in no way affected my review.