The Golden Spider: A Historical Fantasy Romance (The Elemental Steampunk Chronicles, #1)

by Anne Renwick

• ISBN10: 0997747501
• ISBN13: 9780997747508
• Publish Date: 8 August 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Anne Renwick
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 464
• Language: English

Reviews

[kimbacaffeinate]

While Lady Amanda is attending medical school after successfully blackmailing her father the Duke, all of London is watching the papers regarding serial murders of gypsies and kraken swarms in the River Thames.

Amanda lives in an alternate steampunk London and is quite skilled as a self-taught scientist. She has even created a spider that if successful may help her brother walk again. She is eager for some assistance or direction from the esteemed Lord Thornton, a prominent neurobiologist. He lectures at the college she has selected.

Lord Thornton hates the lecture hall, but it allows him cover as he works for the Crown. A leg injury is complicating their field investigations and they are no closer to catching the gypsy killer when an autopsy links Amanda’s spider to the bodies.

From, their sizzling chemistry to their collection of brilliant minds I found myself completely caught up in this time sensitive whodunit. Gadgets, automations and London itself all proved delightful.

I forgot how much I love steampunk fiction and The Golden Spider, the first in the Elemental Web Chronicles fed my inner nerd while provided a complex murder investigation and delicious swoon-worthy romance.

Henrietta Meire narrated, and I quite enjoyed her accents, pacing and tones. She helped enhance the story infusing the back-and-forth tension between Thornton and Amanda.

If you’ve never read steampunk, but love historical romances and murder-mysteries this is the perfect story/series to try it. It delivered a romance with sizzling chemistry, a hero who will surely fall and a feisty, strong and clever heroine. Add in some fun sidekicks a Duke with his hands full and wisdom beyond his years the story had all the elements to provide an addictive and entertaining listen. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer

This was great. I think I thought it was going to be more romance focused but the romance is pretty slow burn and the relationship doesn't really happen until the last quarter. Instead there's a whole plot with spies and theft and murders and it was brilliant. I loved Amanda. She was intelligent and fiesty and fashionable. The relationship between her and Thornton is a real partnership - they both are intelligent in their own rights and support one another to achieve their goals. It was nice to see. The mystery was kind of confusing. I don't know if I'm just particularly slow today or if it was a bit of a mess - but I felt a bit lost at some points of who the evil mastermind was. Either way the reveal was both expected and unexpected if that makes any sense. I liked all the science and enjoyed the steampunk setting. I would've liked to see more development of the secondary characters - especially when the length of the novel is taken into account - but overall I really enjoyed this and will definitely be reading the next one.