The Clockwork Scarab (Stoker and Holmes)

by Colleen Gleason

Evaline Stoker and Mina Holmes never meant to get into the family business. But when you're the sister of Bram and the niece of Sherlock, vampire hunting and mystery solving are in your blood, so to speak. And when two young society girls disappear-one dead, one missing-there's no one more qualified to investigate. Now fierce Evaline and logical Mina must resolve their rivalry, navigate the advances of not just one but three mysterious gentlemen, and solve a murder with only one clue: a strange Egyptian scarab. The pressure is on and the stakes are high-if Stoker and Holmes don't figure out why London's finest sixteen-year-old women are in danger, they'll become the next victims.

• ISBN10: 145212986X
• ISBN13: 9781452129860
• Publish Date: 17 September 2013
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Chronicle Books (CA)
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 361
• Language: English

Reviews

[wyvernfriend]

I did want to like this book but I felt that there was a lot pushed into the story some of which felt somewhat forced.

And then I lost the suspension of disbelief when on page 242 we have this eyebrow exercising sequence:
".. I smelled the essence of bitter almond..."
"Cyanide."
... "yes I suspect it was arsenic."

Cyanide and Arsenic are not the same thing, nor have they ever been known by the same name, cyanide is the one that smells of bitter almonds. This sequence bounced my disbelief to critical and somewhat ruined my enjoyment of the book.

Yes, the gadgets were funny, and the peril of electricity making it illegal was funny too and a good hook for creating an electricity dependent world (though how our timetraveller with an iPhone expects to be able to plug a modern gadget into any power system of the period when it's a unreliable source, even looking back from our time. The modern 3-pin UK plug dates from 1946, and good luck trying to explain why your iPhone blew up in the past! (see this for plug info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_power_plugs_and_sockets - what? I'm a geek)

Also, why didn't Irene Adler get the girls to get to know each other better, teams need team building and help with planning. The two of these girls get themselves into situations that could both ruin them or get themselves in harms way and don't appear to think that maybe, just maybe, they could communicate occasionally with someone else.

Yes, I had frustrations, mostly because I'm convinced there was a better book hidden under this book, one with a better plot and possibly without the time-traveller. Using Bram Stoker's sister, Evaline Stoker - a vampire hunter, something like Buffy, with the added strength and powers of sensing vampires and Sherlock Holmes' Niece - Mina Holmes, as characters is interesting and there were moments where I was very interested in what was going on but there were also times I wanted to shake the characters and make them realise that reporting it all would be more important and appearing clever, particularly when girls their age are dying and they could be next.

The romances were interesting but, again, our time traveller felt tacked in as a source of conflict. He seemed to be the maguffin to create tension and act as deus ex machina for the plot.

Readable but there were moments I groaned because of predictability. Somewhat wasted potential.

[wcs53]

I was really surprised by The Clockwork Scarab and didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. When I saw that the two main characters in the book were Sherlock Holmes' niece and Bram Stoker's half-sister I was intrigued enough to apply for an ARC of it, which I duly received from LibraryThing.

The story is set in an alternative Steampunk version of Victorian London. I was a bit worried that it might end up too vampire-ish, but that didn't happen. A little time-travel, along with some Egyptian mythology, added to what is a good start to what looks like becoming a decent series.

The plot wasn't too obvious and the story moved along at a decent pace. The two heroines, who are so very different from each other, were forced to work together, but by the end of the book a friendship was beginning to form, which will be a good basis for the stories that will (hopefully) follow.

I'm a big fan of the Sherlock Holmes stories and was glad to see that Miss Holmes in this story had elements of him in her character. Miss Stoker is a very different kind of character, but the two young ladies style and characteristics complimented each other fairly well. I enjoyed the Steampunk elements and the 21st century character stuck in the 19th century, because of an unfortunate case of time-travel, added some humorous moments as well, especially with his smart phone.

I haven't read anything else by Colleen Gleason before, so I'm not able to compare this book with her other writings, which seem to be quite popular. Book two of this series is scheduled for the fall of next year and I look forward to reading that one as well. This has the elements of being a popular series, and I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys Steampunk and/or Sherlock Holmes.

[limabean74]

This is my first book from Colleen Gleason and my first Steampunk style read, I am now a fan of both.

Evalina Stoker and Alvermina Holmes are complete opposites; the only thing they have in common is they are both related to some pretty famous men.

Evalina Stoker is the sister of Bram Stoker. She is very popular and a socialite, invited to all the parties but she has a secret that only her brother knows she is a 17 year old badass Vampire Hunter by Heritage with Superhuman strength.

Alvermina (Mina) Holmes is the niece of Sherlock Holmes. She is very observant and prefers clockworks and modern mechanisms. She is extremely smart and tends to spend a lot of her time by herself. For some reason I really liked Mina I loved how quirky she was and her manner of speaking. I hate to pick favorite but I really enjoyed reading the book in Mina's POV.

The story takes place in 1889 London; both girls receive a little from a mysterious person to meet at the British museum. They are asked to help find who is responsible for the death of High Society Girls. Each girl is found with an Egyptian Scarab by her bodies and a strange person named the Ankh seems to be behind it. Who is the Ankh and can the girls put their differences aside to help find the killer? Will they be able to find them in enough time prevent anyone else from dying?

There was three guys in this book; Pix, Dylan and Inspector Grayling. Evalina and Pix has great chemistry I loved reading about the both of them together, they really played off of each other great. Mina and Inspector Grayling also had great chemistry I actually thought it was rather funny how she was so snarky with him. I didn't feel Dylan got enough page time. I am hoping to learn more about him in the next book.

I loved the mystery, history, steampunk, romance and even a bit of time travel.

I have to recommend this book. It did leave me with a lot of questions but that makes me more eager to read the next one when it comes out. Even if you are a first time reader of steampunk or love it this is a fantastic read.

I gave The Clockwork Scarab 4/5 stars because of its original story, awesome writing style and fantastic characters you grow to love.

Looking forward to reading more from Colleen Gleason and really looking forward to the next book :)

See the trailer on my blog love2readalways.blogspot.com