Armored Hearts

by Melissa Turner Lee and Pauline Creeden

[Danielle Ackley-McPhail]

I haven't run across a lot of steampunk that melds science with fantasy. Generally the focus is more one than the other, with the technology taking center stage beyond even the plot at times. This book is not such a one.

I was very impressed with the development of this story and the way the groundwork for key elements of the plot was set out neatly and unobtrusively, then left in the background until the appropriate time.

A distinctly character-driven story, Armored Hearts drew me in quickly and developed in such a way that as plot elements were revealed it was a true reveal, rather than something I had already recognized immediately when it was introduced. This is refreshing as so many time in other fiction I have read plot points end up coming across as if neon-lit, with the reader let to wonder when that particular element will come into play. Not so here. In Armored Hearts I very much appreciated the organic way that the story unfolded. I was not given the inevitable moment where my mind had time to wonder and try and puzzle out what I knew and what it's relevance was, the storyline kept me too engaged the entire time.

I found the plot twists very original and refreshing, the characters well drawn, and the historic feel comfortable, yet relaxed enough that I didn't feel disassociated from it.

This brings me to my one complaint: I had no sense of completion by the time the book had ended. It will sound odd, but the book both ended too abruptly (before we had a clear idea of where the next volume would take off) and continued too long (past the resolution of the immediate conflict in this volume). Basically the ending did not feel like it occurred in the proper place.

However, as I said, this was my only complaint. Armored Hearts drew me gladly in to its magical world and immersed me there.