Latest Read: The Girl with the Iron Touch

Here are the basics ...
The Girl with the Iron Touch (Steampunk Chronicles #3) by Kady Cross
Publication date: May 28, 2013
Publisher: Harlequin TEEN
Category: Young Adult - Steampunk/Fantasy
Source: Netgalley (Thank you!)

Summary: When mechanical genius Emily is kidnapped by rogue automatons, Finley Jayne and her fellow misfits fear the worst. What's left of their archenemy, The Machinist, hungers to be resurrected, and Emily must transplant his consciousness into one of his automatons—or forfeit her friends' lives. With Griffin being mysteriously tormented by the Aether, the young duke's sanity is close to the breaking point. Seeking help, Finley turns to Jack Dandy, but trusting the master criminal is as dangerous as controlling her dark side. Meanwhile, Sam is searching everywhere for Emily but the choice she must make will test them more than they could imagine. To save those she cares about, Emily must confront The Machinist's ultimate creation—an automaton more human than machine.  (Adapted goodreads.com)

My thoughts…

The good: Kady Cross' combination of steampunk, Victorian era, London and fantasy make for both an interesting and vivid world. Even though there were a couple times I struggled to grasp the concepts she introduced, I appreciated the creativity that went into the details.

The Girl with the Iron Touch picks up some time after The Girl in the Clockwork Collar left off and the group's struggles are far from over. There's Griffin who is being tormented by the Aether as his powers are growing more powerful and more uncontrollable with each passing day. Jasper is still grieving and off-balance since the death of his former love Mei. The only bright spots are Emily and Sam's blossoming relationship as well as Griffin and Finley's. That is until Emily is kidnapped by automatoms and their worst fears are realized - the Machinist is still at large and trying to create an army more powerful (and creepier) than they imagined.

I enjoy books that bring together a motley crew of characters that become both each other's friends and family, which is exactly the case with Finley, Griffin, Emily, Sam and Jasper. Even though in the previous two books Finley was the main character, this time Emily was given much more to shine as the story was often told from their two point-of-views. I've always liked Emily's character and I enjoyed getting to learn more about her in this book. She's smarter and stronger than anyone gives her credit for. I also enjoyed finally seeing the two relationships, Emily and Sam, but especially Griffin and Finley finally come to fruition. Seriously, it was about time for all of them.

(Major) reservations: When I read the previous two books, I was left with this completely underwhelmed feeling. The characters and setting are intriguing but something was just missing for me. And unfortunately, that's exactly how I felt with this book. I wanted to read it because knowing it would showcase Emily more peaked my interest but overall it still fell flat. I think some of the dialogue could've been better (some of the romantic declarations were a bit cheesy) and it never reached a point where I felt completely hooked or engaged by the plot.

Do I recommend?: This series just wasn't for me as much as I wanted to like it. However I can see why people do enjoy these books. There's a lot of action, a bit of a fantasy element and if you like steampunk fiction, it could be worth giving a shot.

Happy reading!