This one immediately pulled me in – the writing style is punchy and readable and I really enjoyed Amunet. She is at once entitled and vulnerable, clever and very unworldly with an upbringing you wouldn’t wish on a dog, along with a burning drive to track down her mother, thanks to the person in her head guiding her. Harry has a parallel life in many ways, given he also lost his mother early in his life, but whereas Amunet’s guide and mentor is a voice in her head, Harry’s role model is his own father.

But what Harkess manages to do is depict two detailed, interesting characters while it is busy kicking off around them – because this book hits the ground running and wherever Amunet goes, violence and mayhem follows. But this book really bounces to life when she reaches London – a Victorian-type setting but with some important differences. There are all sorts of nice steampunk touches that garnish this adventure action novel.

Alongside Amunet and Harry, there is also a rich cast of characters who weave through the story – some of them unexpectedly popping up again when I had thought we’d seen the last of them. Harkess is clearly an experienced, able writer who manages to keep the momentum for this interesting alternate historical genre mash-up plunging forward without losing character focus or skimping on the vivid backdrop – which is a whole lot harder to achieve than Harkess makes it look.

While the book is concluded entirely satisfactorily, I got to the end and immediately looked around to see if there is likely to be a sequel as I would welcome the chance to revisit this beguiling world. This one comes recommended, particularly for steampunk/alternate history fans.
8/10

Had I known beforehand that this book was set in some sort of steampunk world, I probably would've taken a pass on it. I never found this genre to be particularly intriguing, and I still don't, but I'm glad I read it anyway.

Amunet was an original and gorgeously written story full of mysteries, secrets and twists, and it kept me guessing right up until the end.

Granted, it did take me some time getting used to: the unfamiliar world building (that had me very, very confused for a while until I figured out why a 19th century like London would have auto cabs and surveillance cameras), Amunet's aloof and haughty personality for the first half of the book, and not having a clue as to what was going on.
But, once I managed to let loose of my prejudices, the story and, to a great extent, Harkess' exceptional writing finally managed to suck me in.

One thing I never know if it's good or bad though, is ending up more intrigued by the secondary characters than by the leads, which is what happened here. Fox, Keene, Simmons, all those interesting, morally ambiguous characters you just never seem to be able to figure out.

So while not loving Amunet, I certainly enjoyed reading it, and I would recommend it to anyone who thinks the premise sounds appealing.