This is a pretty cool premise and Elsa is black which is also pretty cool. Elsa can travel through dimensions with a doorknob, I think, and she travels to Paris, I think, to find an important person murdered and his house on fire. This leaves Elsa with no leads so she finds her mother’s mentor to help. He takes her to Italy to a couple who is in an Order and they live in a house full of orphans who are also mad scientist-special teens. Of course there’s a hot guy and a busy body girl but Elsa just wants to be left alone (eye roll). Of course Elsa finds out she’s more special than the special ones, I won’t say what, but this catches the eye of the hot guy which makes the busy body jealous.

Remember this is steampunk in a 19th century Italy and at one point, Elsa and the hot guy travel by hansom cab spider and Elsa is insecure because people are looking at her because she’s brown but no one does a double take at the huge spider carrying people? This book turned into an adventure story with Elsa, the hot guy, the busy body, and some other dude and of course they know all kinds of history that’s important to the plot and begins to info dump everything-super convenient. The next section is a spoilery rant so highlight it if you want to see it. So mid way through we find out about some random guy named Gabraldi or something like that. He’s a real Italian historical figure. Anyway, his name is suddently on everyone’s tongue and of course he’s the bad guy and we know that the hot guy’s father and brother were killed but SURPRISE, his father is the badee. This happened so quickly, I shouted my disgust out loud-COME ON!There was no set up or foreshadowing and it just came out of left field.

Mixed views on this one. I give it a solid 4 stars! The concept is fascinating, and I quite liked the characters. The execution wasn't quite my cup of tea, BUT that's purely a stylistic choice. It will work for others! Put this in the hand of readers who enjoy a good escape. I'll be eagerly awaiting book two!

One of my least favorite things in the world is when I read a book that I self-hyped so much in my mind and then the actual product monumentally disappoints.

And <i>Ink, Iron, and Glass</i> is the PERFECT example.

What makes it worse is that this book has the kind of concept that could work on pretty much <b>any medium</b>. A steampunk novel where the main character is a character in a world that became sentient?? And she creates worlds but then her world gets destroyed and she’s stuck in 19th Century Europe and has to try and find her way back?? I would read this book, go see this movie, binge-watch this TV show, and play this video game Every. Single. Time.

But, alas. This book is just. Bad.

First off, these Victorian Europe characters were born sounding like they were born in the 90s. The 1990s. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t have noticed if they hadn’t switched from sounding modern to sounding like actual legitimate characters from a historical fiction novel back to modern so many times. It was sooo choppily written and extremely jarring and I feel like my mind and my ears have to sleep for a thousand years to get the sound of this dialogue out of my brain.

Also this book has highkey one of the most annoying cases of instalove I have ever read in a novel and ohhh my goshhh I want to die just thinking about it. I’m talking full on <i>”The boy looked up, and for a second their gazes locked,”</i> and I mean honestly I’m just so sick of this crap loll. <blockquote><i>”He gave her an annoyed look, which did nothing to lessen the perfect angle of his features.”</i></blockquote> I can’t wait for death

This book also did a whole lot of telling and not showing. It made the exposition almost as choppy as the dialogue.

Okay – and here’s the thing. I feel weird and reluctant calling out a steampunk/alt-history novel for historical inaccuracies, but here’s the thing. Usually in steampunk, the technology that is incorporated is some new invention, or it’s modern-day technologies with some sort of anachronistic twist, but this book just took random, plain ol’ modern day inventions without any twist and shoves them into the story (e.g. radial saws and flamethrowers). And sure, there’s some pretty basic and two-dimensional robots and a sentient household, but instead of invoking the wonder and fangirling that steampunk novels usually do in me, I was just bored. The world-building and technological aspects are just weak.

Another thing about the historical inaccuracies – a lot of this book (or, at least, a lot of the part that I read), takes place in Sardinia, and there is absolutely no mention of Sardo, the Sardinian Language. Though many citizens spoke Italian at the time, Sardo was still a main language and the idea that there is absolutely no mention of it when de Vries and Elsa arrive in Sardinia and Elsa is learning Italian seems less like a minor alternate-history decision and more like weak writing. Literally all you have to do is google “what language do they speak in Sardinia.” It’s not that hard to avoid linguistic errors like this.

Also, and by no means is this a Frozen knockoff, but I Legitimately Cannot Physically Read the name Elsa without thinking of Idina Menzel hiding out in an ice castle.

Plus, and this definitely isn’t a Rick Riordan knockoff, but when I hear of a character named Leo who has curly hair and is a mechanic I am incapable of picturing anyone else besides Leo Valdez. The Leo in this book is Leo Valdez now.

So, bottom line is I would probably skip this one unless you are REALLY into steampunk and will read even the crappy steampunk. This was not a good fantasy novel and it did not fill my fantasy craving. I’m disappointed.

Oh, if only "ink" weren't in the title: the creation of a world by writing it can only draw comparison to Funke's Inkheart. And this doesn't deserve that comparison because it's not close to being the same thing. But then, there are bits of Narnia (the World Between the Worlds) and other novels inside.

The world that Clare has created here is a great mix of European steampunk and what might be called pre-industrial, with call outs to writers and events that teens may (I hope) be interested in seeking more information about. Example? Garibaldi's unification of Italy. Which was an interesting choice of focal point, IMVHO, because Italy and that history is not a common setting for us (France and Amsterdam also play fleeting roles).

How this plays out, and what happens in the "real" world that Elsa comes from (although I suspect a love triangle in the next book, which... really hoping not) I can't wait to read.

Such an interesting concept. Totally something I'd recommend to my students.

An intriguing premise with a somewhat slow start, Clare's Ink, Iron, and Glass weaves an interesting tale with the concept of writing reality. The main character, Elsa, is not human, scripted into existed through the abilities of a scriptologist. A scriptologist herself, she has the ability to write things into existence. After her mom is captured, she has to make new friends along the way and learn to write her own future. The main character was headstrong and determined, but at times seemed kind of 2 dimensional. Thankfully the book lacked the typical teen love triangle, but the action started much later into the book which made the early chapters drag.

An interesting start to a series. I may or may not seek out the sequel.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a digital ARC of "Ink, Iron, and Glass" by Gwendolyn Clare. After reading the first chapter I immediately put it down as one of the must haves for the high school library where I work. The world building is fantastic and the writing is lush. I am absolutely loving the title and the cover. There is an "Alice in Wonderland" quality that I am constantly searching for. This book will be a favorite for those who read YA fantasy.

This is an original and exciting read! I love the idea of scripting a world and the author does a great job at blending the scripted with the real world. The characters are engaging and the worlds building is wonderful.

I wasn't too sure what to expect once I got into the story, but I found myself quite drawn in by the description of the book. Initially I was a little confused, but the world building redeems itself, and you find yourself more acquainted with this quirky cast of characters. Once you think you're on a comfy, safe, scientific and wonderfully steampunk ride - get ready for enough twists to make your head spin, but makes the ride all the more remarkable.

For a teen/young adult book I found this first novel in the series to be pretty good. The plot and story itself is just messed up enough to make you keep reading, but not too complicated to put you off following along with all the intricacies of a fabled universe where worlds can be written into books by scriptologists, or "mad" people. Elsa is a strong character and her friends are well written and intelligent, something you don't always come across in this genre. I can't wait for the second in the series, as we follow Elsa's quest for the edit book and Leo.