I really love steampunk stories and badass fierce females in lit. When I read the blurb for this, I was really surprised and impressed because it sounded INCREDIBLE. It had charm, intrigue and it felt different.

But it was alright.

I think my favourite thing about this book was the world inside the machine. It was so...wonderfully detailed and executed. It brought it to life. It was different and new and I loved it!

The characters, however, left much to be desired. I didn't particularly enjoy reading Berd because I found she often made silly decisions and felt like she was just...trying a bit too hard to fit in. Charles was all over the place, leaving me wondering which personality he would don the next time he came into the scene. It was difficult to connect with him because he was so disjointed for most of it, and I also felt that his 'attractiveness' was the only trait he held, which is sad. I don't really enjoy reading stories where a character's looks is their personality.
Their romance was pretty instant. I'm not opposed to insta-love, but it wasn't executed well enough for me to consider it.

The story felt as disjointed as the characters. I found it all inconsistent and all over the place. Which is a shame because I really wanted to enjoy this book.

I love steampunk romance! The premise of falling in love with a ghost stuck in a machine is wild! I enjoyed seeing Elizabeth grow and the world that is built!

Thank you netgalley for providing this ARC for an unbiased review!

IN SUMMARY: I absolutely went in expecting to love a steampunk adventure with a pinch of technology and romance. THE GHOST ENGINE opens strongly, with a feisty heroine and a fun premise, but unfortunately fails in execution with forced romance, lifeless world-building and slow prose.

MY THOUGHTS:

DNF at 40%. The love interest, Charles, has no consistent character traits. One moment he is aloof and hostile, the next he swoons and swaggers. His personality has some leeway for in-story reasons, but the flip-flop makes it difficult to connect with his character. I couldn’t root for him when his only stable trait was his supposed hotness.

It’s equally difficult to care when his and the protagonist’s romance springs up fully-formed when they’ve known each other for less than a day. It’s fine to find him handsome, but them suddenly mooning over each other killed off my appreciation for Berd’s character, and any connection I may have had to Charles completely.

The world-building of the Engine is confusing and not at all concrete. The descriptions feel hollow and lifeless. It was so hard to imagine what the landscape looks like. Is it supposed to be a city? A collection of metals? A forest? Also, why is the Engine attacking them? How did Berd get sucked into the Engine? She never asks the obvious questions, and because nothing is explained, there’s no urgency, and the stakes feel too low to fear for the protagonist.

Some decisions the protagonist makes are utterly nonsensical; at one point, she asks the love interest not to take in the Engine’s energy as if she knows best, as if she’s lived in the Engine for a whole year like he has. Though the quirky prose style was fitting for the setting, the writing itself was too slow, wallowing and convoluted and focused on the wrong details, and especially in action scenes, it ruined the momentum and excitement.

Even some of the world-building is absurd, and not in an endearing way. For example, the protagonist and love interest are forced to perform CPR on a bunch of mutant insects for power. Enough said.

WILL I READ MORE BY THIS AUTHOR? Probably not. I'm so disappointed because I really want to read a good steampunk book.

The Ghost Engine is an imaginative take on the history of the first computer. Lady Elizabeth Ada Lovelace wants only to vindicate her late grandmother and understand the workings of the Difference and Analytical machines developed by Charles Babbage. When the one called the "Ghost Engine" becomes available at auction, Lady Elizabeth, or Berd, uses the last of her allowance to purchase it. Not only does Berd discover the missing the notebook of Charles Babbage Fotheringay, she discovers the key to making the engine work and the where Charles has been for the last year.
The world inside the machine was absolutely amazing and fantastical. I loved the world building and how the landscape inside the machine changed and moved. What was frustrating was the character of Berd and her constant ranting about equality for women followed by her inability to speak because she was an inch too close to Charles. I tried to keep the time period in mind when reading but I found her character to be very frustrating and inconsistent. Some of the plot points also felt very convenient-like the world changed to fit the story instead of the other way around. Overall, it was a fun book.

E-Arc recieved from Net Galley and Bare Bear Media.

Ghost Engine is a retelling based loosely on the life of Ada Lovelace (computer Programmer)' grand daughter. Includes mention of true historic events of Charles Babbage's involvement and Ada Lovelace, along with their partnership in creating the first ever computer and it's programming.

The events of this book takes place shortly after Ada Lovelace's painful demise, and our MC Elizabeth 'Berd' is all too set on carrying on her grandmother's legacy of retrieving the Ghost Engine and continue programming work.

However whilst getting the engine to work things don't go as expected...she instead ends upbeing sucked into the engine and meeting the former owner of the engine...reported dead an year ago.

--
The world building is very descriptive and quite wonderful to make the interior of a computer something that of Narnia.
(I used to play with old computer parts as a kid, as a result I could picture the world here quite accurately)
I found the pacing quite slow and tedious, I was hooked into plot on and off, since some of the events of the story were drawn out for no reason.
Either condensing the details or splitting it into 2 books would make this story less heavy to read and more enjoyable.

The MC is very head strong, perverse on having women's equal rights and easily ruffled at mention of any suggestion of being the weaker sex, that being said she's portrayed as quite an intelligent character with enough knowledge on computers to understand the owrld she was in now...but at times she'd be so blinded by the fact that she's a lady and the world is unjust we would get just glimpses of her geniosity.

I found the MCs partner in crime Charles most likeable amongst all of them, he was given the page time for us to truly discover his predicament and geniosity of his work and also...ofcourse his attachments and feelings.
He was in some ways just like every other YA good guy character with added dose of being a computer programmer in the making.

Our antagonist...was really something unexpected but a pleasant surprise. He turned out to be very clever character often blurring the lines between good and evil.

The story ends in in a grey area situation with a open ended but satisfying ending.

What a wonderful novel! I loved The Ghost Engine by Theresa Fuller! The world building was magnificent, and so were the characters and plot! Amazing book.

Seventeen-year-old, Lady Elizabeth Ada Lovelace sneaks into an auction, in disguise of course, and bids to win the Ghost Machine. While attempting to get it functional, she is sucked into a whole new world, where she finds the handsome ghost in the machine, along with his quickly-becoming-sentient computer counterpart. Time is running out and she must escape before the engine stops. Danger lurks each twist in the track. Will they make it out in time?

This is an adventurous foray into the depths of technology. The content is original. Our heroine is intelligent, tech savvy, and independent. This book has wonderful world building, leaving you with a perfect visual of the city and inhabitants inside the machine. I enjoyed this immensely. However, I got a bit bored about 3/4 of the way through as the story got a bit redundant for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review!