(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Feisty teenage thief Maeko and her maybe-more-than-friend Chaff have scraped out an existence in Victorian London’s gritty streets, but after a near-disastrous heist leads her to a mysterious clockwork cat and two dead bodies, she’s thrust into a murder mystery that may cost her everything she holds dear.
Her only allies are Chaff, the cat, and Ash, the son of the only murder suspect, who offers her enough money to finally get off the streets if she’ll help him find the real killer.
What starts as a simple search ultimately reveals a conspiracy stretching across the entire city. And as Maeko and Chaff discover feelings for each other neither was prepared to admit, she’s forced to choose whether she’ll stay with him or finally escape the life of a street rat. But with danger closing in around them, the only way any of them will get out of this alive is if all of them work together.

Well, what can I say about this without sounding completely dismissive? Cos the problem is that there is something in this novel that just failed to show itself...which is a shame, cos the premise sounded so cool...

The biggest problem I had was that, although billed as a YA steampunk novel, I am not sure it served either of those tags very well. This was probably aimed a little younger than what we generally consider YA - maybe Middle Grade would have been a better description? As for steampunk...well, setting it in Victorian England and mentioning the odd airship and having a clockwork cat does not make a steampunk novel. There was pretty much no world-building here...again, disappointing.

The mystery aspect of the story was better - it was what kept me reading, otherwise I would have given up after 40-50 pages. However, even this seemed to get lost in the repetitive nature of the story, with Maeko being arrested and locked in jail...then escaping...then getting locked up...then escaping...throw into that the constant search for the same people pretty much throughout the book, the mystery even got a bit tedious.

The characters of Maeko and Ash were the best part of the story - and that's why I am so disappointed. The author did a very good job giving these characters some very good traits but left them hidden for most of the story. Maeko's Japanese heritage and backstory were compelling (although a little more backstory wouldn't have hurt) and Ash's respect for Maeko, unlike the other boys in the city, was refreshing without being tacky.

Overall, this was a story that could have used just a little more thought and it could have been a very good novel...


Paul
ARH