Review: The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross

The Story

In 1897 England, sixteen-year-old Finley Jayne has no one except the "thing" inside her.When a young lord tries to take advantage of Finley, she fights back. And wins. But no normal Victorian girl has a darker side that makes her capable of knocking out a full-grown man with one punch...Only Griffin King sees the magical darkness inside her that says she's special, says she's one of them. The orphaned duke takes her in from the gaslit streets against the wishes of his band of misfits. Emily, who has her own special abilities and an unrequited love for Sam, who is part robot; and Jasper, an American cowboy with a shadowy secret.Griffin's investigating a criminal called The Machinist, the mastermind behind several recent crimes by automatons. Finley thinks she can help-and finally be a part of something, finally fit in. But The Machinist wants to tear Griff's little company of strays apart, and it isn't long before trust is tested on all sides. At least Finley knows whose side she's on, even if it seems no one believes her. - From Goodreads

My Thoughts:

The Good:
-The whole concept of the organites was pretty creative, although I'm not sure how I feel about Griffin's parents journeying to the center of the earth and finding them;
- Finley's dual personalities had a lot of potential. I really wanted to see some of her bad side make it through the merging process though. I guess all my anti-hero musing has bled over into my reading :)
- Jack Dandy was a pretty fun character.
- I liked that Finley and Sam didn't get along. So often in YA books, the MC is mostly universally loved and I felt this aspect added an element of conflict even if Sam is as bright as a brick wall.
- The different POV's were a good way of getting insight into the motivations of each of the characters.

The Bad:
- Character descriptions in this book really bugged me. Yes, I get it, Emily is a redhead and her hair is ropey (whatever that means) and Sam is big.
- Two sets of love triangles. No. Just no.
- Griffin bored me to tears. I really thought he would be more charming but he just came across as very self righteous and seriously, if my gargantuan best friend backhanded me and then tried to kill the girl I was in love with, he wouldn't be walking away with just a slap in the wrist.

*Side note: If I weren't so lazy I would have written my own plot summary because the goodreads one is a bit misleading. I mean Emily's unrequited love for Sam??? Where did they get that from?

Anyway, on the whole, I didn't mind this book. It wasn't one I fell head over heels for but still a fun read and I think I good lead in book for my steampunk foray.

The Rating:

7/10