Chronicles of Steele: Raven (Review)

Hi there!

Title: Chronicles of Steele: Raven (Chronicles of Steele #1)
Author:  Pauline Creeden
Publisher:  AltWit Press
Published Date:  28th October 2014
Rating: 4 Stars

*Thank you to the ebooks4review for the review copy*

Synopsis: Human life has value.
The poor living in the gutter are as valuable as the rich living in a manor.
The scoundrel is no less valuable than the saint.
Because of this, every life a reaper takes must be redeemed.

Raven has lived by this first tenet since she was trained by her father to become a reaper. But since his death, she’s been spending years redeeming the lives she’s taken. By her count, she’s even and it’s time for that life to end. If she settles down and becomes a wife, she might just feel human again. But on the way to the life she thinks she wants, the baron of New Haven asks her to complete a task which she cannot ignore… Just when Raven decides to give up on her life as an assassin, she’s pulled right back in.

Review: This was my first steampunk novel. Ever since hearing about the genre I knew it was going to be one I liked. And of course, in this novel I did as well!

This book was about reapers. People who kill others as part of their job. But for every life they take, they need to save another to stay in balance with themselves and not lose who they are. I haven’t read many books that include reapers in them at all yet, and I will say that this was a very unique way to portray them. They weren’t exactly anything but human – but their training almost seems to set them apart from the humans completely. I loved it!

The novel wasn’t slow paced, but there were an awful lot of details in there. In fact, as I was reading in some cases I wished the novel was a little shorter so that I wouldn’t feel like I was reading so many pointless details.

But the romance was a slow and steady one, and that I loved! No insta-love, no silly love triangles. Just Raven trying to do her job and being a little bit distracted by a certain person who is sent to stop her from doing her job. Yes, perfect timing to fall in love. What’s best about it though is that Raven doesn’t even recognise the feelings she feels throughout the novel. All she wants to do was to be focused on her task. I loved her determination, her edge and how she was caring as well. Raven was an ideal character to me. She was feminine, but independent.

 

Isn't everything steampunk just so awesome?

I liked the steampunk in this. It was used well. At the beginning some steampunk-ish words were thrown my way which I obviously didn’t recognise because I haven’t tried books like this before. I got confused by the wording because there aren’t really any explanations, but soon enough you understand. It just took a little time, and a few pages.

I also really loved Grant’s character. Grant and Colton were the perfect gentlemen throughout this when they were being themselves. I know lots of readers fall for the bad boys or whatever, but I would have a gentleman instead any day…

The plot here was decent. There were enough twists to keep me eagerly reading. I liked how the alliances and who and was and wasn’t an enemy shifted at times. It always made me curious who Raven could trust and who she couldn’t.

The ending to the book was good, but I wanted a bit more closure! Especially on the romance part *pouts* But alas, there is going to be a book two! I look forward to reading that and seeing the story from Darius’s point of view in the future.

Olivia’s Question: Do you like the steampunk genre?

Olivia-Savannah x