The first book in this Trilogy gives the reader a firm foundation on the life of Kora/Roka Blackmore.  With a nice sprinkling of steampunk accents, I found my self alternating between enjoying the story of the main character and that of the automatas (and thinking of all the great ways I could use an AutoJennie!).

At times I found the dialogue a bit stilted but the richness of the story was able to carry me on and keep me reading. Also, I could have benefited from a little more background.  I read glimpses of how things worked but have a curious mind and would have appreciated a few more details and explanations.

As a whole, this is a strong story with enough intrigue to want me to continue with Book 2.

This Trilogy will be re-released in December with beautiful new covers.

For more about this author and all his books CLICK HERE!

SUMMARY

Edwardian Britain: 1910.

Kora Blackmore, thrown into Bedlam mental hospital by her father – Britain’s leading industrialist Sir Tantalus Blackmore – is one day visited by a mysterious gentleman, who gains her trust then makes off with her to his family home in Sheffield. But Kora is afflicted with a bizarre condition, that the hospital believes is a second soul – the girl Roka – somehow living inside her.

Roka however is much more feisty than Kora, and far less obliging. Soon she is caught up in street politics, disorder and protest – and all without Kora’s knowledge.

With the agents of Sir Tantalus closing in, Kora and Roka must survive in their new circumstances and with their friends uncover the sequence of events leading to the incarceration in Bedlam; for although Kora is an illegitimate nobody, it seems her upbringing was devised to meet an enigmatic and ghastly end…