Michelle D. Sonnier

While this story was in England it kept me interested, when in Ireland it kept me irritated.

I would like if the author had picked a spelling of Deirdre and stuck with it. While I do have a history degree, I haven't done a huge amount about Irish Famine History, but still Cottiers was the more common usage in Ireland rather than Cotars. Where were the relief schemes, the soup kitchens? Where was the religious tensions of the era? Souper is still a pejorative. And while there would have been superstition about witches, a lot of the reaction was to avoid or to isolate rather than attack. The whole Irish bit played like somewhere modern rather than people who still left out milk for the faeries and turned their coats inside out because they believed that the faeries were getting them. From a country where major roads can be moved around a tree, still, this didn't quite ring true and left an unpleasant taste in my mouth.

The clockwork birds were great, the learning how to deal with a new kind of magic was also great but people seemed to be interchangable and there were times when I didn't really feel a difference between several of them. A book I was able to put down easily.

Received this one from Early Reviewers.… (plus d'informations)

“The Clockwork Solution” is a great sequel to “The Clockwork Witch.” It answers a lot of nagging questions while raising a lot more. And that made me curious and excited to keep reading and discover what happens in response to those questions. It extends the both realistic and wonderfully fantastic world-building of the prequel. And, in doing so, it creates a fun magic-filled experience that also elicits a true conversation about society’s systemic problems and how hard they can be to solve, about the complexities and challenges of family, and about the excitement of romantic relationships. I have loved getting to know the characters and relate to them on a personal level. This is honestly one of my favorites and I think it will remain so for a long time.… (plus d'informations)

Arabella Leyden is the first ever technomancer, a witch who can work with mechanical things. After her investiture as a witch, she's sent to Ireland where witches are feared and reviled, to get her out of the way of assassins and maybe help out with solving the potato blight. There are family secrets coming to light. I found most of the characters annoying - the females are all hyper-emotional, the males shallow. I felt most of the character conflicts were manufactured to add drama, rather than arising out of their personalities. It didn't help that this is the second book in a series, and I haven't read the first. On the whole, not for me. An Early Reviewer book, received free in return for an honest review.… (plus d'informations)