I spotted this at a local secondhand store, and grabbed it for a release copy. I've read this book a number of times. When it first came out, early in the wave of steampunk trends at the end of the 2000's and early 2010's, I was rather disappointed. It feels much more like a (rather bland) paranormal romance than steampunk. I only picked the series back up several years later, after hearing the later stories were a bit meatier. When I have revisited it with that genre in mind, I have enjoyed it a lot more. It still isn't the best in the series, but it works as an intro.

To be honest, I haven't read widely in Carriger's other series, but last year, I was seeing a lot of discussion around some pretty racist tropes and characters that she has used in some of them. I'd encountered a few that made me raise a brow, but wasn't well-read enough to see the pattern. This was then followed up by some pretty half-hearted apologies, which definitely impacted my impression of her as a person and my interest in trying her other series. If folks are curious, has some good summaries by folks who are familiar with a wider range of her work than I am.

Added to the Women Authors Bookbox

Chose this from the Women Authors Shrinking book box (along with four other books) because it looked interesting. Looking forward to reading it. Thanks emmejo for including in the box.