Lady of Devices by Shelley Adina

[K Venne]

Lady of Devices - A Steampunk Adventure Novel by Shelley Adina

Magnificent Devices Book 1

This is a wonderful novel set in 1889 London about a very clever young lady named Claire Trevelyne.
It’s set in a time where is seems that good breeding is becoming less important in terms of status in society versus the intellects, or Bloods vs Wits. A big influence in the book is also the power of steam engines and trains.

Lady Claire comes from a family of good breeding but her mentor is Lady Churchill who is a Wit and is making great changes in society. Claire’s mother does not approve and is only set on making sure that Claire keeps up appearances in the appropriate social circles and on finding her a husband. However Claire wants to go to university and become an engineer despite what her mother wants.

A disaster strikes their family and Claire is forced to figure out things on her own and to look for a job. However she is met with more misfortune and things don’t go as she has planned. Claire is not one to sit around and wait for help mind you. She is a very strong character with a lot of gumption. Singlehandedly she takes charge of her life and its path.

This is an excellent story about a very strong female character with a very big heart. I’m not certain if things that are mentioned are historically correct and I don’t normally check up on facts after reading a book. However in this novel they mention a device that is used around the home that sounds quite a lot like our modern day iRobots. I had to do some research on that. Sadly I have not been able to turn up anything, but I didn’t dig too deep. It would be pretty neat to find out that they had something like that back in that time.

The story in this novel doesn’t seem to go where I thought it would. In the beginning you get the feeling that this may lead into a story about romance, but it goes in a completely different direction about adventure and science. And while I loved the story and it was a definite page turner, I do wish the author had injected a tad more romance. Mind you, I’m not sure who the intended audience is for these novels. I can see it being intended for young adults and mature audiences alike.

I’d rate this book a 3 out of 4 stars. I’d rate this book a 4 if the author had gone into more details or given us a few more chapters from James or Andrew’s perspective. Perhaps more details about them are given in later books, but I felt that we were teased a bit with their stories without getting much in return.