Rabid Reads

Reviewed by: Rabid Reads

From the very first page of Kiss of Steel I was swept away by Bec McMaster’s lovely writing style; her three dimensional characters, stunning dialogues and surreal universe are so brilliantly executed that I’m giving this book a 5+ star rating.

This is a story about vampires but McMaster does such a brilliant job of claiming them as her own that they almost felt new again. There are three different subgroups to the vamps in her lore and I really enjoyed the way that we get glimpses into each of their lifestyles. They live in a tiered society so life’s very different in the rookeries compared to the Echelon. The amount of detail that Bec put into this book is staggering; her vampires don’t even feed like typical blood suckers! The minutia is evident in her world building as well; I loved stepping into McMaster’s London Steampunk universe! I lost myself for hours in her descriptions of the gritty city streets and feminine petticoats.

At first I wasn’t a fan of Blade but he quickly grew on me once he started to open up to Honoria. I loved his constant inner struggle with his Blue Blood half; it added an element of vulnerability to his otherwise tough guy exterior. Blade’s scary as hell not because he’s a straight up badass but because he’s barely holding on to the reigns of his sanity! His dialogues were some of the most entertaining parts of this book; McMaster does a phenomenal job of portraying his street accent. I think this would make a great audiobook with the right narrator!

Honoria’s side of the story is an emotional upwards battle from page one. Fallen from her privileged life, she finds herself barely making ends meet and desperate times call for desperate measures. Blade is her absolute last resort but as her situation becomes direr she’s forced deeper into the master of the rookeries dept. Just when you think that Honoria can’t possibly get knocked down again, she does. I really felt for her and by the end of this book I was so happy that she had Blade looking out for her. Miss Todd’s growth as a character is remarkable; I especially enjoyed watching her realize that some of her founding principles were wrong. It’s not easy to change the way you think but love is a powerful thing.

The ending is HEA perfection; Blade saves Honoria and she saves him in return. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! Kiss of Steel is steampunk at its best; I’ll definitely be buying Heart of Iron when it hits shelves tomorrow!

*I want to thank Amber I. from Awesomesauce Book Club for another stellar recommendation! She’s 2-for-2 so far!