Review: Like Clockwork by Bonnie Dee

Like Clockwork by Bonnie Dee

4 out of 5 stars

Published by Carina Press
137 pages

This is the first book I have read on my shiny new Kindle! Yay!

Okay, on topic now. I picked this novella up because it was available for free for a while, and I quite liked the cover. I'm still new to the steampunk genre, but so far the steampunk books I read were pretty awesome, so I started this book full of good hope.

In Like Clockwork, the automatons are taking over the jobs of the lower classes, resulting in massive unemployment. Victoria, the inventor of the synthetic skin that makes the automatons look so human, finds herself kidnapped by an organisation called The Brotherhood, a group that is determined to give all jobs back to humans. What her kidnapper didn't know is that Victoria regrets her own invention too...

I wasn't disappointed. This was a fun quick read, and as it's not a full length novel, I wasn't expecting a full length plot either. In a novel there could have been more attention to the background of the story, and the surroundings in which our main characters live, but with the glimpse we get of this world, I was quite satisfied. There are basically three plot lines, that all three tie up nicely by the end of the book.

What I didn't really get was the whole kidnapped falling in love with the kidnapper. It was explained properly throughout the book, but still I would be pretty upset with someone that drugged me and than carried me into an underground chamber. Doesn't seem romantic to me.

I really liked the characters, especially Victoria. I guess that could be my feminist side cheering for the female scientist in a male dominated field. But I also thought her to be very brave to not be stopped by the difference in social standing between her and her true love. Particularly in a time like the Victorian era, where appearance is more important than anything else.

This book has gotten so many bad reviews, but I couldn't find any obvious flaws in its story. I would love to see this author write a full length novel in this same world; I'd definitely read that.

Blurb

Victoria's work with automatons has gained her renown and changed the face of London. But her concern that the clockworks are taking too many jobs away from humans, creating social unrest, is ignored. Given the ugly mood of the underclass, she fears more outbreaks of violence similar to the murder spree of the notorious Southwark Slasher.

Dash, unemployed thanks to the clockworks, has pledged fealty to The Brotherhood, a group determined to bring about the downfall of the automatons by any means necessary. His plan to kidnap Victoria goes awry when the unorthodox scientist pledges her assistance to their cause.

Despite their opposite social classes, a bond grows between them, and Victoria begins to feel emotions she never expected for the passionate Dash. But when the Slasher strikes close to home, Dash and Victoria realize that the boundaries of polite society are far from the only threat to their happiness...