Review: Heart of Perdition by Selah March

Heart of Perdition by Selah March

2 out of 5 stars

Published by Carina Press
ARC received through Netgalley

Heart of Perdition is another steampunk novella published by Carina Press, but this one had a different feel to it than for example Photographs & Phantoms or Like Clockwork. It's a bit darker, more Gothic novel than mystery. There are ancient curses and spooky settings. Although it is a romance, it did felt a little bit lighter on romance than the average Carina Press novel.

I loved the idea of this book. I was kind of amazed by how complex of a story Ms March was building. There was a lot of intrigue and tension, and I started wondering how she would tie all the ends up in such a short story. This is where the low rating comes in - she doesn't tie all the ends up. She doesn't tie a single one of them. There is no redemption, no solution, no confrontation. Just when I think something interesting is about to happen, I see the last sentence. "...To be continued".

Which was terribly lame. It just felt like the author couldn't come op with a handy solution to figure everything out, so she just stamped on a "to be continued" so no one could get angry about it. I've contacted the nice people at Carina Press and they told me that the second part in the series is being currently written, and it will probably release in 2013.

I would still be interested to read the sequel to Heart of Perdition, because I did like the feel of the story. But as a story itself, this was a bit disappointing.

Blurb

As the nineteenth century draws to a close, James Weston, Earl of Falmouth, is dying along with it. Despite living in an age of airships and automatons, even London's finest physicians cannot cure the young man's ailing heart. His last hope lies in retrieving a powerful artifact from the remote island home of an eccentric scientist's daughter.

Elspeth Shaw prefers her solitary life to the tragic results that come from mixing in society. Elspeth is cursed: every mortal being who forms an attachment to her dies a horrible death. Yet when the doomed Lord Falmouth arrives in search of the very artifact that blights her, she hasn't the will to refuse. But the price for cheating death may be more than any human can pay...

Other reviews you might be interested in

• Review: A Treasure Worth Seeking by Sandra Brown (2.5/5 Stars)
• Review: Soulless by Gail Carriger (4.5/5 Stars)
• Review: The Debutante's Dilemma by Elyse Mady (3/5 Stars)
• Review: Incarceron by Catherine Fisher (4/5 Stars)

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