This young adult steampunk book is the latest in a series
and we start in 1897 with a submersible under the river
Thames being attacked by a Kraken. The tentacled creature
smashes the vessel and tries to consume the crew, but
Griffin, an experimenter, manages to produce an aether
bubble to capture it until the Royal Society can arrive.
Emily, captain of the submersible, is none too pleased with
developments, but she's alive. Familiar with automaton
horses and other machines, the watchers are convinced that
Griffin's ability to produce the aether bubble is
mechanical in origin, when in fact it is produced by mind
control.
Girls properly wear corsets in the intriguing tale, GIRL
WITH THE IRON TOUCH, where characters from America, Ireland
and the English aristocracy mingle with Cockneys from
Whitechapel. An automaton girl is made, partway between
human and metal, and young Emily is kidnapped because of
her talents with metal. Previously, we are told, a
character called the Machinist created an automaton to
replicate Queen Victoria. What skullduggery is under way
this time?
I liked the contrast between expensive Mayfair, where well-
dressed residents drive steam-carriages down the clean
streets, and Whitechapel, grey and smoky, where residents
wear dark colours to hide the dirt and drive real, thin
horses and carts to carry fruit they cannot afford to eat.
The word robot having been introduced later from a Czech
word meaning worker, the mechanical beings in this series
are referred to generally as metals. The young people
have to come to terms with not only their own abilities and
their enemies' plots, but also their attractions to each
other, pushing them into stronger relationships.
I felt that this was something of a Fantastic Four set in
a steampunk era, because of the mingling of paranormal
abilities, and Kady Cross is definitely appealing to young
adults who want stories that are out of the ordinary. THE
GIRL WITH THE IRON TOUCH would be better read after its
predecessors but could be taken as a standalone, especially
if you have read other steampunk.
When mechanical genius Emily is kidnapped by rogue
automatons, Finley Jayne and her fellow misfits fear the
worst. What's left of their archenemy, The Machinist,
hungers to be resurrected, and Emily must transplant his
consciousness into one of his automatons—or forfeit her
friends' lives.
With Griffin being mysteriously tormented by the Aether, the
young duke's sanity is close to the breaking point. Seeking
help, Finley turns to Jack Dandy, but trusting the master
criminal is as dangerous as controlling her dark side. When
Jack kisses her, Finley must finally confront her true
feelings for him…and for Griffin.
Meanwhile, Sam is searching everywhere for Emily, from
Whitechapel's desolate alleyways to Mayfair's elegant
mansions. He would walk into hell for her, but the choice
she must make will test them more than they could imagine.
To save those she cares about, Emily must confront The
Machinist's ultimate creation—an automaton more human than
machine. And if she's to have any chance of triumph, she
must summon a strength even she doesn't know she has….
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