Loved it!

An average YA book. To tell the truth, I expected much more from it than it delivered. The story is interesting though: a murder mystery (kind of) set in an alternative London circa 1889 in a steampunk-ish milieu. There are murdered girls there, a secret Egyptian cult, time travels, and two intrepid heroines. Well, not very intrepid but a little bit for certain.

The protagonists are two teenage girls: Mina Holmes, a niece of Sherlock Holmes, and Evaline Stoker, a younger half-sister of Bram Stoker. The crazy mix of real and imaginary personages and situations continues from there, making this fictional world a fascinating one. There are gadgets galore in this world but electricity is illegal. There are society balls and corsets, but a policeman rides a flying motorcycle. There are airships and multiple walking levels on any street, but the plumbing seems as rudimentary as it was in reality of that time. Absurdities pile up on top of one another plot-wise, as our protagonists investigate.

Why do they investigate? Because of their stupidity – I don’t have any other explanation. And here lies the root of the problem with this book. While the story is a fun romp across urban fantasy tropes, the characters are flat and boring, totally artificial. I couldn’t bring myself to care for either of them. They behave like silly girls more often than not. Their flaws and quirks seem to be sewn to their dull, colorless silhouettes by an inept seamstress. Nothing is organic, and nobody is alive. The same is true for the secondary characters as well.

It was a struggle to finish this book, but because of the promise of the story and the kooky world the author created, I’m giving it 3 stars.

The story was quite enchanting and very fun to get engrossed in. The mystery was there without it being over bearing. The different point-of-views were quite refreshing. This had everything from mystery to time travel to vampires with a hint of romance. There were some romantic elements, but thankfully not too bad. They were enough though for the audience it needed. I also appreciated that the romantic interests did not have a triangle involving both girls and one guy to choose between them.

I was first interested in the fact that it involved some relations to Bram Stoker and Sherlock Holmes, but the author created unique plays on these two women so that they were different and could hold their own to their famous relations. I also enjoyed it due to the fact that it involved Egyptian mythology, one of my favorite mythologies out there. The characters were flawed, but also strong. It was good to see women proving to be both strong mentally but physically as well.

I cannot wait for the next story. I did receive this as part of Goodread's first-read's giveaway, but that had no bearing on my review of the story.

Review

Clockwork Scarab is such a fun novel.  I love that we get dual points of view.

Mina is very much like her Uncle Sherlock.  She has to have reasonable answers to everything that happens.  If logic doesn't fit she finds a way to make the information understandable.  Evaline is the next vampire hunter in her family, and she wants to prove that she's capable of it.  Seeing these two together is comical.  Evaline has all the street smarts and Mina is very much the book sort.  Their ideas on how to handle situations usually clashes, and causes many arguments.

I loved the differing opinions between these two.  They definitely learn how to combine their knowledge to work together in thsi book.  There are many action scenes, and trying to figure out who is behind the abducions is maddening for these ladies.  They definitely push the boundaries that women in this era had. I loved seeing them do things that most wouldn't think possible for girls of their age, or station.

The narrator did a fabulous job of separating the two voices.  Each was their own character, and I was never confused as to who was speaking.  A great book for middle grade and YA readers.  It's fun and engaging.

True rating: 4.5