If you're a fan of teen sleuth stories, but you want something darker as you ease the transition into 'real' noire, this is ideal. It's dark, but not a full-blown horror story by any means (cautionary note: I'm pretty warped, so your mileage may vary).

The stuff I liked--the main character is chilly and intriguing, in a way that I've seen other authors try to imitate. The femme fatale tells the story, and she owns her label and her actions. That was refreshing and very cool. I also loved the...what do you call a bromance between two girls? Sororomance? Whatever you call it, it's really well done. The mystery and atmosphere are quite strong as well. I could tell the author wasn't a psychologist by profession, but it was still pretty well-researched. I really loved how ambitious Lexi was, and the way lots of little details were consistent--like mentions of ramen and studying.

The mystery is intriguing, although I felt the dark stuff was more heavily weighted to the beginning than the end--and I admit to figuring the murderer's identity out a bit early. I actually thought it could have been more violent and dark, but readers who want the noire but can't do the violence will probably appreciate that. A couple things here and there could have been more subtle, too, if I'm nitpicking.

I'd probably give this a 3.5, because it was good but left me wanting more darkness--but I'm rounding up because I think a lot of Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl, and Desperate Housewives fans who want to tickle their book craving will love this. It's also similar to The Basic Eight by Daniel Handler (which I freaking loved), Ellen Hopkins' works, and The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.

This is what happens when a decent author with a good story gets screwed over by her craptastic publisher.

The Girl and the Clockwork Cat is a good story with likable characters. My main problem with the story is that the world building is so lacking. It's Victorian(ish) London with steam coaches and such, but the reader isn't given much more than that. In all matters not pertaining to lock-picking and purse-snatching, our MC Maeko knows less than Jon Snow. Characters occasionally try to school her on matters pertinent to the plot, but it's not enough to form a complete picture, so the reader is left to piece together what they can. Consequently, I'm a little confused as to how the Literati can be the police force and also some type of political party, and it seems pirates are some type of political party too, when they're not dressing like harlots (in Maeko's opinion) and playing exotic music in pubs. Or maybe that's how they do their campaigning? No idea. I'm not even sure if this version of England has a monarch. Sketchy world building aside, it's paced well with drama and suspense, and on storytelling merits alone I would give it at least three stars (even though I thought the love triangle was totally unnecessary), but it's plagued by the typical sloppy editing I've come to expect from Entangled.

Entangled is, in my opinion, little better than a story sweatshop. They crank out hundreds of books a year and quality suffers for quantity as books are rushed through production. Some of their books happily receive quality editing. The rest? Well, this book is a prime example. Missing words, extra words, wrong words, non-words, punctuation errors, tense issues, continuity errors, redundancies, and just about every single problem copy editing and proofreading are supposed to catch weren't caught. The cat's artificial appendage keeps switching legs. Past simple is used when past perfect is called for. Redundancies like "lowering down" were left in. The errors are plentiful and distracting, but I'd still like to read the next installment and see where these characters go from here. I just pray it gets better editing.

From location 1621 (48%): The cat climbed onto her lap, placed a paw on either side of her neck, one warm and alive, the other chilly brass, and pressed his head against her neck.

However, earlier at location 152 (5%) it said: An engraved, articulated metal armor fully encased its left back leg and shoulder, complete with little brass claws at the end of each toe.

Either I read that description at loc 152 wrong (not to mention the book cover), or the cat totally just shoved his ass in Maeko's face and somehow managed to rub his head on her neck at the same time. THIS CAT IS AMAZING!

Is it just me, or does anyone else find flashbacks written in present tense to be counter-intuitive and off-putting?

 

 

Sometimes it felt like parenting amounted to a series of questionable decisions, one after another.

-Chapter 4

 

Also: I'm thinking about the lake. What if u r right. What if it was in the lake. What if it is in us.

-Chapter 9

 

Good book, if you don't go into it thinking there might be something supernatural involved.

This book was recommended to me by a friend as "the kind of book you would like". And it is, but.... I looked at the cover and it looked like the story would be scary or at least have a supernatural component. Let's just say, it didn't.

So, on the basis of the story itself, the book is good. Set in a small town, one girl has a seizure with unknown causes and ends up in the hospital in a coma. As other girls begin getting sick, parents begin questioning things and guessing about what might be the cause of the girls' problems. Parents are understandably worried about the girls, and the girls are freaked out.

The story is told from the point of view of one of the teenage girls, her brother and her father. You get to see how each of them deals with the sickness that seems to be taking over the teenage girls in town. The brother wants to be a good man and he wants to protect his sister. The father, of course, wants to protect his children but he doesn't know what he is protecting them from. The girl is trying to figure out why her best friends are being affected and she isn't.

I didn't see the final reveal coming. But, I spent most of the book trying to figure out what evil force was responsible for the sickness. The cause ends up being twisted and surprising but not supernatural.

Recommended to:

People who like reading about teenage girl drama and issues. Just don't expect anything remotely magical.