Review – Gears of Revolution (Mysteries of Cove, Book 2) by J. Scott Savage (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Middle Grade
Genre: Dystopian/Steampunk
Length: 352 pages
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Release Date: September 20, 2016
ISBN-13: 978-1629722238
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Mysteries of Cove series
Source: Bought
Rating: 4/5 stars

“After finding a compass and clues left by Kallista’s father, Leo Babbage, Trenton and Kallista head west aboard their homemade mechanical dragon to search for the missing inventor. The two teenagers hope to find answers about their mountain city of Cove, but instead, they find only a blackened forest, ruined buildings, and a small underground city.

Almost immediately, Trenton and Kallista are caught up in a civil war between a clan of scavengers called Whipjacks and the Order of the Beast, people who believe that dragons are immortal and divine.
Stranded in a new city, the two friends meet Plucky, a Whipjack girl with mechanical legs, and Ander, a young member of the Order who claims humans are able to communicate with dragons. Can they trust anyone, or have they unknowingly stepped into a trap?

And high above in the sky, the dragons are gathering . . .”

This was the 2nd book in the Mysteries of Cove series and was a decent continuation of the series. I loved getting to venture outside Discovery and read about real dragons! This book is packed with adventure and I am curious as to how things will tie up in the next book.

Trenton and Kallista continue to struggle a bit with their friendship throughout; they are both loners by nature and Kallista is increasingly obsessed with finding her father.

Trenton and Kallista ended up venturing into another type of dystopian society where there are two ruling classes. One, The Order of the Beast, worships dragons. The other, Whipjacks, eke out a living on the edge of society and provide the city with mechanical solutions to problems.

Again, I felt like this was a novel more focused on elements of dystopian societies than on steampunk elements. There is a bit more emphasis on building and inventing in this book than in the last one.

In this book there was less adventure and more humans vs humans elements to the story. This disappointed me a bit. I was hoping that Trenton and Kallista were going to have more adventures outside of Cove than they had. Instead they stumble into another messed up human society almost right away.

Overall this was a decent continuation of the series. There is some adventure and we do learn some interesting things about the outside world. However, the story turns more to survival and human pitted against human, and I didn’t enjoy this aspect of the story much. I plan on reading the third book of the series and wrapping things up.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Goodreads Reading Challenge