Review – Rise of Silver and Steam (Alliance of Silver and Steam, Book 0) by Lexi Ostrow (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Steampunk Romance
Length: 247 pages
Publisher: Colliding Worlds Press
Release Date: March 7, 2017
ASIN : B06XH2GC7C
Stand Alone or Series: Prequel to the Alliance of Silver and Steam series
Source: eBook from Kindle Unlimited
Rating: 3/5 stars
“Thomas Agardawes has a bride that resists him, and a job that he doesn’t like. When a Royal approaches him on only his third day as a master at the Clockworker’s Guild, his life is turned upside down. Demons lurk in the underground and he has been assigned the task of leading the force against evil.
Seraphina has torn her wings from her body to save a lover’s soul, but he spurns her. Revenge blossoms, and she plots to make Hell her own and force humans to pay for what they took from her. Nothing will stop her, and her corruption runs soul deep.
Layel, a Pure Angel, has fallen for a human, and it’s almost cost him his wings. That is not the hardest task to face. He must convince a man to run a secret group to hunt demons as they’ve come out of Hell to hunt the humans. If he succeeds, he will then need to train them all. Three souls that couldn’t be more different collide in unexpected ways as the Alliance of Silver and Steam is born, and the secrets of demons unleashed on the world. See what caused the silver to melt and the steam to rise.”
Series Info/Source: This is the prequel to the Alliance of Silver and Steam series. I borrowed this book for Kindle through Kindle Unlimited.
Story (2/5): I had previously read the first book in this series and found it a bit confusing; I hoped reading the prequel would give some much needed background. This starts out as a bit of a mess as we are thrown into a battle between Angels and Demons and introduced to a million new characters. You do kind of get some background but it’s interrupted by so many mediocre (but very detailed) sex scenes that it is hard to follow at points. The second half of the story is a bit more cohesive.
Characters (2/5): This jumps around between quite a few characters, so it was hard to really engage with any of them. I also thought the decisions a lot of the characters made were selfish and just really never enjoyed these characters very much.
Setting (3/5): I liked the London setting and the Clockworker’s Guild. There is some good background and world-building here especially around how the Alliance of Silver and Steam was formed.
Writing Style (2/5): Previous to reading this book I had read the first book in this series and, while I thought it was okay, found the writing style to be a bit jerky and hard to follow. This book just solidified those thoughts for me. The story doesn’t flow well, the descriptions are hard to follow, and I didn’t enjoy the characters. This is definitely a book where sex dominates any sort of plot. The sex scenes were faily unimaginative and felt awkwardly inserted into the story. Ostrow just isn’t for me.
My Summary (2/5): Overall I just didn’t enjoy this all that much. This is another book where I think the idea behind the story is neat; angels, demons and steampunk stuff. However, the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Everything about this feels a bit unfinished, awkward, and is kind of hard to follow. I won’t be reading any more books by this author.
