It is steampunk, it is YA. I don't care, i read it because i like steampunk. This novel is considered YA but it is so well written, that you forget about it. thought out well defined and strong characters.
This time the story plays in NYC and a lot of stuff happens.
Please read the book, read the prequel and book 1 and you won't be disappointed ( )

Jasper has been taken back to the United States and Finley and gang have followed. They discover Jasper is being blackmailed. Finley and Griffin engage in back and forth competition and reconciliation as the whole group works to foil Jasper's blackmailer and get him and his friend out safely. ( )

In this YA steampunk fiction, the great cast of characters from The Girl in the Steel Corset are back. Finley and Griffin are fighting an attraction to each other. The device around Mei's neck continues to tighten and Jasper is desperate to save her. The science and steampunk aspects of all the different inventions and forces brewing in this novel were especially interesting and well done. I did wish there had been a bit more romance, to be honest. After so much longing in book one, I had expected things to develop a bit more here than they did. ( )

The characters and their special skills are my favorite part of these books. This installment just wasn't as interesting to me story-wise as the first book though. I'm curious to read the next one, and I'm hoping it will be a bit less predictable.

To be fair, this book may be suffering by comparison since I recently read [b:The Friday Society|5623269|The Friday Society|Adrienne Kress|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1337751850s/5623269.jpg|5794664], a really fun steampunk YA featuring a particularly awesome Asian character. From the cover of this book, I think I was hoping to meet someone like Michiko, who subverts some stereotypes. Mei wasn't a terrible character, but I wasn't much of a fan of the way her story played out.

The other small issue I'm having with this series is the repetition. For example, Emily's "ropey" hair is referred to SO MANY TIMES. To be honest, until I read someone else's review where they discussed her dreadlocks, I was convinced that "ropes of hair" was some steampunk phrase for "curls." Anyway. When observations about characters don't really move the story forward or add anything new, it can get a bit grating. Perhaps book three will be better on this front? ( )

This second book in the series follows immediately after the first, plot-wise. The major plot point dropped right at the end of The Girl in the Steel Corset – Jasper Renn being dragged off to America to stand trial for murder – is the central point behind this book. The main quartet from the first book (Finley, Griffin, Emily, and Sam) all travel to New York to locate Jasper and figure out if he is, in fact, guilty of the murder he’s been arrested for.

Over the course of their investigations, the four get into more trouble. Naturally. Most of that trouble is focused either on Finley or Griffin, which also makes sense as they seem to be the lead couple in the series.

Speaking of them as a couple – there is a little more progress on that front in this novel, too. At the very least, they both seem to have come to some decisions as to what they want out of it. Though, when you come down to it, there is no real competition for Finley’s attention in this book the way there was in the first one. It will be interesting to see the relationship develop once Jack Dandy is back in the picture.

In some respects I like this book more than the first in the series. The main four characters are all working together (mostly) in this one, rather than being at odds the way they were in the first. The relationships between them are developing, and I don’t mean just the romantic relationships. Parts of the plot are a bit more far-fetched, though, and the first book did have the charm of being the first in this particular world. In any case, I’m really looking forward to getting the third book when it comes out so I can see what comes next. ( )