TW:Ableism
[I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.]

( )

Want to know if the whole series is worth reading? Read my overall review of the whole series at seriesousbookreviews.com! Spoiler Free!
**I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own and not influenced by my source.**

Everything that I liked about the first book was magnified in this instalment. I found there was more action, more intriguing plot twists and stronger character development than in Lumière. Lumière did a great job of building up the world and introducing all the relevant characters but Noir did a better job of weaving all those elements together.

I struggled with Lumière because I felt like not enough was happening in terms of the plot. I had to take in little bits at a time but Noir kept my full attention the entire time. There was just enough to keep you wanting more but not so much that it overwhelmed you.

Overall, I was really impressed with Noir! I'm glad I kept with this series because I think the next instalment is going to go off in a bang!

Check out more spoiler-free book and series reviews on my blog SERIESousBookReviews.com as well as read book series recaps!

Full Review: http://wp.me/p3txrs-16C ( )

I received this book via Goodreads Giveaways.

The first book in the series, "Lumiere," had quite a few high points. The world these books are set in is intriguing, and the plot of Lumiere was interesting enough to keep.my interest.

I feel like that falls away in "Noir." The plot seems weak, and stuttering to me, with several large plot holes that made it hard to continue. In general, the characters were a bit better done than the previous book, a bit more rounded out. Unfortunately, the incongruities of the plot make for choppy reading.

If you really enjoyed the first installment (which, to be fair, I did not), this might be worth a try. Otherwise, it's hard to recommend. ( )

--I received a free copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review--

I really loved the first book in the series, so I was super excited to get my hands on the second one (especially after how the first one ended). Unfortunately, this one didn't pull me in as well as the first one did. I still enjoyed reading it though.

The story picks up right where the first one left off. While the last book was written from the point of views of Eyelet and Urlick, the author added additional point of views from some of the other characters. I felt this was helpful to gain insight on some of the other characters and their roles in the events that transpired throughout the book. ( )

This is the second book in the Illumination Paradox by Garlick. The first book in this series had some excellent world-building and great steampunk elements. This book was a bit more scattered and I didn’t like it quite as much as the first one.

Eyelet must rescue Urlick before it’s too late. However she will need to journey through the woods (which are full of the Infirm and criminals) as well as sneak back into the city of Brethern (where she is a wanted criminal) to do so. Luckily she has Crazy Legs (aka CL) to help her out and they are able to hook up with freak show train and sneak into the city undercover. Things don’t go as planned and suddenly Eyelet finds herself a prisoner of the dreaded insane asylum she’s worked her whole life to avoid.

This book switches POV a lot more than the first one. We hear from Eyelet, Urlick, Flossie and CL quite a bit. I honestly didn’t enjoy the parts from CL or Flossies’s POV much; I just had trouble engaging with those characters.

I thought this book was also a lot more scattered than the first one. The whole plot around the illumination device and how it can save or destroy the world was brushed aside as Eyelet rushed to rescue Urlick and then Urlick rushed to rescue Eyelet. Rather than broaden the awesome world shown to the reader in the first book, this book seemed to ignore the world in place of all this rushing around and rescuing folks. There are still a lot of intriguing steampunk devices throughout the story so that was good to see.

A large portion of the story takes place in Madhouse Brink, the very asylum Eyelet was desperately trying to avoid. Madhouse Brink was a disturbing, strangely illogical (I know it’s a madhouse), and inexplicable addition to the story. A lot of weird things that are in this place seem to be there for novelty and not any other reason in particular; they are also never well explained. It was just...an odd addition to the story.

Eyelet and Urlick are both flawed characters, but I admired their devotion to each other and their dedication to their friends. The plot does take some interesting turns and I am curious to see how things play out in the third and final book.

This book leaned more toward the new adult or adult age group rather than young adult. The scenes in Madhouse Brink get very violent, gory, and disturbing. There is also a lot of fairly explicit and romance- style talk about sex (although the act itself is never gone through in detail). I was just a bit surprised at how much “adult” content there was given that the first book was pretty YA friendly.

Overall this was an okay book in this series. It had more adult content (sex, torture, gore) than the first book. I also though the plot was scattered and didn’t enjoy the addition of Flossie’s and CL’s points of view. However I do still find this world intriguing and am curious as to how the story will play out. I will most likely pick up the last book in the series. I would tentatively recommend this series to those who are looking for more YA steampunk. ( )