Sunday, June 26, 2011

Review: The Emperor's Edge

The Emperor's EdgeThe Emperor's Edge by Lindsay Buroker

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Genre: steampunk fantasy adventure

Publisher: indie/self-published

Where I got it: Smashwords

Warnings: violence

The review (spoilers past this point):
Amaranthe Lokdon is an Imperial Enforcer who excels at her job. She's also a woman, which means her tubby, slacker partner is far more likely to get a promotion than she is.

A routine night on the job soon turns into anything but, as Amaranthe foils a robbery, uncovers a startling series of murders and attracts the attention of someone that changes the course of her life entirely.

To my knowledge, I've never read anything that might be considered "steampunk", but because I love the author's blog, I decided to pick up all of her novels. I started with The Emperor's Edge and I'm so glad I did.

The word I'd use to describe this book is "fun". Everything struck the right cord for me. The plot is excellently constructed with foreshadowing and minor details coming to play later in surprising ways. The main conflict is resolved, but the "tag" at the end, promises much more adventure and danger, and I, for one, will be following along for the ride.

The characters are a joy. Every one of them has strengths and flaws that bring them to life in cinematic flavour. Their interactions with each other are wholly believable and endearing. In fact, most of what made this such an enjoyable book is their interplay.

I could quite easily picture this story transformed into a screenplay and brought to life on the big screen. It's not a text that wastes any time, and that makes it perfect for those of us who are more visually minded. Plus, it has, I thought, an extremely strong female character that outshines most "strong" female characters on-screen these days, simply because she utilises her own strengths, rather than tries to mimic a man's.

The style of writing is crisp and easy to get sucked into. It was, as another of my beloved on-screen characters might say, electromagnetic candy. Read it when you're having a bad day, and it will certainly perk you up.

Final word
A fun, well-planned romp that introduces an intriguing fantasy world and a curious grouping of characters.



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