Hello Lovelies:
In this time of the virus, I continue to catch up on my pile of steamy media, books, movies, music and such, to enjoy and review for the Journal.
I stumbled across Lumiere by Jacqueline Garlick, as a recommendation from an editor friend of mine, as something I might be interested in. I am pleased to say that I was more than mildly entertained! I have started reading many steampunk style novels and unfortunately, not been able to finish due to either time constraints or I felt that the stories just didn’t reel me in.
A thrilling adventure…
With Lumiere, this was not the case. I didn’t want to put it down. Eyelet, our feisty heroine, is running from a system that once employed her well-to-do scientist father. He and Eyelet’s mystical mother have perished at the hands of a corrupt system. In this society called Brethren, weaker members are cast off to inhumane creatures and monsters that live in the far woods outside of the city.
Eyelet is forced to run as she is afflicted with seizures, accused of Wickedry, and therefore would be dipped in wax and strung up in a public hanging.
Urlick, our hero and love interest, also suffers from a deformity, although his are on the surface, plainly seen port wine stains on his pale flesh. He too is on the lamb, as he has just taken possession of a much wanted machine that is said to cure all that ails.
Their worlds collide as they try to escape an evil militant Smrt and his soldiers.
Is it a worthwhile read?
In my humble opinion, yes. As a reader, I prefer to have heroines and heroes with faults and mysterious backgrounds. The characters in Lumiere have these qualities and much more, that engage the reader, and whisks them away to dark haunted lands, steamy cities, and an austere Academy of higher learning.
Although this book is heavily steampunk, it is blended with fantastical and horror elements like ravens and organic/mechanical blended characters. The point of view switching between the two leads may be confusing to some, but I found that it propelled the plot forward.
I look forward to reading the sequels and give Lumiere five out of five stars. I do recommend it for young adults who like their steampunk mixed with fantasy.
As always, thank you for reading,
Victoria
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Victoria L. Szulc is a multi-media Steampunk/Science Fiction/Fantasy artist/writer working her on seventh and eighth Steampunk novels and various other projects. Her latest,
“A Dream of Emerald Skies”, is available on Amazon worldwide. In 2019, Victoria made St. Louis Magazine’s A-List in the People’s Choice Author category and won a Stephen Memorial Award for her illustrations in “Cecilia’s Tail” by Debbie Manber Kupfer. You can follow her works at mysteampunkproject.wordpress.com