Book Review: The Iron Duke

Book:  The Iron Duke (Iron Seas #1)
Author: Meljean Brook
Genre: Romance, Historical, Fantasy, Steampunk
Rating: 3/5
Page count: 308 (Paperback)
Favorite character: Mina, definitely. (Of course, loves Yasmeen is also awesome and kick-ass).

Plot: (from Goodreads)

First in an all-new series where seductive danger and steampunk adventure abound in the gritty world of the Iron Seas.

After the Iron Duke freed England from Horde control, he instantly became a national hero. Now Rhys Trahaearn has built a merchant empire on the power-and fear-of his name. And when a dead body is dropped from an airship onto his doorstep, bringing Detective Inspector Mina Wentworth into his dangerous world, he intends to make her his next possession.

But when Mina uncovers the victim's identity, she stumbles upon a conspiracy that threatens the lives of everyone in England. To save them, Mina and Rhys must race across zombie-infested wastelands and treacherous oceans-and Mina discovers the danger is not only to her countrymen, as she finds herself tempted to give up everything to the Iron Duke.


Review:
Overall, this book was okay. Entertaining with some characters that I really like, but I did have some problems with it. I felt like the backstory of the world just didn't feel right to me, the way it was shown to us. It kind of felt like you just got this info dump really early, first few chapters, and then that was pretty much that. And it was just weird, it didn't feel right.

And then, of course, is the Iron Duke. I had some problems with him in general that I'm not going to get into since I'm not going to say anything even a little spoiler-y here. But he was just a little bit too much in every way and I just wasn't that fond of him, especially for about the first 40-50% of the book.

(This is, obviously, not a YA book, but I feel like I should tell you anyway, just in case).

You can find the author through her website, that's a link directly to her series page for this series, as well as guides to this world (which I wish I'd known about while reading). Also, at the top of the page in that link, there's a link to a Steampunk guide, if you are unsure about what exactly that entails.