Great world-building

Broken up by book

Stormborn

Okay, I don’t mean to sound awful, but I’m getting tired of listening to the series now. Perhaps I shouldn’t have binged the whole lot, but I think that, If I hadn’t, I might not remember the main events of the story. Don’t get me wrong, in itself the writing is good, the characters are engaging, I like the settings, the machines and the bugs, but I feel like I’m just waiting for something to happen. It mostly feels like filler and I still have no idea of how much time has elapsed since Skyborn. All the ‘kids’ act and speak like they have the experience of someone who is at least thirty. I wish I could have had their levels of knowledge and confidence at the tender age of fifteen/sixteen, which I believe they are still supposed to be. I’m also starting to wonder if there is a Skyborn recipe book out there. A lot of the recipes sound as though they are Final Fantasy inspired. Grilled pill bug anyone, sweetwing tea? Onwards to book eight.

Stormforged

I would so love to give this book five stars, it is well written, and the events at Ballern felt so real. But a lot of what’s written feels like filler. I’m sure the main events of this triple trilogy could have all gone into one trilogy with impressive impact, but it’s strung out with conversations that don’t really contribute to the story. To be fair, it would make a pretty awesome video game, one that I’m sure I would relish and have to play until I’d 100% it and gained every trophy. But as a book series it just feels interminably long, as though it’s never going to come to an end. But I just have one last book to go, so let’s see where that takes us. The audiobook is well narrated.

Stormsworn

Well, that’s the nine books finished. Sadly I found the final battle and the end of Mordair to be a little anticlimactic, a little too easy. I would still like to know how much time has elapsed since the events of Steamborn. Not a great deal I imagine as their teacher, Miss Penny, mentions that Jacob and Alice still have another year at school. They certainly act and speak very maturely for teenagers, as do Furi and Gladys, which I think takes away a little of the believability of the story. I still love the world though. I’ve always been a fan of steampunk and Eric R Asher has built a truly interesting world, with a good variety of steam machines. I still feel it could have all been condensed into a single trilogy. As with the rest of the series, the audiobook was well narrated.

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