Oh, steampunk, why do you keep breaking my heart? I want to love you, I do. What’s not to love about steampunk? In theory it should be everything good: Victorians, and flying machines, and (usually) fantasy elements too. How can it be that I have never read a steampunk book and really loved it?
The Court of the Air is about two plucky orphans who are being chased by assassins, and they’re not sure why. I got bored about 150 pages in and didn’t finish it. There were several reasons for this. First of all, there were dangling participles all over the place. I can’t stand dangling participles. Someone said “It’s alright,” which is fine in closed captioning on TV, but I feel like an editor should catch it in a book. Secondly, there were too many made-up words with not enough explanation as to what they meant. I tried to wait patiently for the explanation that was surely coming, but it didn’t. Anyway I sort of subscribe to this rule about made-up words in books. Finally, I didn’t really understand what was going on, and I didn’t really care.
Has anyone read a really good steampunk book? I want one! I just don’t know where to turn!
Jenny's Books 
Hm, I haven’t sought out any steampunk books at all, but I like some of the aesthetic of steampunk. Sorry I’m not help.
Er, that’s “no help.” *blushing*
That’s exactly where I’m at – I like the aesthetic. So far, don’t like the books. Apart from maybe Philip Pullman’s Lyra trilogy, if that counts…