Not a bad second book. I like that she killed Marsh and I hope that he stays dead. Not that he is a bad character but I want Elle to really be her own woman. From what little married interaction they had I did not think that she could be her own woman while married to Marsh. Schwarz took some risks with this novel and I am curious about where she is going to go next. The plot is very fast, everything happens within a week or so. I like how the magic grew over the course of the story. Elle is still not very happy with her place in this world but I think that she is prepared to do whatever she must. I am very curious about where Schwarz is going to go with the story now.

I give this book a Three out of Five stars. ( )

I hated this book. Elle is impossible stupid to her man and horribly selfish with her being the Oracle she's yells at the Oracles she's rude to just about everyone...Talk about being spoiled and needing a spanking. I skimmed through 2/3's of this book read the last four chapters and was happy to move onto the last book in the series. I really enjoyed the first book but this one ugh....I ended up wondering if I should bother with the last in the series but I bought it so now I hope really hope its better. ( )

3.5 Stars ( )

Let me begin by saying that my mouse hovered between the forth and fifth star for a good minute before I settled on four. In truth, it's more of a four and half. I loved this book, I really did, but it just wasn't quite up to par with the last book. It was by no means terrible, it was just lacking a little something. The first book was so rich in description and it seemed like more patience was taken with the plot. I wanted to read the book any moment I could because I just wanted to step into Elle's world, if just for fifteen minutes. This book felt a little more rushed and the characters started to feel a bit two dimensional. As new characters were introduced I began seeing them purely for their advancement of the plot. More than once I said to myself, "Aha, I knew you would come in right here..." Perhaps a few more pages might have helped weave them into the story better.
That being said, I still enjoyed every moment of it. Elle is a strong (and stubborn) woman and I love reading about her. The ending caught me completely by surprise (which doesn't happen often) and I have to admit, I closed the book not too happy with the fact that I have to wait another year for the next book to come out. I would absolutely recommend this book, this book was a joy to read. ( )

I did have some problems with this one, and I'm not sure why, I did enjoy it to an extent, the story was good, but I didn't really connect with the characters. I get it that an independent woman would have issues with independence in a victorian world, but wouldn't there be some sort of honeymoon period where both parties want to be close? Wouldn't it have been better for him to ask that she take short trips for a while to get him used to her being away from him.

I really wanted to care more about the characters but at the end I was more curious about what next than shocked, I didn't feel the love that should have been there.

It is dark and the clockwork hearts are interesting and the ramifications of all this are going to have repercussions I'm sure. I'm looking forward to the next book but I'd like to get to know the characters better. ( )