I can't really seem to get a summary out of my head for this, so here's a quick excerpt from what the publisher says..."When the Griffins enroll at Iron Bridge Academy, a school to train young recruits in the fight against the forces of evil, they find themselves at the center of a whole new adventure."

Last year, it seems like I had a 10-year-old boy in just about every other day asking when the next Grey Griffins book was coming out. I spent quite a bit of time with some of the more insistent ones looking at the website for hints of a new book. However, by the time I heard about this title, it seems like the interest had died down and I haven't had anyone ask for the books for quite a while, although they do check out fairly regularly. When I first saw this title, I thought it was a new series, unconnected to Grey Griffins and groaned and shoved it off my order list.

When I received an ARC and realized it was a new story arc of the Grey Griffins I popped it back on and ordered a copy for us - although interest has died down, I'm sure those kids are still out there and will be excited to see it. As for me...well, I frankly wasn't excited about it. I tried to get into it and just couldn't. It helps to have read the previous books, I'm sure, since you need to know who the Grey Griffins are, why they're friends, and what's been happening to them. I haven't read the previous books. Also, I dislike anything Arthurian or Templar-related, and these stories are tightly tied up with Templar legends. The steampunk bits were kind of fun, but felt more like bad horror than really good steampunk, whatever that is. I just...the writing just didn't work for me.

But. I'm pretty darned sure it's going to work for kids. Even those who weren't Grey Griffins fans will like this. Plenty of action, lots of mysterious stuff going on, funny bits, serious bits, steampunk, magic, werewolves, you name it, it's in here. So, it wasn't for me - but I'm glad I ordered it for the library.

Verdict: Not a fantasy I enjoyed, but one that will be popular in most libraries. Go ahead and buy it.

ISBN: 0316045225; Published June 2010 by Little, Brown; ARC provided by the publisher; Purchased for the library

I'm giving away a copy of The Brimstone Key on my blog this week: www.ink-spells.blogspot.com

I was definitely interested in this one as soon as I heard it was a steampunk for middle grade. My only concern going in was this new series (The Clockwork Chronicles) is a spin off of the Grey Griffins series, which I have not read. I was concerned I might get lost in the world. That wasn't the case. The world was fabulous, and the authors did a great job at explaining things. I was only wishing I knew the characters more. Since they were already introduced in the first series, there was some character development that I missed. I definitely want to go back and read the Grey Griffins series, because these are great characters that I want more of.

In this first installment to The Clockwork Chronicles series, the heroic Grey Griffins gang is headed off to the Iron Bridge Academy for training. Of course, more ends up happening than just your average training. The school was a very fun and exciting setting to read about. Steampunk is not an easy genre to pull off, but Benz and Lewis did a remarkable job. So much so that I want to throw on a pair of brass goggles and head to Iron Bridge academy myself. Incorporated into this world is many supernatural creatures, including fairies, changelings, and even humans with special abilities. I really enjoyed the changelings and learning about how their powers work.

All the Grey Griffins kids were a blast to read about. Even though they have powers and are part of this fantasy world, at the heart they are very normal kids. That made them easy to relate to. As much as I loved Max, Harley, and Ernie, Natalia was my favorite. She is such a strong girl that could give a crap what people think of her. I loved her attitude!

Yes, The Clockwork Chronicles has some similarities to the Harry Potter series. But when is that ever a bad thing? An interesting group of kids with special abilities, going to a special school is an awesome plot that won't ever get old to me. That being said, This is not a Harry Potter copy cat. This series has many original qualities that makes it stand out as its own.

The ending is a bit of a cliffhanger that makes me eager to see what will happen next. I am definitely going to go back and and the Grey Griffin series as I wait for the sequel to The Brimstone Key. I want to get to know these characters better so I can continue on with their story along side them. This is a book that will be seen as equally awesome by both sexes. If you are a MG fan, I recommend adding this one to your reading list. ( )

The Brimstone Key is a great start to what looks like it will be a promising new direction in the Grey Griffins stories. As someone who has never picked up a Grey Griffins book before, I found this story easy to understand and catch up with. I may go back and read other Grey Griffins books now, while I wait for the next book, but I won't be going back to read them because I felt I was missing something here. That said, I probably did miss some things that devoted Grey Griffin fans will squee about. There were a few characters that were clearly making cameo appearances in this book, I assume from the previous Grey Griffin escapades, but they weren't so central to this story that I minded not really knowing who they were. Of course, there also might be a bit too much information and back story in the beginning of this book for someone who has just devoured the previous Grey Griffins series. Just because I appreciated all of the explanation and introduction of characters doesn't mean that everyone else will. BUT if you are a Grey Griffins fan, or are providing readers' advisory for one, rest assured that there is a lot after those first few chapters that Max, Natalia, Ernie and Harley were surprised about, so I'm sure you (or your reader) will be too.

This book was pitched to me as a steampunk novel for middle grade readers, and I wondered just how the writers were going to pull that off with established characters from a series set in current times. They did it wonderfully and pretty realistically. Well, maybe realistically isn't the best word given that this is a fantasy novel, but the writers did not require any ridiculous suspensions of disbelief of me in order to fit the steampunk elements into the story. The Grey Griffins nemesis is a man who has spent the last century trapped in a Round Table card. When he somehow escapes, he restarts the experiments and projects that got him imprisoned in the first place. And voila! We have clockwork machines running amuck in the modern day (Templar cloaked) world. Fashions at Iron Bridge Academy also run on the steampunk-y style. At first, this was weird to me, but parts of it get explained away pretty understandably:

* The Academy is not actually in Avalon, but in Iron Bridge, a Templar community outside of the "regular" world that has maintained Victorian sensibilities.
* All the kids wear goggles because they can act out their Round Table tournaments with them.
* A lot of the changelings are depressed about their lot in life, and so bring in the sort-of goth element.
* All the grown-ups have weird weapons strapped all over them, especially when things start to get dangerous.

Put all of that together with a bunch of evil clockwork machines and a "subway" restored to its turn of the century glory and you have a good old steampunk costume party at school every day, and because the Grey Griffins are woefully dorky, fashion-wise, all of this gets explained in great detail. And while I'm a fan of the steampunk elements throughout (clearly), I don't think they are overwhelming to the story. Readers who are just looking for a fantasy or just looking for another Grey Griffins book shouldn't be put off by them.

I really enjoyed getting to know all of the Grey Griffins (and a few yet to be named sidekicks, to avoid being spoiler-y). I'm sure that fans of the previous series will enjoy heading off to school with Grey Griffins here, and new readers are sure to be sucked in as well. There is definitely a Harry Potter vibe going on with the addition of Iron Bridge Academy to these kids lives that will appeal to a lot of readers.

Book source: Review copy from publisher via the yalsa-bk listserv.