Welcome to my tour stop for Storms of Lazarus by Karen Kincy. This is the second book in the Shadows of Asphodel series. This is a new adult dieselpunk romance and is now available! The tour runs August 11-22 with reviews, interviews & a few guest posts. Check out the tour page for the schedule and more information.
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Book summary:
Sometimes escape is impossible. Sometimes love isn't enough.
1913. Christmas Eve. Ardis hardly expects a quiet holiday with Wendel, between fleeing Constantinople and hiding from an ancient society of assassins. And they owe a debt to a certain archmage.
In Königsberg, Prussia, they work with Konstantin on the next evolution of Project Lazarus. Wendel once called Königsberg home, the city now besieged by the Russians and their clockwork engines of war. This may be Wendel’s last chance to save his family and find redemption, but he's tormented by nightmares and tempted by laudanum. Ardis fears her love isn’t enough to save Wendel. Her hands are full piloting the automatons, and she's terrified to tell him a secret of her own. Will they—and their love—survive the storms of war?
Shadows of Asphodel was a real discovery last year. It was a mix of different things which brought together a really unique and interesting story. As I said in my review it was set in time really familiar to all of us, but at the same time it was so different. So, we can say that I had a really high hopes of Storms of Lazarus. The cover didn't disappoint, let me tell you that.
The story wasn't a disappointment either, I'm happy to tell you that, but it wasn't as great as Shadows of Asphodel was. What really made me happy here is that this one gave us a disclosure I really wanted to see. I'm a happy camper now. It was great to see and read about Ardis' past and get to know her fully and also it was a really good thing to see Wendel being thrown in for him unusual tasks. The story also still had that great mix of reality and paranormal, but I might say that this one introduced even more interesting things in paranormal aspect and it still all functioned together.
What I did have problems with are actually two things first is a countless mention of someone blushing. I wouldn't have problems with that if we talked about a girl. It didn't fit the character and I think it could have been mentioned less times.
Now this leads us to another thing, which is totally on me. This won't bug many people, but you must understand that Nikola Tesla is considered as one of the biggest and greatest and with all that most important persona we ever had. So you really get to learn a lot about him, regardless of your attitude towards engineering and his inventions. So he was a really peaceful man who was hippie before hippie movement was even invented and therefore he wasn't really the best person you put into a political intrigue. For me his character felt really off the place here.
Despite that I have to say that this story was still really interesting and nicely written. I'm really glad that we have got a nice conclusion.
Rating: 3. stars.
About the Author
Karen Kincy (Kirkland, Washington) can be found lurking in her writing cave, though sunshine will lure her outside. When not writing, she stays busy gardening, tinkering with aquariums, or running just one more mile. Karen has a BA in Linguistics and Literature from The Evergreen State College.
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This one looks interesting!
OdgovoriIzbrišiMissie @ A Flurry of Ponderings
Glad you like it :)
IzbrišiGlad you liked this. I am hoping for a book three. ;)
OdgovoriIzbrišiMaybe we'll get it :)
IzbrišiI found Tesla's work on the wireless transmission of energy, such as Wardenclyffe Tower, to be especially fascinating. That, and his later ideas for a "Teleforce," or a charged particle beam projector, are what inspired my alternate history. Thanks for the review! :)
OdgovoriIzbrišiYeah, it's true that he basically invented modern world. Thanks, Karen :)
IzbrišiHmm i think I've heard of book 1 before--I hate it when a book constantly mentions someone blushing because it's just so lame and annoying. Not sure if this would really be for me, unfortunately.
OdgovoriIzbrišiLovely review anyways! <33
It was lame here especially as it's a guy. I mean yeah all that but really. Thanks, Mel :)
IzbrišiI really like the cover it's a pretty one. I didn't know about it but I'm glad you had a good time with it. It looks nice.
OdgovoriIzbrišiThanks, Melliane :)
IzbrišiOh, wow, a New Adult steampunk book? That's something new and awesome! The ones I've been seeing around have all been contemporaries, which is starting to get boring. I'll definitely check the first book of this series out on Goodreads, so thanks for putting it on my radar, Tanja. :D
OdgovoriIzbrišiYay for a good second book! It's always great when an author gives their characters more development in the sequel. I've come across some where the characters just went downhill, which was so disappointing. And also, the characters have such lovely names. <3 Ardis and Wendel -- they sound so beautiful!
"What I did have problems with are actually two things first is a countless mention of someone blushing." -- I don't really mind repetition just as long as it isn't annoying... so it's a shame that it turned out to be such an irritating trait here. It'd probably drive me nuts, too. I remember reading another book where the main character was constantly biting her lip and that really bugged me to no end. Like, seriously. That is NOT sexy.
Lovely review, girl! Happy that you were able to enjoy this one despite some problems. :)
It's really awesome and you should really read the first book :) I totally agree about the names :) That reminds me of 50 shades of gray xDDDDDDD Thanks, Meg :)
IzbrišiI just one-clicked the first book the other day when it was a freebie, and I can't wait to get to it, and then this one ;)
OdgovoriIzbrišiI'm so happy you grabbed it ;)
IzbrišiI so need to read my copy of book one, this one sounds wonderful and I love the cover.
OdgovoriIzbrišiI hope you'll enjoy it :)
IzbrišiI pretty much loved the first book in this series, but I'm sad to see that this wasn't as brilliant as the first book. I like that Tesla is a character in this book and that we get to learn a lot about him, but it's a shame his character was a little off for you.
OdgovoriIzbrišiStill, I'm glad this gave you the closure you needed, Tanja. :)
I hope you'll give a try to this one. Thanks, Nick :)
IzbrišiI haven't read book 1 yet so I need to get to that first before jumping into this one. Although i must say, copious amount of blushing pretty much turns me off o.o I'm wary now D:
OdgovoriIzbrišiFaye at The Social Potato
Yeah well, it's something that was off for me. But still you might enjoy this :)
IzbrišiDespite the few issues you had, I'm glad this was still as solid read for your overall and that some of the things you learned made you a happy camper. That's always a good thing:) Love the cover of this one too, so gorgeous!
OdgovoriIzbrišiThanks, Jenny :)
IzbrišiI didn't mind blushing, for me it felt right for him. But each our own I suppose. I also didn't read the book straight through, it was pieces at a time so I need to do a straight through read.
OdgovoriIzbrišiI think I liked this one more than the first but it's been awhile, so maybe I'm wrong. It's hard to remember everything.
I'm glad you enjoyed this for the most part anyway!
It was but it was too much. Thanks, Candace :)
IzbrišiI haven't heard of this series before, but I'm definitely thinking of checking it out now. I like books that mix paranormal elements with reality, so this one sounds great! I'll keep in mind that the second book isn't quite as good as the first, though. Awesome review :)
OdgovoriIzbrišiI really hope you'll give it a try. Thanks, Montana :)
IzbrišiI haven't read any of these, but that's good you liked various aspects of this one. Sorry it wasn't AS good as the first though.
OdgovoriIzbrišiThanks, Lauren :)
IzbrišiThe mix of reality and other sounds well done.
OdgovoriIzbrišiI've never heard of dieselpunk before. That seems really cool. Thanks for the review, Tanja!
OdgovoriIzbrišiIt's really cool and you should give it a try :)
IzbrišiI'm sorry to hear you had a few issues with this one but I'm curious about this series and will definitely dive into it if the conclusion to this trilogy is just as wonderful as these first two installments. Wonderful review! :)
OdgovoriIzbrišiI hope you'll enjoy it. Thanks, Keertana :)
IzbrišiIt seems like every one of my blogger friends is having a stop of this tour. Maybe a cosmic message telling me I had to start reading the series? :P Anyway, glad you enjoyed it even though some characters weren't your favorites. Very good honest review (and thank you for the lovely review on my blog, Tanja MWAH! xx)
OdgovoriIzbrišiCandace has some magic powers ;) Thanks, Lola ;)
Izbriši*comment (huh, I need sleep.)
OdgovoriIzbrišiSorry this one wasn't as awesome as the first book, but I'm definitely curious to read this series after seeing so many complimentary reviews. Glad you still felt it was a fitting conclusion despite the blushing and the Tesla mischaracterization. Lovely review!
OdgovoriIzbrišiI hope you'll give it a try. Thanks, Lauren :)
IzbrišiI just finished listening to Shadow of Asphodel and really enjoyed it! At first I wasn't sure where we were in history, but when I figured it out I thought it was an incredibly creative rewriting of such a big moment in history. I'm glad this one worked too, I'm looking forward to it. Great review!
OdgovoriIzbrišiI'm so happy you enjoyed it!! :) Thanks, Berls :)
IzbrišiI really cannot wait to see the number! :)
OdgovoriIzbriši