Lady of Devices

These days, I'm frequently poking around review sites, or Amazon recommendations, or local store shelves for possibly-interesting reading material. Lady of Devices is one such book I picked up, thinking it sounded like a neat little steampunk underworldy tale. In the end, it was more good than bad - enjoyable, but it didn't live up to expectations. I think part of that stemmed from how short is was at right around 200 pages.

Here's what the back cover says:

London, 1889. Victoria is Queen. Charles Darwin’s son is Prime Minister. And steam is the power that runs the world.

At 17, Claire Trevelyan, daughter of Viscount St. Ives, was expected to do nothing more than pour an elegant cup of tea, sew a fine seam, and catch a rich husband. Unfortunately, Claire’s talents lie not in the ballroom, but in the chemistry lab, where things have a regrettable habit of blowing up. When her father gambles the estate on the combustion engine and loses, Claire finds herself down and out on the mean streets of London. But being a young woman of resources and intellect, she turns fortune on its head. It’s not long before a new leader rises in the underworld, known only as the Lady of Devices.

When she meets Andrew Malvern, a member of the Royal Society of Engineers, she realizes her talents may encompass more than the invention of explosive devices. They may help her realize her dreams and his . . . if they can both stay alive long enough to see that sometimes the closest friendships can trigger the greatest betrayals . .

Now, from that, I expected more underworldy action. Cunning. Amibition. What I got was a likable character whose "rise" in the underworld consists of "adopting" a group of street kids, trying to civilize them and teaching them numbers (largely for the sake of playing poker), accidentally killing a gang leader while trying to reclaim her property, and being pushed into taking the dead guy's house and remnants of his gang under her wing as well. She's referred to as the Lady of Devices all of once, by someone else, in an attempt to intimidate other gang types. Throughout the book, Claire's only real ambition is to go to further scientific schooling (well, and to take care of the kids she basically adopts). Not only is she not doing things for recognition or wealth on the streets, she actively rejects that life as much as she can.

And while she meets Andrew along the way, she only partners with him in any fashion toward the end. Heck, Claire isn't even forced to the streets until probably halfway through the book. The description feels more like it was written about the trilogy that I believe this is starting, already implying things beyond the scope of the first installment. And in that way, it's disappointing even while the story itself isn't bad.