Wow, just WOW...Every book I don't think this series can get better and then it does! I enjoyed getting to know Zenobia and what made Ariq who he is. I adored the twists and adventure of this story and though it's a love story it was also a terrific urban fantasy adventure!This is a BIG book and I believe it's because of the way it was released...as a serial. I understand why Meljean did this but I think it has more pages than it would have if it had been edited as a whole instead of pieces. I chose to wait to read it as a completed paperback book because I despise having to wait for serials to release and making sure I get each "episode". Because the author is so good, the story didn't suffer with the "extra pages" but at times I thought "yah, yah, I you've said that before and I get it". In a Nutshell: Awesome steampunk world with a strong romance. I do admit the book is loooong and I was ready to have both the romance and the plot wrapped up.Why I Read This Book: I love steampunk and Brook is a genius at writing the genre.What I Liked: I loved both Zenobia and Ariq and their relationship. Zenobia grows in confidence as the novel progresses and I loved watching it unfold. For instance, Zenobia is quite used to being kidnapped and then rescued but in this novel she learns self-reliance and this builds her confidence—I loved it! Ariq is another great character. He’s strong but emotionally open to Zenobia and that is rare in romance. Their relationship has slow development but it felt organic, especially for the wary Zenobia. Ariq’s tenacity pairs so well with Zenobia’s caution that I enjoyed watching these two circle each other.What I Also Liked: The huge sci-fi nerd in me loves steampunk and this book brings it! We have mechanical limbs grafted to humans, airships, electrified and living hot air balloons, mechanical torture beetles and the list goes on and on. The world is utterly fascinating to me, where Europe is invested with zombies and America practices isolation. The Mongolian Horde rule the world through nanobots that many people are infected with. The war machine that is central to the plot turned out to be something so cool! I just love this world and can’t wait to read more in the series.What I Didn’t Like: As much as I loved the world and the relationship this is like holy, batman long! I read about 125 pages an hour and it took me over 6 hours to read this book. I was ready after hour 4 for Zenobia to stop fighting her feelings for Ariq and for the plot involving Ariq’s mysterious war machine to be resolved. I have to also mention that the book had to keep interrupting Zenobia and Ariq’s sexy times and I got mighty sick of that pussy-blocking!IMO: I loved the characters, romance and world building of this book but only recommend it for readers who have long attention spans.
