Review: Riveted by Meljean Brook

Title: Riveted
Series: The Iron Seas, #3
Author: Meljean Brook
Published: September 4, 2012
Pages: 416
Genre: Steampunk
Source: Publisher (Berkley Trade)
Rating: B
Reviewed by: Ellie

Favorite quote: “It seems a powerful ability to make someone quake in your presence without any action on your part.”

summary from Goodreads
A century after a devastating volcanic eruption forced Iceland’s inhabitants to abandon its shores, the island has become enshrouded in legend. Fishermen tell tales of giant trolls guarding the land and of seductive witches who steal men’s hearts. But the truth behind the legends is mechanical, not magic—and the mystery of the island a matter of life and death for a community of women who once spilled noble blood to secure their freedom.

Five years ago, Annika unwittingly endangered that secret, but her sister Källa took the blame and was exiled. Now Annika serves on the airship Phatéon, flying from port to port in search of her sister and longing to return home . . . but that home is threatened when expedition leader David Kentewess comes aboard.

Determined to solve the mystery of his own origin, David will stop at nothing to expose Annika’s secrets. But when disaster strikes, leaving David and Annika stranded on a glacier and pursued by a madman, their very survival depends on keeping the heat rising between them—and generating lots of steam . . .

---

Ellie's thoughts:
The first time David Kentewess hears Anikka Fridasdottor talk he knew she was the key to finding his late mother’s people and fulfilling a promise he made to her before she died. As luck would have it Anikka is a crew member on the ship David is taking to Iceland and he is fascinated by the woman who refuses to tell him anything of his mother’s people. As their journey continues David and Anikka strike up a friendship and when their ship is attacked they must rely on each other to survive.

Anikka Fridasdottor left her village hidden on Iceland four years earlier looking for her sister and she never expected to meet David, the lost son of her adopted aunt. David is unlike any man Anikka has ever met and the more time she spends with him the more she starts to fall for him. After an attack on their ship Anikka must determine if she can trust David with the secret of her village and with her heart.

If you are not reading the Iron Seas series you are missing out!!! This series was my first trip into the steampunk genre and I am hooked. Riveted is the third installment of the series but can be read as a stand alone with no problem since the characters are completely new from previous books. The characters in this series are always well rounded and the world of the Iron Seas is mind blowing.

Riveted takes place in Iceland a hundred years after a volcano forced the majority of the population to flee to the New World and the world is filled with people infected with tiny metal bugs and prosthetic metal appendages. David lost both his legs, an arm and one of his eyes in a horrible accident as a child which has made it difficult for him to let a lot of people get close to him. Anikka is the first woman who makes him feel like a real man and he soon finds himself in love. I loved David and Anikka so much and I loved watching them build a friendship and then fall in love. Both characters have had a hard time fitting in but together they can be themselves and take on the world.

I loved this installment in one of the most exciting and mind blowing series out there right now. There is such a great mixture of romance, steampunk, fantasy and action that you can never get bored. It was very interesting to see a different side of the world after the Horde has fallen and see how people live outside of England where prosthetic are more common. I wasn’t expecting the massive pro-gay theme in the book but it was a great surprise and made the story even more interesting.

Meljean Brook has created a steampunk world that I never want to leave. The plot and the characters will draw you in and never let you go. I love getting lost in the Iron Seas books and so far every single one had been a winner and I can’t wait to see what happens next.