“The Girl in the Clockwork Collar (The Steampunk Chronicles),” by Kady Cross, Harlequin, May 22, 2012, Hardcover, $17.99 (young adult)
Sixteen-year-old Finley Jane has finally found a place where she’s accepted, where she doesn’t have to look over her shoulder all the time. With the help of Griffin King, an English duke who has some fairly spectacular “magical” powers, Finley has been able to balance the dark magic that flows through her veins with her good side. She’s helped defeat the Machinist, and feels like Griffin, Emily, Sam and Jasper have come to trust her.
But when Jasper is hauled off to America by bounty hunters, Finley learns she still has some settling in to do. Jasper is in mortal danger, being held by a former boss who wants a dangerous device Jasper stole from him, and he’s willing to get it at any cost, even if it means killing the girl Jasper loves.
Griffin, Finley, Sam and Emily follow Jasper to America in hopes of setting him free, but that means Finley going under cover and participating in a life of crime — something that’s both scary and enticing. As Finley lives on the fringe of society, she comes to fully grasp how far apart in station she really is from Griffin.
A follow-up to “The Girl in the Steel Corset,” “The Girl in the Clockwork Collar” is much of what fans of the first novel expect it to be — mystery, suspense, one-on-one combat, imaginative automatons, personal telegraphs and magical organisms. It’s a fast-moving sequel to a strong debut. Once again, the story flows smoothly and the steampunk elements feel believable.
The one problem with this new work is similar to the problem I had with the original — predictable plot elements, particularly the main one. I didn’t necessarily mind that I had major parts of the mystery figured out less than halfway in, but it would have been nice to be surprised a little more. Despite that issue, though, I thoroughly enjoyed “The Girl in the Clockwork Collar.” The pacing was good and the characters well-developed. I can’t wait for the next book in the series.
