REVIEW: The Greyfriar by Clay and Susan Griffith

Think you've had enough of vampire fiction? You may want to reconsider and give this one a try. The Greyfriar is a the first book in the steampunk fantasy Vampire Empire trilogy written by husband and wife author duo Clay Griffith and Susan Griffith. After thousands of years of dormancy, vampires inexplicably emerged from their hiding places and swiftly massacred scores of humanity, irrevocably changing the demographics of human life and technology on the entire face of the earth. The Greyfriar story begins a century and half after the emergence of the predatory vampire clans with humans and vampires on the brink of war. Princess Adele, the daughter of the emperor of Equatoria, the largest human nation, is sent to tour the outskirts of human territory when her airship is attacked by vampires. The airship crashes and in the chaos of the battle that ensues, the princess is rescued by The Greyfriar -- the legendary and mysterious slayer of vampires and defender of humans. The Greyfriar has sworn to protect Adele and return her to Equatoria, which is no simple task when the vampire empire's most powerful clan is hunting for the princess so that they can use her as a political pawn against Equatoria. Adele's journey quickly becomes more than a mere physical journey home. She is literally fighting and fleeing for her life within vampire territory and inevitably learns more about vampires than probably any other human on Earth. She also learns some very interesting things about herself--things that have her questioning her very own views of the world and consequently, her role as Princess and heir of the Equatorian Empire.

The story is a fast paced, action packed adventure teeming with classically terrifying vampires, political strifes within and between empires, personal adventure and a touch of romance--all set in a fascinating and epic steampunk alternate history. Princess Adele and the Greyfriar are compelling characters, both of whom grabbed my attention immediately upon introduction and for whom my affection grew with every turn of the page. The story is certainly focused on the events that serve as political catalysts for war between the empires, but it would be remiss to say the story is not also a personal one. The relationships Adele forges during her journey home are equally tender as they are strong and may possibly be what saves both empires from future destruction. The Greyfriar is thoroughly entertaining. I loved this story and am terribly anxious to read the next book in the trilogy, The Rift Walker, already available now.

GRADE: A

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Steampunk Challenge Update: 

The Greyfriar is the only full length steampunk novel that I've read during Steampunk Challenge hosted by Rikki on her blog The Bookkeeper.

Challenge: Read steampunk books from October 2010 through October 2011.

I did also read a steampunk romance novella that was absolutely fantastic. That story is "Here There Be Monsters" by Meljean Brook in the Burning Up anthology, which includes additional [non-steampunk] stories by Nalini Singh, Angela Knight and Virginia Kantra.


"Here There Be Monsters" is a prequel story to Meljean Brook's Iron Seas series. It is, in my opinion, extremely challenging for authors to write really stellar short stories, particularly in the romance genre, but Meljean has once again met that challenge in spades. The world building is impeccable and fascinating, the plot clever, the characters diverse and the romance is both believable and memorable. A romance for which the characters had to really fight, too! Now I'm looking forward more than ever to reading the first full length novel in this series, The Iron Duke. A task I must attend to ASAP as Heart of Steel--book two in the Iron Seas series, comes out in just a few days! 

Steampunk Challenge

Host: Rikki at The Bookkeeper.

Challenge: Read steampunk books from October 2010 through October 2011.

This challenge is running from October 2010 to October 2011, but am listing it among my 2011 Reading Challenges. Rikki hasn't established a minimum number of books to read for this challenge because her goal is to simply encourage readers to explore the steampunk genre and share their thoughts with others without obligation or pressure. I hope to read at least five steampunk novels for this challenge.

I'll keep a running list of the steampunk novels I read for this challenge here in this post.

1. "Here There Be Monsters" novella by Meljean Brook
2. The Greyfriar by Clay Griffith and Susan Griffith
3.
4.
5.

REVIEW: Steamed by Katie MacAlister

Steamed is the first novel in a new steampunk fantasy romance series penned by romance author Katie MacAlister. Jack Fletcher is a nanoelectrical engineer. When his sister Hallie pays him a visit in his lab and nonchalantly fiddles with some equipment as she chats away, the two get accidentally zapped to an alternate reality onto a steam driven airship. Jack and Hallie are disoriented and bewildered as they come to in the cargo hold of the airship Tesla. The captain of the ship, Octavia Pye with startling red hair and her cast of strange and colorful crew members are equally confused over the discovery of these two uninvited guests in their ship's cargo hold.

The airship Tesla is en route to deliver cargo to the emperor during a turbulent political time, so the captain and crew are very weary of Jack and Hallie's unexpected presence aboard the ship, suspecting them to be spies on some nefarious mission. As this is Octavia's maiden voyage, she's determined for her trip to go smoothly without a hitch, and Jack and his sister certainly throw things off course for her in more ways than one. The sparks fly between Jack and Octavia from the get go, and Jack is seemingly having the time of his life in this new world attempting to seduce Octavia while trying to learn more about this woman and her world.

When I first got wind of Steamed, I knew I wanted to read it. I've been wanting to read a steampunk novel for a while, so I thought this book, a steampunk romance would be the perfect place to start. Unfortunately, I don't think it was the right steampunk novel for me.

I haven't read any of Katie MacAlister's work before, but I was vaguely aware that her stories tend to be light hearted and humorous. So in fairness, I should have expected a similar style with Steamed, yet it still took me a few chapters to get into the story and not expect something serious and romantic, which I think is what I was looking for. Nevertheless, I made a quick adjustment of my expectations and was set my mind to just have fun with the story. And it was fun to read at times. Steamed is a fun story with some funny dialogue, some slapstick-type action scenes and quite a few colorful and quirky characters. The characters and the world were interesting, but neither were developed or explored nearly enough to meet their potential.

The relationship between Octavia and Jack was entertaining at times because of their differences in shall we say, their 'dating' customs, but really, I never felt convinced that there was ever a true romance between them. What they had was merely physical attraction and perhaps a curiosity about someone so different.

The steampunk world had a lot of political struggles going on in the background, and I had been left wanting for more explanations of each faction's strifes and goals. Again, there was potential there, but the conflicts were never quite explained thoroughly enough and too many questions were left unaddressed. Hopefully the author will reveal more about the world and the motives of the various political leaders in future installments of this series.

Steamed may appeal to fans of Katie MacAlister's stories and others who are looking for a humorous, lighthearted adventure in an airship, but for me, I'm going to start over in my quest for the perfect steampunk romance. Right now I've got my sights on the following steampunk novels.

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
Clockwork Heart by Dru Pagliassotti

The Iron Seas series by Meljean Brook
"Here There Be Monsters" in the Burning Up anthology due out August 2010
The Iron Duke full length novel due out October 2010

I've seen the first two at my library, and the third comes highly recommended from several book blogging friends. The Iron Seas series? Well, it's Meljean Brook. I can predict with confidence that she's going to deliver the depth, seriousness and romance that I'm looking for.

What are your steampunk recommendations?

I prefer the books to have a romance or at least romantic elements, but I'm open to any book suggestion, really, so suggest away!

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Want to know more about what "steampunk" is? There's a great article at Wikipedia that discusses steampunk, its origins and influences at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk.

You can also read author Meljean Brook's approach to "steampunk" at http://meljeanbrook.com/blog/archives/2609 .