Review: Heart of Steel by Meljean Brook

I’m sad to say that this is probably my least favorite Meljean Brook novel to date. The writing style I love was still there, but I never became engaged by the story. I think everything would have been different if I had enjoyed the characters more. I didn’t like Yasmeen much and I didn’t feel I knew Archimedes well enough to truly care.

I liked Yasmeen’s character in The Iron Duke but I wasn’t completely sold on her as a main character. It’s easier for me to enjoy certain personality types when I’m only viewing them from a distance, not stuck following them around. Unfortunately, I didn’t grow to love her as I had hoped, and actually spent the bulk of the book trying to figure out what Archimedes saw in her.

I understood his determination to fall for her in the beginning. That had more to do with his fear of losing control of his emotions (like he did when the Horde signal dampened his moods) and less to do with Yasmeen herself. Actually, what I disliked about her was what made her ideal for Archimedes’s goal. He went in planning on getting his heart broken and relished the opportunity to feel in all its agony. It was only when he actually fell for her that he became interested in convincing her to fall as well. Before that, it was all word games and grand ideas.

Yasmeen was a hard character to like. Brook is particularly skilled at writing strong, but likable, women, so I was eager to delve into her character and see what made her tick. Based on The Iron Duke, I had a few predetermined views of her character. She tended more toward the hard, cold end of “strong” and she had a worrying tendency to view the world and its occupants in terms of power games and manipulation. Points for me for being dead on. The power games were my major complaint about her and the relationship between her and Archimedes as a whole. I wasn’t thrilled with her in general—and her constant use of opium (Archimedes did it too) didn’t endear her to me—but that was my main sticking point.

Everything in Yasmeen’s life revolved around power. The power she possessed and the power that she was convinced everyone wanted to wrest from her. Every past bad relationship had to do with men not being about to deal with her and her role as captain, and every roadblock she faced in the present had to do with the same. I was irritated to find that the plot validated her belief that everything was about her. It was exhausting and irritating to have everything circle back around to this. I wanted to watch a relationship develop without the power games. Archimedes was perfectly content to let her steer and didn’t want her role, but even after they had fallen for each other, the power games still impacted them. After she was hurt and unconscious, he had to take control of the ship and her men. After she woke up he was honestly concerned about her being angry and was willing (but uneager) to let her humiliate him in front of her crew so she could gain her power back. WTF? No thanks. I’ll pass on a relationship like that.

In terms of Archimedes…I just didn’t know him that well. I heard about his past and I knew what motivated him to experience emotions to their fullest, but I never got a handle on the core him. I was told these things but never had any particular resonance with them. I had the same trouble with Yasmeen, though. At one point she’s telling a story that has to do with her race’s origins and she starts to cry because she’s so touched by thinking of the tale. But why? I felt nothing from her for it. It’s like I spent the whole book just slightly out of sync with the events. I watched them from a distance and remained cold. I think if you enjoyed Yasmeen more than I did, then your chances of enjoying this book just shot through the roof.

I had some trouble adjusting to the Steampunk technology in the first book (my fault—my brain doesn’t interpret machines well) but it was smooth sailing in this one. The technology and terms were much easier to understand and it was great to see the world and the aftereffects delved into more. I really liked that the author had the characters drift away from familiar territory and delve into new and exciting areas. I’m not sure who the next book will feature or where it will take us in the post-Horde recovery, but I hope I’m able to click with them a little better. I think that would have made all the difference in this book.

Favorite Quote:

”Stop letting yourself fall for me, Archimedes. Anything that makes you worry for someone else’s ass over your own does you no favors, and I like you too well to see you die.”

He couldn’t have stopped now if he tried. “I’d die to protect you.”

“Idiot.”

Rating: C-
Heart of Steel by Meljean Brook
November 1st 2011 by Berkley
Paranormal Romance
Series
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