addy1991's review
4.0
Went to a panel at Dragon Con 2018 and bought this afterwards directly from the author who was kind enough to sign it with a sweet message. Definitely enjoyed and considered it a worthwhile purchase. What's not to love? The female characters are intelligent and resourceful, the men run the gamut from daring to deceitful. The plot is entertaining and full of interesting twists. I will definitely be purchasing other books in this series because I consider this to be a good read!
leesarpel's review
Iris McTavish, an archaeological expert, stands in for her father on a scientific expedition to find ways to use aether as a power source. She needs the money the project backer promises to retain her independence from an unwanted and unscrupulous suitor. While on the expedition, she finds herself drawn to Edward Bailey, the aether scientist. But nobody on the expedition is what they seem to be. With enemies determined to disrupt the trip at every turn, can Edward and Iris unlock the potential of the Eros Element?
Not everyone would like the hero, Professor Bailey, but he makes me go squee. He's querulous and neurotic and sweet and tenderhearted. The high-maintenance professor type. His admiration for Iris is a complex thing: they share a passion of discovery while constantly challenging each other.
Our heroine, meanwhile, is plenty paranoid. If she touches significant objects with her bare hands, she has uncontrollable visions of the people and places the object has been associated with, and this has made her see ugly things. She chafes at the restrictions her gender and economic consequences have placed upon her. At one point, someone calls her on her detachment, thinking it's unnatural for a woman to be so composed when she's witnessed something so horrible. That's her way to cope, though, she's smart and means well. The secrets she keeps are understandable and she has good reason to not confide in people.
The baddies are convincing. There's a visceral immediate threat, and also a more mysterious far-ranging one.
Despite the title, this book is PG. I don't mind that when I expect it, but I did wonder if there would be more of the sensual in dealings with the Eros Element.
I felt that the cast’s traveling around was a whirlwind, and I didn't get the feel of all the cities as differentiated from each other (except the culinary details).
There was also lots of setup done in this book that fleshed out the secondary characters, not because of their importance now, but because they might be the foci of later books in the series. The book raises a lot of questions it doesn't answer.
Not everyone would like the hero, Professor Bailey, but he makes me go squee. He's querulous and neurotic and sweet and tenderhearted. The high-maintenance professor type. His admiration for Iris is a complex thing: they share a passion of discovery while constantly challenging each other.
Our heroine, meanwhile, is plenty paranoid. If she touches significant objects with her bare hands, she has uncontrollable visions of the people and places the object has been associated with, and this has made her see ugly things. She chafes at the restrictions her gender and economic consequences have placed upon her. At one point, someone calls her on her detachment, thinking it's unnatural for a woman to be so composed when she's witnessed something so horrible. That's her way to cope, though, she's smart and means well. The secrets she keeps are understandable and she has good reason to not confide in people.
The baddies are convincing. There's a visceral immediate threat, and also a more mysterious far-ranging one.
Despite the title, this book is PG. I don't mind that when I expect it, but I did wonder if there would be more of the sensual in dealings with the Eros Element.
I felt that the cast’s traveling around was a whirlwind, and I didn't get the feel of all the cities as differentiated from each other (except the culinary details).
There was also lots of setup done in this book that fleshed out the secondary characters, not because of their importance now, but because they might be the foci of later books in the series. The book raises a lot of questions it doesn't answer.
maureensbooks89's review
5.0
The thing that immediately grabs your eye about the Aether Psychics series, is the awesome looking blue covers. If I would have seen this book lying in the bookstore, I definitely would have grabbed a copy. So when I saw the sign up for the Review Tour of the Aether Psychics series I signed up as fast as I could.
‘Eros Element’ was from the very first page a really nice read. I didn’t realize when I read the book description that this book would take place in 1870 , so that was definitely a nice surprise since I love reading historical novels. The author has a very interesting way of writing that definitely hooked me to the pages of this book. The scenery and the travel devices are really well described, which makes you feel like you’re a part of the story instead of a reader.
The main characters are especially very interesting. There’s the main female character Iris McTavish, who definitely is a fun female character. Iris wants more than what she is supposed to have as a female in the 1800’s, and I really loved her for that. She also has this interesting gift that makes you want to read more about her.
The main male character Edward Bailey is definitely not your average male character. He is a little weird, definitely a little insecure and has this huge passion for his job. I really loved Edward.
The romance is very light in this book. But that definitely wasn’t a bad thing, since it fitted the characters personality perfectly. It was really sweet.
Although I did feel like this book could have been a little more fast-paced in the beginning, the writing style, the fun and interesting characters really made up for that. The Aether talk was a little difficult at times, but I just kept on reading and I really enjoyed this book.
Not only does this book have some great main characters, the secondary characters were also really fun to read about. Especially Marie. I loved that character.
This book was a really great read and I loved it. If you love fantasy and adventures reads, this book is perfect for you.
‘Eros Element’ was from the very first page a really nice read. I didn’t realize when I read the book description that this book would take place in 1870 , so that was definitely a nice surprise since I love reading historical novels. The author has a very interesting way of writing that definitely hooked me to the pages of this book. The scenery and the travel devices are really well described, which makes you feel like you’re a part of the story instead of a reader.
The main characters are especially very interesting. There’s the main female character Iris McTavish, who definitely is a fun female character. Iris wants more than what she is supposed to have as a female in the 1800’s, and I really loved her for that. She also has this interesting gift that makes you want to read more about her.
The main male character Edward Bailey is definitely not your average male character. He is a little weird, definitely a little insecure and has this huge passion for his job. I really loved Edward.
The romance is very light in this book. But that definitely wasn’t a bad thing, since it fitted the characters personality perfectly. It was really sweet.
Although I did feel like this book could have been a little more fast-paced in the beginning, the writing style, the fun and interesting characters really made up for that. The Aether talk was a little difficult at times, but I just kept on reading and I really enjoyed this book.
Not only does this book have some great main characters, the secondary characters were also really fun to read about. Especially Marie. I loved that character.
This book was a really great read and I loved it. If you love fantasy and adventures reads, this book is perfect for you.
centrifugepolitics's review
2.0
This book started out so, so promising. The first third absolutely sucked me in, the premise was good, the characters were excellent, and I was looking forward to the concept of aether being explored further. I wanted to see this mismatched band of characters go on an adventure and keep secrets and have delicious tension.
Alas, as soon as the story moves from London to Paris, the entire plot entirely loses steam and characters are shunted blindly from one contrived plot point to another with almost no agency. The character secrets that should have driven interesting tension, conflict, and growth just drag everything down for no good reason. Characters act irrationally and change their minds on a dime because ~intrigue~ I guess. Relevant information is only doled out when the plot needs a kickstart, long after the tension has turned to exhaustion. I stopped being able to follow the story because events just seemed to happen out of nowhere with no explanation except that it was time for the plot to move on. It wasn't that the plot seemed particularly convoluted or anything, I was just so detached from the events taking place because there was no narrative rhyme or reason to it all. Every new beat felt like 'well I guess this might as well happen.'
I'll get into my more specific gripes but they all mostly fall under something I mention above:
-Edward was a really good character when he was introduced! He felt different than the usual standoffish genius hero. He had complex emotions and genuine flaws to work through. Except all of that went entirely out of the window after the dirigible crashes in France. He has absolutely nothing to do and spends almost 30% of the book in his room, literally. All the other characters treat him like an idiot child and he just accepts it and does what he's told. It makes his "growth" by the end of the story really hard to buy.
-Iris and Edward's relationship, again, this would have been really good, except since Edward is stuck in a room alone for a third of the book, him and Iris are barely ever in the same place. When your romantic lead heroine spends more time with her love interest's best friend than the actual love interest, you have a problem. In fact, I can only think of one single instance where these two have a positive interaction. Before the finale, of course, when they've somehow decided they're in love somehow.
-There are too many side characters that take up too much time doing things that don't connect back to the plot. We spend a ton of time with Marie and her mother and their whole story and it's entirely unnecessary. I like her and I'm not saying it all needed to be cut, but so much of it goes nowhere and adds nothing. The same thing with Johann, so many of his story beats just distract from the actual main characters and story. It's obvious the author was trying to set up the second book which is focused on Marie and Johann, but this isn't their story! Similarly, Doctor Radcliffe and O'Connell get story time that feels shoehorned in and really doesn't contribute to the main story. And then there's a whole mystery with the crew's benefactor Cobb and something going on with the high society cast in France and a sideplot involving Marie's mother and people with special gifts and...gah too much. I get the sense that it's supposed to feel like there's a whole world of people and events that's happening outside of the main character's sphere, but it feels messy and unfocused.
-That leads into my last major complaint, that the plot feels entirely driven by people and forces we don't get to see and not the actual characters in the story. It's supposed to feel ~secretive~ and ~mysterious~ when surprising things keep happening but it's really just frustrating. The concept of aether, which I thought might have been important to the story since, you know, it's in the damn title, turned out to have no bearing on the plot and is just used at the last moment to defeat the villain within a page. Iris's psychometric abilities are interesting but chronically underutilized. The villain is unconvincing because he feels almost like an after thought. The setup that leads him to become the main antagonist (abruptly in the last third of the book after being a toothless nuisance with no bearing on the plot until then) is unconvincing.
Overall, poor execution made all the more disappointing by the really great premise and beginning.
Alas, as soon as the story moves from London to Paris, the entire plot entirely loses steam and characters are shunted blindly from one contrived plot point to another with almost no agency. The character secrets that should have driven interesting tension, conflict, and growth just drag everything down for no good reason. Characters act irrationally and change their minds on a dime because ~intrigue~ I guess. Relevant information is only doled out when the plot needs a kickstart, long after the tension has turned to exhaustion. I stopped being able to follow the story because events just seemed to happen out of nowhere with no explanation except that it was time for the plot to move on. It wasn't that the plot seemed particularly convoluted or anything, I was just so detached from the events taking place because there was no narrative rhyme or reason to it all. Every new beat felt like 'well I guess this might as well happen.'
I'll get into my more specific gripes but they all mostly fall under something I mention above:
-Edward was a really good character when he was introduced! He felt different than the usual standoffish genius hero. He had complex emotions and genuine flaws to work through. Except all of that went entirely out of the window after the dirigible crashes in France. He has absolutely nothing to do and spends almost 30% of the book in his room, literally. All the other characters treat him like an idiot child and he just accepts it and does what he's told. It makes his "growth" by the end of the story really hard to buy.
-Iris and Edward's relationship, again, this would have been really good, except since Edward is stuck in a room alone for a third of the book, him and Iris are barely ever in the same place. When your romantic lead heroine spends more time with her love interest's best friend than the actual love interest, you have a problem. In fact, I can only think of one single instance where these two have a positive interaction. Before the finale, of course, when they've somehow decided they're in love somehow.
-There are too many side characters that take up too much time doing things that don't connect back to the plot. We spend a ton of time with Marie and her mother and their whole story and it's entirely unnecessary. I like her and I'm not saying it all needed to be cut, but so much of it goes nowhere and adds nothing. The same thing with Johann, so many of his story beats just distract from the actual main characters and story. It's obvious the author was trying to set up the second book which is focused on Marie and Johann, but this isn't their story! Similarly, Doctor Radcliffe and O'Connell get story time that feels shoehorned in and really doesn't contribute to the main story. And then there's a whole mystery with the crew's benefactor Cobb and something going on with the high society cast in France and a sideplot involving Marie's mother and people with special gifts and...gah too much. I get the sense that it's supposed to feel like there's a whole world of people and events that's happening outside of the main character's sphere, but it feels messy and unfocused.
-That leads into my last major complaint, that the plot feels entirely driven by people and forces we don't get to see and not the actual characters in the story. It's supposed to feel ~secretive~ and ~mysterious~ when surprising things keep happening but it's really just frustrating. The concept of aether, which I thought might have been important to the story since, you know, it's in the damn title, turned out to have no bearing on the plot and is just used at the last moment to defeat the villain within a page. Iris's psychometric abilities are interesting but chronically underutilized. The villain is unconvincing because he feels almost like an after thought. The setup that leads him to become the main antagonist (abruptly in the last third of the book after being a toothless nuisance with no bearing on the plot until then) is unconvincing.
Overall, poor execution made all the more disappointing by the really great premise and beginning.
lavenderspark's review
I thoroughly enjoyed it. The story was fully immersive and the characters *actually talked through problems.* The main character in this is only 18, but the way she's written I kept forgetting. There also wasn't any inappropriate(-feeling) sexiness, so it was fine. I don't mind YA at all, but as an adult (30+), I don't want lots of super sexy bits in it. This was very well done.
mousegoddess's review
4.0
Colour me gleeful.
I enjoyed this so thoroughly that even tho I'm pretty sure I saw some typos they barely pinged on my consciousness. Misunderstandings that make SENSE, secrets that make sense to keep! Different types of strength given equal respect! Female friendship! Male friendship! friendship!
I enjoyed this story so much. The characters were engaging, the romance in the story was sweet, and falling in love was handled divinely for my tastes. The baddies were intriguing and I was left wondering how many conspiracies might writhe beneath the surface. I'm so curious about the next book. All in all this was a satIsfying read and I really must recommend it.
okay for Aayesha.
I enjoyed this so thoroughly that even tho I'm pretty sure I saw some typos they barely pinged on my consciousness. Misunderstandings that make SENSE, secrets that make sense to keep! Different types of strength given equal respect! Female friendship! Male friendship! friendship!
I enjoyed this story so much. The characters were engaging, the romance in the story was sweet, and falling in love was handled divinely for my tastes. The baddies were intriguing and I was left wondering how many conspiracies might writhe beneath the surface. I'm so curious about the next book. All in all this was a satIsfying read and I really must recommend it.
okay for Aayesha.
laffingkat's review
5.0
This series was so much fun, I highly recommend this box set. The cast of characters was a pure delight! These books offered mystery, romance, humor, and excitement in a steampunk setting, but I think the highlight of the books is getting to know all of the fascinating characters. Cecilia Dominic is so good at writing memorable characters, whether they are characters you love or characters you hate or characters you just want to get to know better. Don't miss this treat--grab a bowl of popcorn or your snack of choice and dig in!
I am a huge fan of stories that allow me to watch the characters learn and grow, and we get to watch several very satisfying character arcs over the course of this series. Each book focuses on a different pair of main characters but continues to develop the stories of previously introduced characters. I loved learning about everyone's abilities and backgrounds and watching the various friendships and romances develop.
I was particularly fond of the smart, strong female characters in this series. I appreciated their cleverness, bravery, resourcefulness, and kindness, and also enjoyed laughing at some of the predicaments they get themselves in. I love that Cecilia Dominic's female characters are so well balanced (neither Mary Sues nor helpless damsels in distress) and exercise agency.
I was also quite fond of the steampunk world the story is set in. The plots are fun, providing plenty of twists and turns. There were elements of science fiction, paranormal fantasy, mystery, suspense, and historical romance, and I think these books would probably please fans of many of these genres. The pacing seemed good to me, and the books were well-written. I was quickly drawn into each story and never had trouble suspending disbelief. Each novel has an ending that sufficiently ties up the events of that book to provide a satisfying ending for now (no cliffhangers), while leaving plenty of threads open for the subsequent books in the series.
I received a free copy of these books from the author and volunteered to review them. I generally didn't notice any typos or grammatical errors in the versions I reviewed, and they were cleanly formatted. The language was pretty clean, and there were no sexually explicit scenes, although there was a bit of violence and a couple of deaths described without any gory details. This should be appropriate for a wide audience.
Ms. Dominic provides enough background for each book to be enjoyed on its own, but I think the reading experience will be richer and more enjoyable if you read the entire series in order, which makes this box set a great idea. All of the books are so good, I highly recommend you read them all.
I am a huge fan of stories that allow me to watch the characters learn and grow, and we get to watch several very satisfying character arcs over the course of this series. Each book focuses on a different pair of main characters but continues to develop the stories of previously introduced characters. I loved learning about everyone's abilities and backgrounds and watching the various friendships and romances develop.
I was particularly fond of the smart, strong female characters in this series. I appreciated their cleverness, bravery, resourcefulness, and kindness, and also enjoyed laughing at some of the predicaments they get themselves in. I love that Cecilia Dominic's female characters are so well balanced (neither Mary Sues nor helpless damsels in distress) and exercise agency.
I was also quite fond of the steampunk world the story is set in. The plots are fun, providing plenty of twists and turns. There were elements of science fiction, paranormal fantasy, mystery, suspense, and historical romance, and I think these books would probably please fans of many of these genres. The pacing seemed good to me, and the books were well-written. I was quickly drawn into each story and never had trouble suspending disbelief. Each novel has an ending that sufficiently ties up the events of that book to provide a satisfying ending for now (no cliffhangers), while leaving plenty of threads open for the subsequent books in the series.
I received a free copy of these books from the author and volunteered to review them. I generally didn't notice any typos or grammatical errors in the versions I reviewed, and they were cleanly formatted. The language was pretty clean, and there were no sexually explicit scenes, although there was a bit of violence and a couple of deaths described without any gory details. This should be appropriate for a wide audience.
Ms. Dominic provides enough background for each book to be enjoyed on its own, but I think the reading experience will be richer and more enjoyable if you read the entire series in order, which makes this box set a great idea. All of the books are so good, I highly recommend you read them all.
priscillaf6456's review
5.0
I really needed something interesting with no politics or ecological worries. I must have found this just the ticket since I finished it and ordered all the other books in the series! Good story, interesting plot, right touch of romance and a slightly different world, yet likely true to the real experience of this time for those who went through it on this very real world.
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