Riveted

Iron Sea, Book 3

By: Meljean Brook

Narrated by: Alison Larkin

Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's Summary

A century after a devastating volcanic eruption forced Iceland's inhabitants to abandon its shores, the island has become enshrouded in legend. But the truth behind the legends is mechanical, not magical - 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 an airship, searching for her sister and longing to return home. But that home is threatened when scientific expedition leader David Kentewess comes aboard, looking to expose Annika's secrets.

Then disaster strikes, leaving David and Annika stranded on a glacier and pursued by a madman, with their very survival depending on keeping the heat rising between them - and generating lots of steam....

©2012 Meljean Brook (P)2012 Tantor

Another high seas adventure.

Another great story by Meljean Brooks, this is part of the series but it could stand alone for none of the other characters from previous books are in this story. It is still a steam punk story in the same sense as with her other Iron Seas books. The narrator is different and it took a while for me like her enough to enjoy the story. I much prefer the previous narrator Faye Adele. Warning this story does mention same sex relations a lot throughout this book, but there was lots of hot scenes going on between the protagonists to enjoy.

So good!

I save up the Iron Seas stories for when I really need something excellent to read, because they haven't let me down yet. Here we are on #3 and still going strong. This was my first to listen to on audio, and I loved Alison Larkin's voice. I kind of laughed at first when I heard her read Annika's part- it sounds exactly like Bjork! But hey, she's a unique Icelandic woman too, so it fits, they even have equally crazy sartorial taste. These books have adventure, fantasy, romance, and great characters. They are just so perfect. I loved the LBGT rights angle, the secret village of women, and all the Icelandic settings. And as always, the steampunk vehicles and the prosthetics are so interesting and add so much to the world-building. So good.

The only thing I hate is the cover art. Annika looks white! In the book it's pretty clear she is dark-skinned with very curly hair, probably of African origin. David is also possibly mixed race, his father was "Native" and his mother was probably white? Also, Annika's clothing is super bright and she even wears a ruff. So the cover is kind of generic steampunk, I wish it were more accurate to the characters.

Emotional roller coaster

What made the experience of listening to Riveted the most enjoyable?

The narrator was marvelous.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Annika because she was really unusual as a heroine.

What does Alison Larkin bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Her accents and voices for each character were fabulous.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

There's this one part toward the end...OMG, heart wrenching. I cried (in a good way).

Any additional comments?

This book was odd for me because I didn't actually like the story as well as the prior Iron Seas book, but the emotions and the character arc was SO amazingly well done that I was super invested in the story anyway.

Another wonderful book by Meljean Brook!!

If you could sum up Riveted in three words, what would they be?

Adventurous. Thrilling. Emotional (in a good way!)

What other book might you compare Riveted to and why?

This is really a one-of-kind series for me. I've never read/listened to anything like this series - which makes it refreshing and interesting. : )

Have you listened to any of Alison Larkin’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, I haven't heard Alison Larkin before but would say that she is a narrator that you would either love or hate at first. It took me a little to work up to liking her because the voice for the main female character is very... I'll say interesting with the accent and higher pitch. I am sad that they did not have Faye Adele continue as narrator for the series but with that said this book is 'seperate' in the series than the first books and having a new narrator expands that distinguishing factor.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Yes! There were quite a few. One especially at the end... but I won't ruin it for anyone!!

Any additional comments?

A disclaimer - this book is featured in the world of the Iron Seas Series but know that you won't see any of the characters from the first books. So going in prepare yourself as if you were starting a new series/stand alone book in a world you already know.

Steampunk Amazons in Iceland

This was my least liked book of the series for several reasons, starting with the overall teenage, anime feel of the story. Book 3 may take place in the same world as books 1 & 2, but the characters, plots, and tone are very different. (Indeed, there are no characters from the previous book here)

📍Books 1 & 2 featured strong leads (a lady inspector, a pirate-captain-duke, a mercenary-captain, and a tomb raider-zombie slayer), whereas this book features two average Joe’s (a laborer in the coal-room of a flying airship and an academic explorer seeking to study volcanoes). When these two fought or killed, it felt comical and unrealistic. It didn’t help that the narrator makes David and Anika sound like they’re 12. Anika in particular sounds like Moaning Myrtle from Harry Potter. I tried to think of chipper Reese Witherspoon instead, which helped a little, but the writing paints Anika as a “wool gatherer” and “bunny chaser” and thus Anika became a scatterbrained ditz in my mind and everything she did seemed shallow and silly.
📍Books 1 & 2 feature edgy romance between experienced couples whereas this book has an inexperienced pair doing a lot of awkweird grinding and hand-play between the 8.5hr and 12hr mark when they finally seal the deal. I can tolerate a romance coupling where one of the two is an innocent, but with both being greenhorns here I felt quite icky hearing the Blue Lagoon style body-discovery between these kids. Would a woman, even one raised by only women, really just grab onto a man’s Johnson out of curiosity as opposed to having a modicum of sense for personal boundaries?
Absurd.
📍Books 1 & 2 had a gritty, steampunk post-nano-bot-zombie-apocalypse vibe whereas this one features cartoonish steampunk mech-suits disguised as trolls, metal whales, and Jules Verne take-me-to-the-moon fantasy.
📍Books 1 & 2 managed to tell a good tale with minimal detail about the history of the Horde whereas this book gets too bogged down in details, especially in tales of trolls to hide the all-women enclaves, on the origins of such enclaves, on the prejudices faced by the LGBTQ community, or to give the Icelandic volcanoes a mythical backstory. This gave the book more of a fantasy feel.

The one similarity of this book and the previous ones is the weirdly convenient take downs of the bad guys, which all happen without our MCs directly fighting/killing/defeating the bad guys and instead contriving to have chance events spell their doom. I found the lack of any final battle extremely unsatisfying.

Random thought: For all the details about trolls, volcanoes, and lady loves, there is scant detail about the MC’s looks, with one mention of Anika being black-Irish and David being half-Native American. But, why mention their race at all if the cover art doesn’t match? Also, a central part of Anika’s personality is her bubbly love of color and ribbons, yet as many times as it’s mentioned in the book, her clothes are drab, ribbon-less and brown, brown, brown on the cover.

Bought on sale, I don’t regret listening. But, I won’t be re-listening to this book. I quite liked book 2, however, and the next book stars Archimedes’ sister, so I will wishlist it and hope to get book 4 on sale.

Read For Class, Don't Regret It

I really loved this book. I usually do not read romance novels as I get grossed out by seeing or picturing couples I see or read about. But this is a romance novel that has minimal amounts of actual coupling until more than halfway through the book. Also the science fiction elements were really well done. Surprisingly cringey love scenes, but in general they were fine, too. I would recommend to someone who appreciates a story with lots of development and action with a lesser amount of romance. Loved the steampunk elements the most.

Narrator is awful!

This narrator is different from the first two books and I absolutely hate her voice! It made listening to this book almost impossible. Her voice annoyed me with its lack of depth, it's slight lisp, and her complete inability to do a man's character. What's worse, her voice turned Anika into this meek character which is the exact opposite of how she was written. I will never, ever, listen to another book by this author. As it is, I kinda want my money back because I will never listen to this book again!

Great adventure story

The narrator is so enchanting with her treatment of the characters. Worth the investment. enjoy

You don't have to be bad, to be good

What did you love best about Riveted?

Once again, Meljean Brook surprised me with all of the twists and turns in her rendition of an altered Victorian world. The cast of characters constantly kept me guessing on what they would do next. The two main characters are good people who have an aura of vulnerability about them yet they are also very strong individuals who become even stronger with each other.

Who was your favorite character and why?

David Kentewess! I loved how his character grew along the way and as Annika said becomes even more interesting.

Which scene was your favorite?

I actually found the ending to be quite good. I liked how the author didn't really attempt to tie up all of the loose ends in an unbelievable way but rather how life went on and the struggle in this strange and muddled world continued but with the addition of two more "complete" people.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Definitely the scene on the glacier where David refuses to "give up" Annika and clings to her in desperation.

Any additional comments?

Once again, Meljean Brook has written a not so typical romance with a not so typical cast of characters. I read that someone was not happy with the performance of the narrator however, I do not agree with that opinion. The heroine is very naive about the ways of the outside world and I felt that the narrator's performance managed to convey that without making her sound either daft or irritating. While this narrator has a bit more growing for this type of genre, I felt she did an excellent job.

Adventurous steampunk

Genre: Steampunk, romance
Another foray into Meljean Brook's Iron Seas world. This one is set in Iceland, and there is no mention of characters from previous books, but these characters are sufficient unto themselves. Annika Fridasdotter is known back home (an isolated village of all females in Iceland) as Annika the Rabbit because she is timid, unlike her sister Kalla, who is a shield maiden. Annika has been away from home for 4 years, looking for her sister, who was exiled after taking the blame for something Annika did. She's been a stoker/junior engineer on an airship during that time. She meets David Kentewess when he intervenes when she has difficulties with a port official while she is on shore. David is a vulcanologist whose expedition is taking the ship Annika works on to their destination in Iceland. David was injured in an accident in which his mother died. One of his eyes, a hand, and both legs are prosthetic, and he is infected with the nanoagents that prevent rejection. He has emotional issues due to his mother's death, his injury, and the constant fear and rejection he faces because of his prosthetics. He has been trying to fulfill his mother's dying wish for him to bury her runes in her birthplace, but never told him or his father where that is. When he meets Annika, he recognizes her accent as being the same as his mom's.
So the story is about David trying to find out where his mother was born and Annika keeping the info to herself because it would endanger her village and the way of life there. Along the way, they start getting to know one another and experience adventures I would tell you about but that might spoil it for you. I will say this: sex, whale, volcano. Over the course of the novel, Annika discovers that she is stronger and braver than she thought, and David decides that it is better to be important to one particular person than accepted by just anyone. Intrigued? This is worth delving into to find out about these people and their story.
The narration is pretty strong. Alison Larkin, whom I haven't always loved, provides a smooth performance. I bounced between Kindle to audio when my eyes got tired. I just love Whispersync, especially when I get both formats for only slightly more than what an audible credit costs me.
This book is definitely worth your time, regardless of whether you read or listen. And even though it is set in the Iron Seas world, it can definitely stand alone.