• Heart of Steel

  • By: Meljean Brook
  • Narrated by: Faye Adele
  • Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (249 ratings)

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Heart of Steel  By  cover art

Heart of Steel

By: Meljean Brook
Narrated by: Faye Adele
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Publisher's summary

Journey to New York Times best-selling author Meljean Brook's gritty, alluring world of the Iron Seas, and gear up for passionate steampunk adventure....

As the mercenary captain of the Lady Corsair, Yasmeen has learned to keep her heart as cold as steel, her only loyalty bound to her ship and her crew. So when a man who once tried to seize her airship returns from the dead, Yasmeen will be damned if she gives him another opportunity to take control.

Treasure-hunter Archimedes Fox isn’t interested in the Lady Corsair - he wants her coldhearted captain and the valuable da Vinci sketch she stole from him. To reclaim it, Archimedes is determined to seduce the stubborn woman who once tossed him to a ravenous pack of zombies, but she’s no easy conquest.

When da Vinci’s sketch attracts a dangerous amount of attention, Yasmeen and Archimedes journey to Horde-occupied Morocco - and straight into their enemy’s hands. But as they fight to save themselves and a city on the brink of rebellion, the greatest peril Yasmeen faces is from the man who seeks to melt her icy heart....

©2011 Meljean Brook (P)2011 Penguin

What listeners say about Heart of Steel

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant!

I thought the Iron Duke was amazing and thought it would be nearly impossible for the sequel to be as good. I was amazed by the Heart of Steel! It continued to have the same type of astonishing detail, action and love story but it different ways. I am very impressed with this author and hope to read or listen to more of her work. If you like paranormal romance and historical romance with some action on the side this story is for you!

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Worth the wait

This is the 3rd story in Iron Seas series. I've been waiting for this series in audio since the first novella, Here There Be Monsters came out. It was a wonderful surprise to have them all come out on the same day. This is very good Steampunk! It's a popular genre right now and sometimes Steampunk elements can feel shoehorned into a series. NOT so here. It's fully integrated as part of the plot and worldbuilding. Nothing feels contrived. The writing does a very good job of painting a picture of the world, again, strong visual writing style works best with Steampunk as it's elements are very visual. It does have romance but I never feel like it interferes with the storytelling. The lead female is kick ass and remains so.

Faye Adele is a new reader to me. I think she does a very good job. The pacing is well done, her character voices are sound and consistent and the production value is excellent.

Highly recommended. I'm off now to DL Iron Duke, the first full novel in this series. It will be fun to experience it as a listen after having read the story several times.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Tomb Raider goes zombie steampunk

I enjoyed this book 2 better than book 1 because there’s more adventure and humor to balance the rather dark alternate steampunk world, and better than book 3 which features a rather ditzy Anika and a pacifist David in an okay on-the-run romance. Whereas book 1 focused on London, and book 3 focused on Iceland, this one spans multiple exotic lands, where treasures lay abandoned to the nano-bot zombie apocalypse. Here, Lara Croft is instead Archimedes Fox, an adrenaline junkie, treasure hunter and ballsy romantic- yes, that’s totally a thing, and a great thing as he sets his sights on the formidable, lethal and wicked mercenary captain Yasmeen.

These two MCs are my favorite from the first three books. I am thrilled that the usual regency tropes are completely upended as Archimedes announces at the outset that he intends to fall in love with Yasmeen, as Yasmeen is the pessimist who stubbornly resists the idea of an HEA, and as Yasmeen retains the H role with Archimedes’ h role supporting her leadership as an airship captain.

The journey is better than destination here, both in terms of the treasure hunting along the way to an empire toppling mission, and the deadly tango between Fox and Yasmeen along the way to an HEA. Indeed, the long set-up to knock the king off his hill ends up fizzling to nothing, and several plots conveniently wrap up in tidy, effortless packages.

The other frustration is the lack of details and depth beyond the MCs. Although setting and backstory details are still sketchy here, it’s better than in book 1. I finally got enough detail to understand that the Horde was a Genghis Khan-led, steampunk-fueled invasion. But there’s still a lot of ambiguity. I’m pretty sure Yasmeen is either Black, Egyptian, or maybe Iranian? And I think blonde haired, green eyed Archimedes is South African (might have been an alternate Johannesburg mentioned).

Still, these are minor criticisms. All in all, I recommend this as a great steampunk adventure with a sexy, swashbuckling romance. There’s fairly explicit get-togethers from the midpoint and mild treatment of r@pe, but not as angsty or triggering as book 1.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great

Great as always. Adventure, interesting characters, steamy romance, and intrigue. What more could a girl want.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

So much love

This one is a reread for me. There's nothing like the love of a man who is strong enough to allow his woman to be what she is. Adore this world.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding

Luvluvluv everything about this audiobook, the characters, the narration. Meljean knocked it out of the park.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it!

A perfect story! Listened to it in one sitting cos I just couldn't stop. there was humor, wit, and everything that makes a story unputdownable.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Simply Brilliant!

If you could sum up Heart of Steel in three words, what would they be?

Exciting, Erotic and Entertaining

What other book might you compare Heart of Steel to and why?

I cannot think of a good comparison. Usually the male character in a romance situation needs to be the dominant one or he gives the impression of being weak. Not so with this book. Hats off to Meljean Brook for this not so ordinary cast of characters.

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

Yes, The Iron Duke. Often when I listen to the second book in a series by the same narrator, I feel as though I am listening to the same characters as I did in the previous book. Not so with Faye Adele's performance. She is very good at her craft.

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

I found myself at times laughing out loud (and sometimes to my embarrassment). Meljean Brook has written some darn witty lines in this book.

Any additional comments?

If you are looking for a steamy romance with an exciting plot and an intriguing cast of characters (including zombies and villains) then this book is for you.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Liked this even better than the first book!

What made the experience of listening to Heart of Steel the most enjoyable?

Loved the interaction between the two main characters. Loved it so much that I often missed plot points and had to rewind and go back for them. :-D

Who was your favorite character and why?

Normally I would say the heroine because I identified with her, but in this case, I just really liked the pair of them *TOGETHER*. Wouldn't have liked either one as much without their interactions, their character development in relation to each other, etc.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not necessarily all in one sitting, but definitely wish I hadn't had so many distractions. Some books you can listen to while doing other stuff and you don't miss anything because the author beats you over the head with the important details every other chapter. NOT HERE. And there is enough politics, intrigue, mystery, well, plot really, that you need to pay attention if you don't want to get lost.

Any additional comments?

To be fair, I didn't read a description of this book in advance, nor did I read any of the reviews. I got it simply because I enjoyed the first book so much. I was pretty surprised to find I wasn't in London watching the Iron Duke and Mina work out stuff. Very pleasantly surprised!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great fun!

Genre: Steampunk romance
I am really loving this world created by Meljean Brook. The intersection of adventure, romance, alternate history, and a bit of sci-fi is just fascinating to me. She is so consistent with details across books that you don't stop and say "huh?" at any scenes. Her mention of characters from previous stories set in this world are a nice touch without those characters overshadowing the action.
Speaking of action -- Archimedes Fox has figured, in a minor way, in the previous books as an adventurer whose stories are serialized in the newspaper. Something like "Archimedes Fox and the Zombies of Zanzibar", or a title to that effect. Yasmeen, also a minor character in previous stories, is the captain of the airship Lady Corsair, and a mercenary. Her last meeting with Archimedes did not end well, and she's worried that he may seek revenge, or at least ask for her to return the very valuable artifact she had claimed as payment for his passage then. But he has decided to fall in love with her. She wants nothing to do with that because men have always tried to undermine her authority, and she fears that a strong personality like Archimedes will try the same. So... She agrees to return his artifact for the previously agreed upon 50%, plus what he owed her. However, before this can occur, Lady Corsair is attacked, her crew murdered, the ship destroyed, and the artifact stolen. This book is about finding out who ordered the deed and to seek revenge, as well as find the artifact. Adventure ensues.
As I said before, I like the world inhabited by these characters. As for the characters, I like them too. Yasmeen is such a hard-ass, you almost wonder why Archimedes wants her. Archimedes has issues with his past that he deals with by affecting a devil-may-care attitude. But as the story progresses, we see behind the masks these two characters wear, and we see them grow, both as individuals as well as interpersonally. Secondary characters are interesting in that they are written as multidimensional. Antagonists are not all evil, and none of the characters is all good.
Narration by Faye Adele was competent. Her pacing was excellent, and differentiation of characters was good. However, differentiation of genders was not great. And then there were the accents... Some of the characters had Irish accents - sometimes. There was a lack if consistency in that area. But, overall, the narration was pretty average.

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