Steamed

A Steampunk Romance

By: Katie MacAlister

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Bianca Amato

Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Award-winning author Katie MacAlister has published dozens of acclaimed novels. When Captain Octavia Pye discovers people not wearing proper 19th-century fashions aboard her Victorian airship, she wonders if they’re pirates. The reality is—they’re actually from an alternate universe.

©2010 Katie MacAlister (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

“MacAlister hits it out of the park with this highly entertaining steampunk fantasy.” ( Booklist)

Loved it!!!

I haven’t laughed this hard reading a steam punk book EVER! Excellent characters plot and world building a grand adventure ❤️

Great story...confusing narration

I actually read this when it first came out, but I've listened to as many Katie MacAlister books as Audible has to offer, so I thought I'd give this one a listen too. The story is great and I can't wait for the second book; however, the narration for this book could have been better. Both narrators do a great job, but they should have picked one to do the entire book. Instead, they let Mr. Davis narrate the story from the main male character's point of view and Ms. Amato narrate the story from the main female character's point of view. Since they both interact with the other characters, you hear different voices and dialects for the same character depending on who's telling the story at the moment. It definitely detracts from the story, but it would have been much worse if the narrators hadn't been as talented as they are.

I Gave it a Try, Not

Would you try another book from Katie MacAlister and/or Jonathan Davis and Bianca Amato ?

No for Katie MacAlister or Bianca Amato. YES Jonathan Davis (I am a big fan of his) I love Mr. Davis in Sandra Brown's Mean Streak! Oh my, he was great. Since this was his only romance reading, and I love romance, I finally gave it a try. It had mixed reviews, but the writing is just plain awful. I am stopping as I am on ch 10 and most of book so far is read by Ms Amato. If you are a fan of Mr. Davis, pass on this one

What do you think your next listen will be?

Another Jonathan Davis or Scott Brick read.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Jonathan was fine, but not enough of him and Ms Amato could not make up for bad writing. I own a couple of other books by author, Karen White reader, that were better, but frankly, this author is just not for me!

Any additional comments?

I tried to stick with this, even at 1.25x new speed, but as another reviewer said, drivel.

great fun

fun story and paced well,performance was excellent,charming tale unexpected twists,all round good use of the time listening to the story.

decent steampunk

Didn't like the hero, but there were some truly hilarious parts. I simply got a bit bogged down in the other sections.

slow and boring

What disappointed you about Steamed?

I love the author but this is not her best work. It was so boring and the female voice was annoying at best.

Not worth the 9 hours

I went into this book hoping for a light and entertaining listen, and while Steamed is certainly light, its lack of good characterization, absurd excuse for a romantic plot, and lack of internal consistency keep it from being entertaining. Octavia Pye, the no-nonsense captain of the airship Tesla, is the most likeable of the bunch, although she possesses an unbelievable ability to be distracted by hero Jack's muscles in the midst of danger. Jack, on the other hand, is a sorry excuse for a hero--he pouts, acts like a petulant child, and claims to love Octavia even though he really only ever talks (or thinks) about her breasts and behind. Within three days of meeting her, Jack has come up with an annoying list of nicknames for her (Tavvy, Tavey, sweetheart, etc.) and behaves so possessively that it's hard to see why Octavia doesn't just toss him overboard. Why she falls in love with him is completely a mystery to the reader--no one really ever discusses their reasons in the text, and there are precious few pieces of evidence indicating why Jack would be a good catch.

I could forgive the unbelievable (and unpalatable) romance between the two leads if the rest of the book made up for it, but this is not the case. The other characters are one-note, with a salty tar obsessed with sex, a cheeky lad, raving Spaniard, and sentimental Scotsman adding little to the plot and much less to the atmosphere. The world of the book has a lot of potential for development, but nothing in it seems real because it is never explained or described in a way that makes us feel like Octavia and her crew occupy a real world that is complex and dynamic. Skip this one, and check out the Alexia Tarrabotti novels instead if you want a good blend of steampunk/romance.

Good idea, but not her best work...

The idea for the book was interesting, but the plot and characters seemed rushed and underdeveloped. The narration was bland and not expressive. I really enjoy Ms. MacAlister's work in general. Her characters are usually funny and very likable. Jack was annoying. The "Steampunk" tone became chauvinistic rather than fun.

Bad! Enough said!

The Bootom Line:

Story: 0.5 star for effort. Really bad, stupid dialogue, after 7.5 hrs I just couldn’t finish this book.

Performance: 3.5 stars. Bianca Amato was great, Jonathan Davis was ok. But even their talent could not save this book.

Relationship/heat: odd development, shallow characters, bad. Some attempts at steamy scenes didn’t deliver.

Overall: Don't do it, not worth it even free, not worth your time!

The Big Picture:
Very sad to write this.I prefer to love a book.
Big disappointment, not worth writing a full, big picture, review. Sorry....

‘NOUGH SAID!

Steampunk Romance

Dump story. Author lacked imagination and creativity. the only reason I listened to this frivolous story was brilliant performance of Bianca Amato and the other narrator.