The world building and alternate history in this was fantastic. I love Napoleon-era naval fiction, and while this wasn't quite the same, moving along the Aurora with Matt reminded me so much of the Hornblower books. At times it felt more like a love letter to seamanship than a novel with an ongoing plot, but that didn't bother me at all.

Kate did, however. I think Matt calls her willful once, and that's a freaking understatement. This is one of those times where in trying to create an independent, awesome female for young girls to look up to, the author goes way overboard and makes her stubborn, selfish, dumb and irritating. I can't count how many times I want to reach into the book, knock her out and lock her in a room on the ship.

The plot itself was decent. I expected much more from the cloud cats, but the pirate stuff was a fun read.

Spoiler

The first part, anyway; I understand that in writing YA you can't really have your kids killing people, but it felt way too convenient, the way the cloud cat took care of half the pirates on the ship.

All in all, this was a fantastic look at an alternate history I totally want more of, and I love Matt Cruse. Grabbing the rest of the series when I can.

Loved this. Loved the world building, loved Tally (which is my nickname, funnily enough), loved Shay. Could have done without the shoehorned romance, but I enjoyed this more than I thought I would, and I'm picking up the rest of the series as soon as I can.

Lovely. Despite being set in Victorian England and mired in the supernatural, there's so much about this book that connects with girls of any day. That awful feeling of being apart, the need to belong, wanting more than the world will give you, not knowing who you are.

I'm not a fan of female friendships and cliques where the girls are meaner to each other than truly being friends calls for, but seeing the way Gemma and her group came together was fascinating. They were equal parts sympathetic, understandable and highly irritating the way only teenage girls can be.

The supernatural aspects were interesting, though I felt the climax fell a bit short.

Ultimately, I enjoyed it all.

Fun for fans of ABC's TV show Castle, but there's not much of a novel here for those who aren't familiar with the characters these cardboard cut outs are based on. The plot was like a Castle episode (So many red herrings! Epic final reveal!) and Jameson Rook was just...kinda dumb, sometimes. I'd like to think Richard Castle is a much better writer than this.

But it was a fast read and a good novel to shut your mind off and enjoy for a few hours.

I can't describe how amazing it was to have a character like Katsa around. At first the obvious comparisons to Katniss of The Hunger Games come to mind, but Katsa is a creature all her own. She's fierce, controlling, dangerous, deadly and just a girl trying to come to terms with growing up in her own way.

And Po. Oh my God, it's been SO LONG since I haven't been annoyed at a YA romance, and, in fact, delighted by it.

I felt the plot kind of petered out at the end, but considering this was Katsa's journey, I was totally fine with that. I may have also gasped at the little twist at the end there, and cannot wait to get into the next book in this series.

Easily my new favorite YA series.