I liked the idea for the story, but the telling of it left me cold. Inconsistent characterization and pacing, stereotypes galore and a heroine who can do no wrong made for a dull and infuriating read. I won't be reading the next. ( )

Interesting story - Diana, more or less by accident, becomes the last Gate guardian and therefore the one who can close the Gates before the Netherworld invades. She discovers this slowly over the first third or so of the book. There are a lot of unreliable advisors - I seriously have no idea what the bookseller is up to most of the time. She is, for her time, very non-sexist (for obvious reasons) and non-racist (for...less obvious ones). And she reacts badly to others who have more "normal" attitudes - makes me wonder why she hadn't encountered this sort of thing all the time (and therefore would be used to it). Some of the beings that attack her are really really nasty, on several levels (from cruel to icky-gross). The end...is really stupid, to my mind - OK, he's now her ally (does that mean he'll stop lying or evading her questions?) but why does that mean they go to bed together immediately? Why does she need a man thus at all? He's been panting after her for quite a while, but she hasn't seemed to return his feelings much. I don't know. Interesting, and I'd like to read more, though. ( )

Ms. Morton has created an engaging world that I would love to read more about. Unfortunately, the storytelling is uneven throughout the book and the main character is either poorly written or suffering from some kind of multiple-personality disorder. I would love to see what the author can do with this world in the future once she has experimented a little and determined in which direction she would like this story to go. ( )

This book wasn’t what I was expecting. I was imagining more steampunk, less supernatural crusade. I don’t really read books of this genre. Diana was a strong character. It was a pretty engaging read with a good dose of action. The opposition to industrialization and the comments on progress in Victorian London seemed forced and I’m not sure how much of a place it had in this type of story.

I received an ARC free through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer program. ( )

I received a copy of this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. I LOVED it!! I found the story immensely exciting and unique. This is not your average Steampunk Paranormal. Morton has a great world set up, and I can't wait to read more books about Diana Furnaval. If you love books with strong female leads, you'll love this book. 4.5 stars out of 5 ( )