“Giant bugs that plague a Dystopian steampunk city? Are you kidding me? This was brilliant!”

Review by Rayleigh Setser

Jacob, a tinker’s apprentice and sometime thief, has lived his entire life in the mountain city of Ancora, protected by the city walls. These towering barriers keep the Deadlands creatures at bay, but the monsters move higher into the peaks every year. More and more, they breach the defenses of the Lowlands while the Highlands rest easy.

A swarm overruns the walls and wreaks utter devastation on the Lowlands. Charles, the old tinker, suspects the attack may not be natural. With help from Jacob’s closest friend, Alice, and Samuel, one of the city’s elite spider knights, Jacob and Charles will uncover a terrible darkness at the heart of their city.

"'You'll be out and living', Charles said. 'You need to do that while you're young if you want to be a proper hermit when you get to be an old man.'"

Both Jacob and Charles are PURE souls. We must protect them at all costs. 

Steamborn was such a fun book to read! The elements of the world are exciting and unique. Giant bugs that plague a Dystopian steampunk city? Are you kidding me? This was brilliant! I lost my mind when we got to SPIDER KNIGHTS! Ancora is the type of world that inspires fanfiction, fanart, and should be a TV show. It's so well illustrated and described that I know it will live in my mind forever. Especially the spider knights. I'm so here for giant, friendly spiders that you ride into battle with a sword in one hand and an epic steampunk weapon in the other! 

As for the storyline, it consumed my thoughts every second that I wasn't reading it. It reminded me of--and I say this with caution--Harry Potter. And what I mean by that is the wholesome, cozy feelings of the characters and scenes (and heartbreak). Jacob and Alice are both 15 in this book and their friendship reminded me a lot of Harry & Hermione (Alice has major Hermione vibes). They're kids thrown into this dark web of politics that has existed far longer than they've been alive, and yet they handle it with such innocence and genuine love for doing what's right. There were so many (so, so, so many) times that Jacob's choices and decisions brought tears to my eyes because of how pure his actions were despite how helpless he felt at the moment. He is such a well-written and developed character. I can't wait to watch him grow up in this series.

And that's another excellent point, the Steamborn series is COMPLETE with 7 books! So, if you need another long series that's unique, filled with action (and Spider Knights!), with wholesome characters trying to do the right things in the face of destruction, and cool steampunk inventions, this series is for you!

Content Ratings:

5, Action present (frequent and mildly detailed battle sequences and/or fights)

1. Very mild content (feel-good vibes but nothing physical--not even kissing).

2. Frequent substitute cursing (commonplace "craps" etc. and book-specific words).

Other Trigger/Content Notices:

Trigger Warnings: Massacre of a village and some descriptions of the attack. Loss of limbs. Child injuries. Mentions of war crimes & torture (not shown).

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