With a fresh review, we also serve up a fresh Starving Interview today! New to the Starving Author Kitchen is Ash Gray, the chef behind The Thieves of Nottica! Enjoy!
steampunk
Starving Review: The Thieves of Nottica by Ash Gray
The Thieves of Nottica by Ash Gray (Amazon)
Good Friday, my literary foodies, it is time once again to throw open the pantries and pick up a (hopefully) delightful meal to read through! This week, I have an intriguing steampunk fantasy meal on my plate, distinctive at the very least for the unique cover. The Thieves of Nottica has a notable subtitle as ‘A Humorous Steampunk Adventure’, so without further ado, let’s grab our forks and knives to get started carving down to the truth!
Before we gather our tools, let us put our hands over our hearts and recite the Starving Review oath:
- I attempt to rate every book from the perspective of a fan of the genre
- I attempt to make every review as spoiler-free as possible
Starving (Audio)review: The Flight to Brassbright by Lori Alden Holuta
The Flight to Brassbright by Lori Alden Holuta, narrated by Lea Popielinski (Audible)
Good morning, my literary foodies! Let’s start our Friday off right with a quick Starving Audioreview for a meal I’ve previously dined on in the written form, The Flight to Brassbright! A coming of age steampunk adventure, it was a delightful read but how well does Flight stack up in an audio format?
Quite well, as it turns out! The audiobook edition is completely unabridged so listeners won’t miss any of the original tale while the narrator does an excellent job both voicing the main character Constance while providing a broad range of accents and vocal stylings to bring the rest of the cast to life. There is a lot of heart to her narration, something that gets across the delightful sense of wonder and discovery that characterized the original book.
Definitely deserving a hearty round of applause all around, the audiobook edition of The Flight to Brassbright is well worth a listen, as excellent as the written edition. If you’re an on-the-go audiophile who wants to hear some fun and wonderful steampunk literature, definitely pick this one up. If you’ve read the book and are curious, rest assured this is a worthwhile purchase!
FINAL VERDICT: ***** (As wonderful and heartfelt as the written edition!)
Starving Short Story Review: The Steamkettle Kids Save The Day! (The Legends and Adventures of Industralia Part 1) by Lori Alden Holuta
The Steamkettle Kids Save The Day! (The Legends and Adventures of Industralia Part 1) by Lori Alden Holuta (Amazon, Goodreads)
It has been a busy week at Starving Author LLC but I guaranteed a review and thus it shall be! To accommodate my busy eating schedule, today’s Starving Review will be for a little treat of a children’s meal, a one-course snack that comes out of the steampunk kitchen of previous Starving Review chef, Lori Alden Holuta. Will today’s meal match up to previous bites or will it be insufficient to quiet my stomach grumbles?
Before we find out, remember to check the factory rules and be safe at reviewing:
- I attempt to rate every book from the perspective of a fan of the genre
- I attempt to make every review as spoiler-free as possible
Starving Review: The Legend of The Engineer: A New Year’s Holiday Tale by Lori Alden Holuta
The Legend of The Engineer: A New Year’s Holiday Tale by Lori Alden Holuta (Amazon, Goodreads)
This week, we are serving up short stories in the Starving Review kitchen. The Legend of The Engineer is a short tale set in the world of The Brassbright Chronicles, which we have been served a meal from before. The first was a bright, cheery steampunk dish for younger readers. Will this small slice from that same cake taste as good or will it be diminished by the smaller portion?
As the pneumatic table service sets the plates, let us recall the Starving Review bylaws:
- I attempt to rate every book from the perspective of a fan of the genre
- I attempt to make every review as spoiler-free as possible
Starving Review: The Flight to Brassbright (The Brassbright Chronicles Book 1) by Lori Alden Holuta
The Flight to Brassbright (The Brassbright Chronicles Book 1) by Lori Alden Holuta (Amazon, Goodreads, Smashwords)
It’s quite remarkable that I have had so few steampunk platters dropped off into my pantry. For such a diverse and popular style of cooking, I certainly expected to be overwhelmed with them when I first began this quest for fine literature! You must be able to imagine my delight to find this shiny, brass serving tray come up in line as my next treat to dissect. However, I’ve been betrayed before by genres I adore! Will this meal end in triumph or tragedy?
Before I answer that burning question, let us remember the Starving Review creed:
- I attempt to rate every book from the perspective of a fan of the genre
- I attempt to make every review as spoiler-free as possible
Starving Interview: Lori Alden Holuta, Author of The Flight to Brassbright
Good morning and good Friday, my cuisine hearts! It’s time once more to serve up a steaming hot review as well as spend some time in the kitchen with the chef behind the meal. Today, we break bread with Lori Alden Holuta, author of The Flight to Brassbright, book 1 of The Brassbright Chronicles! Let’s get down to it!
Starving Review: An Emerging Threat (The Seeker’s Burden Book 1) by Mark Lein
An Emerging Threat by Mark E. Lein (Amazon)
Have you ever sat down to a meal and really wanted to like it? The smell from the kitchen was wonderful, the place settings are nice, and the food itself is presented beautifully, but when you start to take a bite of that juicy turkey, it tastes like dried-out shreds? Sure, it’s edible still, but … yuck.
That’s what happened to me when I read An Emerging Threat. I really wanted to like it. It is a fantasy novel (love those!) that was supposed to have some steampunk elements (love steampunk!) and the author had, from my talks with him was obviously an intelligent and thoughtful individual (smart authors write great books, yeah?). Well …
J. B. Garner - Musings of a Starving Author 