The Iron Duke

Starred review from October 18, 2010
In this engrossing steampunk adventure, paranormal romance author Brook (Demon Blood) uses detailed descriptions and an impressive imagination to create a world where people can be part machine but all heart. It's been nine years since the Horde, an oppressive empire from Asia, were run out of England. However, detective inspector Lady Wilhelmina Wentworth will never be able to escape their cruelty: her mother was raped during the invasion, and Mina is half Horde. Mina crosses paths with the revered Iron Duke Rhys Trahaearn, a former pirate captain who was instrumental in fighting the Horde, when a dead body is tossed on his estate. What begins as lust sparks into full-blown romance as the two learn more about the nefarious Black Guard and catch a murderous madman. Airships, zombies, nanotechnology, outlandish secondary characters, and a complicated heroine—who goes from believing "Dead people of all sorts were more tolerable than most of those living" to being willing to love—make for a complex, gripping read.