Raven Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway!

Title: Raven
Author: Pauline Creeden
Series: Chronicles of Steele #1
Genre: YA Steampunk
Published: October, 2014
Publisher: AltWit Press
Page Count: 248 Pages
Format: eBook
Source: From tour host 

Amazon | Goodreads | Barnes & Noble

Summary:

Human life has value. 
The poor living in the gutter are as valuable as the rich living in a manor.
The scoundrel is no less valuable than the saint. 
Because of this, every life a reaper takes must be redeemed. 

Raven has lived by this first tenet since she was trained by her father to become a reaper. But since his death, she’s been spending years redeeming the lives she’s taken. By her count, she’s even and it’s time for that life to end. If she settles down and becomes a wife, she might just feel human again. But on the way to the life she thinks she wants, the baron of New Haven asks her to complete a task which she cannot ignore… Just when Raven decides to give up on her life as an assassin, she’s pulled right back in. 

*The Reader’s Review*

My rating: 4/5 stars

Steampunk is a genre I rarely read because I haven’t really come across many that would catch my eye, but I can’t deny that they are interesting and The Chronicles of Steele: Raven is definitely proof of that. This book was one heck of a trip and I enjoyed traveling (running?) around with Raven and the whole array of intriguing characters.

But Raven is no doubt the star of this book. I loved everything about her-from her reaper personality to the incredible person she is underneath the tough exterior. You see, a reaper is supposed to be a warrior who her kind used to be honored a few years ago, but are now seen as ruthless assassins. But not Raven, she still follows the code, meaning that when she takes a life, she has to save a life in order to not lose her humanity. She has trained hard and done her best to follow the instructions her father left her, yet she struggles to cope with her loss. Even so, she manages to grow so much in her most recent quest. She actually learns to care beyond her profession and who she thought she loved, and that’s such a huge step from where she started from. And, she’s totally bad-ass and nearly invincible!

I didn’t think the story would get as exciting as how it got in the second half of the book. It’s a whirlwind of never-ending action and I loved every step of the way. A few unexpected plot twists had me hooked and guessing how it would all turn out. This was also the part where magic/fantasy started to get mixed in with the steampunk, so the outcome was pretty cool.

There’s a bit of romance too, but it’s not the center point of the book. I did get a few butterflies, but they were short-lived since Raven’s story ends right where she truly acknowledges her feelings for Captain Jack. Agh, needed a bit more from them both! Their relationship was fun to read about, lots of entertaining bickering involved.

I look forward to reading the next book in the series, The Chronicles of Steele: Darius. Although I know it will be focused on a different character this time (and let me say that I really like him) I’m crossing my fingers that we also get to read more about Raven and Captain Jack. I’ll take anything from them!

In simple language, Pauline Creeden creates worlds that are both familiar and strange, often pulling the veil between dimensions. She becomes the main character in each of her stories, and because she has ADD, she will get bored if she pretends to be one person for too long. Pauline is a horse trainer from Virginia, but writing is her therapy.

Armored Hearts, her joint effort with author Melissa Turner Lee, has been awarded the Crowned Heart for Excellence by InDtale Magazine. It is also the 2013 Book Junkie’s Choice Winner in Historical Fiction. Her debut novel, Sanctuary, won 1st Place Christian YA Title 2013 Dante Rosetti Award and 2014 Reader’s Choice Gold Award for Best YA Horror Novel.

For full blog tour schedule, head here.

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