The Brass Queen by Elizabeth Chatsworth

 

The first thing I noticed when I had the book in my hands was, how lovingly crafted it was. The naked hardcover has a beautiful velvet texture and it comes with an illustrated map and adorable chapter spot illustrations, so the reader knows at the beginning of each chapter, which character's POV they're reading.

I have not read anything like The Brass Queen before and I enjoyed the fresh scene, wild scientific ideas and worldbuilding. The side characters were hilarious too and I enjoyed Constance's manservants Cawley and Hearn a lot. Some of the comments and ideas might appear too silly for some readers, but I absolutely loved them, animal-machine-polo anyone?

I laughed out loud at all the flower references at the ball and I had a grand old time with the scene about the saucy ankle pictures. The only thing I wished for, would have been maybe a bit more "steam" in the romance department between our main characters, but since one of the main underlying focuses of the story was that women cannot inherit anything and don't have much independence, that was probably the reason why the author didn't go this particular route.

Altogether I can highly recommend this to anybody who wants a book with fresh ideas and fun to read. I hope that this is not the only book we will see in this world and I can see this book adapted into a TV show (fingers crossed for the author). I would so watch it!

Thank you so much dear people from Smith Publicity for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.