The Friday Society by Adrienne Kress: Steampunk Superheroes
Friday Society
by
Adrienne Kress
Dang there is clearly a superhero theme going on. First Rook
and now the Friday Society. Though I’ll admit that these girls are slightly
less adept at coming up with names than Sophia was. So this book had steampunk
London, mystery, murders, and superheroes? Not bad. So the characters.
- ·
Cora Bell: she’s a scientist who blows stuff up.
Well she’s a scientist’s assistant. You know Victorian London isn’t so hot on women scientist even if it is steampunk. She’s super logistical and all about problem solving. But she’s also very nice . . . most of the time.
·
- Nellie: she’s a magician’s assistant. I’m gonna
give you a hint. They’re all assistants in fact it comes into play in the
obligatory encouragement speech but whatever. Nellie is a lock picking, escape
artist who basically beats people up with flash powder and glitter while
wearing sparkly outfits. AKA she is my favorite. Okay to be fair the glitter is mixed with poison that burns your skin but details.
·
- Michiko: she’s Chinese!! And a samurai!!
Sorry I couldn't resist. Mulan is the the BEST
Except
she was kind of tricked into following this idiot back to London and he
pretends he was the one who taught her instead of the other way around. Yeah
he’s a sleaze-ball. But Michiko was
awesome, she does parkour and can speak practically no English but she still
rocked all the way to Sunday. Or Friday I guess.
·
- Andrew: he was Cora’s love interest. He was also a sleaze-ball. I did not like him.
·
- Murphey: he was a police officer who was head over heels for Nellie. He’s not actually a very important character but I figured that if I didn’t talk about him here I wouldn’t get to at all. Murphey was an awkward little puppy dog who was all elbows and knees and he was adorable.
So onto what I loved.
·
- The plot wasn’t bad: I mean it wasn’t terribly impressive and read more like an adventure than a mystery but it was still entertaining. I think the true point of the narrative was the three main girls figuring out how they fit into society. Or that they didn’t at all. Still plenty of action and night time romps and explosions to keep plenty of people interested.
·
- The girls narratives were really distinct. Maybe I’m alone in this but I always find that the vast majority of stories with dual or more narrative can get a bit confusing.
Most of the time I don’t know who’s narrating until I’m told specifically.
·
- Not only were their voices distinct so were the main characters. Again sometimes it’s hard to differentiate characters. There was no such problem here.
·
- I loved the world. I chose to say ‘I loved the world’ as opposed to ‘the world is awesome’ because I recognize that steampunk is kind of an acquired taste. But personally, I demand a TV show of steampunk ladies running around London beating people up.
Things I didn’t like so much
·
- Get ready
for it! The Romance. I’m sorry I really am. I told you guys I’m hard to
please when it comes to romance. There’s always something off about them
especially in YA. Andrew and Cora were definitely an Insta-love couple. Seriously one minute they were shouting at each other and the next they were kissing. And kissing some more. Eww. Even Murphey and Nellie had their moments that made me frown
·
- Apparently
in steampunk London there is a singular curse word. I’ve complained about overzealous cursing in YA before and I will probably do it again but I if you insist on using one every other sentence at least put a little variety into it.
Still I hope there’s a sequel.
Superheroes are kind of my secret obsession. Like Sherlock Holmes. Except that
last one wasn’t so much of a secret.
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