Review: Fires of Invention by J. Scott Savage

Fires of Invention by J. Scott Savage
Published September 2015 by Shadow Mountain Press
Source: eGalley ARC from NetGalley

Trenton Colman is a creative thirteen-year-old boy with a knack for all things mechanical. But his talents are viewed with suspicion in Cove, a steam-powered city built inside a mountain. In Cove, creativity is a crime and “invention” is a curse word.

Kallista Babbage is a repair technician and daughter of the notorious Leo Babbage, whose father died in an explosion—an event the leaders of Cove point to as an example of the danger of creativity.

Working together, Trenton and Kallista learn that Leo Babbage was developing a secret project before he perished. Following clues he left behind, they begin to assemble a strange machine that is unlike anything they’ve ever seen before. They soon discover that what they are building may threaten every truth their city is founded on—and quite possibly their very lives.

Review: The Secret Abyss

The Secret Abyss by Darrell Pitt
Published July 2015 by Text Publishing Company
Source: eGalley ARC from NetGalley

When the world's deadliest assassin, the Chameleon, escapes from prison, Jack begins his most dangerous investigation yet.

With only the scantest of clues, the team travels from London to New York, a bustling metropolis filled with airships, steam cars and exciting new ideas.

Here they uncover a terrible plot that threatens the president's life and brings the nation to the brink of civil war. Can Jack track down the Chameleon in time? And just what is the mysterious whip of fire that has the power to wreak destruction across the world?

Review: The Firebird Mystery

The Firebird Mystery by Darrell Pitt
Published May 2015 by Text Publishing Company
Source: eGalley ARC from NetGalley

Jack Mason grew up as an acrobat in a circus. After the tragic death of his parents, he was sent to live within the gloomy Sunnyside Orphanage in London, a city of fog and snow, filled with airships, steamcars, and metrotowers stretching into space.

That's until he is taken under the wing of the brilliant and eccentric detective Ignatius Doyle. But when a girl named Scarlet Bell comes seeking Mr. Doyle's help, little does Jack know how dangerous life is about to become. Scarlet's father has been kidnapped, and the future of the world itself may be at stake. Is the evil hand of Professor M pulling the strings? Mr. Doyle and Jack know there is no time to lose.