Clockwork Heart, by Liesel Schwarz (book review) – dark powers invade steampunk London

book cover of A Clockwork Heart by Liesel Schwarz published by Del Rey BooksA warehouse filled with beating hearts,
An army of mechanical-hearted homeless,
Danger for London – can the Oracle hold back the Dark?

Grab book 2 of The Chronicles of Light and Dark if you like:

  • steampunk London + romance
  • true friend nightwalking vampires or absinthe fairies with poor judgment
  • dirigible captains with a penchant for gambling and daredevilry
  • ancient entities reborn into a more-modern time
  • the struggle between forces of Light and Dark cast in an alternate history

Naturally, you’ll enjoy this book more if you had already followed Elle battling A Conspiracy of Alchemists  (book 1 reviewed here) when she discovered her heritage as Oracle, but you’ll get bits of the backstory throughout this book as her beloved Marsh is captured and fitted with  A Clockwork Heart  whose time is running out!

*kmm

Book info: A Clockwork Heart (Chronicles of Light and Shadow, book 2) / Liesel Schwarz. Del Rey, 2013.   [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: The Oracle must solve the mystery of the Tickers to reclaim her true love and save the world from being overrun by the creatures of Shadow before time runs out!

Looking at young Lord Greychester and his lovely wife, one would never suspect them to be a bound warlock and the Sibyl herself. Marsh and Elle are trying to blend in with London society, but his experiments with Spark and her airship charter flights could make them conspicuous.

Elle’s dreams are interrupted by the warnings of all the Sibyls who have gone before, telling her to turn the airship around and return to London – Marsh has disappeared! Scotland Yard won’t help her find him, so she enlists the help of an absinthe fairy, a Nightwalker with a good heart despite her appetite for human blood, and her father with his inventions to find out where he’s been taken

The Consortium of Shadow prepares to attack the Council of Warlocks and overcome Light once and for all, using an army of mechanical-hearted people animated by Spark and darkness. Among the paupers and drunks brought into Clothilde’s grisly workshop within the electromancers’ monastery is Marsh.

Can Elle uncover the Consortium’s plan?
Can she rescue Marsh before it’s too late?
Is it all a trap to lure her into Shadow forever?

This second book in The Chronicles of Light and Shadow takes readers to an alternate steampunk London where the walls between the domains of good and evil are growing ever-thinner. Read A Conspiracy of Alchemists first to get the full story of this ages-old conflict and Elle’s unwilling rise to be the Oracle which both sides want to possess.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

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