Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell




Nicolette’s awful stepsisters call her “Mechanica” to demean her, but the nickname fits: she learned to be an inventor at her mother’s knee. Her mom is gone now, though, and the Steps have turned her into a servant in her own home. 

But on her sixteenth birthday, Nicolette discovers a secret workshop in the cellar and begins to dare to imagine a new life for herself. Could the mysterious books and tools hidden there—and the mechanical menagerie, led by a tiny metal horse named Jules—be the key to escaping her dreary existence? With a technological exposition and royal ball on the horizon, the timing might just be perfect for Nicolette to earn her freedom at last.

Gorgeous prose and themes of social justice and family shine in this richly imagined Cinderella retelling about an indomitable inventor who finds her prince . . . but realizes she doesn't want a fairy tale happy ending after all.



I had such high hopes for this book. I was eagerly awaiting this book, and I am so sad that it was such a let down for me. One of the things that annoyed me the most in this book was how out of character Cinderella was. Don't get me wrong, I loved how independent the Cinderella character was. Nicolette wanted to save herself. She was not worried about being won over by a cute prince. I thought that was really refreshing. However, Nicolette was so rude! She did not embody Cinderella at all. Nicolette laughed at people, judged others, and she hit people. Her character was just so unlikeable.

"I don’t even want to wait for her to finish. Whatever she was trying to say, I was sure I didn’t need to hear it. I laughed at her and left. "

"Yet it wasn’t until I caught sight of the patent boots that had crushed Jules adoring Chastity’s feet that I moved, that I stepped forward and slapped her as hard as I could across the mouth. "


 Cinderella is suppose to be kind and caring, and Nicolette was nothing like that. 

This book also had no climax. It was just extremely slow moving. I grew tired of reading about Nicolette just building machines and earning money. I wish there was more action in this book. I had such high hopes for this book because I thought it would be action packed. I did like the ending of this book, and I really enjoyed the feminist feel of this book.

I love fairytale retellings, and I was so disappointed that this book didn't live up to my expectations. This book was just...dull. As I mentioned earlier, I loved how strong and independent Nicolette was. However, I still would have liked to see the sweet romance from the Disney's version of Cinderella. I thought the author did a great job at creating a very interesting steam punk world. I can tell that the author is a very skilled author. The author created a very unique and original spin on Cinderella.

I just wish the book's Cinderella would have been more like this:




Instead of this:





 2.5 / 5 Fangs

*This ebook was given to me in exchange for a honest review* 


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