Great concept...

Mechanica - Betsy Cornwell

First of all, let me start by reiterating something that all the other reviewers have been saying ad infinitum...

 

This has nothing to do with Cinder, people!

More than a mechanic, Nicolette is actually an inventor.

Also, she has all her limbs...

 

Yes, in this story our main character lives a very Cinderella type of life... as usual in all the Cinderella fairy tales or retellings tropes.

She lives in her family home, being exploited by her evil and puritan stepmother and stepsisters.

But besides that, she doesn't possess any of the... let's say "normal traits" associated with the character. And that is great!

Unfortunately almost all of the other aspects aren't all that great... to say the least.

 

The stepmother and stepsisters are the usual clichés with cardboard personalities;

The story's pace is painfully slow and boring;

Although the author tried to establish a solid world building with connections to the Fey _ "mythology"  _ I could never grasp how magic would work in Nicollette's world.

Also, I kind of missed her thinking process while creating new things: It seemed that all she needed in order to create something was to put her goggles on and voilá, one steampunk object coming right up.

 

To "compensate" that, there's a lot  a lot I tell you of inner monologues.

_ Also there is a character to which Nicollete will grow very attached to, and I honestly couldn't feel it.

 

The positives

The worst thing about me giving this tale only two and a half stars, is that this story actually has a great message!

In fact it has pretty much almost everything I would want _ okay, it has the fundamental: the skeleton _ in any type of story.

 

It has a strong leading character, who is fiercely motivated in following her goals.

Nick is determined in not letting anything not even some boy she may fancy get in the way of her dreams.

More than anything in the world, Nick wants her freedom.

She wants to work in what makes her happy and she wants her independence.

 

The strongest relationship in this book is one of friendship, and I loved the girls interaction. I loved that their friendship took precedence over the supposed romance.

 

Despite all of this, strangely, I loved the last part of the story. -_-

 

We got to see the characters being faithful to whom they were and I loved that.

Also, there were some pretty beautiful prose going around in that last part that I would love to quote here... but can't. :/

 

Too bad that the beginning and the middle of the story ended up being quite dull.

Truth is, I couldn't' care less about the sewing machines  that Nick ends up creating _ amongst many other things _and all the mechanical "animals" that would end up helping her. I wanted adventure!

 

As such recommended with caution to jaded bookworms.