#NOWREADING Karina Cooper St. Croix #5 Engraved (SPOILERS)

Summary:

Cherry St. Croix returns to the fog-ridden streets of Victorian London, where the balance of power threatens all that she loves.

I will not wither without laudanum. Sober and determined, I have chosen another way—alchemy, and the pursuit of wellness it embodies. My name is Cherry St. Croix, and though freedom is finally at my fingertips, I return to the blackened streets intent on righting the wrongs I'd left behind.

All is not well in London low. Caught in a war between gangs, men are torn limb from limb, and I am called on to ascertain how. The immoral Karakash Veil is no doubt involved, and Micajah Hawke, a prisoner in his own Menagerie, cannot soften the danger this time.

Armed with the alchemical arts I have learned, my ever present guardian, and what few friends are left to me, I embark on a campaign to rescue the ringmaster I cannot abandon, save the Brick Street Bakers from annihilation, and finally face that which frightens me the most—my own heart.

Thoughts:

So, we left Cherry in the last book heading off to London with Maddie Ruth and her guardian/tutor Ashmore. Sobered up and armed with alchemy, she's headed off to save Hawke. 

The book was fast paced and full of action and creepy people. 

Though I'm intrigued by Hawke and Cherry, I'm not really sure I want them to be together, primarily because Hawke's a headcase and asshole extraordinaire. I'm not saying that he's incapable of love or sacrificing himself but damn, dude, REALLY? If you read this book and the last one, you'd get why I would think so. 

And btw, I'm still hard up on Cherry just realizing that Hawke had been protecting her all this time. Maybe it's the opium, maybe it's her own prejudice, maybe it's her denial on how she feels for Hawke but still, girl. 

The book doesn't really give you time to breathe and process, and Cherry gives one hell of an impression of the energizer bunny. She was SERIOUSLY determined to save Hawke. 

Ashmore was awesome, supportive and practically the white knight to Hawke's sort-of-villain.

I seriously want to burn the Menagerie into the ground. Glad people beat me to it. That place was creepy in the first place but at least not evil, it was a place where rules were scarce and darkness lurked around the corner but when Hawke was no longer the ringmaster, that place went to the pits. 

And I want to smack the Veil upside the head. 

I'm now really eager for the sixth book because now Ashmore and Hawke would exist in the same scene. Man, that would be so FUN. 

Book Talk: Karina Cooper's St.Croix Chronicles

One of the series I love this year due to awesome worldbuilding and interesting characters. 

In a version of Steampunk London, there exists two Londons: London Above and London Below. London Above is where royalties and rich people live in the fresh air while London Below is where the poor, the sick , and the criminals live in the midst of fog.

Cherry St. Croix is an heiress with a tarnished (see what I did there?) family reputation. She's impatient with the London society but she follows all the silly rules due to her chaperon Fanny, and the servants that is dependent on her for work and shelter. 

But in the cover of night, Cherry sneaks down to London below as a Collector, a bounty hunter. She dies her hair black and assorts with the dredge of society. She befriends gangs, prostitutes and criminals. She used to be one of them, you see? Growing up in an orphanage where the children are dosed with drugs to keep them quiet, Cherry has become dependent on opium, so she used her bounty booty to buy extra laudanum, and go hunt bad guys for the thrills. 

Cherry takes on bounties from the Midnight Menagerie, a pleasure garden/circus in London Below that caters to the whims of everyone in London for the exchange of coin. Strangely, while every bit of London Below is smothered in fog, the Midnight Menagerie is clear of all fog which add to the whispers of witchcraft and magic. 

Anyway, this is how it works, she brings her bounty to Hawke, the dangerous and shiveringly handsome Ringmaster and gets paid while trading insults. It is said that the Night Veil controls the Midnight Menagerie, think of them as a mystical Chinese triad. And if one doesn't pay their debts, you get your picture and information on the bounty board and people like Cherry will hunt your ass down.

Known to Hawke as Miss Black, she usually has free rein of the Midnight Menagerie, as she is known to the occupants from the prostitutes to the whips ( the officers, so to speak), but tonight is different. From Hawke cheating her out of her bounty, to him forbidding her to enter the garden. 

Stubborn, reckless, and a non-believer of that crappy thing called magic, Cherry gets into all sorts of trouble, from facing ruin in the eyes of London Above's society, hunting down killers, fighting possessions from spirits who wants her body, dealing with her increasing addiction, and getting into debts from the Night Veil.

It is not a pretty story, I hope there will be a happy ending. 

The characters are interesting with their many facets. I respect Cherry's determination and I understand why she needs her laudanum, but the increasing amount she's taken and then graduating to opium  kind of makes me want to smack her. And then her dismissive behavior towards magic and how self-absorb she is of Hawke's efforts to save her from herself and the Night Veil makes me want to smack her some more. One would say it is the drugs, but still. 

No one is quite evil (except for the Night Veil and even then not really), no one is quite good (our heroine is a drug-addict for God's sake) and the society both above and below demands their pound of flesh from you. 

As the books progressed, relationships wither and prosper, bonds are forged and torn apart, presumptions blown away, integrity dwindles, love lost and (hopefully) found again, honor shattered and glued back together again.

The chemistry between Hawke and Cherry is AMAZING. You can practically feel it sizzle between them and Hawke is such an interesting character. You don't know whether he is good or bad, but you can tell that he tries to spare Cherry from the clutches of the Night Veil, but Cherry is frustratingly dense, making his efforts in protecting her null and void. 

Anyhow,  I gave these books a proper 4.5/5 stars. 

I LOVED IT and I will reread it again and again.