Steamed – Katie MacAlister
Penguin Signet, 2010
334 pages
RRP: US$7.99
ISBN: 978-0-451-22931-1

Reviewed by Liz Grzyb

As those who’ve been reading my reviews for a while will know, I really enjoy reading Katie MacAlister’s writing. Her books are funny, sexy, always interesting and slightly off-beat. Steamed is no exception. Telling the story of a steampunk aficionado who is somehow transported into the world of his imaginings, Steamed is a comic and sensual romp around airships, corsets and velocipedes.

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Burning Alive – Shannon K Butcher
Penguin Onyx, 2009
368 pages
RRP: US$7.99
ISBN: 9780451412713

Reviewed by Liz Grzyb

Burning Alive is the first book in the paranormal Sentinel Wars series by romance author Shannon K Butcher. It follows heroine Helen as she finds out she is not just an average human, but one of the few remaining demon-hunting Theronai women, capable of wielding great magic against the monsters invading the earth, and saving one of the Theronai heroes from the torture of containing his magic.

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Blue Noon (Midnighters book 3) – Scott Westerfeld
Penguin Atom, 2006
344 pages
RRP: AU$19.99
ISBN: 1-906233-84-8

Reviewed by Andrew Williams

This is the third book in the Midnighters series, starting with The Secret Hour, and Touching Darkness - urban fantasy with young-adult protagonists. In addition to the usual high school and family woes, they all have to deal with the ‘blue time’. In the town of Bixby, if you were born on the exact stroke of midnight, you have an extra hour each day – while the rest of the world is frozen in time.

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The Alchemist’s Apprentice – Dave Duncan
Penguin Ace, 2007
320 pages
RRP: US$14.00
ISBN: 9780441014798

Reviewed by Karen Miller

I picked up this book because it’s by Dave Duncan. I really enjoy a lot of his work – not every series he’s released, some resonate more than others – and so hoped to enjoy this one, too. But I got a real shock when I opened it, because this one’s written in first person, a stylistic choice that usually puts me off. It’s not Duncan’s usual choice, either, which is why I wasn’t expecting it and perhaps, if it hadn’t been a Duncan novel, I might not have persevered. Which doubtless means I’m a flawed reader… but be that as it may…

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