Romance and other things

I first heard about this book at file 770 and somebody mentioned that it is a good candidate for next year Hugo nominations. Eh - not in my opinion. I thought I would do a review for DA but I am just not finding interesting things to say so here is a very brief one. It is a very well written steampunk set in a fictional city which some reviewers said was really fictional Seattle. Karen is a very engaging narrator - awesome example of how to write the character who speaks with accent and not to make the reader want to throw the kindle against the wall (cough Alexis Hall cough), the plot is kind of a western? I guess? Action/adventure definitely.

Also I hesitate to bring "puppies" name in vein because they may appear and bite me, but whatever - unfortunately the message (which I fully agree with by the way) sometimes did get in the way of the story. Not too often mind you, sometimes - yes, Karen is smart and hard working, no, some of her remarks about how women are treated v how men are treated read to me as author talking to the reader directly rather than character being in character if that makes sense.

Karen falls in love with another woman - awesomeness, not nearly enough f/f and m/m romances in mainstream, but sadly a fail for me , because I have no idea what she saw in the other woman. Oh she is nice and smart too, but romantic chemistry equaled zero.

The ending - UGH but note that I am not downgrading for the ending, because this is simply artistic choices which I disliked. It fit the story