The Kraken King by Meljean Brook

I'm a bit of a Meljean Brook fangirl, let's get that out of the way.  I loved her first Demon (insert word) book but eventually burned out on them a bit.  There are eight books and five (?) novella's in the series and I came to the series late so I didn't take breaks in between the books, etc.  Anyway, for whatever reason I was a little worried when she embarked on the steam punk thing.  Jumping on the bandwagon, latest fad, etc.  Oh, I was soooooooooooooo wrong.  Iron Duke was spectacular.  But I digress (as usual).

The Kraken King was released in serial format which was very interesting (and becoming more common).  I will admit when I saw each of them for $1.99 on my Nook, I was annoyed.  Really, eight parts, $16?  But then I started reading and I just didn't care.  I was lucky, again, that they were all pretty much out so I didn't have to wait for each section to be published (hate that, I'm such a baby).  But after reading the book I did go to her website to see whether she had talked about why she did it this way.

It was very interesting, well, it was at that moment.  Basically what I remember is that there was a long delay between writing a whole novel and then getting it out as a print book.  But she could write it in stages, release it electronically as she wrote (I'm sure she was still ahead of us somewhat, cause if that girl is writing 20,000 words each week I am seriously impressed) and we wouldn't have to wait ten years to have the hot little book in our hands. On top of which she broke out word count and pointed out most mass market romances are 300-350 pages and the final page count was over 675, effectively we got two books for our $16.

Bottom line, I loved this book.  I really enjoyed the Kraken King himself as an a-typical character.  If I had any complaints, the plot was maybe drawn out a bit by the serial process.  And it took a while to consummate the relationship, but that fit with the characters and plot and there was very good sexual tension.

I have to say the world that Ms. Brook has built is really standing the test of time.  I have thoroughly enjoyed each and every single book she's crafted in the Iron Seas series.

Paranormal Steampunk Alternative History 2014: 4.95 of 5 letters to your brother.