stayshomeandreads's reviews
539 reviews

I was initially interested in this book because it's been a long time since I've read steampunk stories. This collection of steampunk spins on classic fairy tales certainly fit the bill. While I think that many of the stories in the collection could have used better editing, a lot of them were genuinely unique takes on the stories we all know and love. Standouts for me included Three Days of the Cuckoo by Bernie Mojzes, The Porcelain Princess by David Lee Summers, and the Binding Clause by Cynthia Radthorne. It's not the most groundbreaking short story collection, but it certainly is entertaining and fun. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wish that the author didn't insert herself so much into the narrative. I also wish there had been more focus on the later time periods of the manor and not just the 1600s and turn of the 20th century. Besides that, this book is a brilliant and accessible work of scholarship that details the history of slavery in the North. This should be required reading in Long Island schools. 

Despite a lot of this book being pretty dated, I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. The horror aspect was genuinely disturbing and the author did a great job of drawing from the actual history of piracy in the Caribbean. 

Should be required reading for anyone interested in history. I didn't think I would get anything new from this book, but I ended up filling the book with highlights and annotations.