I'll be honest, when I received a copy of Dogwood Sprocket to review, I was not expecting much. I anticipated giving it a mediocre three star review on Amazon and moving on with my life. Obviously, by virtue of the fact that I'm writing this review, I was wrong.
There are no spoilers in this review beyond what is revealed in the book description on Amazon.
I was pleasantly surprised by this little 99 cent novella. The main protagonist--Grace York--is a toy designer, builder, and programmer in Saint Louis in the year 2287. She longs for the fashion and simplicity of a bygone era, daydreaming of beautiful dresses and ballets. A wormhole created by the handsome inventor Hugh Hawthorne sucks her into the alternate reality where he lives: 1887 Steampunk St. Louis.
This is a light, family-friendly read. There is no sex, swearing, or other bad language whatsoever. It's certainly not a grand world-build that you can completely lose yourself in like in The Kingkiller Chronicle. However, the author manages to create beautiful imagery and eloquent phrasing without becoming verbose or bombastic. For instance, during a spectacular sunset, Grace observes that "The clouds wore magenta". At the moment she is sucked into the wormhole, "Colors bled together in a rainbow cocoon."
Having read the book, the cover makes significantly more sense. For instance, I can now tell that her hand is encased in a silver fingerless glove. At first glance, I thought she had a cybernetic hand. Her silver futuresque outfit doesn't line up with the story either, but I suppose there's some artistic license that must be allowed there.
Enjoy your light read!
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