![]() The actual raid on the Doomsday Vault takes perhaps five pages at most, which makes me wonder why the book was titled after something so unimportant. The plot doesn't even happen until the last 100 pages, where explanations are rapidly handed out and then everything is rushed together. There was a lot of potential here, but overall the book just falls flat. ![]() How does that work? And why it it even called the "clockwork plague"? There doesn't seem to be any connection between the name and the disease- the connection with the geniuses makes some sense, but why call it that if the vast majority of people just rot away and die? It feels like the author threw in clockwork because it's a steampunk novel and that's what you do. But for what is supposed to be a rare condition, there seem to be dozens of "clockworkers" (as the geniuses are called) in England alone, and plenty in other countries. However, in a tiny percentage of people it accelerates their mind into genius before driving them mad and then killing them. I also had some issues with the idea of the 'clockwork plague.' This is a plague that turns the vast majority of people into "zombies" who are not walking corpses but badly diseased individuals whose flesh is rotting from their frames. We know the characters are in love because the narration tells us, not because they show each other any affection or have any chemistry. When Alice finally does get over her awful engagement and pursues our hero, Gavin, the relationship feels very artificial and constructed. She should jump at any and every chance at adventure. SOMETHING to give her a better reason to say no, because as is it's just incredibly frustrating. Or she's being blackmailed by her fiancee. If the drama about the relationship absolutely had to be included (and I don't think it did, the plot as I outlined above is WAY more interesting) then there needed to be much higher stakes- perhaps Alice is the only one who could do the job, and every time she refuses more people die. By the end of the book I wanted to strangle Alice, she was so annoying and useless. A secret society wants her to join them and put her amazing engineering skills to good work! But no, she is poor and so she must marry her hated, but rich, fiancee, so he can pay her debts! But she is REALLY NEEDED at the secret society! But she just can't agree to join them! Oh, but she wants to! But she can't! But she must! THREE HUNDRED PAGES OF THIS, with a character who has very little personality of her own. Instead, for the first 300 pages we have the main lady Alice CONSTANTLY whining and waffling back and forth on a decision that should be no decision at all. To make the situation even more dire, the heroes realize that the lady's lover himself has been infected by the plague, forcing them to undertake this difficult task or watch him die slowly.Īll of that is the set up for a really great plot! Unfortunately, in 'The Doomsday Vault', all of that information and action is crammed into the last 50 pages or so. Unfortunately, the cure was stolen by the same organization the heroes work for, and they must infiltrate the top-security 'Doomsday Vault' in order to retrieve it. They find the villain, revealed to be a relative of the leading lady, who explains that they are the mastermind behind an incredible invention: a cure for the zombie plague that afflicts hundreds. Take this situation: the heroes are in love, and they've just gotten information about the mastermind behind the unusual circumstances that have been happening. The book has a few good ideas, and there are little hints of what could have become a truly great story. For one, although "The Doomsday Vault" tries to put its heroine in scary but seemingly absurd situations (like fighting zombies in a ball gown at 3am), the narration doesn't have the self-awareness to pull it off, and Alice is just too weak a character. I feel like this book really wanted to be a clever adventure in the vein of "Soulless" and the other books in the Parasol Protectorate, but it never quite got there. In retrospect, I kind of wish it HAD been that trashy. For one, although "T From the cover and what I skimmed of the description, I was expecting a trashy steampunk romance novel, where the dashing but stranded airman sweeps the poor but brilliant society lady off her feet and they have adventures. From the cover and what I skimmed of the description, I was expecting a trashy steampunk romance novel, where the dashing but stranded airman sweeps the poor but brilliant society lady off her feet and they have adventures.
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