Let's Talk: Steel

Title: Steel

Author: Carrie Vaughn

Series: N/A

Genre: Juvenile/YA Historical 

Page Length: 287 

Publication Date: March 15, 2011

Date Started: February 6, 2016

Date Finished: February 7, 2016

Rating: 4/5 stars

*semi-spoiler free review*

There have been some great reviews for this book...and there have been some not-so-great reviews for this book. I did enjoy this book. It wasn't my favorite book but I didn't not-like it. As far as it goes in "Will I Read Again?"...the answer is yes. 

I did like this book. It was what I expected from a short floppy middle-grade looking paperback book. I didn't expect extravagant writing or super deep characters with intricate backstories like Sarah J. Maas writes. I was just looking for a little bit of a pirate-y story, and I got just that.

The writing was okay. It wasn't full of depth and there wasn't a lot of variation from "he said" or "she said". I didn't notice it much because the story itself was very fast paced. This book was less than 300 pages and it had larger print that didn't even fill the whole page--aka there were thick margins. It was a quick, fast-paced read.

I enjoyed the storyline and it was very simple and easy to follow. There was little world-building needed because of how it was told, which was nice because I'd just finished a high-fantasy novel a couple hours prior. 

Jill (the main character) was for the most part what I expected a girl in her situation and her mind-set to act like. There have been reviews that talk about why she didn't freak out more when she was pulled from the sea onto a pirate ship, but I feel like that isn't something Jill would do.

There was very little romance, which was a good thing because I probably would have cried if there were more. The whole book I was conflicted about what I wanted to happen in the end. Did I want her to stay on the pirate ship or did I want her to find a way home? No spoilers, but I was somewhat happy with the ending. I think either way I would have been slightly disappointed with either choice. It was a realistic choice, nonetheless.

All in all, I did enjoy this book. I feel as if this is a book to pull a person out of their reading slump. It's face-paced with easy to read writing and a pretty good story and concept. I do want to read more pirate novels, but this one was pretty good.

~

Thanks for reading

xoxo

Lauren