Meljean Brook and Nalini Singh were my gateway drugs into Romance. Back in early 2012, I started watching Felicia Day’s Vaginal Fantasy Book Club. One of the early bookclub selections was the Iron Duke, which I was lucky enough to get from my local library. I was sucked into the her Steampunk/alternate history world, The Iron Seas, where the Horde (Genghis Khan’s mighty empire) had overrun Asia and Europe and had enslaved great swaths of the world through nanobots hidden in sugar.

Meljean Brook hooked me with her fantastic world-building and in every book, novella and short since she has expanded the world a little further. We have traveled to the zombie infested European interior, infiltrated the New World settlements, discovered hidden Scandinavian villages, traveled to remote African trading posts, and met colorful characters from up-tight New Worlders, rebel sultans, imposing blacksmiths, pirate queens and outlandish archaeologists. From the most powerful of English Dukes to orphan gutter rats, Meljean Brook has populated the world with fascinatingly diverse characters.

In the Kraken King, the focus shifts from the west to Australia and the eastern fringes of the Golden Empire. Zenobia Fox is a writer used observing and never participating in the adventures she chronicles, even though she is also the daughter of notorious traitor and brother to trouble-making adventurer. Her connection to Archimedes Fox, the star of her serials and brother is no longer a secret and she can no longer hide out in her quiet North Sea village. Too many ransom seeking kidnappers have come bursting through her door, so she decides it is time stop being a sitting duck and to venture forth and see the world for herself. When her friend Helene needs a companion for a urgent trip to the Red City, she leaps at the opportunity. However she is soon leaping from the wreckage of her airship when it come under attack by marauders off the coast of Australia. She leaps right into the arms of one of the most dangerous men in the world, the former rebel Ariq the Kraken King.

The first two parts of this serial were fantastic. Great character development and tension as Arriq and Zenobia try to figure each other while trying to keep their own secrets and those of the one they love. I don’t usually sign up for serials usually waiting for the collected edition to come out as I did with Ruthie Knox’s Roman Holiday but this is one I would happily recommend. Each part has it own arc within the larger Kraken King story arc and are long enough to be satisfying. Zenobia, Ariq and the Eastern fringes of the empire hold lots of surprises for the reader and I can’t wait to learn more about them all.

The Kraken King and the Scribbling Spinster published April 15, 2014

The Kraken King and the Abominable Worm will be published April 22, 2014

The Kraken King and the Fox’s Den will be published April 29, 2014

The Kraken King and the Inevitable Abduction will published May 6, 2014

The Kraken King and the Iron Hear will be published May 13, 2014

The Kraken King and the Crumbling Walls will be published May 20, 2014

The Kraken King and the Empress’s Eyes will be published May 27, 2014

The Kraken King and the Greatest Adventure will be published June 3, 2014

The serial will be republished in a collected edition sometime after Aug 2014.

A review copy of The Kraken King, Part 1 & 2 were provided by Penguin/Intermix for review purposes