Steeplejack

Read April 2017

Last week I was feeling pretty burned out by the YA the storylines were getting so stale and predictable, but then I read Steeplejack and some of my faith in the YA genre has been restored. Here is a YA novel I would be proud to say I read. The young female protagonist is a strong character in her own right. She makes mistakes, but does not lean on her male cohort, in fact this book has a astonishing lack of leading males. There are male characters but they tend to be secondary characters.

It is hard to categorize this book. It is not steampunk, and is not gaslight, but it sort of feels like both. It is set in an alternative land that feels very much like apartheid South Africa. There are water buffalo and grasslands, gazelle type animals. More importantly it is set up socially much like South Africa. A white minority who control the economy and the government over a black ethnic majority. The reality this was a darn good mystery set in an alternative urban fantasy environment.

I highly recommend this book for readers of YA who are tired of the same old, same old and are looking for a fresh new take on the genre.