Review: The Girl and the Clockwork Cat by Nikki McCormack

From Goodreads: Feisty teenage thief Maeko and her maybe-more-than-friend Chaff have scraped out an existence in Victorian London’s gritty streets, but after a near-disastrous heist leads her to a mysterious clockwork cat and two dead bodies, she’s thrust into a murder mystery that may cost her everything she holds dear. Her only allies are Chaff, the cat, and Ash, the son of the only murder suspect, who offers her enough money to finally get off the streets if she’ll help him find the real killer. What starts as a simple search ultimately reveals a conspiracy stretching across the entire city. And as Maeko and Chaff discover feelings for each other neither was prepared to admit, she’s forced to choose whether she’ll stay with him or finally escape the life of a street rat. But with danger closing in around them, the only way any of them will get out of this alive is if all of them work together. 

My Rating: 1.5 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: When I requested The Girl and the Clockwork Cat by Nikki McCormack, I was expecting a book with great worldbuilding, a wily protagonist, and a slow burning romance. Sadly, not only were none of my expectations fulfilled, but the plot also lacked organization as it consisted of characters endlessly running around from place to place while highlighting the adults’ incompetency.

Though it didn’t have as many steampunk elements as I thought it would, the worldbuilding in The Girl and the Clockwork Cat was pretty decent. I felt like I was in Victorian London, and I liked McCormack’s use of historically accurate language. 

Maeko’s character, however, was less tolerable. Where I was expecting a hardened street rat, I instead got a girl with a soft heart. As well, I found that she thought she was much smarter than she actually was, and so constantly put herself in unfavourable situations.

Finally, the romance that the synopsis promised hardly came into fruition because Maeko ended up feeling torn between two guys. I’m not sure why the author chose to go the route of a love triangle because a straight-up romance between fellow thieves would have been a lot more believable than the possibility of a romance between a street rat and a wealthy guy.

The Girl and the Clockwork Cat was released by Entangled Teen on September 2, 2014. 

Comments About the Cover: I like that the cover reveals quite a bit about the book. For example, Big Ben in the background makes it evident that the setting is London and the gears at the bottom indicate that The Girl and the Clockwork Cat is a steampunk novel.

In exchange for an honest review, this book was received from the publisher (Entangled Publishing) for free via NetGalley.