I don't know why, but I couldn't get into this one as much as everyone I know it seems. I think it's simply because I'm normally not big into this kind of steampunk, and while I thought I'd give it a try, it didn't wow me like it did so many of my other blogger friends unfortunately. 
 So why the three stars? Well, the writing was good. And I quite liked the illustrations. Along with the time period. That's what initially attracted me to the book in the first place. But I had a few nitpicks. It felt a bit young-ish for my usual reading tastes. Sure, I've read middle grade, and this is a step up from that, but I would put this in more of a young teen. No problems with that. I love Harry Potter, of course. My problems stemmed in the area that if the characters were 15/16, why did the illustrations and context make them appear to be more around the ages of 12-13? Or so it seemed to me. Just my thoughts. 
 Other than those small nitpicks, I found it pleasantly surprising and entertaining at least. Maybe I'll give the sequel a try sometime soon. :) 
 <3 
 Pixie