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author, book reviews, book, books, characters, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, fantasy, fiction, Frankenstein, literature, novel, plot, read, reader, review, science fiction, scifi, Steampunk, stories, story, The Diabolical Miss Hyde, The Diabolical Miss Hyde by Viola Carr, urban fantasy, Viola Carr, write, writer, writing
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Scifi, Steampunk, Mystery, Retelling
Pages: 464
Point of View: First (Eliza and Lizzie)
Released: February 10th 2015
Series: Electric Empire 1
Predictability: 3 out of 5 (Where 1 is totally unpredictable and 5 is I knew what was going to happen way ahead of time.)
Source: Bought
My Rating: 7/10 Stars
Warnings: Sex and some grossness (see the bad below)
My Summary:
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’s daughter also has the same affliction. Eliza Jekyll is a scientist and works with the police force. Miss Lizzie Hyde is a thief and likes going to rowdy bars in the bad part of town. Eliza takes a serum to prevent the change, but its starting to not work.
All magic is illegal, so she’s determined to keep her secret, but when a royal society enforcer gets involved with her latest case things get complicated.
My Review:
Let’s see how good Molly’s memory is. I read this book in April, but for some reason I didn’t write a review. (And now I’m angry with my past self.)
This book not only continues Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but Frankenstein too and there’s plenty of originality added in.
The Good:
It’s set in an alternate past, so women are still looked down upon, but both Eliza and Lizzie are strong in their own way and defy convention.
I liked the relationship between the two ‘sisters’ a lot. They started out hating one another, but they still love each other and they come to respect one another over the course of the book. (I’m afraid the sequel will ruin this though based on the description.)
The romance? There were two and oddly I liked the most messed up one the best. (I’m not sure what that says about me.) He sort of reminds me of Hannibal Lector.
This was your basic steampunk world with robots and gadgets. It was mostly sci-fi, but had some Fantasy elements too. (Werewolves, alchemy, and the fey) Eliza’s investigation tools were cool but I didn’t see the reason for the robots, they were just there. (Both her ‘pet’ robot and the guard robots standing around the city.)
Though set in a dark world there’s plenty of light fun dialogue that I enjoyed. The banter wasn’t the best, but it was still cute.
There’s more than one mystery going on and it was all well done. I wasn’t sure who did it until the second half of the book. (Though I did figure it out way before Eliza and Lizzie)
The Bad:
There was a bit of grossness in this book, the case involved women turning up without their limbs, but it mostly didn’t bother me. (And I’m quite the wimp.)
At first if was hard to understand Lizzie. The book starts in her POV and I almost didn’t buy it because of this. I got used to her though and overall I enjoyed her parts.
Verdict: a good, if weird book. (With an awesome cover!)
Have you ever written a review a bit late? This is my first attempt and I’m presently surprised by how much I remembered. (Especially considering how forgetful and scatterbrained I can be.)
Woven Magic Books 
This sounds really good, I am going to have to check it out!
I’m glad you’re going to give it a shot. I hope you like it!
Hmmmm…maybe, just maybe
I think you’d like it. You are hard to predict sometimes though. lol
Is it weird that I like that this is weird LOL? Great review! this one has been in my maybe pile for awhile now but I think after reading your review, it is something that I would like and something that would be perfect for fall!
Nope, there’s nothing wrong with liking weird. I do. 🙂 Thanks! I hope you enjoy it. Yeah, it’s a good Halloween month book.
Sounds interesting. Gross doesn’t necessarily bother me, but “weird” can. So, not sure.
It was quite good. I’m a bit of a wuss when it comes to grossness. I don’t like Gruesome when it ventures into the dark and horror. I generally like weird, but not whimsical. I’d say give it a try and if it’s too strange for you, you can always quit. (I say that, but I can rarely stop.)
This has been on my list for a while, I keep seeing reviews that remind me I still have to pick it up. I’ve seen some buzz about the second book around already, so I better get on it!
I’ve heard that the second book is good too, so I guess you’d better get on it! lol I hope you like it.
Awesome cover!!! This sounds really good and I like weird too 😉 I’m glad you liked it and will have to check it out.
It was the cover that grabbed my attention. It was good and I’m glad you’re another fan of weird. 🙂 Thanks. I hope you like it too.
Oh I really liked this one and I saw that book 2 will be released soon so I’m curious to read it now!
I really liked it too! You beat me to book two, but now I really want to read that one too!
Ah, I ONLY write reviews late 😉 Kidding, but not really. This sounds weird for sure! I like that the relationships sound.. abnormal. I like abnormal! Glad this was a good one for you 🙂
haha! I have a hard time remembering what I wanted to say if I procrastinate too much. Yeah, both of the relationships were rather abnormal. Abnormal is good though. Thanks!
I’ve yet to venture into the steampunk genre, and I’m quite perplexed that I haven’t since I typically enjoying playing video games that entail alchemy, machina’s and mechromancer’s. Do you typically enjoy reading from this genre? If so, you’ll need to recommend an epic series or stand alone 😉
I only recently found out what steampunk was, so I haven’t read very many. I’ve liked them so far though! This one is actually a good one. Lots of people recommend the Infernal Devices, but they aren’t really very steampunky to me. The only other good steampunk I’ve read was The Shadow Revolution, but it was too gruesome for me. Jim Butcher just wrote a steampunk and it’s on my list! 🙂
Lizzie looks such a badass from her cover.
They did a good job then, because she most definitely is!
This book sounds interesting. I haven’t tried out any steampunk novels, but I really want to read at least one. I like the fact that this book is weird though!:)
I only discovered steampunk recently. I enjoyed this book though. haha I like weird books too! 😉
Awesome cover! This sounds like a great read/ Thanks for sharing. 🙂
The cover’s why I bought this one! It was a fun read.
I’m not much for steampunk (or grossness), so I’ll probably skip this one, but I’m glad you enjoyed it 😉
I’ve only recently read a couple of steampunk books and both of them were rather gross. Coincidence? Probably. Thanks! Yeah, I’m not one for gross either. This one was on the verge of my tolerance, but I still enjoyed it.
I always have to write my reviews within a day or two after finishing otherwise I’m lost given how many books I read and how bad my memory is D: I’ve had this one sitting on my TBR for a while and I’m getting into the steampunk/Victorian setting lately with a slightly gross mystery so I think I’ll have to give it a try! I’m prepared for grossness now at least 😉
haha yeah me too! I can’t believe I actually remembered enough about this book to review it. Usually a couple of days go by and I’ve got nothing. I hope you like it! The grossness isn’t that bad, it didn’t really bother me, but it’s on the edge of my comfort zone.