The Emperor's Edge

"Empire's Edge" is the first of a huge, epic steampunk series, so there is a lot to read if you find you love it as much as I did.

I give you a plucky heroine, a taciturn assassin and a nice assortment of sidekicks who have the most insane adventures. Of course, they are all fighting for good, that is, for a young Emperor out of his depth. For reasons (which I won't spoil).

Even better if you like snark. There is so much snark in this book!

And hey, it's free. Can't beat free entertainment, right? I promise, you… show more.

This book captured me from the first moment with Amaranthe determined to be the best enforcer despite being looked down upon because she was a woman doing a man’s job and not doing what her family expected of her.

When she finds herself the target of an assassin which she must target, she gathers a collection of misfits who (spoiler sort of) become the family she needs to succeed and survive along with bumble, trip, fail, and regroup with.

I loved cheering her on and wincing at her (sometimes hilarious) struggles.

The Emperor’s Edge series is one of my all-time favorites. It features a ragtag band of outlaws, exciting steampunk action sequences, and characters that are real, loveable, and hilarious. The band’s unconventional leader, Amaranthe, dreams up unlikely schemes to protect her homeland from nefarious forces, and her team ends up blowing stuff up as often as they save it. This is a genuine page-turner that will keep you fully invested in the team’s goals and lost in their world. Bonus: the series includes the best slow-burn romance I’ve ever read!

If, like me, you want to fall in love with a book’s characters and then stick with them for an entire series, and you feel like a story just isn’t complete without some romantic and/or sexual tension woven through, then I think you may enjoy this one as much as I did. Each book follows Amaranthe Lockdon and one other of the main characters, so you really get to know them well. I love how the books are structured. And Sicarius is a dangerous and compelling love interest.