Book 54
Reese and Reeves: Overture by Krystine Brown
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I won this from Goodreads which doesn't influence my review. This was a 2.5 read really. There were some good ideas but this also needs spellcheck and a beta reader. There are plenty of correctly spelled but wrong words issue in this. I'll admit it, this felt exactly like a steampunk/Sherlockian AU fanfic for Black Butler which wasn't helped by the manga-esque cover and the fact the valet was nicknamed Hellhound.
That said Cerebus "Hellhound" Reeves is the only character I honestly liked. Reeves is about eighteen (as is Earl Reese) and has been working for the earl for a month. He's been many things, pirate, thief, homeless, fight ring fighter and we're not really sure how he ended up Reeces' man servant. He also seems a bit superhuman but we don't find out why.
Reese is the earl and doubling down on the Black Butler feel, like Ciel Phantomhive he's tiny (everyone thinks he's a kid), always getting dressed up 'cute' and his earldom somehow confers the responsibility to investigate crime in Victoria (so they can be Victorians in this sort of Earth but isn't really). Reese is ridiculously spoiled and honestly, to me, annoying. He acts like a child. he refuses to bathe and throws fits, all he wants to do is eat and treats people rather badly. When presented with the idea of rogue Scabs (humans scientifically melded with animal parts to be soldiers) and asked can you imagine anything worse, he answers 'fat people who'll eat all my puddings.' Yeah that tells you all you need to know about Reese.
The plot is a murder happened at the Hard Knocker a gentleman's club that his father used to own and Reese wants to solve it. It takes him to another town and into the world of Scabs and Scraps (people who have prosthetic limbs which makes them ugly and useless in this society. Do we see a theme with the abelism and fat phobia?)
This is open ended and not stand alone which presents me with a problem. I didn't like it enough to get the next book. To be honest, the Scabs and Scraps have a good point. They were made like this and then rejected by society. You can almost sympathize with their cause but not their methods. We learn about Reese's father's role in all this and why his son hates him so much (rightfully so) We get to meet other characters with ties to Reese (which I don't want to spoil) .
But there isn't nearly enough world building. We need more on the Scabs and Scraps. WHY would children be made when we need soldiers? What good is a lobster claw for a hand? What is this society really like? It falls flat there I'm afraid.
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