Fiddlehead
Cherie PriestEx-spy ‘Belle Boyd’ is retired – more or less. Retired from spying on the Confederacy anyway. Her short-lived marriage to a Union navy boy cast suspicion on those Southern loyalties, so her mid-forties found her unemployed, widowed and disgraced. Until her life-changing job offer from the staunchly Union Pinkerton Detective Agency.
When she’s required to assist Abraham Lincoln himself, she has to put any old loyalties firmly aside – for a man she spied against twenty years ago.Lincoln’s friend Gideon Bardsley, colleague and ex-slave, is targeted for assassination after the young inventor made a breakthrough. Fiddlehead, Bardsley’s calculating engine, has proved an extraordinary threat threatens the civilized world. Meaning now is not the time for conflict.
Now Bardsley and Fiddlehead are in great danger as forces conspire to keep this secret, the war moving and the money flowing. With spies from both camps gunning for her, can even the notorious Belle Boyd hold the war-hawks at bay?
*Advanced Copy was provided by Tor Publishing in exchange for an honest review*
Extraordinary, action-packed thriller that shows off the true meaning of steam-punk subgenre…
Gideon Bardsley is a genius when it comes to inventing but being hunted by assassins is something he could not have predicted. His new machine, the brilliant Fiddlehead, could calculate and predict events in the future based on simple facts. Why someone wants to destroy it is one question that needs to be resolved before it is too late.
Belle Boyd has been employed with Pinkerton Detective Agency or “Pinks” after getting somewhat retired from Confederacy. After getting an assignment from Abraham Lincoln to find out who put a threat on Fiddhead, she finds herself following the road which leads her to discovering the awful truth about the disease that was generated from gas. During all the events that happened, she needs to be careful who to trust and who to blame for the situation of United States.
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Perfect ending to a great series. Steam-punk has been getting very popular among readers and I can definitely see why. The alternative retelling of history was exciting and gave me a new perspective on the this subgenre and it might be my favorite one. Cherie Priest has become one of the authors to watch for and I cannot to read more of her work!
