In the year 1889 the sister of Bram Stoker and the niece of Sherlock Holmes are called together by the only woman to ever best the great detective to undertake a secret assignation for Queen and country. Evaline Stoker is a young woman active in London society who carries the burdens and responsibilities of a great and powerful legacy. Mina Holmes longs to overcome the stigma of age and gender to prove that the powers of observation and deduction are not restricted to the male sex. Together these young women must lay aside their solitary natures and distrust of one another to determine why other young society women are either disappearing or being killed before more lives are lost.

Colleen Gleason, author of the successful adult paranormal romance Gardella Vampire Chronicles, debuts her first title written for teens. The Clockwork Scarab is set in a steampunk-infused London and blends together elements familiar to the subgenre with paranormal and science fictional tropes to create a story that delights in its world-building but is successful because of the strength of its two female protagonists. Adults and young people alike will find Gleason’s characters at once familiar and refreshing in that they embody the characteristics of their fictional and non-fictional ancestors while being established as believable heroines in their own right.

I became a fan of Colleen Gleason’s work after first befriending her online and then moving outside of my comfort zone to read the first of her Buffy-and-Jane-Austen-inspired Gardella novels. My enjoyment of each subsequent novel increased and I was excited when she announced that she would be breaking into teen fiction with a steampunk novel. Having just spent much of the last 24 hours lost in an alternative Victorian London I can safely say that this is her best work to date. 8.5/10 stars.

The book releases September 17th. Go grab a copy right away. Tis’ the season for compelling mystery and adventure.

Steampunk, clockpunk, gearpunk, gaslight…whatever the case may be (and yes, before you light the torches and sharpen the pitchforks I do know that all of these are different, yet arguably similar, types of fiction)…the classifications and all their whirring, whizzing, steam-fueled accoutrements excite me. Which is why I tend to be very choosey about what I actually spend time reading in the subgenre. As is often the case when something becomes wildly popular, many lesser works arise which mimic the style without containing any substance. I tend to hold up these works to those of one of the earliest authors of steampunk, and arguably my favorite, James P. Blaylock.

As I began The Clockwork Scarab I have to admit that I was fearful of the substance vs. style balance and which way the scales might tip. I was doubly conscious of this for being friends with the author, and in the early pages I felt as if every name-drop of a steam-powered gadget was a beacon warning me that this journey might end in disappointment. I needn’t have worried. While Gleason does put perhaps too much emphasis on the gadgetry in the first several pages, she does so to establish that this is not the Victorian London that we all know from our history books and favorite classic literature, at least not on the surface. One of the many strengths of Gleason’s novel, however, is that she knows that historical and literary London very well and she infuses her imagined London with a veracity that makes it read as if the city is a character in and of itself.

I mentioned at the outset that the success of The Clockwork Scarab rests largely on the two main female characters and those characters come to life very early in the story and become progressively engaging for the reader. Both as individuals and as a team these characters shine. Inspirations abound in both setting and character in Gleason’s novel but these never feel as if they are caricatures; the novel never feels as if it is aping other works. Instead it pays homage to books and films both classic and modern and does so with palpable affection.

There can be a tendency with works set in the past featuring female characters to write them with a modern sensibility that may be very appropriate wish-fulfillment but that do not ring true for the time period. I appreciate that in all of her novels (that I have read) Colleen Gleason manages to imbue her heroines with intelligence and strength of character while also fully acknowledging the stifling and restrictive society in which they live. She is able to emphasize the elements of this time period that so fascinate us still today while at the same time shining a light on the problems of the age.

The female characters are not the only characters of interest, Gleason’s male characters also surprise in that they resist being fitted into a mold so often seen in this style of fiction. Instead of the bumbling inspector, for example, we are given an officer who is also a keen observer and a man of reason and intelligence. Teen fiction does by necessity call for romance and in The Clockwork Scarab Colleen Gleason provides three intriguing male characters with whom our heroines’ lives intertwine, one from a most unlikely place. Without spoiling an early revelation, I will say that I was pleased with the manner in which a science fictional element hints at a reason for the advanced steam-powered mechanization and technology of this age without ever coming right out and saying it. If you are tempted to think early on that there are one too many tropes being intertwined in the story, I encourage you to withhold judgment, as each genre element does add something of interest to the story.

The mention of romance leads to another observation of Gleason’s writing. The reason I as a male reader am so often enamored of her characters is that she does not equate romantic inclination with weakness. Instead she creates characters that truly read as intelligent, strong, capable women who also happen to be very real human beings with passion and emotion and the desire for affection. Her characters may be resisting Victorian society’s idea that their highest purpose in life is to obtain an advantageous marriage, but they also resist an existence on the other end of the spectrum in which the desire for male affection and partnership is seen as something to be sacrificed in order to be deemed “strong”. Mina Holmes and Evaline Stoker are not out chasing boys, but when circumstances put them in more intimate contact with the male sex then would have been proper in 1889, their feelings and reactions are authentic and genuine.

The Clockwork Scarab hit all the right buttons for me. As I sat reading the book on a cloudy, damp and cool day it was not hard to imagine myself in nineteenth century London and I got properly caught up in the mystery and adventure. I read the first one hundred pages Sunday evening and devoured that last 250 in one long morning read. When I was done I was so disappointed to be leaving that world that I popped Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows in the blu-ray player just to spend some more time in a gritty, dirty, suspense-filled version of old London.

Fans of the Gardella Vampire Chronicles will smile knowingly at the way in which Colleen Gleason ties this story into that universe. If you have not experienced her work, this is highly recommended as a great starting place, go get it. If you are already a fan, show her your support by going online or to your local bookstore during this release week to buy The Clockwork Scarab. I know I will be purchasing my own hardcover copy on Tuesday. Holmes and Stoker are a delightful pair and I look forward to their next exciting adventure in the fall of 2014.

Congratulations Colleen, you have a winner here.