The Immortal Empire series by Kate Locke

So I came across this trilogy in the adult fantasy section at the bookstore by accident one day. I had a coupon to spend and the bright colours of the books caught my eye. I don't think I've ever seen these mentioned anywhere else before either which is always a plus for me.

These books take place in a present day steampunk version of London. In this version of the world, the plague didn't wipe out people, instead it caused some people to become vampires, werewolves, and goblins. It seems that those of noble blood handled the virus much better and became full blooded creatures and those of poorer and not so noble circumstances either did not get infected at all, or were partially infected.

Of course you can imagine the acrimony this caused for the future of all the races. Everything is hanging in a delicate balance. It all starts when Royal Guard Xandra Vardan's sister goes missing, things start to crumble down around everyone's ears. Oh, and did I mention that Queen Victoria still rules (as an undead Vampire, naturally).

I loved the idea behind this series. It totally grabbed me right from the beginning and I was on board for whatever the series was going to throw at me, and I was not disappointed in the least.

I did find the beginning of the first book a little shaky. There was so much world building and information that the author needed us to get a grip on rather quickly (which I totally understand) but... I felt the delivery method, the internal monologue type of thing, felt more like a repetitive info dump at times, and less like we were fully going along for the ride.

It totally go better though, but it was something that made it a little hard going at first. I didn't have any of those problems after I got into the series and even though there was a bit of referral in each book back to the one before it, it didn't have that same info dump feel at all.

There was romance, intrigue, mystery, and action. Everything a good series needs. The characters were interesting, and it felt like such a different story than some others I've read that follow the same idea (I'm thinking The Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger that I totally adore.) It was along the same lines but still well worth the read!

Recommendation: This is a great series for those loving steampunk, vampires, werewolves, and goblins. It's quite an adventure and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!