Author: Jordan Elizabeth
Date of Publication: February 15, 2015
Formats Available: Paperback, E-book
Buy This Book: Amazon.com
Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Clark Treasure assumes the drink he stole off the captain is absinthe… until the chemicals in the liquid give him the ability to awaken the dead.
A great invention for creating perfect soldiers, yes, but Clark wants to live as a miner, not a slave to the army—or the deceased. On the run, Clark turns to his estranged, mining tycoon father for help. The Treasures welcome Clark with open arms, so he jumps at the chance to help them protect their ranch against Senator Horan, a man who hates anyone more powerful than he.
Sixteen-year-old Amethyst Treasure loathes the idea of spending the summer away from her bustling city life to rot on her father’s ranch, but when a handsome young man shows up claiming to be her secret half-brother, her curiosity is piqued. He’s clever, street smart, and has no qualms jumping into the brawl between the Treasures and Horans. Caught in the middle, Horan kidnaps Amethyst, and all she gets is this lousy bullet through her heart.
When Clark brings her back to life, however, the real action starts, and Amethyst joins him in his fight against the Horan clan—whatever the cost. Defeating the Horans may seem easy at first, but going up against men with the same fighting vengeance as Clark, and a Senator with power he’s obtained by brainwashing the masses?
Well, Amethyst’s boring summer at home has turned into an adventure on the run, chock full of intrigue, danger, love, and a mysterious boy named Clark.
My Review:
Let me just start this review by saying that the cover of this novel is one of the most beautiful, amazing, fantastic, awesome, brilliant covers I have ever seen in my life. The second I saw the cover of this novel I knew I wanted to read it and I just have to give the biggest shout out in the world to the person who designed it, because honestly it's just gorgeous. Okay, now that I've got that out of my system, on to the actual review!
Treasure, Darkly is one of those novels that's going to be interesting to review because I'm just so on the fence about how I feel about it. The novel started off interesting enough, with Clark stealing a vial of what he though was absinthe, and instead gaining some cool preternatural abilities. Though his abilities are fascinating, they really take a backseat to the rest of the drama going on in the novel, and I wish we could have seen them in action a little more. However, with the army after him, a long lost father to learn about, inventions to find, and a new family to meet there was plenty going on in this novel to keep me turning pages.
When Clark is taken in by the Treasures, and instantly accepted, the action really picks up and I absolutely loved the western/steampunk setting. Elizabeth really did a fantastic job with the world building and I loved learning more about the world she created. From steamcycles to evil ranchers this novel had it all. The only problem I had with the plot was that there was no resolution to any of the conflicts, there are so many story arcs going on that I figured at least one of them would have been resolved. Instead all we get is a rather abrupt ending that had almost nothing to do with the main story.
Though there were a lot of good things about this novel there were a few that really bothered me too. First of all there was just something about Clark that rubbed me the wrong way. I don't quite know what it was about him but as the novel went on I started to like him less and less. His cocky attitude and some of his inner dialogue had me quickly losing respect for him and toward the end of the novel I just couldn't stand him anymore. Amethyst, on the other hand, had a bit of a flat personality but wasn't as bad as Clark. Though for the amount of times she was kidnapped you would think she would have some sort of reaction, but she just goes back to lusting after Clark instead.
Maybe part of the reason I disliked Clark as much as I did was because of his relationship with Amethyst. The romance in this novel was so lewd and lust driven that reading about Clark and Amethyst honestly made me uncomfortable. There was absolutely no mutual affection between them and some of the inner dialogue Clark had about Amethyst was just plain disgusting. I wanted to root for them, I really did, but in the end I just couldn't do it.
Though there were a lot of things I really enjoyed about this novel, mainly the setting and the steampunk elements, the romance made me feel so icky that I had to knock this one down a little bit. Overall not a bad read, but I could have done without the romance.
3/5
*I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for a free and honest review.
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