Plot: Honoria and her two young siblings are on the run from one of the most powerful Blue Bloods in London. But where to go where they can’t be reached? Only Whitechapel, where a rogue Blue Blood has established dominion and even fought off the mechanical army of the aristocracy. The place is still dangerous though, and everyone owes a tithe of some kind to earn Blade’s protection. Honoria needs more than protection, though. Her brother is very sick, and between her and her sister working themselves to the bone, they are still slowly starving. Even worse, their problems are not only private, but emblematic of a power struggle at the highest levels of society they can’t even begin to imagine. Protection won’t be enough – they must go on the offensive.
The world-building is some of the most creative I’ve seen. McMaster has clearly given a LOT of thought to how this world would work. How might world events we know of might look different (or the same) in a world where the aristocracy of many world powers chose to be infected with vampirism? How does that change world history? How does that impact the development of law? Of democracy? Of basic human rights? How does it impact how a country looks, how it builds infrastructure, where it prioritizes innovation? What do countries fight about and what does war look like? Did the French Revolution still happen? What about the Spanish Inquisition? And yes as I write this I know it sounds kind of boring but my hot take is that nowhere near enough fantasy stories give obscene amounts of thought to their world building. I’m not saying this is Tolkien levels of detail, but this world feels substantial and lived in, like you could just pop into it and there is an existing bureaucracy to make sure your taxes are filed on time. The worldbuilding is also seamlessly integrated into the story. There are very few exposition drops and never slow down the action.
The story is also well paced. I’d read this book a few years ago when I just started reading romance, so I did have a vague recollection of the story, and I was amazed on this re-read of how cleverly McMaster drops in hints and red herrings throughout the book that make the big reveal feel surprising and earned.
The secondary characters are also varied and reasonably well fleshed out, even though they have little time on the page – certainly enough to spark some curiosity about reading the rest of the series. Strangely, it’s hard to say the same thing about our main protagonists. Honoria is your typical paranormal heroine – cunning, determined, medically trained (how is this so common that its a trope), and super duper virginal. Blade (yup) is also cut (ha) from the same cloth as your standard paranormal hero – jaded, dangerous, powerful, and with a tragic backstory meant to justify his boorish behaviour.
That leads me to the other major issue I had with this book. Those who have read my reviews before know that this is why I tend to steer clear of paranormal romances altogether. Consent (or lack thereof) is just a thing that paranormal romances don’t seem to understand, and Kiss of Steel is no different. Blue Bloods need blood to maintain their strength, agelessness, etc. The act of taking blood directly from a person is so intoxicating that people develop addictions to it. You can see where this is going, right? The upshot is that this is another drop in the bucket of sexually experienced men who have power (both physical and metaphorical) over a virginal woman who has no choice but to become intimate with him, with him constantly pushing her boundaries despite her protestations, but eventually she’s into it so it’s fine. It is not exceptional in this regard, so if you already love the genre, this won’t come as a surprise.
Trigger warnings: sexual assault (main character and secondary character, limited detail), addiction, familial violence, torture, medical trauma, and suicidal ideation.
