The Incredible Charlotte Sycamore and the Secret Traps (Charlotte Sycamore, #2) by Kate Maddison Pages: 292
Published by Katherine Haupt on August 7, 2014
Genres: Young Adult, Steampunk, mystery
Source: eARC from Publisher
Sixteen-year-old Charlotte Sycamore lives in Buckingham Palace and is hiding her secret identity. Surrounded by scientific inventions and mechanical creatures of Victorian London, Charlotte trusts only her closest friends with the truth. Should her mysterious identity be revealed to the world, she would be executed by the Queen's court.
Charlotte's father, private physician to Queen Victoria, is unaware that his seemingly timid daughter is the treasonous thief that he and Scotland Yard seek to capture. They believe they are looking for a "man" who is stealing medical supplies from Her Majesty to treat the poor of London. It's the same thief they accuse when two of the Queen's most valuable horses are stolen. A reward is placed on Charlotte's head.
Torn between her dutiful love for her father and the blossoming, confusing feelings she has for her daring ally, Peter, Charlotte sneaks out of Buckingham Palace with the help of her trusted friends. She struggles with the dangers of first love and how she fits into this complicated world. It’s up to Charlotte, Peter, Benjamin, Adam, Polly, and Jillian to sword fight through the gaslit streets of London and travel halfway around the world in an experimental device to locate the horses, bring the true criminal to justice, and to never reveal Charlotte's true identity.
Critical Acclaim for THE INCREDIBLE CHARLOTTE SYCAMORE:“High action, tangled romance, and a spirited heroine. My perfect recipe for a great read.” — Kelley Armstrong, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author
“This steampunk novel has it all: deceptions, a brainy and courageous girl, violence, inventions and mystery set in Victorian England. Charlotte’s tale is indeed incredible – in a good way.” — Kirkus Reviews
“...Charlotte’s steampunk London is a wonderfully vivid place, and her adventures there make riveting reading.” — Booklist
“...you won’t want to put this one down.” — RT Book Reviews magazineAbout the Author:Kate Maddison is the award-winning and USA TODAY bestselling author of the Charlotte Sycamore series. Her research for the books included a trip to London for an exciting, behind-the-scenes tour of Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. In addition to writing YA novels, Kate has written over twenty historical romance novels as Kate Bridges. When her computer is turned off, you might find Kate with her family, hiking the escarpment by their home near Toronto, Canada, or taking photos of the sunrise.
The Incredible Charlotte Sycamore and the Secret Traps is the second book in the young adult Charlotte Sycamore series by Kate Maddison. The Charlotte Sycamore series a young adult steampunk adventure series set in Britain. I didn’t realize that this book was the second book in the series until I was already a little ways into the book, but even though I was a bit confused I was already having so much fun that I just wanted to continue. So I went on to goodreads and read the summary for book one and checked out a few of the reviews and then I dived back into the second book. It has been so long since I have read a steampunk book, and Charlotte totally made me want to read more! This book was a ton of fun!
In The Incredible Charlotte Sycamore and the Secret Traps, we meet up again with our main character Charlotte who is living in Buckingham Palace with the Queen. Charlotte kind of has a robin hood thing going as she steals medical supplies from the palace to help the poor, so there is that secret identify aspect of the story that added lots of fun to the plot, but there is also a mystery element for our gang of characters to try and solve.
My favorite aspect of the book, by far were all of the cool gadgets! There is a time traveling machine, robot animals and so many cool techy things. It made the story so much fun and made me want to dive back into more steampunk stories. I will say that I don’t really love this cover for the books. I think the cover of book one has an old school Nancy Drew vibe and is better at depicting 16 year old Charlotte. I like the design of this cover, but I think that the woman pictured on it seems to be a bit too old for the character. What do you think? If you are a fan of young adult steampunks with a bit of clean romance, I think The Incredible Charlotte Sycamore and the Secret Traps is a really cool book. I’m bummed there have not been any additional books published since this one.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2020 Tackle My TBR Reading Challenge
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