Star Compass

Victoria Eternal, Book 1

De: Anthea Sharp

Narrado por: Danielle Cohen

Charles Dickens meets Firefly in this tale of an orphan destined for the stars.

Steampunk with a twist! Enter a fantastical world filled with alien spacecraft and Victorian sensibilities, ball gowns and travel to the stars - where a pickpocket with a particular gift yearns for the stars.

©2019 Anthea Sharp (P)2019 Tantor

Very fun and Very Memorable....

This was not only fun but it was memorable. There were hi-jinx to be had. Tipper is such a little scoundrel. Diane was such a protector. I can’t wait for more adventures in this series!!

Very well done

I thought that this story was very well done. I haven't read a lot of steampunk but I decided to give this book a try since I am always looking for something new. I found the story to be very entertaining and I am happy that I decided to give it a try. I haven't read Charles Dickens but it was pretty easy to figure out that this was a retelling of Oliver Twist but in this book, the focus is on Diana. A whole lot of wonderful elements came together to tell this nice little story.

Diana was born into a wealthy family but is growing up on the streets after an accident killed her family. She dresses as a boy and watched out for her friend, Tipper. She does attract the attention of an officer and they develop a special relationship pretty quickly. I almost forgot that the book was labeled steampunk for a bit but then the spaceships enter the story and things get interesting very quickly. Diana has a gift and it was fun to see her put it to use.

I did like the characters and enjoyed the relationships between them. Diana is very protective of Tipper and I liked how his character developed over the course of the story. I did enjoy the romance between Diana and the officer. I really thought that they made a great pair and I loved the fact that their feelings for each other develop slowly over the course of the story.

Danielle Cohen did a fantastic job with the narration of this story. I really liked the variety of voices that she used for all of the different characters and I thought that she did a great job of adding emotion into her reading. She has a great reading voice and I think that her narration increased my enjoyment of this story.

I would recommend this book to others. I thought that it was a rather unique story featuring wonderful characters. I wouldn't hesitate to read more from Anthea Sharp!

I received a review copy of this audiobook from the narrator.

Great story!

Love the story and the characters! I can't wait to see the second book in this series!

Great narration, solid story

I really enjoyed this one. It kept my interest the entire time and it flowed very well. It is appropriate for most audiences.

Victorian England meets outer space

What a fun read! Although the British Empire controls all space travel and owns all colonies in space, there are still gutter rats on the streets, barely surviving by pickpockets and running from gangs. Yet somehow, Anthea Sharp melds the two in a way that works. It's a funny, sweet romp where good defeats evil and true love wins.

Great Story

I really enjoyed this story. The story had a great plot, and nice pacing. The MC was relatable and likable as well as her friends. The narrator did a great job. I enjoyed this listen very much.

Wonderful

I expected this to be a fun, light read - and it was! But it was also rather like jumping happily into a puddle, and falling in up to my elbows. I got sucked in fast by the "street rat with a heart of gold" theme, and loved Di thoroughly by the end of it. Thankfully, her character shone through the book, instead of being clumsily beat into my head with false-feeling situations and the use of other characters to blow smoke up her butt (looking at you, all recent YA fiction).

The author pulled off steampunk-meets-space charmingly, and the world building was in-depth but not overwhelming. The plot wasn't ground-breaking, and I wish the book was longer, but it was fast-paced, well-written, and again - fun! On top of it all, Di and her friend, Tipper, had some really poignant moments of hope in the face of hardship that had my eyes watering a bit, and there were a few very pretty gems of writing that had me rewinding the audiobook just to hear them again.

I will absolutely be recommending this to friends.

Lovely relationship between Tipper and Dianna♥️

This is my first time I heard audiobook from this author; no disappointed at all. I’m looking forward to more stories! Awesome narrator. I love the story!

A nice surprise

I am ready for the next book in the series. I hope it's very soon.

Probability hates you

This book has okay ideas, but makes the first stumble where I feel many in this genre have, with matching plot to character. So the protagonist is the daughter or a noble family who was orphaned and is now living as a beggar. So far so generic, she's special because she apparently has the ability to just glance at a starship and tell you details about trajectory, cargo, etc., great. But I really gave up hope, when she just so happened to break into the starport and is getting arrested at the exact moment a collision - the first and last to putatively occur - can be averted. The entire plot revolves around this type of nonsense and leaves you wondering why the author cashed in their highly improbable event coupon on this.

- Not much to recommend - probability is sad - maybe the setting pays off in later books, but I wouldn't know.