Phoenix Rising: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel

I was very pleasantly surprised to listen to this book - great main characters, fast paced steampunk mystery. The narration is great, and James Langton does a very good job depicting the different characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this book as a funny light mystery, and am about to explore Pip Ballantine's other novels.

Yes. It's a great beach or vacation book. It's fun, easy, and amusing.

The initial meeting between the two main characters.

Wellington Books. He's calm, academic, and yet funny.

It's a typical steampunk adventure. A fun brain break worth your time but don't expect anything insightful or surprising. Eliza (the heroine) is pulled right from any feisty romance novel. The male lead, Wellington Books, is a bit more interesting. It's brain candy.

What a great book! Eliza D. Braun and her partner Wellington Books are fun to listen to and entertaining to follow, you never know what’s next. The mix of mayhem and comedy make this audio book hard to turn off, so make sure you are ready to get angry at anyone who tries to disrupt you. If you've never listened to a steam punk novel I suggest that you make this one your first. I really hope that Tee Morris and Pip Ballantine will continue to write more about these two.

I listened to to this to see if I was at interested in it. Wow, I was impressed. It has left me with a desire to find, and wear, a bullet proof corset. This a a nicely written series and I really liked it. Love the narration by James Langton.

I'm not a qualified steampunk reader, so forgive me if I hit things with an obvious stick, but what fun! For those, like me, who are strangers to this universe: the science is wonky, steam powered and fantastical. History is not following the course that it did in our history books, so don't be alarmed by drastic departures. At times this seems like both an homage to and a parody of Victorian fantastic fiction, but with a thoroughly modern sensibility. I love that the male lead character is allowed to decide to be gentile and mannered and horrified by the behavior of the female lead character who is fierce and cunning, while at the same time fascinated by her. The role reversal seems natural and satisfying, both for the characters and for me, the reader.

I see this so often in the youngsters my son knows: gentle boys and fierce girls. Perhaps that is why this kind of literature is so popular with their generation. This world is turned on its head, but in a way perhaps it is truer than the world we live in.

I'm not a fan of steam punk but this is a book that could get me interested in the genre. I'm definetly looking forward to the second book.

A great introduction to the steampunk genre and a wonderful first book in what I hope will be a very long series. The main characters are charismatic and have an excellent chemistry. Well written and narrated. Worth the credit.

We've seen these characters before.

We've heard this story before.

But there's something compelling about the way they are strung together.

No surprises...but a very listenable book.

It would depend on the type of books my friend enjoys - definitely wouldn't recommend it to my mother. Someone who reads science fiction and isn't put off by some pretty horrific scenes and characters would enjoy it.

I haven't listened to either of these authors before, and it was my first 'steampunk' read.

I liked the scene in the bar with the automated drink serving machine. I liked a lot of the machinery scenes - very imaginative and creative. I also really liked the descriptions of the archives and the associated machinery.

It is part of a series and has follow-up books, and the adventures of the two main characters will be interesting, no doubt.

This was my first venture into 'steampunk' and I am not sure that I will listen to more. I generally listen to more science fantasy style novels (dragons, druids, etc) and also spy and detective novels. I'm used to scenes with blood and guts, but this was a bit distasteful for me in the level of depravity. The Phoenix Society seemed like a nasty group, but as the book continued, I found their activities and behaviours to be a bit over the top in terms of depravity and darkness. The behaviour of the wives in the organization seemed ridiculous to me, and too far fetched to believe. So, to sum up, I enjoyed the main characters and the setting, the archives, the interactions between Books and Braun....but found the culmination of the action a little much.

The narrator was great, and although the story was a little silly it was certainly enjoyable. Action packed. It kept my attention, which is exactly what I was hoping for.