Steampunk Sundays: The Vile Desire to Scream by Oisin McGann

Series: Wildenstern Saga 1.5
Format: eGalley
Release Date: October 6, 2015
Publisher: Open Road Media Teen & Tween
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Genre: YA | Steampunk | Historical Fantasy

The young wife of the most powerful man in Ireland has been kidnapped, and Nate and Gerald must save her—from their own family, if necessary

While her husband is away on business, Daisy Wildenstern buys a shape-shifting engimal from the charming adventurer Peter Barnum. The origins of the part-animal, part-machine being are a mystery.

Life is cruel in Daisy’s family. Trained from childhood to be merciless predators, the Wildensterns are taught to trust no one—especially not their treacherous relatives. As long as their reputation stays intact, nothing is considered unacceptable on their quest for wealth and power. But Daisy belongs to a new generation of Wildensterns who are determined to defy their elders and live a more honorable life.

When Daisy and the engimal go missing, it is of little surprise that most of her family doesn’t seem to care. It’s up to her brother-in-law, Nate, and his cousin Gerald to find Daisy and face her kidnapper, a ruthlessly cunning hunter.

With relatives like these, who needs enemies?

I read THE VILE DESIRE TO SCREAM by Oisin McGann blind. I wasn't aware that this is part of a series, I'm not aware of OMcGann's other works, heck I'm not even sure if this is Steampunk! It was only after I read it that I discovered delicious morsels of information such as this is book 1.5 of the Wildenstern Saga, it's tagged both as Steampunk and YA in Goodreads, and that there are other books in the series!

Going blind to THE VILE DESIRE TO SCREAM wasn't such a bad thing. It's a well constructed novella, it felt whole, OMcGann crafted this in such a way that it didn't feel lacking, rather it left me wanting for more. And as it's a shorty, there's not much character development, but what I got was a good impression of the Wildenstern family, the leads Nick and Daisy, the world they live in, and a good sense of how the dynamics of this clan works and it's filled with intrigue. 

The abduction was straightforward and resolved right away, but it left a lot of questions hanging in the air. Wildenstern Saga 1.5 is designed to whet the reader's appetite. I'm impressed with OMcGann's style, he really paced this one well, and though it's been tagged as YA, it didn't feel juvenile. This novella left me with a good sense of adventure and expect more books from this series here soon!

FREE READ!!!

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