REVIEW: Phoenix Rising: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris

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My Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

This first novel in the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series is a fun-filled steampunk adventure. Eliza D. Braun is a field agent for the Ministry in a fantastical world filled with all manner of steam-powered gadgets and devices. Due to her knack for disregarding authority and blowing things up in the field, she's given a transfer to the Ministry Archives, to work alongside the encyclopedic Archivist Wellington Books. Both are disappointed in the reassignment, Braun because she loves the excitement of working in the field, and Books because he doesn't care for the disruption of his nice, orderly existence down in the bowels of the Ministry. Yet despite their initial chagrin, the two complement each other quite well, and when Eliza decides to do a bit of investigating on the side into one of the Ministry's unresolved cases, Wellington decides this is just the kind of diversion he needs.

I really enjoyed my first foray into Book's and Braun's steampunk universe. Eliza can be a bit uncouth and wild, a firecracker, but bookish Wellington is the perfect companion to bring her back down to earth. And likewise, he starts to find her spark just what's been lacking in his life. They have great chemistry together and I think their burgeoning relationship will make for a good series going forward. As usual, the steampunk world with all it's gadgetry and gizmos is fascinating to me and, like the characters themselves, is well done. I am looking forward to reading more books in the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series.