This is not a book I would typically ever gravitate towards. However, I found the cover intriguing and the premise even just so. This is a steampunk dystopian novel, set in a future world where machines have taken over and nature is dying. I enjoyed the good mix or action and humor. The characters were well written and there was a great world building aspect. This one had a bit of everything that makes a novel great and it opened my eyes to a whole new genre from which to explore more books.

Kaimo de Morte is an optometrist forced to work in the mines, until the mines are attacked and he is forced to flee. While escaping, he finds a beautiful woman attached to tubes on the train. He rescues her, not out of bravery, but because he can not stand the thought of leaving her there.

He then finds himself running with her to keep an evil guy from recapturing her. Kaimo had assumed they were pumping something in her on the train, actually, they were taking something from her. She has Aether in her blood which can make someone powerful. They soon fall in love and become married, but that doesn't last long as he is betrayed and attacked and left for dead.

He is saved by Bartholomew who "puts him back together." They soon become fast friends and go through some scary, treacherous events trying to save the world. I really like the narrative and the friendships Kaimo develops through the story. I guess the ending makes sense, but if they change things in the past- would he still meet the same people in the future? I don't know how time travel works, but it would seem to reason...

I usually don't, but I had the opportunity to listen to the ebook and read the text. I liked the text because I could picture the characters and make my own judgements. The ebook was good, I really liked the narration, but in this case think I like the hardcopy version better. Only because of the ending I have to give four stars. It just doesn't make me feel like it is concluded. I was given the opportunity to read to this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Steampunk and fantasy together sounds like a good combination. This story combines both, then adds an unkillable hero and arch villain, a damsel in distress who turns out to be a strong female lead, and a cast of memorable side characters. It has the makings of a good tale.

Unfortunately “Coup de Grace” fell flat for me. The characters had no real depth, discarded deeply held convictions at the drop of a hat, and were not developed in a linear fashion. The telling felt stilted and word-count-padded. (How many times did the main characters really need to recount “how we got here” by listing every element of their story?) The narrator’s delivery was a little flat and the sound effects were random and not really useful. Intro and outro music for every “part” of each chapter was both annoying and unnecessary, took way too long, and wasted my time.

The best I can rate this is two stars. I read the audio version of this book and that may have affected the overall rating, but not by much. I had too many issues with it and barely made it to the end. A young reader may enjoy it more than I did. My thanks to Indies United Publishing House, LLC via NetGalley. All expressed opinions are my own and offered without recompense.

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Good steampunk novel. The characters were interesting, the action great. I initially found it hard to connect with the protaganist, Kaimo, but that changed as the story progressed.

Not quite sure I liked how the end came about, but it was okay.

this was a really well done steampunk novel, I loved the combination of Science fiction, fantasy, and horror and it worked well together. I enjoyed how well the story was, the world was what I was looking for and the characters did a great job in being realistic. I enjoyed how well Paul L. Centeno wrote this and can't wait for more from him.

"Yet the aether is useless to him without the fabled gem. Ergo, he clearly believes in the Etherstone’s misbegotten existence.” Dumont groaned through his gas mask. “But ya just said a moment ago that the damn thing was destroyed.”