The narrator was fantastic. Very easy to listen to and added to rather than detracted from the story.



This was a fun mash up of steam punk and sci-fi with a hint of fantasy. The characters are likeable and engaging, and the plot was fast paced. If you're looking for a light but engrossing sff adventure story, you can't go far wrong with this one.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

I think this is one that I would have liked a lot more in a physical copy instead of audio. The narrator was just fine, it just could not keep my attention and I kept losing track of the characters and what was happening. Seems like an interesting premise, just wasn't working for me this time around.

Audiobook received for free through NetGalley

Overall a good read. Loved the storyline and its characters. Especially loved the sound affects added to the narration.

Thank you to net gallery for the audiobook advanced copy of Coup de Grace by Paul L. Centeno. This is a very steampunky book set in older times. Interesting premise but honestly this just didn’t make the mark for me. Usually I can listen to most things over audio but this was just not holding my attention how I hope. I’m sure it would be great for plenty of others who love steampunk

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 lked the narrator and enjoyed the book. 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 listen to this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I like SteamPunk and this is a strong adventure. Kaimo is a young man who is an optometrist skilled in building spectacles. He wants to go to school to become an eye doctor, but he doesn’t have the money or prestige. Kaimo is forced to work in the mines with little hope that he can earn enough money to pursue his dreams. One day after an explosion in the mines, Kaimo emerges to find the local train under attack by the insurgent rebels. The rebels are soon met by the Imperium forces under a brutal commander, the Grand Marshal. Kaimo rescues a woman he finds encased in a medical tube on the train. He is hiding Zylpha at his home when his father goes to the place of battle. Kaimo’s father and others are cut down by the Grand Marshal and Kaimo barely escapes.

Kaimo and Zylpha flee his hometown and head off on a journey to find a scientist she trusts to help her. Apparently, her blood has special life force properties that are sought by the evil Grand Marshal. Their journey is hard and not everyone is helpful. Will they find the scientist to help and, if they do, can they avoid capture by the Grand Marshal?

This is my second novel written by Centeno (see Dark Sanity). He is a creative author and has provided an interesting steampunk world, strong characters, and an adventure that includes magical blood and crystals. I liked Kaimo and his skills at inventing optical tools. I also enjoyed the drama and action in the plot. This is a distinct story that I recommend to fans of steampunk, adventure, and action.

Audio Notes: I liked the narration by Rob Jones but the music in the background and between chapters was a little too much. I appreciated getting this through NetGalley to listen to the audiobook.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I wasn’t sure about the music at the beginning and end of each chapter if I’m being completely honest.
Otherwise I really enjoyed this story.
I do prefer the paper black cover art as it helps to visualise some of the characters in the book.
That epilogue though 🥹🥹🥹
I adored Kaimo and Barts relationship and the way the story was wrapped up.

Lovely story to get lost listening too.
Thanks so much NetGalley!

This was such a great audiobook. The narration is terrific. It's steampunk mixed with fantasy. There's a lot if action , suspense and humor along the way. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook

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.

This review is only posted on NetGalley and Goodreads.

#CoupDeGrace #Steampunk #NetGalley #IfCatsCouldRead #RescuedIsMyFavoriteBreed #Bookstagram #Catstagram #BooksAndCats #CatsAndBooks #KindlesAllTheWayDown

I enjoyed Coup de Grâce. It was the first steampunk sci-fi / fantasy book I've ever read, and I think I'll definitely be checking out the genre again in the future.

The main character Kaimo was a great complex character to follow: he starts out as a pacifist, choosing to work in the dangerous mines than with his gunsmith father making weapons for war, but when he is caught up in the middle of a rebel train hijacking, his life takes a different path.

While I loved this aspect of Kaimo's character, I disliked how easy it was for him to switch from pacifist to soldier. I would have liked to see a more gradual change, rather than the sudden switch we see in the book.

I loved the other main characters in the book too, but particularly Bartholomew, the automaton butler. He easily became my favourite in the entire book!

Plotwise, the first half of the book was much easier to follow. Once time travel was included, it got a lot more confusing.

The audiobook narration was great, which really changed how the story felt. If I was reading it physically, I probably would have ended up DNFing it, but the audiobook was so atmospheric, it was great company. My one gripe with the audio, is that is has some music playing at the chapter breaks, and I wish that would have been a bit shorter.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advance copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Steampunk with a touch of magic. But is magic real? Or is it just scientific phenomena that we don’t yet understand. Kaimo de Morté lives in a world with telephones, guns and robots but also animal drawn carriages, and nobility, it’s a juxtaposition that feels right for Coup de Grace.

I really liked the French “Ancient Language” sayings thrown in throughout! It was fun exploring this world through the wilderness and cities. The characters were good but sometimes convenient, and I found that oft times things just worked out for Kaimo. The light humor from Bartholomew falls flat for me at times, but I did like the robot friend.

I love the music between chapters! I also like the odd sound effects throughout the story, gun shots or rumbles in the distance. The narrator was great.

The Parts in the chapters don’t really work for me, but it could just be because I am listening versus reading. I believe each chapter has more than one part?? Since this is such an audio specific issue I’m not dropping stars for it, but it did take away from my experience. I had to just ignore them because they didn’t offer my listen any insight.

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for this audiobook ARC!

Read this if you love steampunk adventures with sci-fi elements, mobile and floating cities, badass women, (an) automaton with soul, incredible worldbuilding and descriptions, found family, and tragedies! OUGHHH this book checks all the boxes.

Coup de Grace follows an optometrist, Kaimo, as he finds himself on the run with a mysterious woman from a power-hungry general, and possibly causing the end (or rebirth) of the world. I went blind into this, and i was pleasantly surprised! There was so much action, love, humor, and loss. I was HOOKED and the narrator did a wonderful job, even giving the different characters fun accents (especially my man Bartholomew!! more on him later). Even the music at the beginning and end of each chapter/part really enhanced the experience - light and happy steampunk music to war anthems. I also love how Kaimo developed throughout the book, I think he's very well written. And I have to say that the descriptions are beautiful too, like goddd it's a whole movie in my head.

That epilogue?? Amazing. It makes so much sense that Kaimo and (i have no idea how to spell her name) *knew* each other before. It's such a cool plotline :))

Bartholomew, my man. The most human automaton ever. I can never get enough of him

This ticks a lot of the boxes that draw people to the steampunk genre: automatons, gears, pseudo-Victorian setting, airships, etc. And while most steampunk stories are set in fin de siècle England/France or Wild West America, this one takes place on a different world altogether (one with multiple moons and suns). The story is enjoyable enough though I am not a fan of the choppy writing style. But there is plenty of action, a painfully earnest main character, his beautiful and spirited love interest, several professors, a requisite clock tower or two, and a bit of time travel thrown in. Note: I listened to the audio version and had several issues with it that likely inhibited my enjoyment of the novel.

Story: 19 year old Kaimo dreams of working as an ophthalmologist but instead finds himself in the mines due to the family's cash-strapped situation. But a chance encounter with a train-hijacking gone wrong suddenly propels him into the middle of a war and against a nemesis who is almost supernatural in his abilities. Can Kaimo save the world (and the girl)?

This is the type of book where you would expect to hear booing at the villain as he twists his moustache and sprouts his evil plans (while sounding suitably superior) and cheers each time the young protagonist hero saves the day. As such, this is much more in the styles of the Perils of Penelope rather than Jules Verne. That isn't to say the author doesn't take the milieu seriously; rather that the superficial storytelling is a quality of the narrative. It didn't work for me but perhaps others will find it engaging.

At times, it was hard to get into the story due to how it was written. The chapters are broken down into parts rather than breaks - taking away much needed segues that would have smoothed the transitions and provided a less choppy flow. In the same way, there are very noticeable jumps in character development so that relationships seem out of the blue/sudden. E.g., one moment the hero and heroine are fighting off bad guys, and the next scene they are suddenly declaring their love and promptly getting married. There is no organic growth and so we get very little in the way of depth or resonance with any of the characters or storylines. It's pretty much good guys, bad guys, battles - and the bad guys get their comeuppances (e.g., if you betray the hero, you can expect in the next part that that guy will be betrayed himself).

The audio book was very overproduced - the first time I've been really frustrated with too much being done to an audio narration. There are random sound effects that come out of nowhere - don't be wearing headphones on a quiet night or you'll lose a few years of your life in startlement when suddenly there is a bomb explosion going off. I had issues with that several times with my ear buds and it was incredibly annoying. As well, every chapter break has a long musical intro and outro - creating pointless interruptions in the narrative and honestly wasting the reader's time. They do not contribute to the story and some are puzzlingly 'off'. Honestly, music should probably be kept to the beginning and end of the book only for that reason - not 5-7 times each chapter.

The narration was fine. This is a British English flavor and I did not have issues distinguishing the various characters. With all the overproduction of music, it was surprising each time the narrator downplayed yells, screams, shouts - it is a straightforward read that really could have used a lot more flair and overacting to match the production (and make the story more interesting). I feel like this is a book that could have been fun but instead tried too hard to be 'serious'.

In all, it wasn't a bad book and heaven knows it is hard enough to find a good steampunk story any more. I prefer my stories to have more depth and character building - or at least really go over-the-top and just have fun. This fit somewhere between the both and made for a less engaging read as a result. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

Automatons, floating castles, airships, ether, a powerful shattered stone, even a chainsaw sword. This epic fantasy was reminiscent of the final fantasy stories that drew me in when I was younger.

In a brown world where civilization is based on science and machinery and steam powered cities run by the imperium litter the surface lives Kiamo De Grâce; a poor optometrist who labors in the mines hoping to one-day fulfill his dreams of becoming a "real" doctor. Kiamo is a humanitarian, wanting to help people and not get caught up in the civil unrest around him. But, when an insurgent attack on the mine forces him to seek refuge on a nearby train, what he discovers onboard turns his average life upside down, setting a quest into motion, originally to save the girl and ultimately to save the world.

So this was a Read Now NetGalley book that I accidentally chose. YIKES! Going in blind! Thank you Paul L. Centeno!

I LOVED IT!

Sci-fi/fantasy Steampunk! Time travel! An adventure across the globe in a variety of conveyances. An airship! YESSS!

The MC (Kaimo) is an optometrist apparently against his family’s wishes & it’s funny to hear him constantly correct people. Well he can’t fund his dream so he goes underground to work in a mine to save money. Yes, many of us have funded our dreams employed in less than favorable jobs, right?

The book starts here but the narrative takes off after an incident with insurgents in the mine. He has a mechanical companion named Bartholomew who was my absolute favorite character! Kaimo saves the girl with Aether in her veins & their story expands. There’s also a good bad guy who wants that Aether!

So much happens & it’s just the beginning of the series!

The dialog is believable, nice & easy! Natural! I liked the music between chapters and chapters with names! Great narration! Fun audio! It had vibes of a more classic book with an interesting new MC & an expansive world to explore!

This is my 100th NetGalley review, I couldn’t have picked a better book. I look forward to the next chapter in this series!

Coup de Grace
By Paul L. Centeno

This is an audio version of the book. The narration was terrific! Its a steampunk, science fiction but it also has fantasy in it! Um, my favorite!
The guy of our story is a Optometrist, but hasn't been to the University yet. He ends up saving a gal from being used for her power in her blood. The Aether is in her blood and in the Stones that have been scattered. The bad guy is collecting stones and the girl. Our Optometrist is not going to let that happen, he hopes!

It's a wild, crazy ride across this world by all sorts of means and they are constantly followed. Beaten, betrayed, saved, married, more pain, and lots of twists as the travelers go. They meet unusual characters and some stay with them. My favorite, a mechanical assistant named Bartholomew had emotions like a person.

There is a lot of suspense, lots of action, humor scattered about, great characters, wonderful world building, and good dialogue. The ending was a happy ending so there was that! I was just a little confused about the time travel thing so I gave it a 4 star instead of a five. I also thought it could be condensed some.

I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this great book!