Laurel Anne Hill

As an infant, Juanita was given up and put on the asylum train. Destined to be forgotten with the rest of California's unwanted people. But guided by the spirit of her dead husband, Juanita's great grandmother boards the train and rescues her before she ever reaches her destination. Years later, Juanita has inherited her great grandmother's gift of seeing spirits and receives a vision. She must stop the trains and save those trapped in the asylum. If she doesn't not only will her village be wiped out but innocent of the asylum will be murdered one by one.

This is not a story for those who want nonstop action. It's what I call a build up book, taking it's time to develop the characters and the world around them. Unfortunately, it does miss the mark on some key points with its world building. Character backgrounds are left out, and the politics of the world are completely omitted. This leaves the reader wondering how exactly the world works. Juanita's spiritual powers also have no defined rules. They seem to come and go without any apparent pattern.… (mere)

First - this is not steampunk. There's a couple interesting devices - an airship and a "Clockman" - but they both run more on magic than by mechanics. And while a steam train plays a part, that doesn't make it steampunk - or every oater ever written fits the genre. I would classify this more as magic realism, or surrealism - partly because, to my eye, actions, motivations, and results seem to cluster randomly. Right at the beginning, the old woman sets up two complicated distractions to cover her escape (and thereby harms at least one person who never harmed her)...and then deliberately informs the authorities (or one of them, at least) of her intention of escaping. Why that worked - why she wasn't recaptured as soon as she got away from the medicines she was holding hostage - I have no idea. Motivation (aside from "wanna escape"), action, result - no logical path from one to another. And that's before various spirits and magical beings, most of whom are probably not who they claim to be, start showing up. I also class it with magic realism because the other books I've read in that genre share this one's ugliness. I was skimming, after a while, but every time I stopped and read a scene a) it was about sex (from one of her allies groping her, to straight-out rape for fun and money) and b) it was foul. The rape is obvious, but even consensual sex came with a heavy load of grief and/or guilt. I don't even see how the end follows from the immediately previous scene, let alone what the flow of the whole thing was. If you like that sort of thing, you'll probably like this - not for me.… (mere)