There is very little to worry about in this Christian “steampunk adventure” aimed at middle grade readers. Here is what we took down to Christian parents to consider for this one:
There is a bit of intensity occasionally throughout that may need to be considered for younger/less mature readers. We read a few lines like the following:
- “I thought she was going to slit my throat”
- A character’s parents are said to both have been killed
- An early fight scene is not graphic, but is a bit detailed and violent.
- A young character gets into a boxing match with a much larger and older man (for a noble purpose) and again there is a decent bit of detail around the fight.
- “They seemed to be more willing to slit her throat than help”
There is also a bit of heaviness around an absentee father that never seemed to recover from losing Harrow and Briel’s mother. This is made trickier by the fact that one daughter is more like dad and is clearly treated much better. (Note the happy ending does help resolve this). Similarly a boy reveals he has an abusive father and we even see him with a black eye.
Here are the handful of other items to point out:
- Briel says she is often “making up stories” about what her sister is doing to cover for her to her dad
- Harlow mentions “naps in Algebra” as a regular occurrence
- The girls hide injuries from their father
- A friend fakes a cough to get excused to the infirmary so she can go investigate something
- Harrow describes something as “like a zombie from her favorite graphic novel”. Later she similarly guesses someone is a “mind-reading vampire”.
- Luck is referenced (“or maybe they’d get lucky”)
- Ships are referred to as “speedy devils”
- There are several references to a man being “drugged up” so he can be manipulated (probably something to explain to younger kiddos)
- A misguided character is said to love “the slots”
- A girl, who is being manipulated herself, uses flirting and leading on a relationship to trick a boy.