Published: June 05, 2011
Words: 48,274 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781458064394

Short description

Life in the early twentieth century isn’t easy for women, especially if that woman is an outspoken, intelligent, headstrong, augmented amputee with prosthetic technology that is the envy of armies. Enter Cassandra Leigh Fornax.

Extended description

Life in the early twentieth century isn’t easy for women, especially if that woman is an outspoken, intelligent, headstrong, augmented amputee with prosthetic technology that is the envy of armies. Enter Cassandra Leigh Fornax.

Daughter of the shipping magnate John Fornax, Cassandra has had a harder life than most young people of her social standing. After a tragic childhood accident leaves her an amputee, Cassandra’s uncle and engineer, Philip Fornax, builds her a revolutionary prosthesis which replaces the hand she lost. As Cassandra begins to make her own decisions about her future, she finds that her domineering father intends her to live a radically different life. She emancipates herself loudly and publicly at her eighteenth birthday party, scandalising her parents and putting paid to her father’s scheme. When Philip receives an offer to work in an airship factory in Germany, Cassandra follows him so she can put some distance between herself and her father. As the threat.. (Read more) Life in the early twentieth century isn’t easy for women, especially if that woman is an outspoken, intelligent, headstrong, augmented amputee with prosthetic technology that is the envy of armies. Enter Cassandra Leigh Fornax.

Daughter of the shipping magnate John Fornax, Cassandra has had a harder life than most young people of her social standing. After a tragic childhood accident leaves her an amputee, Cassandra’s uncle and engineer, Philip Fornax, builds her a revolutionary prosthesis which replaces the hand she lost. As Cassandra begins to make her own decisions about her future, she finds that her domineering father intends her to live a radically different life. She emancipates herself loudly and publicly at her eighteenth birthday party, scandalising her parents and putting paid to her father’s scheme. When Philip receives an offer to work in an airship factory in Germany, Cassandra follows him so she can put some distance between herself and her father. As the threat of war looms over Europe, the German army has the talented engineer’s most advanced creation firmly in its sights. Cassandra had hoped to leave her troubles behind when she left Britain, but finds they have just begun.
(Less)

Tags

speculative fiction, steampunk, alternative history

Available ebook reading formats

Single purchase gains access to all formats. How to download ebooks to e-reading devices and apps.

Format	Full Book	Sample First 10%
Online Reading (HTML, good for sampling in web browser)	Buy	View sample
Kindle (.mobi for Kindle devices and Kindle apps)	Buy	Download sample
Epub (Apple iPad/iBooks, Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, and most e-reading apps including Stanza, Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions, others)	Buy	Download sample
PDF (good for reading on PC, or for home printing)	Buy	No sample available
RTF (readable on most word processors)	Buy	No sample available
LRF (Use only for older model Sony Readers that don't support .epub)	Buy	Download sample
Palm Doc (PDB) (for Palm reading devices)	Buy	Download sample
Plain Text (download) (flexible, but lacks much formatting)	Buy	No sample available
Plain Text (view) (viewable as web page)	Buy	No sample available

Reviews

Log-in to write a Review   Log-in to add a Video Review

Review by: Bookblogger on Nov. 01, 2011 :
Fornax Rising by Nicole Ross is the story of Cassandra Fornax. Her father is a shipping tycoon and her Uncle Philip is a brilliant engineer and inventor. When visiting her uncle one summer she is bitten by a poisonous snake and has to have her hand amputated to save her life. Feeling responsible her uncle designs her an amazing prosthesis to replace what she has lost. When she returns to her normal life at home she is shunned by the deformity, many people claiming that God was punishing her for a horrible sin. This causes her become a bit isolated from her peers and get a private tutor. Luckily her tutor does not judge her and provides her with a top notch education to go with her already brilliant mind.

The story was well done and as the book was described to me as steampunk I was very excited by the engineering possibilities that Philip presented. Unfortunately after the original creation of the hand there is really not much of the wonderful technology to be found. There are mentions of some special engines and such, but nothing really concrete and fun. Towards the end of the book the steampunk aspect does start to make a comeback in a very exciting and entertaining way however. The middle of the book really goes into the development of the personality of Cassandra. Even with a little disappointment with the lack of gadgets the story still moved along fairly well.

Overall I will be checking back fairly regularly to see if Nicole has written any other books and especially to see what is coming in this story.
(reviewed the day of purchase)

Review by: Lynette Gilbert on June 27, 2011 :
I REALLY like and enjoy the story and Cassandra's personality. I love seeing a childfree character on the page and seeing how she defies convention. My one criticism is that I feel like the dialogue isn't always true to the time period. But that's really just a small distraction from an otherwise interesting and thought-provoking novel.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Reason for report:
— Select a reason — Book is or contains spam Book infringes copyright Same content is published elsewhere with different author (for ex., by private-label rights) Duplicate Incomplete work (such as sample or serial) Should be marked adults-only Category is inappropriate Poorly formatted Nudity or other inappropriate content on cover Nudity or other inappropriate visual content in book Inappropriate erotica content Cover image is improper Content is inappropriate Other violation of Terms of Service Other reason not shown above.

Additional details: