The First Tale is the first eBook released by friend, fellow blogger and fellow Chinese Whisperings writer, Icy Sedgwick. Icy’s from the north of England, has a real cool accent and has an ability to create awesome worlds with cool gadgets, which suits steampunk.
This was my first major thing I’ve read on my Sony Reader so it was nice that it was this real fun, quick and easy read that never made me work too hard.
The First Tale is a steampunk adventure set in Vertigo City where the Weimar rule and the Resistance, well, resist. In the Resistance, there’s the strong and not to be messed with Melissa Hunt, better known as Liss and I liked how she knocked all these men into line and saved the day.
The plot starts when they find a man dead with a Weimar arm band and a Resistance card. They set off to work out who this guy is only to uncover much more. The plot moves quickly from one situation to the other, which makes sense given it was first written as a serial posted on Icy’s blog.
The strongest element of Icy’s writing is Liss’s character and her dialogue. I thought it was good to have a strong woman at the head of it all. It’s a character I’d love to get to know better. My only criticism would be that the writing falls into telling rather than showing in places and so it left me craving for more detail.
Overall, it was a fun read and definitely worth reading. It’s available on Smashwords as an eBook and you can also read more of Icy’s writing at her blog, Icy’s Blunt Pencil.
(reviewed 35 days after purchase)