I began reading this book for the 2020 r/Fantasy Bingo Challenge--it was a hard read to find (I needed to find one with less than 50 goodreads ratings for the Hard Mode) but I did find it, and I am sorry to say I didn't like it much.

This group of short stories follows a SteamGoth theme--where it takes attributes from SteamPunk and adds horror elements to the classical ideas. I was intrigued by the idea of it--I thought it was quite unique and I had never read anything in that particular subgenre before. The stories themselves told their own SteamGoth stories, with some poetry at both ends of the novel. I can't say much for the poetry as I have never been much of a reader of poetry but for my literature classes in high school, but I can speak for the short stories.

The first story, "A Thousand Years and a Day", felt uneventful--I can't even tell you specifics of the story because it felt somewhat incomprehensible. The writing could use some edits, it read like a first draft, and I think the story could have used at least some dialogue--there was none but for the narrators own monologue and I wished to see more from other people in the story. I don't think there was even one named character in the story, including the narrator himself. I think it had potential though. It was a classical Devil Deal story, and a SteamGoth theme behind that could go far.

The second story, "The Final Beast", was probably the best of the group. It had a coherent plot that was easy to follow. That being said, it read too fast I think. It skipped large sections of time without much of a transition and I wanted to see more of the characters' feelings. It felt rushed and emotionless, when really it had so much potential to be emotional and gripping. It had a fun, terrifying story. It was SteamGoth with zombies, and I hate zombies, but only because they scare me incredibly, and I was scared reading this story which attests to it--it did it's job.

"Cold Edge" was probably the worst of the stories. I think this story could have been drafted a few more times and with those drafts, it could have been great. My main problem with this story was the writing. The author told the reader what happened and didn't show me anything. Some quotes: "He was terrified," "Luya felt a bit distressed. He might have to kill people. Whom he's never met," and "Say what?" took me out of the story the author was trying to tell. Another problem I faced while reading was that the author introduced characters, to seemingly add to a more complex plot, but then either the ramifications of those characters actions weren't fulfilled, or they were simply killed immediately. The ending to the story was particularly off-putting because I wanted to see what would happen to some of the main characters, but I never got to see how everything played out with them.

The next story after this was good. "The Blue Room" was simplistic, but I think that simplicity helped me better understand it and get to know the characters. Though I wish I did see more of that SteamGoth aspect to the story, it was there, and it was a bit creepy, but it never went anywhere. There was nothing to resolve in this story, though horror is sometimes like that.

"Heart of Gold, Heart of Brass" was the final short story. It was okay, if not a bit dramatic. The narrator's sister dies and the narrator's father tries to bring her back to life using automaton. And he does. But the narrator never accepts her as her sister and the story goes on like that. What I wished the author would do was to answer the questions I had--they never explained how the father brought the daughter back to life, nor any of the dead daughter's actions after being brought back. It wasn't so much a horror story as a tragedy, and I wish I felt more for the characters than I did.

Overall, I think the book should be given a 2/5.