THE GUNS ABOVE by Robyn Bennis

They say it's not the fall that kills you.

For Josette Dupre, the Aerial Signal Corp's first female airship captain, it might just be a bullet in the back.

On top of patrolling front lines, she must also contend with a crew who doubts her expertise, a new airship that is an untested death trap, and the foppish aristocrat Lord Bernat, a gambler and shameless flirt with the military know-how of a thimble. Bernat's own secret assignment is to catalog her every movement of weakness and indecision.

So when the enemy makes an unprecedented move that could turn the tide of the war, can Josette deal with Bernat, rally her crew, and survive long enough to prove herself?

I had been wanting to read this little beauty ever since I first saw it sitting on the new releases table at Barnes and Noble. First I saw a lady in a military uniform on an airship and I instantly had feels of steampunk-lady-badass goodness, and I wanted it in my life.

After acquiring this treasure, I instantly opened it up and finished reading it in one sitting. Now there is a lot to love about this story, but there are also a few interesting character quirks and subplots that I found myself almost irked by, which put me off from really being invested in the main character. But that didn't stop me from enjoying the story, the setting, and all of the world building that Robyn Bennis explores in this novel!

First off, there is a great band of characters surrounding our protagonist, Josette. It's important to mention that this story is written in the third person, taking the main points of view from Josette and her main supporting character, Bernat. The two of them are surrounded by a rambunctious crew who each had their own individual personalities that really add to the essence of what Josette stands for. Josette carries herself very seriously and holds that to her crew with her motto being: regardless of what you look like or what you are into, so long as you can do your job and do it well, then you have a place on the ship. I found that I liked them all equally and I felt that each added their own little flair throughout the story to further back up Josette's own frustrations and feelings.

I will say though, that I found Josette as a character to be a contradiction in many ways. First and foremost she is a hardened soldier, having worked in the Aerial Signal Corps as a Lieutenant for years and having seen battle and had worked alongside men, always proving herself. She is, in a word, a hardass. It's mentioned occasionally how rarely she smiles,  and she can generally be seen as mean or scary, but overall she simply knows her shit. But at times she would stammer and try to apologize for things she would say, particularly to those who really didn't deserve it. To me, I personally don't think she would attempt to apologize at all but instead chastize herself over and over for saying something rude or impolite and internalize it.

There is also a matter of her mommy issues, which is apparently what drives her and really pushed her to become part of the ASC. But unfortunately, we never get to find out what or why this is. All we know is that she hates and resents her mother for unknown reasons, and there was a really weird scene that happened later in the novel, and overall an awkward subplot that was introduced. It irritated me because nothing really came out of it, and I didn't understand or agree with it. I assume it will be explored in the next novel, but without context, it reaaalllyy didn't explain anything about her character or history. But that's just my own little thing!

I want to mention Bennis and her ability to provide an amazing amount of detail within her novel. At every chance she was explaining the mechanics and design of the airship, even providing a diagram and anatomy layout in the front of the book for the reader to revert to if necessary. So much happens, and a lot happens quickly, but Bennis never shies away from giving that extra little something to really put the image in the reader's mind of what the characters are seeing. I found it to be really exciting! I am horrible at this, and I know I need to be better, and seeing it being done in this novel really pushes me to work on my own understanding of my settings and such within my own stories.

Along with setting I really do enjoy the overall timeframe this is set in. It's very much old-fashioned 20th century-steampunk-awesomness, with a lot of societal rules and matters of propriety and what not. But it's done really well considering the entire world is fictional, with warring countries with unique fantasy names. The language utilizes that old British tone without going overboard and allows for a lot of sass and a lot of fun little interactions between the characters.

Overall I really liked this book for the writing, the details, and worldbuilding, as well as the characters. Although I wasn't left gasping for more, or needing the next book ASAP, I definitely plan to continue with the series to see what happens, and I'm happy I purchased it and read it. 

RATING 4/5