Ink, Iron, and Glass by Gwendolyn Clare

Title: Ink, Iron, and Glass
Author: Gwendolyn Clare
Publisher: Imprint
Publication date: February 20, 2018
Pages: 336
Source/format: e-ARC from publisher

Rating: ☆☆☆

Synopsis (from goodreads.com):
Can she write a world gone wrong?

A certain pen, a certain book, and a certain person can craft entirely new worlds through a branch of science called scriptology. Elsa comes from one such world that was written into creation by her mother—a noted scriptologist.

But when her home is attacked and her mother abducted, Elsa must cross into the real world and use her own scriptology gifts to find her. In an alternative 19th-century Italy, Elsa finds a secret society of pazzerellones—young people with a gift for mechanics, alchemy or scriptology—and meets Leo, a gorgeous mechanist with a smart mouth and a tragic past. She recruits the help of these fellow geniuses just as an assassin arrives on their doorstep.

"A damaged worldbook meant a damaged world, and without its core properties intact--properties like breathable air and solid ground--she'd be opening a portal to her own unpleasant demise. Not to mention that there'd be no one left alive to return to." -e-ARC of Iron, Ink, and Glass

M Y  T H O U G H T S

Elsa lives in Veldana, a world created by the scriptologist Charles Montaigne. Ink, Iron, and Glass starts with Elsa tinkering with a clockwork glove in the water. She decides to visit Jumi, her mother. In a quick moment, someone abducts her mother taking her mother's portal device. Elsa is left to fend for herself. She makes sure the spare portal device is with her just in case she needs to use it in an emergency.

Elsa makes sure the Veldana Wordbook is in tact because if it's not, Veldana will cease to exist. After all, worlds only exist when a scriptologist pens the world to existence. This rare gift is passed down and is very valuable.

Gwendolyn Clare crafted a wonderful and alluring novel where science and magic collide. Elsa meets other characters who are gifted with other talents who help her hunt down the Worldbook before it's destroyed or placed in the wrong hands. Travel locations included places like Italy and France.

Although the premise sounds fantastic, I did have some issues with the pacing of the novel. The instalove came on strong. The novel didn't have that spark that kept me wanting more throughout the book. Readers who enjoy a mixture of travel, steampunk, historical fiction and fantasy will find this novel intriguing. Join Elsa on a journey full of magic and the old world adventures in Ink, Iron, and Glass.