Phoenix Rising is the type of book I could happily spend an entire book review quoting from, it’s just full of punchy one liners and witty dialogue. If you really want to work out what the story is all about, just look at the cover, it really does manage to sum up the story nicely.

Our heroine, secret agent Eliza D Braun, with her obsession with dynamite and her New Zealand ‘can-do’ attitude, combines with stiff-upper-lip British Archivist Wellington Books (yes, Books and Brawn), to create mayhem and chaos for Queen and country while working for the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences.

“The Ministry remains rather underfunded by the Crown, Books, and I was given the choice of either backup or more dynamite.” She held up the stick. “I went with what I could trust.”

Phoenix Rising is a delightful read with characters I really enjoyed. It is a little predictable and perhaps a touch clichéd in places, but that adds to the enjoyment. There’s a touch of mystery and although there are some very interesting twists, it’s not a ‘crime’ story.

“I always think better when I am being shot at.”

There is a surprising amount of blood, gore and sex flying under the radar. Jokes about exploding heads fit right into the storyline, but do require a double take as the brain catches up to just what it is you’ve read. There’s some very erotic scenes that drop the jaw as you turn the pages, but they also fit in to the storyline perfectly (all be it, in a somewhat disturbing manner).

My only issue with the story (and bear in mind I’m reading an advanced copy, so this may have been fixed for print), is the timeline gets a little confusing. We seem to leap days in mid paragraph and the days seem to blend together without a nice chapter break to signify time changes.

Otherwise the story itself just flows from beginning to end as one constant page-turning read and he characters are great fun. The whole book is also a wonderful set up for an ongoing series, which promises to have several books that are all just as enjoyable. I can’t wait.

“You know what would be just ducky right now?” she replied, snapping the reins and pulling ahead of the Concord. “A crack shot. You know, someone who would shoot while I drove the bloody hansom? That would just be lovely! I know you expect me to do everything, being a woman and all…”