The Inventor's Secret

Not constant violence by any means, but some gory details: Coe shoots a man "leaving little of the marauder's head sitting upon his neck." In the same scene Charlotte stabs another man who was "trying to hold the tangle of intestines that peek out from between his splayed fingers." Bloodthirsty giant rats attack and are shot at. One "exploded in a fountain of blood and gore." In some mob violence, an enforcer crushes a 10-year-old's windpipe and another woman's face is smashed in. There's a bit more shooting -- everyone seems to carry a revolver -- and a big explosion with possible causalities. Mentions of Jack getting beaten bloody with a strap by his father, of the Founding Fathers getting hung by the Empire, and the Empire feeding prisoners to rats. Talk that none of the indentured servants living past their 20 years of hard labor.

A steamy kiss with some groping stops there. Some flirtatious undressing from the waist up, and a torn dress reveals the same. Charlotte stumbles into a brothel where minor character Linnet says she only works there "when she gets bored." Plus some innuendo and banter.

One "shite" spelled like that. And a handful of words like "damn," "bollocks," "bloody hell," "ass," and "hell."

Charlotte's 16 and drinks champagne at a party, wine at dinner, and is offered and drinks some brandy when she's stressed. Some older teens and adults drink the same. Jack's mother drinks sherry laced with laudanum all day. Talk of a brothel tent smelling like tobacco.

Parents need to know that The Inventor's Secret by Andrea Cremer (the Nightshade series) is the start of a new sci-fi series in the popular steampunk subgenre. Steampunk, for parents who don't know already, re-imagines history -- usually in the Victorian era, but here it's 1816, and the British won the Revolutionary War. The teen main characters are the children of revolutionaries in hiding and trying to help the cause themselves. They all know how to shoot a gun and wield knives and swords. A few people die that way, with a little gore described. The main character, Charlotte, stabs a man who's "trying to hold the tangle of intestines that peek out from between his splayed fingers." Eww. Some teen characters drink -- Charlotte has champagne at a party and wine at dinner, then a nip of brandy. She also does a bit of passionate kissing that doesn't go beyond roving hands. One minor character works in a brothel "when she gets bored." Language is rarely saucy, with only a handful of "bloody hells" and "damns" and one "shite" spelled like that. Charlotte's a strong female character at a time in history when it's not easy to appear that way. Luckily for her she can dispatch her enemies while rocking a fancy ball gown.