Pride and Pistons: A Steampunk Little Mermaid
- Author: C.I. Chevron
- Page count: 300
- Started on: 2026/10/16
- Finished on: 2026/10/24
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
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This is the fourth and final book in C.I. Chevron’s Mutants and Modifieds series that reimagines classic fairy tales in a steampunk setting. Like most of the books before it, Pride and Pistons is set in a late 19th-century London that is filled with mechanical inventions and airships, alongside genetically altered humans, such as vampires and werewolves.
This time around, the story is about wheelchair-bound Rosalind, a former royal who is now the commander of an organization that polices dangerous mutants and modifieds. Her former lover leads a rival organization that protects those same people, and the two get tangled up in a Little Mermaid-inspired plot with lots of fighting, death, and an evil brother who must be vanquished.
I liked the first book in this series, Metal and Bone, for its world-building in the steampunk fantasy setting of Victorian-era London. The second and third books had more focus on the romantic aspects of the fairy tale they were modeled after, and I found the same to be the case in Pride and Pistons. While there are still some fun new ideas, it’s quite clear that the series has run its course.
