Steel Rose [Paperback]

Kara Dalkey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1997

Attempting to hone her style, a performance artist inadvertently calls upon the assistance of two gnomelike creatures. At first their advice is invaluable, but the situation quickly turns dangerous as she finds herself trapped between two conflicting, evil bands--the Sidhe and the faerie.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Roc (December 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451456394
• ISBN-13: 978-0451456397
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #355,921 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent contemporary fantasy; Great read!, October 26, 1998

By 

Nickie ([e-mail]) (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Steel Rose (Paperback)

My favorite way to pick out a book to buy at the bookstore is to peruse the SF/Fantasy writers, and pick out a random book written by a female writer. _Steel Rose_ was one of those picks, and I must say I was more than pleasantly surprised.

TJ is not a traditional weak-kneed heroine, or a bodybuilding monolith Amazon (heh heh), just an average, everyday performing artist (who happens to have inherited latent magical powers) struggling to get her break. As a sometime- actress msyelf, I was able to sympathize with TJ's problems more than a little. As a character, I felt she was extremely well-rounded and thought out-- she had this reserve of almost invisible strength within her.

I must admit I was a bit put off by Dalkey's writing style at first, but I soon warmed up to the idea--it was so refreshing to read a fantasy novel that is written like ordinary conversation--not written in "high language". I also loved the miniature tour of Pittsburgh.

All in all, I am very happy that fate led me to _Steel Rose_ -- and I am looking forward to reading Dalkey's other works as well.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Fantasy, October 9, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Steel Rose (Paperback)

This is a contemporary fantasy at its best. With STEEL ROSE, Kara Dalkey has provided one of the most entertaining novels I've read this summer. This is a superbly crafted story that entertwines aspects of fantasy with popular folklore.

When young perfromance artist T.J. Kaminski enlists the help of two "tommyknockers" to make her perfomrnaces reach people more deeply, she becomes the target of a group of elves who don't appreciate her "magical assistance."

Don't overlook this book done in first person perspective. It hooks you on the first page and never lets you go.

Casey Thomaston

3.0 out of 5 stars A more contemporary remake of War for the Oaks, February 21, 2001

By 

Jvstin "Paul Weimer" (Circle Pines, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Steel Rose (Paperback)

From what I understand, Kara Dalkey is a friend of Emma Bull's...and so I understand, having read War for the Oaks, where Dalkey got many of her ideas for this novel...namely her friend's earlier novel. (Which by the way is being reprinted in Summer 2001).

The setting is Pittsburgh rather than Minneapolis...the heroine is a Performance Artist, not the singer in a band, and she deals primarily with Unseelie rather than the Sidhe Court. But many of the concepts and 'vocabulary' are the same, or subtly different.

Thus it loses a star for basic originality, but it is well done for what it sets out to do. I do recommend those who are interested in reading both read the Bull book and then this...it makes more sense to see the evolution of the concept that way.