Precious Metals by L.A. Witt

Precious Metals

by L.A. Witt

For Constable Paul Benson of the North-West Mounted Police, monotony is a blessing. As a provision inspector below the Chilkoot Pass during the Klondike Gold Rush, he’s seen miserable conditions and gold fever turn civilized prospectors into madmen.

Joseph Starling is on his way to the Klondike to find the men who savagely beat him, murdered his eldest brother, and stole their mining machine. They’ll kill his youngest brother if Joseph doesn’t operate the machine for them—it won’t work without him. With time running out, Joseph must purchase an expensive ticket aboard a crash-prone airship. But the station is miles away through dangerous terrain.

Under orders, Paul grudgingly escorts Joseph, but quickly finds himself intrigued by the young man. As they make their way toward Juneau, it’s not just the need for warmth that drives them closer together. But neither man can draw an easy breath until they make it to the gold fields . . . and there’s no guarantee that Joseph’s brother will still be alive when they do.



*I received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley*
This is the second book in L.A. Witt's steampunk m/m romance series set during the Klondike gold rush. Like the first book, it has everything you could need for an amazing adventure, but it just fell flat for me.  I did like this one a little more than the first.  I happen to like Mounties.

My problem with the books is that you don't get to know the characters very well at all and I have a difficult time caring what happens to them.  There isn't any character development.  The characters don't grow or change or have epiphanies...they just stay exactly the same when they weren't very interesting in the first place.
What I did like was the world-building.  I like the machines and the airships and the gold rush prospectors.  It just wasn't enough.