If you prefer your Russian history with a steampunk twist, The Clockwork Dynasty is for you. Robotics expert Daniel H. Wilson has used his vast knowledge of the field to write a variety of fictional nail-biters, and he’s at his best here, where he introduces robots into more than a few unexpected settings. The Clockwork Dynasty shifts between Russia in 1725 and the present day, as one woman unravels the centuries-old secrets about a war that’s raged between humans and machines.