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The Airship Pirate Chronicles #1
The Wrath of Fate: Book 1 of The Airship Pirate Chronicles
There will come a time...
when the freedom is considered too dangerous . Cities are walled, and citizens are chained to round the clock jobs in order to keep them controlled and in the place. Change and progress is outlawed.
There will come a time...
when clockworks wake up, only to find they are not allowed to be awake. They hide in fear, not daring to break there chains of slavery.
There will come a time...
when freedom is outlawed. When men must scrape a living in the dirt of the parries, or in the skies above them. These hardened men and women fight for there lives and their freedom against beasts of the field, police in the cities, and pirates in the sky. When freedom is outlawed, only the outlaws are free.
This time will come, and it was all my fault.
Sorry about that.
when the freedom is considered too dangerous . Cities are walled, and citizens are chained to round the clock jobs in order to keep them controlled and in the place. Change and progress is outlawed.
There will come a time...
when clockworks wake up, only to find they are not allowed to be awake. They hide in fear, not daring to break there chains of slavery.
There will come a time...
when freedom is outlawed. When men must scrape a living in the dirt of the parries, or in the skies above them. These hardened men and women fight for there lives and their freedom against beasts of the field, police in the cities, and pirates in the sky. When freedom is outlawed, only the outlaws are free.
This time will come, and it was all my fault.
Sorry about that.
265 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
15 people are currently reading
200 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
March 9, 2012
"Captain" Robert Brown is the lead singer and songwriter of the band Abney Park. I discovered the band about two years ago and fell in love with their steampunk-themed lyrics and their great sound. In The Wrath of Fate, Brown weaves those songs into a fictional, autobiographical narrative. As the novel opens, Brown and the rest of the band are flying to a concert when their plane crashes into the side of the time-traveling airship Ophelia. The airship's inventor names Brown captain. With the wondrous machine at his disposal, the well meaning Captain Robert sets out to right the wrongs of history only to find out that the world he creates isn't necessarily better than the one he left behind.
The book is delightfully illustrated by Juan Pablo Valdecantos Anfuso.
As an Abney Park fan, I thought the book was great fun. At the very least, though, the book needed a good copy edit. There were a number of misspellings, wrong words and missing words. I suspect a line edit could have helped Brown bring out more depth and detail in some of the characters and settings. In short, I had the impression that I had read a draft, albeit an enjoyable one, rather than a polished work.
Recommended if you're a fan of Abney Park, or just looking for a good, fun Steampunk romp and don't mind it being rough around the edges.
The book is delightfully illustrated by Juan Pablo Valdecantos Anfuso.
As an Abney Park fan, I thought the book was great fun. At the very least, though, the book needed a good copy edit. There were a number of misspellings, wrong words and missing words. I suspect a line edit could have helped Brown bring out more depth and detail in some of the characters and settings. In short, I had the impression that I had read a draft, albeit an enjoyable one, rather than a polished work.
Recommended if you're a fan of Abney Park, or just looking for a good, fun Steampunk romp and don't mind it being rough around the edges.
March 15, 2012
Let me preface this by saying that I love the whole Steampunk genre; starting with the literary masters from the late 17th to the early 20th centuries who wrote sci-fi and fantasy, weird-fiction tales of horror and the strange, real Victorian mysteries because they were actually written in the late 1800s, all the way to the current favourites who take so much inspiration from those old classics.
"Captain" Robert Brown has, it could be argued, done the most to bring the niche awesomeness of the "Cult of Steampunk" from the early '80s (1980s) to its current introduction into popular culture. Don't believe me? Check out the (pre-)teenage jewelry store next time your in the mall, mass-produced trinkets made from plastic, painted gears and keys (mass-produced Steampunk? They just don't quite get it, yet, do they?) Maybe you've also seen a new "Steampunk Picks" end-cap at your favourite (maybe recently closed) book/music store. And if that's not enough, there's Mother-Fucking-T-Pain!!! Yes ladies and gentlemen, that's really our favourite ol' T-Pain, not some big fan giving him a steam-pressed photoshoppin'. (Although, can you imagine some of your favourite entertainers Steampunk'd?!)
So... Hurray! Thank you, O Captain, My Captain! Without the phenomenal work of you and your contemporaries, your compatriots, Steampunk would be less mainstream and more sub-cultural. Folks, this is a good thing. Whenever something's awesome, you want quantity over quality. Take for instance rock and roll. It's a vast genre of music; there is a lot of variety. Let's say we're talking about the Led Zeppelin. Sure we could say, "Hey, it's rock and roll." But we don't. It's not even, "Hey, that's GREAT rock and roll," it's "Hey that's Led Zeppelin. That's the way it is with Abney Park. It's not just Steampunk, it's essential Steampunk.
All this leads up to an unfortunate conclusion, however. Mr. Brown, you, sir, and Abney Park are indescribably amazing. The stories you have woven together to help form the tapestry that is every aspect of Abney Park are that same type of amazing.
But...
But the book that you have written about that tapestry remains, at times, unsatisfying.
"Captain" Brown, you are able to draw from influences and combine them into lyrical stories that, with the amazing talent of yourself and the other members of your band, invite others into another world. The book ends up as yet another portal into that world, only without the magic of the music to accompany you.
I'm a wordy motherfu-- I tend to write a lot, I know, so I'll just finish with my honest critique of the novel:
• I love Abney Park. I have purchased all of their albums, including those prior to when I first heard of them with Lost Horizons (you know, when they were an awkward goth band). Every album has nearly a dozen songs I love, with my favourites being about the mythology and "cannon" of the "Abney Park-iverse." I have used likenesses of the band members and song characters in role-playing campaigns that I've run (before the "Airship Pirates" RPG was released). This novel brings together all my favourite stories from the various songs...
• ...But I don't feel like I've learned anything new. Let's take, for instance, The good Dr. Calgori. We do cement his place in the history of the band, that's good. We learn more about his experiments and inventions, that's fascinating too. But what we learn doesn't answer many questions: Who is his wife? The government is debating, so what are the plans for his experiments? Was he really any good at poker? In fact, the novel adds new questions. For instance: Was Calgori also Herr Drosselmeyer, and how would that fit into the larger picture? (Did a time-jumping Calgori inspire E.T.A. Hoffmann's tale of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King ?)
• More, PLEASE MORE! ...More emotional depth and flexibility. Your band mates and friends just died, geez, MOURN THEM! You've just adopted two orphaned girls in a post-apocalyptic funland, did you think about how it would effect all of the things in "My Life?" In fact, you actually caused the "End of Days," doesn't that make you feel more than for a handful of passing moments?
• The first-person personal narrative style of the prose is an inspired choice for this ambitious first novel. I wholeheartedly agree with one of the quotes on the back of the book:
• The book looks like an Advanced Readers Copy. It suffers from numerous grammatical and editing errors like like duplicate words, and sentences that suffer from certain the occasional little indiscretions that they suffer from. It needs a little bit more editing polish.
• It really is all in the details, and I found my journey through "The Wrath of Fate" lacking many details. Was there only one expendable, nameless, alternate steersman or many? Did you have to train them? What was training like? How many men really crewed the Ophelia? How quickly did you go through that expendable crew? You mentioned numerous times how your friends among that crew died in the line of your missions... They were just your friends without names, right? Even the named characters could use more words devoted simply to the details.
• I'm going to hide this one at the end, I'm quite certain it will be unpopular. Heck, the only reason I'll even say it in a public forum is because of "John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory". "Captain" Robert Brown, I sure hope there isn't anybody blowing smoke up your ass. If so, that person or those people really should stop. It doesn't make things better. It just keeps things mediocre. Refine. Get better. Do better.
Readers, if this is your first Steampunk novel, you're gonna LOVE what's in store for you. Might I suggest from here Cherie Priest's Clockwork Century series, starting with the novel Boneshaker.
P.S. After all the mean things I've said, Abney Park, PLEASE come to Chicago! Cap'n, you can even sucker punch me in the jaw, if you want.
"Captain" Robert Brown has, it could be argued, done the most to bring the niche awesomeness of the "Cult of Steampunk" from the early '80s (1980s) to its current introduction into popular culture. Don't believe me? Check out the (pre-)teenage jewelry store next time your in the mall, mass-produced trinkets made from plastic, painted gears and keys (mass-produced Steampunk? They just don't quite get it, yet, do they?) Maybe you've also seen a new "Steampunk Picks" end-cap at your favourite (maybe recently closed) book/music store. And if that's not enough, there's Mother-Fucking-T-Pain!!! Yes ladies and gentlemen, that's really our favourite ol' T-Pain, not some big fan giving him a steam-pressed photoshoppin'. (Although, can you imagine some of your favourite entertainers Steampunk'd?!)
So... Hurray! Thank you, O Captain, My Captain! Without the phenomenal work of you and your contemporaries, your compatriots, Steampunk would be less mainstream and more sub-cultural. Folks, this is a good thing. Whenever something's awesome, you want quantity over quality. Take for instance rock and roll. It's a vast genre of music; there is a lot of variety. Let's say we're talking about the Led Zeppelin. Sure we could say, "Hey, it's rock and roll." But we don't. It's not even, "Hey, that's GREAT rock and roll," it's "Hey that's Led Zeppelin. That's the way it is with Abney Park. It's not just Steampunk, it's essential Steampunk.
All this leads up to an unfortunate conclusion, however. Mr. Brown, you, sir, and Abney Park are indescribably amazing. The stories you have woven together to help form the tapestry that is every aspect of Abney Park are that same type of amazing.
But...
But the book that you have written about that tapestry remains, at times, unsatisfying.
"Captain" Brown, you are able to draw from influences and combine them into lyrical stories that, with the amazing talent of yourself and the other members of your band, invite others into another world. The book ends up as yet another portal into that world, only without the magic of the music to accompany you.
I'm a wordy motherfu-- I tend to write a lot, I know, so I'll just finish with my honest critique of the novel:
• I love Abney Park. I have purchased all of their albums, including those prior to when I first heard of them with Lost Horizons (you know, when they were an awkward goth band). Every album has nearly a dozen songs I love, with my favourites being about the mythology and "cannon" of the "Abney Park-iverse." I have used likenesses of the band members and song characters in role-playing campaigns that I've run (before the "Airship Pirates" RPG was released). This novel brings together all my favourite stories from the various songs...
• ...But I don't feel like I've learned anything new. Let's take, for instance, The good Dr. Calgori. We do cement his place in the history of the band, that's good. We learn more about his experiments and inventions, that's fascinating too. But what we learn doesn't answer many questions: Who is his wife? The government is debating, so what are the plans for his experiments? Was he really any good at poker? In fact, the novel adds new questions. For instance: Was Calgori also Herr Drosselmeyer, and how would that fit into the larger picture? (Did a time-jumping Calgori inspire E.T.A. Hoffmann's tale of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King ?)
• More, PLEASE MORE! ...More emotional depth and flexibility. Your band mates and friends just died, geez, MOURN THEM! You've just adopted two orphaned girls in a post-apocalyptic funland, did you think about how it would effect all of the things in "My Life?" In fact, you actually caused the "End of Days," doesn't that make you feel more than for a handful of passing moments?
• The first-person personal narrative style of the prose is an inspired choice for this ambitious first novel. I wholeheartedly agree with one of the quotes on the back of the book:
"It reads like a biography and flows like a swashbuckling adventure."That being said, maybe swashbuckling adventures need to flow a little bit better. "The Wrath of Fate" isn't quite as bad as "And then this... And then this... And then this...," but it stumbles dangerously close sometimes.
--Karina Cooper
• The book looks like an Advanced Readers Copy. It suffers from numerous grammatical and editing errors like like duplicate words, and sentences that suffer from certain the occasional little indiscretions that they suffer from. It needs a little bit more editing polish.
• It really is all in the details, and I found my journey through "The Wrath of Fate" lacking many details. Was there only one expendable, nameless, alternate steersman or many? Did you have to train them? What was training like? How many men really crewed the Ophelia? How quickly did you go through that expendable crew? You mentioned numerous times how your friends among that crew died in the line of your missions... They were just your friends without names, right? Even the named characters could use more words devoted simply to the details.
• I'm going to hide this one at the end, I'm quite certain it will be unpopular. Heck, the only reason I'll even say it in a public forum is because of "John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory". "Captain" Robert Brown, I sure hope there isn't anybody blowing smoke up your ass. If so, that person or those people really should stop. It doesn't make things better. It just keeps things mediocre. Refine. Get better. Do better.
Readers, if this is your first Steampunk novel, you're gonna LOVE what's in store for you. Might I suggest from here Cherie Priest's Clockwork Century series, starting with the novel Boneshaker.
P.S. After all the mean things I've said, Abney Park, PLEASE come to Chicago! Cap'n, you can even sucker punch me in the jaw, if you want.
February 9, 2012
Abney Park was my first exposure to the genre of Steampunk, their music captivated and inspired my imagination and has become ingrained into my inner soundtrack as I move throughout my days. So when I heard that Captain Robert had written a book I could hardly contain my excitement.
“The Wrath of Fates” is a fantastic time travel Steampunk adventure that blends history and science fiction in a very unique way. The story follows Captain Robert Brown and his wife Kristina as they find themselves aboard the HMS Ophelia in a very chaotic situation. Taking control Captain Robert leads the HMS Ophelia and its crew on an epic journey through time and back again.
The tale is written from the point of view of Captain Robert, which gives the reader a glimpse into the workings of his mind and the motives behind the decisions that he makes. We see his confidence grow as he takes on the role of Captain and the struggles that he and his crew face with each adventure. One of the things I found myself wanting a bit more depth to the crew of the HMS Ophelia, there some very colorful characters that I wanted more of. As this is book one in “The Airship Pirate Chronicles” then I am sure we will see the supporting characters fleshed out a bit more.
As a fan of Abney Park, I was thrilled to see how cleverly Captain Robert blended the music of Abney Park and the storyline of the book. This was the first time reading a book that I found myself singing as I read, for me this was a unique experience. Abney Park’s music is the perfect background for this swashbuckling adventure!
As if the book didn’t need anything else to make better, the illustrations by Juan Pablo Valdecantos Anfuso are just amazing and add another layer of creativity to this tale, which go hand in hand with the music and writing of Captain Robert Brown.
All in all this book that Abney Park fans will devour, and a MUST read for those who are fans of the Steampunk Genre as well as those who love a good old fashioned adventure story. I for one am looking forward to reading more from Captain Robert and his adventures aboard the HMS Ophelia. I give this book 5 stars!
5 Stars!
http://www.darkissreads.com/2012/02/w...
Reviewed for DarkissReads. www.darkissreads.com
“The Wrath of Fates” is a fantastic time travel Steampunk adventure that blends history and science fiction in a very unique way. The story follows Captain Robert Brown and his wife Kristina as they find themselves aboard the HMS Ophelia in a very chaotic situation. Taking control Captain Robert leads the HMS Ophelia and its crew on an epic journey through time and back again.
The tale is written from the point of view of Captain Robert, which gives the reader a glimpse into the workings of his mind and the motives behind the decisions that he makes. We see his confidence grow as he takes on the role of Captain and the struggles that he and his crew face with each adventure. One of the things I found myself wanting a bit more depth to the crew of the HMS Ophelia, there some very colorful characters that I wanted more of. As this is book one in “The Airship Pirate Chronicles” then I am sure we will see the supporting characters fleshed out a bit more.
As a fan of Abney Park, I was thrilled to see how cleverly Captain Robert blended the music of Abney Park and the storyline of the book. This was the first time reading a book that I found myself singing as I read, for me this was a unique experience. Abney Park’s music is the perfect background for this swashbuckling adventure!
As if the book didn’t need anything else to make better, the illustrations by Juan Pablo Valdecantos Anfuso are just amazing and add another layer of creativity to this tale, which go hand in hand with the music and writing of Captain Robert Brown.
All in all this book that Abney Park fans will devour, and a MUST read for those who are fans of the Steampunk Genre as well as those who love a good old fashioned adventure story. I for one am looking forward to reading more from Captain Robert and his adventures aboard the HMS Ophelia. I give this book 5 stars!
5 Stars!
http://www.darkissreads.com/2012/02/w...
Reviewed for DarkissReads. www.darkissreads.com
April 5, 2012
I love Abney Park. Their music is atmospheric, exciting, different, and truly succeeds in transporting me to another world and time; jungles, gentrified archaeology, stricken airships, pirate ships, the swinging 30s, a filthy Victorian street... There is no doubt about it. "Captain" Robert Brown is a true talent and a fantastic songwriter with an eye for intelligent aesthetic.
Unfortunately -- and it really pains me to say this -- he is not a very good writer.
I have read books by my favourite musicians before; Emilie Autumn's fantastic The Asylum For Wayward Victorian Girls being a prime example of a well-written, mentally challenging piece of work that sheds light on issues as well as the background behind her music. Along a similar vein, Robert Brown here seeks to flesh out the fictional backstory of his band and how they went from struggling goth band to the iconic steampunk band. There are plane crashes, time-travel, clockwork men and gears galore, which has the potential to be very exciting... if it were written a little better.
The characters are flat, including the protagonist and the protagonist's wife. Lots of nameless 'friends' die. On one occasion, actual named friends die, but they are not mourned. There is mention of women and their 'pornographic silhouette's. Children are randomly adopted. One character completely disappears for about three quarters of the book (which equates to a fair few months in cannon), and the protagonist just seems to thinks she's hiding on the ship somewhere. People are starving, dying, forced into labour, and the following conversation happens:
"We've been missing for two hundred years, and the world has gotten pretty messed up."
"It's gotten pretty damn cool, too," I said.
That line actually made me angry. It's so unrealistic. However steampunk the world is, it's still a horrible place and you're stuck in the middle of it. How is that cool?
The dialogue is clunky, the descriptions cliché. There are attempts at character flaws and moral ambiguity, but it is poorly handled.
I could go on and on. I'm going to stop. Robert Brown is a seriously talented man, and a brilliant song writer. I think he, and Abney Park, are great. Everyone should go out right now and have a listen to Abney Park's music... but I would not recommend that you read this book.
Unfortunately -- and it really pains me to say this -- he is not a very good writer.
I have read books by my favourite musicians before; Emilie Autumn's fantastic The Asylum For Wayward Victorian Girls being a prime example of a well-written, mentally challenging piece of work that sheds light on issues as well as the background behind her music. Along a similar vein, Robert Brown here seeks to flesh out the fictional backstory of his band and how they went from struggling goth band to the iconic steampunk band. There are plane crashes, time-travel, clockwork men and gears galore, which has the potential to be very exciting... if it were written a little better.
The characters are flat, including the protagonist and the protagonist's wife. Lots of nameless 'friends' die. On one occasion, actual named friends die, but they are not mourned. There is mention of women and their 'pornographic silhouette's. Children are randomly adopted. One character completely disappears for about three quarters of the book (which equates to a fair few months in cannon), and the protagonist just seems to thinks she's hiding on the ship somewhere. People are starving, dying, forced into labour, and the following conversation happens:
"We've been missing for two hundred years, and the world has gotten pretty messed up."
"It's gotten pretty damn cool, too," I said.
That line actually made me angry. It's so unrealistic. However steampunk the world is, it's still a horrible place and you're stuck in the middle of it. How is that cool?
The dialogue is clunky, the descriptions cliché. There are attempts at character flaws and moral ambiguity, but it is poorly handled.
I could go on and on. I'm going to stop. Robert Brown is a seriously talented man, and a brilliant song writer. I think he, and Abney Park, are great. Everyone should go out right now and have a listen to Abney Park's music... but I would not recommend that you read this book.
May 17, 2012
I started reading this book because I'm an Abney Park fan, and I was hoping that a book linking their songs would be awesome. I finished reading it because I feel I owe it to my fellow fans, and the rest of the reading world, to give a true review to this book. I am writing this with no spoilers.
It took me a while to realize what it was about the book that wasn't working. It's easy to list off the things that it doesn't do, or does badly, but at the end the one fatal flaw of this book is that it reads like the Cliff's Notes version of a book series, or at least a set of short stories. That doesn't necessarily make it not worth reading, if you are interested in the stories behind the music, but you have to know going in that that is all you are getting - the stories.
What the stories are missing are a web that underlies any good tale. The web consists of introductions to the stories, vivid detail of events, descriptions of emotions riding through the narrator's head, and denouement. All the essential bits of the stories are there, but none of the glue is.
I'm glad I read it to the end, because the guts of the stories were interesting. But I'd really like to see Robert rework this book with some help from someone good at doing the glue, because right now it's not a book I'd recommend to anyone but a rabid fan, and even then, I'd make them read this review before reading the book.
It took me a while to realize what it was about the book that wasn't working. It's easy to list off the things that it doesn't do, or does badly, but at the end the one fatal flaw of this book is that it reads like the Cliff's Notes version of a book series, or at least a set of short stories. That doesn't necessarily make it not worth reading, if you are interested in the stories behind the music, but you have to know going in that that is all you are getting - the stories.
What the stories are missing are a web that underlies any good tale. The web consists of introductions to the stories, vivid detail of events, descriptions of emotions riding through the narrator's head, and denouement. All the essential bits of the stories are there, but none of the glue is.
I'm glad I read it to the end, because the guts of the stories were interesting. But I'd really like to see Robert rework this book with some help from someone good at doing the glue, because right now it's not a book I'd recommend to anyone but a rabid fan, and even then, I'd make them read this review before reading the book.
February 25, 2013
Wow. Just wow. I thought it would have something to do with Abney Park's music, but this is way better than I thought.
There is everything in this book - trauma, love and hate, the desire to make a better world, kindness, mistakes. feeling of guilt, strength. There are global problems with the everyday little difficulties of one human.
There is also what a good adventure book has - travels, fighting the evil, evaluating what actually is evil and what is not. This is a wonderful book for different ages. Children will find an interesting adventure through time travel, stories about pirates, friendship. Adult people will find a psychology, emotions and moral conflicts which twists our own minds.
One more wonderful thing about this book - it is the very first book with the original soundtrack. I love reading it while listening to Abney Park.
One not so wonderful thing is that Kindle edition has several mistakes and it sometimes spoils the sense of adventure - just because of the odd word or the totally wrong word. Also sometimes the songs seem to be inserted in the whole book not so naturally - it's like you see a super-modern robot back in the 1800's. Sometimes the lyrics seem odd and very strangely inserted, but the whole atmocphere of the book is just wonderful. I enjoyed reading it.
There is everything in this book - trauma, love and hate, the desire to make a better world, kindness, mistakes. feeling of guilt, strength. There are global problems with the everyday little difficulties of one human.
There is also what a good adventure book has - travels, fighting the evil, evaluating what actually is evil and what is not. This is a wonderful book for different ages. Children will find an interesting adventure through time travel, stories about pirates, friendship. Adult people will find a psychology, emotions and moral conflicts which twists our own minds.
One more wonderful thing about this book - it is the very first book with the original soundtrack. I love reading it while listening to Abney Park.
One not so wonderful thing is that Kindle edition has several mistakes and it sometimes spoils the sense of adventure - just because of the odd word or the totally wrong word. Also sometimes the songs seem to be inserted in the whole book not so naturally - it's like you see a super-modern robot back in the 1800's. Sometimes the lyrics seem odd and very strangely inserted, but the whole atmocphere of the book is just wonderful. I enjoyed reading it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 5, 2012
First let me state that I'm a big fan of Abney Park and a major steampunk. But I did try to not let my fandom color how I read this novel. I enjoyed the book for the most part, more for finding out the stories surrounding the songs than for the writing itself. Though Captain Robert is great at weaving a tale with his lyrics, his writing style doesn't flow quite as well. (And, to be honest, he needed a couple more pairs of eyes on the text to catch typos and other editorial errors.) But the faults are minor. The story is fairly enjoyable and the plot progresses reasonably well. At times it did feel more like short stories or "the best adventures of", but it was still a fun ride. It will be interesting to see what the next book brings.
July 10, 2019
This was written by Robert Brown, head of the steampunk band Abney Park and is a fictionalized history of the band and their songs. I saw several reviewers complained of grammar/spelling errors. I have the second edition and I think that's been dealt with. That said, as much as I love Brown as a lyricist this skill with words has translated all that well to novel form. I think this would have worked much better as a graphic novel as emotionally its a bit flat and having the art and graphic novel formatting might have helped.
We follow Captain Robert as he finally decides to give it a real go as a band (after finding a letter from his younger self) and convinces his band (one of whom, Kristina, is his wife) to take a gamble on a distant music festival. Fate interviews and something bad happens but on the other hand he and Kristina are now on Dr. Caligori's time traveling air ship.
Proving to be a good captain, Brown takes over the role and at first they accidentally manage to intervene with a slave ship and it changes history. Seeing this as his mission, they go through time trying to avert horrible things like the rise of the third Reich but the last third of the novel is about how this backfires in a horrible way.
This ties it into Abney Park's end of the world dystopic lyrics that I love so much. I didn't connect with the novel that much though and I had a few things that bugged me bad Telling me WWII was 'ancient history' for someone from our time doesn't ring through especially when he didn't think about what a fighter plane would do to a freaking air ship. I mean they were around for WWI so that make him look sort of dumb. It also bugged me that the two girls they pick up in the end aged 5 & 8 were too young to know this wasn't their father. I'm like you have kids sir, I'm sure your daughter would recognize you by age 8.
This does wrap up most of the storyline but it does have an open ending. However, I think I'll save my pennies for their music.
We follow Captain Robert as he finally decides to give it a real go as a band (after finding a letter from his younger self) and convinces his band (one of whom, Kristina, is his wife) to take a gamble on a distant music festival. Fate interviews and something bad happens but on the other hand he and Kristina are now on Dr. Caligori's time traveling air ship.
Proving to be a good captain, Brown takes over the role and at first they accidentally manage to intervene with a slave ship and it changes history. Seeing this as his mission, they go through time trying to avert horrible things like the rise of the third Reich but the last third of the novel is about how this backfires in a horrible way.
This ties it into Abney Park's end of the world dystopic lyrics that I love so much. I didn't connect with the novel that much though and I had a few things that bugged me bad Telling me WWII was 'ancient history' for someone from our time doesn't ring through especially when he didn't think about what a fighter plane would do to a freaking air ship. I mean they were around for WWI so that make him look sort of dumb. It also bugged me that the two girls they pick up in the end aged 5 & 8 were too young to know this wasn't their father. I'm like you have kids sir, I'm sure your daughter would recognize you by age 8.
This does wrap up most of the storyline but it does have an open ending. However, I think I'll save my pennies for their music.
July 15, 2019
Pure pulp adventure, with all the good and bad that implies. It's not polished but that's part of the charm. It's about a guy with a boring job and disappointed dreams who suddenly finds himself captain of an airship that can travel through time. If you're expecting high art from this, you're doing it wrong. It's a lot of fun, and surprisingly warm-hearted
April 17, 2019
It reads as if it is somewhere between a memoir and a sci-fi novel.
May 12, 2012
This is the first book written by Captain Robert Brown, the lead singer of my favourite Steampunk band Abney Park. Now, just because you can write good songs and lyrics, doesn't mean you will necessarily be a good author, but luckily this book is fun, interesting and full of adventure. It describes how Robert and his band first became Airship Pirates after bumping into a time-travelling airship called the Ophelia. Strange happenings occur and suddenly Robert is Captain Robert and he and his crew and what's left of his band, go back in time to right the wrongs of the past (not always for the better). Much pirating, fighting, drinking and accidents ensue. Robert incorporates the stories around the lyrics of his songs and it's a really great way of introducing the meaning behind the songs and the ideas that led to their creation. It's also fun trying to pick out who the various characters are within the band. Kristina, his wife, is obvious, but it takes a moment to work out that Tanner is Nathanial Johnstone and Daniel is, well, Daniel. Lilith...well she doesn't sound much like Jody, their female singer, so I'm assuming she's based on one of the previous female singers they've had. The stories are great fun to read and very creative. However, there are a few problems. The editor didn't do a very good job with this book (I'm assuming they had one) as there are many typos and spelling mistakes. Also, there isn't enough depth and detail in the characters or situations/inventions to do justice to such an interesting and creative story. The Captain will begin to describe something, but then he moves onto the next thing without really giving you a chance to immerse yourself in it. There are many times when you want to know more about a particular invention, but you only get a surface description that is too brief to satisfy the reader's curiosity. If it wasn't for this, I would have given the book 4 stars. However, I really enjoyed reading this and there will be more books and I will be buying and reading them.
July 12, 2014
If you're a fan of Abney Park's music, this novel takes the tale told there and fleshes it out rather nicely. I really enjoyed it, particularly how the author tied lyrics of his songs directly into the story he's telling here.
"The Wrath of Fate" reads much like a biographical account of Robert's experiences as he starts off in the modern age, encounters a time-traveling airship, and sets out to right the wrongs of history. Unfortunatly for Robert and his crew, things don't go as smoothly as they'd like.
I'd give this 4 stars for the story telling and adventuresome spirit.
However... There are more than a few technical issues with the text. It is clear that a professional editor should have been used before it hit print. There are a number of mis-spellings that give the novel a certain lack of polish. Because of these faults, I feel that I have to drop my rating by half a point, and would give 3.5 stars if I could. However, GoodReads only does full star ratings, not half steps.
"The Wrath of Fate" reads much like a biographical account of Robert's experiences as he starts off in the modern age, encounters a time-traveling airship, and sets out to right the wrongs of history. Unfortunatly for Robert and his crew, things don't go as smoothly as they'd like.
I'd give this 4 stars for the story telling and adventuresome spirit.
However... There are more than a few technical issues with the text. It is clear that a professional editor should have been used before it hit print. There are a number of mis-spellings that give the novel a certain lack of polish. Because of these faults, I feel that I have to drop my rating by half a point, and would give 3.5 stars if I could. However, GoodReads only does full star ratings, not half steps.
May 15, 2012
This book reads much like an ARC of an author's first book. I really wish an editor had looked through this book before printing. There are typos and grammatical errors galore.
Beyond that, however, is a novel that, conceptually, is fascinating and interesting. The first person POV makes the Captain sound a little egotistical and self-centered sometimes, but from his actions, I think that's spot on.
The writing isn't strong, the characters aren't as fleshed out as I wanted them to be, but the promise of a good novel is there - I really wish more time and editing had gone into this book.
It IS good...it just could have been so much better.
All and all, it's very cool to know a little backstory about the characters of Abney Park, their world(s), and the stories behind the songs.
Beyond that, however, is a novel that, conceptually, is fascinating and interesting. The first person POV makes the Captain sound a little egotistical and self-centered sometimes, but from his actions, I think that's spot on.
The writing isn't strong, the characters aren't as fleshed out as I wanted them to be, but the promise of a good novel is there - I really wish more time and editing had gone into this book.
It IS good...it just could have been so much better.
All and all, it's very cool to know a little backstory about the characters of Abney Park, their world(s), and the stories behind the songs.
October 21, 2018
Agree with other reviewers--love me some Abney Park, love steampunk, I even fully enjoyed the roleplaying game Airship Pirates set in the postapocalyptic future. However, I did not enjoy this book. It was in dire need of editing--full-on, red-pen editing, and not just for typos.
For a slender little volume, it contains a hectic, breakneck pace of adventure upon adventure with such speed that it does not allow for things like, well, character development or even much world development, which is mostly why I picked up this novel (trying to glean extra details for my gaming group's Airship Pirates game). It is less a novel of a post-apocalyptic wasteland as it is an extensive self-fan-fiction about Abney Park that just so happens to have a post-apocalyptic background. Not my cup of tea, thanks.
For a slender little volume, it contains a hectic, breakneck pace of adventure upon adventure with such speed that it does not allow for things like, well, character development or even much world development, which is mostly why I picked up this novel (trying to glean extra details for my gaming group's Airship Pirates game). It is less a novel of a post-apocalyptic wasteland as it is an extensive self-fan-fiction about Abney Park that just so happens to have a post-apocalyptic background. Not my cup of tea, thanks.
October 8, 2016
Interesting diversion. A sort of "Quantum Leap" meets Jules Verne tale. There are a lot of technical errors with the writing - shifting verb tense, inconsistent viewpoint, and an egregious use of the word "then" that when I came across it almost made me put the book down right then, but the story was intriguing enough that I decided it was better to overlook a small mistake than to abandon the book mid-flight.
"The Wrath of Fate" reminds me of books I read when I was a kid: imaginative adventures that made me look forward to growing up so I could do all sorts of exciting things. But like the book's narrator, I found out being an adult wasn't all that exciting after all. But wouldn't it be fun to fly off in a time-traveling tall ship and have lots of marvelous adventures? This story makes me think it would.
"The Wrath of Fate" reminds me of books I read when I was a kid: imaginative adventures that made me look forward to growing up so I could do all sorts of exciting things. But like the book's narrator, I found out being an adult wasn't all that exciting after all. But wouldn't it be fun to fly off in a time-traveling tall ship and have lots of marvelous adventures? This story makes me think it would.
March 1, 2012
A friend of mine once made a comment to the effect of, "I feel like, with steampunk, you can pretty much take anything that anyone thinks is cool and mix it all together." I think this novel embodies that statement, with a healthy dose of swashbuckle. It is a delightful mixture of genres, a semi-fictional autobiography (or an autobiographical fiction? would that be more like a dream?), which weaves a highly entertaining backstory to Abney Park's lyrics. This tale comes chalk full of steam, science, clockworks, flying ships, time travel, dystopian landscapes, colorful characters, and daring escapades undertaken at varying levels of intoxication. Can we have a comic book next?
November 2, 2013
A bit of steampunk fun but perhaps mostly a book for fans of Abney Park. Robert Brown is a wonderful song writer, this short novel is an extension of his creativity, but while being entertaining enough it is not as rewarding as listening to the music of Abney Park, which I absolutely love. The book offers some insight into Brown himself and the dynamics of the band so definitely a book for fans. I do love the world building that surrounds the band and the narrative rich music but this novel is perhaps not a great read, unless your a die hard fan of Abney Park and the talented Robert Brown.
April 15, 2012
Let me begin by saying that I am a huge fan of Abney Park and their music. The idea that Robert had written a book about the band and how this would weave through the song texts of the latest albums was very appealing.
The idea of the book is very nice, I liked how it started. I did not manage to end it, however. After about 1/3 of the book, the number of errors in writing and in some of the historical facts were bad enough to make me stop. The manuscript could do with a spell-checker and a person who would do at least some basic editing. Alas.
The idea of the book is very nice, I liked how it started. I did not manage to end it, however. After about 1/3 of the book, the number of errors in writing and in some of the historical facts were bad enough to make me stop. The manuscript could do with a spell-checker and a person who would do at least some basic editing. Alas.
October 17, 2012
I'm a huge Abney Park fan and have wanted to read this for some time now, thinking it would add to the band's background. And it did. However, it definitely had its faults. For starters, the dialogue was weak and the character development a bit flat, especially during the first part of the story (Book I). The second part was much improved and the plot picked up and got me engaged. Unfortunately, the kindle edition of the book had lots of typos and mistakes which was disappointing. Overall, it was an ok first book for Captain Robert which shows potential.
January 14, 2012
I was going to savor this, but it got too good. I couldn't stop reading! Everything about Wrath of Fate is awesome - the worldbuilding, the weaving of Abney Park's songs into the story, the humor and psychology. Favorite part? How the Captain managed to put so much of his real self into this fictional world; his childhood was both fascinating and horrifying, and explains so much about the type of man he became. Absolutely a must-read for any Abney Park fan, and a great read for everyone else.
June 4, 2014
"Captain" Robert Brown, lead singer and songwriter of the band Abney Park, has written a wondrous novel based on his songs. As a lover of his music, I love how the scenes in this book go hand-in-hand with his lyrics, to the point where I find myself singing the songs as I read. I love the time travel, automatons, family and friends included in this steampunk romp through history. The Captain needs to beware his actions, as every action made in the past can greatly affect the future!
October 22, 2024
I'm going to be honest, I don't remember anything about this book - but it is time for me to admit that it single handedly was so awful that it ruined the bands music for me.
I mourn this, but every time I think about their music (which, prior to reading this book, I loved with a rabid passion) and how it has been over six years since I listened to any of it, I am reminded of this book.
Nothing specific - because I remember nothing about it at all - but just how much I disliked it.
I mourn this, but every time I think about their music (which, prior to reading this book, I loved with a rabid passion) and how it has been over six years since I listened to any of it, I am reminded of this book.
Nothing specific - because I remember nothing about it at all - but just how much I disliked it.
March 18, 2012
There were aspects I greatly enjoyed, and I liked the story itself, but the writing needed more polish, more details, more character development. I didn't find myself caring much about anyone, except maybe the Captain himself. Even Kristina didn't seem to figure much into the story. As a fan of Abney Park I found it an interesting read, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone not a fan of the band.
July 12, 2013
So, very plain and obvious first book for the author. If you love steampunk, airship pirates and especially the band Abney Park then you will love this.
Even if you don't however, it is an easy read that is very fun. You hitch a lift on a time machine and go back in time preventing atrocities and saving people! Good fun!
Even if you don't however, it is an easy read that is very fun. You hitch a lift on a time machine and go back in time preventing atrocities and saving people! Good fun!
September 18, 2013
Pure pulp adventure, with all the good and bad that implies. It's not polished but that's part of the charm. It's about a guy with a boring job and disappointed dreams who suddenly finds himself captain of an airship that can travel through time. If you're expecting high art from this, you're doing it wrong. It's a lot of fun, and surprisingly warm-hearted.
May 1, 2012
Abney Park fans will feel right at home in this well-imagined world. Read my full review here: World Building and the Wrath of Fate
April 11, 2014
I really enjoyed this time traveling steampunk type book. It's a good adventure yarn that also has something to say. The inclusion of some song lyrics was nice touch, and really added to my enjoyment of the story.
July 7, 2016
Exciting, could barely put the book down; I didn't want to leave the world Captain Robert created behind and go back to the real world. Easy and enjoyable, good for relaxing and a for those seeking an adventure.
November 10, 2015
This is one of Lavender's favorite books. She has read it close to 200 times. I had to see why she keeps rereading it. The book is based on Abney Park's songs and I found myself singing for hours after reading each section. Now I understand...
February 15, 2012
I absolutely loved this book! Once I started, it was very hard to put it down. My only issue was that it wasn't long enough, but it was a great quick read. I hope a continuation is on its way'
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