Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl

Gideon Smith #1

by David Barnett

Nineteenth century London is the center of a vast British Empire. Airships ply the skies and Queen Victoria presides over three-quarters of the known world—including the East Coast of America, following the failed revolution of 1775.

London might as well be a world away from Sandsend, a tiny village on the Yorkshire coast. Gideon Smith dreams of the adventure promised him by the lurid tales of Captain Lucian Trigger, the Hero of the Empire, told in Gideon’s favorite “penny dreadful.” When Gideon’s father is lost at sea in highly mysterious circumstances Gideon is convinced that supernatural forces are at work. Deciding only Captain Lucian Trigger himself can aid him, Gideon sets off for London. On the way he rescues the mysterious mechanical girl Maria from a tumbledown house of shadows and iniquities. Together they make for London, where Gideon finally meets Captain Trigger.

But Trigger is little more than an aging fraud, providing cover for the covert activities of his lover, Dr. John Reed, a privateer and sometime agent of the British Crown. Looking for heroes but finding only frauds and crooks, it falls to Gideon to step up to the plate and attempt to save the day...but can a humble fisherman really become the true Hero of the Empire?

David Barnett's Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl is a fantastical steampunk fable set against an alternate historical backdrop: the ultimate Victoriana/steampunk mash-up!

Genres: Steampunk, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Adventure, Alternate History

352 pages, Paperback

First published September 10, 2013

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

When his father is lost at sea and his ship found abandoned, Gideon Smith leaves lonely Sandsend behind to venture to London and find Lucian Trigger, hero of many penny dreadfuls, to help him find who is behind it. En route, Gideon befriends a writer named Bram Stoker and a Mechanical Girl named Maria. But will Lucian Trigger be the hero Gideon needs?

I got this book from Netgalley. Thank you, Netgalley!

Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl is a steampunk adventure tale. I'll be honest, I was planning on tearing it a new orifice for the first 30% or so. Gideon, nearly twenty-four, is really naive, acting like he's fifteen a lot of the time. Also, there was a logjam of the usual Victorian and steampunk tropes hampering my enjoyment, namely Dracula, dirigibles, Jack the Ripper, automatons, and various others. However, I gave Barnett a chance to show me something and he did.

Gideon's travels take him from Sandsend to London and beyond, looking first for Lucian Trigger then for Trigger's partner and paramour, John Reed. Meanwhile, Bram Stoker and Gideon meet then part ways, Stoker pursuing frog-faced mummies in the company of the buxom Countess Dracula.

I love the way Barnett tied things together. I also loved that he went with the Countess instead of tired old Vlad and had the renowned hero Lucian Trigger wind up being an aging homosexual former army officer chronicling the adventures of his opium-addicted lover. Gideon's conflicted feelings for Maria were nicely done. By the time Cockayne started teaching Gideon about being a hero, I was pretty well sold on the book and it's inevitable sequels.

Once the threads converged and the gang headed to Egypt, the story started firing on all cylinders. When the true villain of the piece and the purpose of the MacGuffin were revealed, I couldn't put the book down. The ending was satisfying and not quite happily ever after but I smell a sequel on the horizon.

The writing style reminds me very much of Stephen Hunt's The Court of the Air and related books, only with more focus and less disappointment (I'm looking at you, Jack Cloudie).

Despite a rocky start, Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl wound up being one of the more enjoyable steampunk books I've read recently. 3.5 out of 5.

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Steampunk novel that finds time for Bram Stoker as a character, vampires, mummies, a tribute to Lovecraft, references to Shelley and her monster, and allusions to Jules Verne and Indiana Jones is welcome on my bookshelf anytime.

But …

This one was just too damn corny.

In the Victorian world that Barnett describes the American Revolution failed in 1775, the Taj Mahal and Statute of Liberty are in London, which is the capital of a global empire, more widely spread and more dominant than the real reign of Queen Victoria. Much of the focus of the narrative is about being a hero, hero worship, and a following of the “penny dreadfuls”, or pulp stories, where the Hero of the Empire always saves the day.

Readers of contemporary speculative fiction will see a similarity to Paolo Bacigalupi’s 2009 novel The Windup Girl in Barnett’s description of Maria, the Mechanical Girl.

Stephen Norrington, who directed the 2003 film The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen would do well to put this story to film as well. Barnett also seems to pay tribute to the Mummy films. This would actually make a fun graphic novel, if Barnett could find a good illustrator.

Campy, frequently cartoonish, formulaic, at worst sophomoric, and yes it could have used some robust editing, maybe a hundred pages left on the floor, but it is still a style and setting that I liked and it was entertaining for the most part but overall just too hokey to really enjoy.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars for me, should really give it a 5 but I kinda like saving up for those FIVES these days plus ive already dished out one this month.

So whats Steampunk all about - Mostly about tales of derring-do as they say with a strong Victorian influence & the rest is made up as they go along which is defo the case in the tales of Gideon Smith as modern reality/fantasy is re-written with a twist!

A flavour - The story starts in Whitby & runs virtually parallel to the start of Bram Stoker's Dracula, the mysterious unmanned ship, the great dog that escapes onto land, the captain drained of blood tied to the wheel - its all verbotim preety much & you began to scratch the ol' noodle.......

& then it begins..... Bram Stoker & Countess Dracula.... Oh yeah... Nice twist... Then there's mummies, Penny Dreadfuls (which incidentally started on Sky Atlantic this week!) make an apperance as does Gideon Smith - although he's not an Inspector of Scotland Yard, The Brits won the War of independance (Hurrah! & all the Yanks drink Tea....maybe I made that bit up) & so the map is a ways different, Einstein is a fiendish mad scientist, we have my favourite character - Aloysious Bent, a fleet street tabloid journo who is very apt!

There are many more characters to boot, all fantastical but I would say recognisable & plenty of references to urban myths of times gone by allbeit with a twist, so I wont add any spoilers but would urge you friends et al to give this a whirl as I suspect many will quite enjoy this romp & tale of derring-do!

[Noa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nope.

First of all, you just can't cram vampires, werewolves, mummies, Bram Stoker, Dracula's widow, alternative histories of London, Egyptian mythology, Indiana Jones, Sherlock Holmes, steampunk, draken, een murder mystery and pirates into 300 pages and expect it to work.
Secondly, if your main character is as bland as a cooked potato, I won't care about him and all of the females throwing themselves at him is simply unrealistic.
Thirdly, it's incredibly sexist and boob-focused and two ladies telling us that men are 'assholes' and 'men always ruin everything' doesn't really make it much better now, does it? If your heroic main character rescues a lady and can then only focus on how little of her clothes remain and how beautiful she is, I'm sorry, he's got to get his priorities straight. He's also quite daft.
And of course the one good thing about this book, the amazing couple of Captain Trigger and John Reed can't be happy ever after because one is evil and then they die. How imaginative.

Why did I finish this again?

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantasy Review Barn

Steampunk adventure! This book was like reading a blockbuster movie, and it was a whole lot of fun. Like most blockbusters that come up in the summer months you have to prepare for some conveniences, assume all the characters will find a way to end up in the same spot, and do your best NOT to wonder what the hell the protagonist is thinking at times. But if one can enjoy the typical summer movie, and sales figures show that most people can, then “Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl” should become a very popular book.

Gideon is a fisherman’s son. In a nice change of pace, despite having his head in the clouds, he is a strong, responsible young man. He has big dreams of following in the footsteps of his favorite penny-dreadful hero, Captain Trigger. When his father is lost at sea a chain of events starts up that gives him his chance. He heads out to find the famous captain and start his adventure!

From there it is pure pulpy goodness with all the normal steampunk trimmings. Airships and pirates, supernatural beings, smart alleck men and plucky women. Based in an Elizabethan England that truly threatens to span the globe a reader can also expect little historical cameos that will either work or drive them loony. In this case I felt the cameos worked well, Bram Stoker as a chronicler especially. The inevitable ragtag group will globe trot to solve the mystery, and often to save the title’s heroine, Maria. Friendships are made, double crossing is to be expected, and eventually all the pieces come together (tied up very nicely I may add). Because it is obviously a first book of a series not everything is OK at the end, but the book ends on just as strong of a note as it started, with a hint of more adventure to follow.

Steampunk fans rejoice, there is a highly enjoyable new book on the lighter side of the genre. Gideon avoids being a trite farm boy on a mission by proving to be smart and able, learning as he goes in a fairly believable fashion. Sure his willingness to believe penny dreadfuls is a bit strange, but haven’t we already talked about suspending belief a bit? Bent is a no-worries smart ass journalist good for a lot of laughs. The crew has fun interactions, the plot doesn’t get so complicated as to tie itself up in a knot, and the action scenes are fun but short enough to avoid becoming a grind.

If the book is going to turn off some readers it most likely is going to come from the plight of Maria, the mechanical girl from the title. She is at her core a toy in the form of a beautiful girl who has been given sentience. Hidden in this light hearted action movie-like romp is a character that has been put through a living hell. She is abused throughout the book; physically, sexually, and mentally. At each point it is used to advance the story; even Maria shrugs it off and goes on without dwelling on it. It doesn’t ruin the story, it is not gratuitous and in fact is easy to overlook. But I couldn’t not see it throughout the story; she is the lynchpin of the story but never by her own design.

Hey, I am a man who loves a Steampunk romp. I am happy to see a new series started that looks like it has a lot of potential. I found a whole lot to like about what I read, and hope to read more in the future.

4 Stars

Review copy received through NetGalley.

edit: Crossed out a rather embarrassing historical mistake. The danger of reviewing at night and mixing up historical era's. Sorry!

[Bookwraiths · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally reviewed at Bookwraiths.

This steampunk book has it all!

You want a cool Victorian setting? No problem.

You want vampires and mummies running amok? They are everywhere.

Dirigibles, sky pirates, treasure, pyramids? Mr. Barnett gives them to you.

Adventure, fighting, ancient mysteries, love stories between unlikely people? Its all in the book.

The story itself begins in a tiny fishing village in Victorian England, where our unlikely hero Gideon Smith finds himself an orphan after the mysterious death at sea of his fisherman father. And though no one believes him, Gideon knows it was no accidental death but the work of some diabolical creature, and he vows to follow in the footsteps of Captain Lucian Trigger, the hero of his favorite penny dreadful, and avenge his father.

Before Gideon can actually begin his quest for vengeance, however, he crosses paths with an aspiring author; none other than Bram Stoker, who appears to believe Gideon’s story of monsters preying on the living but seems much more interested in the eerie similarity between the fate of Gideon’s father and another local shipwreck. A shipwreck where all aboard were dead or missing except a huge, black hound that escaped and which reeks of vampires to Mr. Stoker.

No matter their different agendas, however, these unlikely companions gradually discover that Gideon’s monsters and Stoker’s vampires are two sides of the same coin – though neither are what they appear to be. But that realization is just the tip of the iceberg, as soon our comrades discover that foul business abounds everywhere: government conspiracies, ancient Egyptian curses, and diabolical villains. And to Gideon, it soon seems he is living a story straight out of the pages of a penny dreadful!

And that mechanical girl mentioned in the title?

She is here: each wondrous tube and clockwork gear. Soon, you will find Maria one of the most fascinating characters in the book, likable and sympathetic, mysterious but so familiar. Her growing realization of herself as a true person and her relationship with Gideon always enjoyable. But even though she follows along behind Gideon in his adventure, his journey is not hers, for Maria is a person seeking answers and understanding about who and what she is, not a heroine fighting villainy – though, she does that as well.

And the steampunk Victorian setting?

It is the wondrous backdrop upon which all of Gideon’s adventures are played out. A fantastical alternate universe, where gears and gadgetry abound. And Mr. Barnett fills every nook and cranny of his steampunk world with morsels of marvelous history and fantastical machines; each tidbit contributing as much to the enjoyment of the story as do the actual characters. Indeed, it is one of the most fully imagined steampunk worlds that I have read about.

To sum up, this novel is best described as a grand mixture of Victorian Indiana Jones, old-fashioned horror story, and alternative history fantasy. A tale which takes its heroes from the quiet seashore of Gideon’s home to the mean streets of steampunk London, from the land of clockwork taxis to the mysterious sands of Egypt, from the soaring heights of the dirigibles to the claustrophobic darkness of ancient pyramids, from the shadowy depths of the vampire lair to the musty chamber of the mummies. It’s the story of a young man discovering that heroes are not always what you envisioned them to be, and a mechanical girl who finds that being human is more than looking like one or having a few scattered memories. It’s a search that brings to light a different side of vampires (even when they don’t sparkle!) and shows the ancient cruelty of mummies too long dead. But, ultimately, this book is about one thing: nonstop fun!

[Johnny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one’s for anyone who ever wanted their fictional heroes to be real! Do you know how many people look for 221B Baker Street as though it’s a historical site? Well, David Barnett’s Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl uses something of that idea to send the eponymous Gideon Smith rushing from venue to venue like something out of a Jules Verne adventure. Along the way, he sprinkles in historical characters such as Bram Stoker and Annie Crook (romantic relationship with Prince Albert) and fictional characters like Count Dracula (although there’s a bit of a twist in this one) and Varney the Vampyre (the villain of a serialized gothic horror story). There are references to Edgar Rice Burroughs (an airship named the John Carter) and H. P. Lovecraft (a story called “The Shadow over Faxmouth” rather than “The Shadow over Innsmouth”). If you get the idea that Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl is full of cleverness, you would be correct.

Imagine, on at least one level, the film Her set in a steampunk version of an English empire where the sun still never sets. Sure, there are still the pulp stand-by tropes of secret Egyptian cults, vampires, secret government plots, and “mad” scientists (conveniently named Einstein, too), but Barnett isn’t afraid to delve into the human condition, as well. What makes one human? Is it a capacity for love? Is it a modicum of courage and determination to resist forces attempting to bend one to their will? Is it the ability to know when to be flexible during shifting circumstances? Is it the ability to pass a de facto “Turing test?”

On another level, there is the question of revenge. What is the price and significance of avenging a husband, father, or lover? At least three of these characters have to consider this? On another level, what happens when heroes have feet of clay (or, perhaps, in this case, brass)? What constitutes something heroic? What internal motivations might cause a hero to change? Barnett does a very good job of turning such questions upside-down with events and motivations that belie the standard answers.

There was more than one turn-around in this novel. Most of the way through this novel, I chafed at anachronistic use of language in the speech pattern of one of the supporting characters. He was a cleverly drawn character and well-reflected the lower-class Englishman’s speech pattern of the modern era. But Barnett was not trying to reflect the modern era! It forced the…er…suspension of my suspension of disbelief.
Yet, there was an intriguing sense of poetic justice in what happens to that speech pattern at the conclusion of the novel. It was almost worth it. However, just as one anachronistic word in Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves made me start picking apart the rest of the film and just as one unrealistic idea of a helicopter flying inside the Chunnel (at the conclusion of Mission: Impossible) has kept me from viewing the sequels, I had trouble keeping my head in the game …er…plot once that character (comedic as said character was) entered the story.

Suffice it to say that I enjoyed Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl, plan to read any sequels (more than I can say for Tom Cruise movies), and recommend the book to people who like interesting ideas and action more than verisimilitude. Of course, after all, steampunk is really more like fantasy than science-fiction so I don’t have a very valid complaint—just my (sometimes, obnoxious) opinion.

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up on whim from the local library. The book description captures the story's gist fairly well. I enjoyed this light hearted story. I'd give it a 3.5 ish.

Barnett's alternate world history draws heavily from traditional Victorian Age steam punk. A place with fabulous flying machines, steam coaches and, obviously, mechanical girls. The reader should expect young women to have bodacious bosoms and perky bottoms and young men to have bulging biceps and cowboy bravado. But all face their fears before the end and in so doing become heroes.

When Irishman Bram Stoker pals about with Countess Dracula, I am easily reminded of 'The League of Extraordinary Gentleman.' But I do enjoy that mix of science and the supernatural.

Joss Whedon's satirical film 'The Cabin in the Woods' deftly plays on traditional horror stereotypes. Barnett's book embraces those pulp fiction stereotypes as well. For example, Barnett telegraphs similar plot twists when characters openly skirt off to rooms alone even when evil is known and near. When a random teamster drops our hero off at some strange location, his behavior is slightly dark and twisted. We immediately feel something sinister is afoot.

Likewise we have the sexy flirtatious girl, the geeky smart bookish guy, the handsome athletic guy, the handsome jerky guy, and the fool. Except for one woman in distress, women are competent and self-assured. After all, Barnett is a sensible 21st century author.

There are some pulp fiction shout outs. Henry Jones is one bright upcoming adventurer. Like the original Dracula, there is even a Texan (in this case, he's originally from Connecticut). Good young adult fiction.

There is a gay character, if that is an issue for adults recommending a book to their children. Nothing offensive, just a love proclaimed.

[Charlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

What we have here is a tasty mix of Victorian steam and good old-fashioned pulp adventure. Naive young fisherman Gideon Smith longs for the life of his favorite hero from the penny dreadfuls, Captain Lucian Trigger. Before he can say "Jack Robinson", his dad has gone missing, he's befriended an itinerant Irish writer named Bram Stoker who's hunting vampires, and monsters are attacking his village. There's enough adventure here for twelve books, along with appearances from a world of well-known figures, both historical and pulp. Barnett has crafted a rollicking tale of heroes and high adventure, replete with dastardly villains, supernatural call-outs, and romance both literary and emotional. This looks to be the 1st in a series, and I'm looking forward to more of Gideon's adventures, especially

--MINOR SPOILER--

the Einstein thread.

Thanks to Tor Books for sending along a review copy.

[Fantasy Literature · Rating 4 out of 5]

As one might perhaps be able to tell from the title, Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl, by David Barnett, is a paean to the pulp adventure novels of yore a la Frank Reade and His New Steam Man. This sort of thing can be a bit tricky to pull off, as it is a fine line between keeping the spirit of the source material in terms of characters, dialogue, and plotting and crossing over that line into the trite and silly. For the most part, Barnett pulls it off. Enough so that I’d be interested in picking up the clearly planned sequel.

Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl opens with a wonderfully chilling scene, as poor Annie Crook, a young shopgirl and as-needed ... Read More:
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I receives a review copy from Tor and be sure I will write a full review soon.

Such a great read. I finished the book in one day.
Excellent story and excellent story telling. Lot of passages sounded like the penny blood which have been famous in Victorian England.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good fun adventure

[Hidekisohma · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would say the best way to describe this book is "a 12 year old's first Steampunk tabletop game". That really is the best way I can think of it. The characters are all overblown stereotypes that a group of kids would make up.
Gideon: Guy who wants to play "the luke skywalker-esq hero"
Bent: The kid who wants and excuse to be vulgar
Bathory: the only girl in the group so they give her a stupidly overpowered character to make her happy
Brom: Bathory player's BF

This book is....man, it's like I have a lot to say about this book, but also it's hard to put into words. First off, you open up the book and they give you this detailed map of "the 1890 world". basically it's an alternate 1890 where the americans lost the rev war. but that's never really explored. they give you this whole interesting "what if" world...and the author really doesn't DO anything with it other than a few off mentions about lawless groups in texas and seceded southern states. There's no detail gone into this. I honestly got more information about the world by looking at the map in the beginning.

A lot of the time I will criticize authors by saying that they are amazing at world building, but they don't know how to write characters. However, i'm in the strange situation of saying that for once, I have to say, i have never come across an author more terrible at world building. I got NOTHING about this world and didn't feel ANYTHING. It's supposed to be a steampunkish world, but i never for once felt it was steampunk. i felt like it was generic 1890's London with one or two dirigibles thrown in. I never felt like i was part of the world or could see it in my mind's eye. Such a vibrant world begged to be explained and explored, but it was really just skipped over.

There were no real twists you couldn't see coming from a mile away in this book. Like i said, this lends more credence to the "12 year old RPG" theory. Honestly, if the author wrote this book in the mindframe of this, interrupting the story with some kids around a table playing this game, it would actually make a lot more sense and would actually be really clever. Playing it straight as a "real" story though, it's VERY trite and overdone to the point of hilarity.

My favorite character in the story was actually Bent. He was hilarious. I honestly couldn't stand anyone else ESPECIALLY Gideon. Oh my god he actually hurt my face with how fresh faced main character he was. it was actually rather nauseating. He is the sole reason i won't read another one of these books. He's by far one of the most boring, stereotypical main characters i've read.

The one other gripe i have with this book was the senseless insertion of real people. Brom Stoker and Einstein's dad are kind of just...haphazardly thrown into the book. they're like "oh! a vampire's in the book! Let's have brom stoker hang out with her!" it's just....why? it could have literally been any other made up character. there was no particular reason it had to be these real people other than "ooh! look! look! People who existed!" It just seems very odd to insert these only 2 real people for no perceivable reason. Not to mention that Bathory/Brom's chapters/scenes brought the main story to a screeching halt every time and i couldn't wait until they were over.

At the very least, the book was an easy read and i plowed through it quickly. Every character was a blanket stereotype though and nobody had any depth. There's one scene, no joke where Brom and Batherly are walking, and the author just inserts a man beating his wife randomly just so we can see batherly go kill him. It was SO random, and SO out of nowhere that i could FEEL the author going "oh! look! look! She's badass!" speaking of which, bathory was SO overpowered that it made everyone else basically pointless. Her inclusion took out any tension, as in every fight scene i was like "well...just go send out bathory."

All in all, Bent made me laugh, so that's good, but the rest of the characters are just too awful for me to want to continue on. (not to mention every female wants to jump on Gideon . shocker, i know) I give it a 2.5, but i can't in all good conscience raise that up to a 3. so it's a 2. 2.5/5.

Read the Sequel? No thanks. i'll pass.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gideon Smith's father is a fisherman, and one day the ship returns to port in Sandsend, England, without his father or the crew. Determined to find out how a ship could lose its crew on a calm sea, Gideon begins to hear reports about monsters appearing in the local caves. He happens across a Mr. Bram Stoker, who is searching for inspiration for a new story. But Gideon's obsession with World Marvels & Wonders, a penny dreadful that recounts the heroic exploits of Captain Lucian Trigger, at first makes Bram wonder about the believability of Gideon's story.

They part ways: Gideon to London to look for Captain Trigger and Bram to investigate the arrival of a Russian ship without its crew. We are thrown into an adventure with vampires, mummies, automatons, dirigibles, and Egyptian artifacts. The characters are varied, with a cast of recognizable heroes: the inexperienced but enthusiastic youth, the cynical reporter, the mentor, the woman dirigible pilot, the pirate, and etc. The world terrain is different than we're used to, steampunk technology is everywhere, and yet much of it is still familiar.

GIDEON SMITH AND THE MECHANICAL GIRL uses these with flair in a pulp fiction style. The main character is likable, but even our heroes have their dark sides, who despite their foibles can overcome their weaknesses to save the day. It's a story of love, hope, redemption, and what makes a true hero.

So why did it take me so long to read this book? Why did I drag myself through each chapter and PoV?

GIDEON SMITH is not a bad story or poorly written. In fact the prose is pretty nice, the plot engaging and twisty enough to keep you guessing. There are so many cameos, such as Countess Elizabeth Bathory (Google her, seriously), Bram Stoker, Walter Jones (Henry's father), and so many more, many of whom I found amusing if somewhat distracting.

It's an entertaining enough read, but Barnett adds things that give it a dark edge which turned me off to the story. It's really a personal thing, you may not be bothered, and perhaps even like the realistic dark side of people and events. For example, the reporter was a crass, profane guy who was obsessed with the female form in a way that was juvenile and not funny. Or the married man knowingly being drawn into circumstances that hurt his reputation and strained his relationship with his wife. References to the automaton's sexual slavery. There are other examples. I guess I didn't see how such additions made the story better and all it did was make me want to put the book down because it caused me to distrust the characters when I should have been compelled to keep reading about them.

Another problem was the pacing, which suffered up until the end as characters move from place to place, make discoveries, cross paths, and etc. This is just the style of Barnett's storytelling, the prose more interested in detail of movement than actually moving the story along. I think the voice/prose/style is great for the genre, but because I felt that disconnect from the characters the story felt slow.

Barnett makes up for the pacing by the last quarter when events start snowballing and we make discoveries that build on what's come before. By the exciting end you are rooting for Gideon and you may even want to check out the sequel as a result.

Recommended age: 17+
Language: Yes
Violence: Fairly frequent, although not gruesome
Sex: Referenced, one character in particular is quite crass

Find this and other reviews at Elitist Book Reviews.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of fast-paced adventure, a fun cast of diverse characters, and an unpredictable plot! 4.75 stars... steampunk entertainment with a heart... more to follow.

[Jacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gideon Smith, son of a Whitby fisherman from Sandsend is an aficionado of the true adventures of Captain Lucian Trigger, Hero of the British Empire, so when his father's fishing boat is found floating, abandoned, with all the crew lost, Gideon goes looking for answers. There's a strange creature walking the night, one that's scarily reminiscent of a mummy described in one of Trigger's tales, and strange goings on at Lythe Bank. He meets writer Bram Stoker, himself investigating another unexplained abandoned ship and the strange tale of a fierce black dog that came ashore. Unconvinced that Stoker's quest (with Countess Elizabeth Bathory, Dracula's widow) is tied to his own Gideon heads for London to seek help from the redoubtable Captain, on the way rescuing Maria, an automaton powered by pistons, but with a human brain. Once in the capital, a city of stinks, mechanical marvels and plenty of reminders that the British Empire is enormous following the failure of the American War of Independence, he and Maria seek Trigger with the dubious help from a potty-mouthed Fleet Street journalist, Bent. They are bound for disappointment, but gradually a story unfolds that draws all the separate strands together.

A super, steampunky romp with vampires, mummified beasties, airships and automata that starts in Whitby, moves to London, Egypt and back to London again. Well-paced this is obviously only the start of Gideon's adventures due to a large dangling thread at the end. And, indeed, checking up, there's already one more Smith book published and another to come in September 2015. Highly recommended.

[Natalie Herzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given this book as a gift and I'm so glad.

After the first chapters I could barely retain myself from clapping my hands in joy, bouncing up and down. This steampunk has more than I had hoped for...
Victorian world - cool
Airships - awesome

...but it gets even better:

A mechanical girl.
Famous characters and legends I would never have expected to find in one single book.
And to top it all off: Pirates of the sky.

I was a goner.

The writing style is fluent and had me completely hooked. I couldn't put the book down; it was so entertaining and engaging. Threads were spun and I had fun discovering how they were all connected. As for the characters, they took me by surprise as well. Gideon Smith is a naive but charming gentlman despite being the son of a fisherman, and a quite heroic one at that, even though he doesn't realize it. Icing on the cake: The people he meets along his adventurous journey turn out to be as extraordinary as he is and had me smiling at the pages in front of me.

I don't want to give too much away, so I will just say this: Read it, folks!

Looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is what happens when dirigibles, automatons, an ancient Egyptian curse and the wife of Dracula all end up at the center of a mystery set in a fantastical Steampunk Victorian Era in which Great Britain has colonized the better part of the world and the United States, having lost the Revolutionary War, simply doesn't exist.

This was without a doubt among the most ridiculous things I've ever read, but it was also kind of awesome. It takes a kitchen sink approach to Victorian Era literary figures and myths (everyone from Bram Stoker to Queen Victoria to Jack the Ripper makes an appearance), but somehow it all adds up delightfully (if implausibly) in the end.

[Kirsty Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gideon Smith is a fisherman who dreams of adventure. Whilst his colleagues bring up kids and lose themselves in the mundane tasks of everyday life, Gideon spends his spare time reading his favourite “penny dreadfuls” sand reveling in the adventures of his hero, Captain Lucian Trigger. When tragedy strikes, Gideon can’t bring himself to carry on living the life which was expected of him, and takes matters into his own hands.

I can’t recommend this book enough for either the avid Steampunk fan or just the curious reader who wants to find out what this “Steampunk thing” is all about.

[Lisa Lynch · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has been a minute since I picked up a steampunk book because, to be brutally honest, the ones I've read have been a bit shit. Its sad, but a lot books in this genre that I've come across only have what I call "a steampunk veneer". Like, their primary focus is simply on aesthetics and fashion.

Don't get me wrong, I love steampunk fashion: Victorian gowns, corsets, parasols, goggles, top hats, pocket watches, lace-up boots, frilly collars and sleeves, waistcoats, and on and on. I also love clockwork and gears and dirigibles and wacky machines and automatons. I just love it all!

But I really don't like it when authors take a story and dress it up in a steampunk veneer but don't go much further than that. There really is more to the genre then how things look!

And, much to my delight, David Barnett's Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl is the epitome of Steampunk.

When people ask me what steampunk is, I tell them that steampunk is a re-imagining of our history that focuses on the Industrial Revolution as though steam was the primary source of power instead of combustion engines or electricity. Steampunk is like retro sci-fi in that, instead of imagining the future, it imagines what could have happened in the past if technology had developed differently.

We often see historical figures or scientific pioneers appear as characters in the steampunk genre. We also often see a paranormal element with vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and the like.

Steampunk actually shares a lot in common with westerns in that there is a focus on survival and exploration and romance and the search for a better, more comfortable life. But there is also a search for knowledge and and overall emphasis on talent and creativity and heroism and overcoming great odds.

Steampunk is SO FREAKING COOL!! And Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl is a cool book.

So Gideon Smith is a 24-year old fisherman who's father goes missing at sea. Gideon embarks on a revenge mission to hunt down the creatures that he believes killed his father. He needs help, so he ends up recruiting an odd cast of characters including: the one and only Bram Stoker, a vampire countess, a mechanical girl, a crude newspaper reporter, a sexy dirigible pilot, a hunky Texan bad boy, and the famed adventurer and hero from Gideon's favorite penny dreadful.

There's a big cast here, but I was impressed with how skillfully Barnett wove their story lines together. It never felt to me like there were too many cooks in the kitchen.

However, my only real complaints about this book are in two of the characters.

1) Aloysious Bent: I liked Aloysious for the most part. He is kind of the fat, rude comic relief character who always says it how he sees it. My problem with him was that, in an attempt to refrain from cursing like a sailor, Bent is always saying "effing" to replace what he would normally fill with "fucking" or some other curse. And he says "effing" or "eff" or "effers" like at least once per sentence. It drove me nuts!! Hands down, I would have preferred he just said the curse words and I'm not quite sure why he didn't. This is an adult book after all.

2) Gideon Smith: As with Aloysious, I liked Gideon for the most part. However, he never really felt worthy enough to be the titular character. Everyone was so much more interesting than Gideon. But I know that there are 2 sequels to this book and its clear that Barnett is leaving quite a bit of room for character growth.

My biggest problem with Gideon is that he is 24-year old but acts like a 14-year old. He is impulsive and juvenile and embarassingly naive. And yes, Gideon has grown up just barely above the poverty line in a small, seaside village and has had few experiences outside of that, but sometimes I just wanted to smack the kid and yell "ITS TIME TO GROW UP!" And he does a bit by the end, but I couldn't help being mildly annoyed with him for the majority of the book.

Bent groaned. He worried about that boy sometimes. When was he going to learn life was not a penny dreadful? (p.225)

My issues with Bent and Gideon aside, I really liked all the characters in this book. They are fun, dynamic, and interesting. When I first discovered Bram Stoker was a main character in this book, I was skeptical. However, Barnett does a great job of making him feel like a character who is true to this world. His presence makes sense and, honestly, that's all I ask for from steampunk books that utilize real people to tell their story. We also have a cousin of Einstein here and others and it all just worked.

But I have to be honest. The plot is a bit silly. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this adventure, however I couldn't help feeling that everything was a bit over the top in the end. There was a lot of exposition and explanation of this very complex, interwoven plot that would have been better if it had been simplified. There were quite a lot of plot threads that could have been cut out, like the romance part, which I found to be cringy and terrible.

The end of this book sets up for a sequel, so be prepared for that. Not a lot is resolved, which is always frustrating to me. That aside, the rest of the ending was pretty awesome. I definitely plan on picking the next one up.

I rated David Barnett's Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl 4 out of 5 stars. I recommend this one.

[Randal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jolly good, if paint-by-numbers, steampunk.
Lessee: Vampires, zombies, zeppelins, penny dreadfuls, Sherlock Holmes (in the background), Jack the Ripper, a cyborg, an oversexed female aviatrix ... yeah, just the usual. Well paced, lively dialogue. Fun. No serious emotions are harmed (or addressed) in the reading of this book.

[Fred Hughes · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't finish reading it, I just gave up.

Disjointed; there is no flow from chapter to chapter. Characters and ideas are constantly just thrown into the mix with no linkage or rational.

I get that some story lines take time to evolve but there is no evolution in this story, just confusion.

Never did get to meet the mechanical girl

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic Indiana Jones-like, alternate history, sci-fi/fantasy adventure. I couldn't put it down and can't wait to see where the tale goes next.

As the description says, this book truly is the ultimate Victoriana/steampunk mash-up!

[Little Timmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have not read anything by this writer before or anything in the Steampunk genre but if it is all this good I am hooked. Great blend of humor, action and plot. Very interesting character and alternate world history. I'll be coming back for more. Highly recommended

[Jasper · Rating 4 out of 5]

originally posted at: http://thebookplank.blogspot.com/2014...

One of the genres that is a favorite of mine has to be steampunk. Just the theme alone inspires so much cool elements. I recently went to Gamescom in Cologne and they had this stand of The Order 1886 and people dressed up steampunk style. It's just awesome. Everything is possible, and this is exactly what David Barnett shows in Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl. I have read a fair share of steampunk themed stories and one that still stands out is the one from Cherie Priest The Clockwork Century and Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl reminds me the most of it. Just as much creativity, originality and fun to read. Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl is written by David Barnett who has worked extensively in newspapers as an editor. He is best knows for his books popCULT, Hinterland and Angleglass.


In Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl, you follow the adventures of Gideon Smith a young adolescent boy, 24 years old. Gideon lives in the small town of Sandsend where he grew up as the son of a fisherman, this isn't really that of an exciting life and to seek some adventure in his life he likes nothing more than to sit around and day dream and read one of his many penny dreadful pocket books featuring the enigmatic hero Captain Lucian Trigger. Sandsend isn't really that of a backwater type of village but Gideon doesn't know much about the world yet and combined with his age he is a very naive boy. But this is all about to change, while Gideon's father is out fishing he is lost at see by a set of unexplainable circumstances. These circumstances force Gideon more or less to grow up and become an adult. However the "accident" with his father isn't the only unexplainable thing that happens to Sandsend, other events occur. In Sandsend Gideon suddenly bumps into none other then Bram Stoker and I think we all know where is best known from. After some conversing they come to a divided opinion about what causes the strange things to happen to Sandsend and don't think it's a prank played upon them but think more in the lines of the supernatural, vampires and yes mummies. Now Gideon wants to find out just what exactly happened to his father and the crew of his fisherman's boat, what better way to start that first trying to find your hero, so Gideon sets off to London to find Lucian Trigger. But this is only the start off the story as Gideon soon finds himself in many a strange place and situation. Along his search Gideon makes new friends and amongst one of them, an automaton, is the mechanical girl Maria. I am not going to say that this is a merry adventure because David Barnett paints a dark and dangerous world.


The storyline is one of a lot of creativity. It already mentioned in the press release the ultimate Victoriana/steampunk mash-up. Well I can only second this opinion. David Barnett creates a very dynamic world within Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl. You have the steampunk influences from the technology, steamtrawlers and sky ships and mechanical bikes and lets not forget the automaton Maria and the historical Victorian setting is achieved by not only visiting places such a London but also by introducing several well known historical characters like Bram Stoker, Einstein and Elizabeth Bathory. Names help a lot to inspire a setting, but what helps even more is how they act and more what they are or what they become. I already mention in the paragraph above that you have to expect mummies and vampires... Don't expect any fluffy type of supernatural creatures but a dark and nefarious setting that accompanies them. It's all these things combines that make the world of Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl very interesting and engaging to say the least. David Barnett shows a great feat of world-building, though it might sound unthinkable, all these different element work very well with each other.


The characters that David Barnett introduces like the main protagonist Gideon Smith and many of the side characters are all well executed and sound very convincing. Take Gideon for example, he sets on an adventure of a life time in finding out what happened to his father. But never having ventured that far away from Sandsend he is confronted by many new things, Gideon is also just a growing adult, only 24 years old and this is exactly the personality that is shown. An integral part of the journey that Gideon undertakes is coming of age, learning and understanding new things. I really liked this bit about Gideon's characters, it clearly came to show that David Barnett invested a lot of time in make Gideon a star of the show. But luckily not a star that takes of all the attention of the other characters. When you look at the automaton, Maria, she could just as easily be the lead character of the story. I was impressed with the backstory that was told about her character, how she came to be what she is. Let me tell that it wasn't just building her that made her be, there were some horrid experiments carried out to make what she is, though I still thought of her as an automaton, it definitely wasn't one of the "simple" category, David Barnett introduces a very humane and emotional side to her character, just how he achieves this is something that you have to find out for yourself...

Next to Gideon and Maria there are still plenty of more characters to be mentioned, some that play a more important role in Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl are the historical characters Bram Stoker, Einstein and Elizabeth Bathory. Bram Stoker is of course the famous Irish novelist, he is in search for the mythical creatures known as vampires. Bram is a married man and stumbles by chance on the Countess Elizabeth Bathory, the widow of none other than Count Dracula (now you might see a certain direction to the story). Bram kind of falls for the charms of Elizabeth but perhaps more of what she really is. I was very intrigued by the relation that David Barnett created between them, Elizabeth is held in awe for what she is, Bram on some level is drawn to her but fears to give in completely if you know what I mean. It's very interesting and even though the main focus is on Gideon, you will still be engaged and wanting to find out what happens next. And I do have to say the the ending of the book was just perfect. Now as for Einstein, it is not Albert but his father, I am only going to bring him in relation to one other character. Maria. This should say enough. Hermann Einstein is the mad scientist, quite gruesome. All the character that David Barnett introduced were a lot of fun to read about, they all had their own personalities and odd habits.


Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl is a fantastic steampunk book. I can safely that I haven't come across many such a book as this one. David Barnett pulls all the stops and created a truly creative and highly enjoyable world and story within the book. It might still hit certain tropes set in steampunk but this is unavoidable it is about how you use them in your story to get to new heights and this is exactly what he has done. The characterization and world building that features in Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl is spot on and felt like you were right there next to Gideon. Added to this comes the writing style and narration of which is one that will get you hooked from the first page onwards and you desperately want to find out just what happens next to our unlikely hero in the making. David Barnett is off to a great start with Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl, must read for every steampunk fan. Gideon Smith and the Brass Dragon will be out this mid-September later this year. In the meanwhile you can indulgde yourself in two short stories that David Barnett wrote in the Gideon Smith universe: Work Sets You Free and Business as Usual.

[Glshade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought not without a niggle here and there Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl is a marvelously pulpy adventure read that taps into many things if you look a little deeper. Loved this book... The first few chapters are a mix of social horror and Victorian farce. Go here to check my full review. http://deadwoodreviews.blogspot.com/2... or read further




David Barnett gave a great interview to My Bookish Ways (here) which you should definitely read if your interested in Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl; he talks about how he did not set out to write a steampunk or an alternate history novel or any of the other pop sub-genres but just a novel that was great fun and he succeds handily. Gideon and the Mechanical Girl is a great fun read, at times hilariously funny in its irony, its a look at how fans of fiction deal with struggles at times and its touching in its treatment of its characters. I the oddest things I would say about it is that though it has all the trappings of steampunk; clockwork "people", weird technology, odd magic, mythic monsters, young daring heroes, Zeppelins and Victorian cameos galore David's novel feels like something totally different. Its really lore of a penny blood, a penny dreadful and a pulp serial adventure all wrapped up in a look at the role of heroic fiction in the world. This story has heroes that are young and untested, heroes that are old and wanting a last chance to glory and characters struggling to find themselves all around; tor.com has published a couple of short works that spotlight the main character Gideon from early in his story, a background character called Wallsingham both ruin nothing of the novel and are very different glimpses into this world and a peek at the first chaper about a normal shop girl in London which is rather chilling. Gideonmand the Mechanical Girl has lots of the heart and enthusiasm of Raiders of the Lost Arc mixed with the classic Hero's journey and steampunk setting and I thnk appealing to more then just subgenre lovers.

Set solidly in an alternate late Victorian Britian where America failed to break free, the new world is a patchwork of interests; where there are steam powered vehicles, clockwork wound engines wild tales of scientific adventure pulp daring do and the classes god forbid ever try to mix. "Gideon" is an adveture novel that has as much in common with the old penny dreadfuls as it does with the 20th century pulp serials and is certain to find many fans but I will give a word of caution if you expect kitschy steampunk sensibilities and all that go with them you may be in for a surprise. This novel is a novel of heroic quests of revenge and discovery, tours along the countryside and to the airways, it has a mechanical girl as in the title but vampires monsters and other things abound here. This setting has as much to do with ancient magics as it does with crazy inventions and is really likely to thrill readers looking for an old fashioned Saturday serial like tale. David's story is classic in that it is the untried young man coming into himself but it is equal amounts intrigue of older heroes who's time is coming due and who may become something else.

Gideon Smith, our titular hero, is a young man looking at an in appealing future; he is likely to inherit his father's clockwork fishing trawler in a nowhere Yorkshire town and live out a life bereft of the adventure he craves. He is a well too old fan of the adventures of the Hero of the Empire Captian Trigger who's stories of daring do appear in the penny dreadfuls and make Gideon long for foreign shore like the splintered colonies in the Americas, expeditions to the floor of the ocean and to fight the likes of desiccated mummies, vampires and the secessionists of Texas. It will be gaining nothing away that he gets his wish and gets the call to adventure in the worst of all possible ways, that being tragedy. He is a character driven by his desire to be the hero of the tales he loves so much and believes the tag line that goes with the stories that proclaim their veracity. Gideon is very much a Victorian era fiction geek and would be well at home in a conversation debating the merits of one hero over another like many that happen in comic shops and specialty book store these days. This is the story of him learning that your heroes can be both much less and much more then you think; its a familiar tale but David's version is quite well told.

In terms of temporal cameos there are a few but one of the other major characters happens to be theatre reviewer of the era and writer Bram Stoker. Gideon meets this older fellow by chance and they get pulled into each others stories; Stoker is in the small town searching for writing inspiration and think he finds it in this earnest young man. Together they begin to investigate the mysteries cropping up in Sandsend, Yorkshire. Though older and perhaps should be wiser then Smith, Bram too seems a man adrift in life when we meet him, he's a husband and father distant from his family and possessed of a desire to be something more then what he is at the moment. Some of the elements of the story that surrounds him could be guessed at but the way things play out are far too much wry humerous fun and lead to more adventures to ruin for people who have yet to get the book. The other players and viewpoints include a crusty brash reporter, a mysterious mechanical Girl, and variations on the characters mentioned in the tales of the aformentioned Captain Trigger stories not to forget people reminiscent of Indiana Jones's first adventure.

David in the creation of this world seems to have let his imagination fly. The setting if familiar in that there are the dirigibles, steam vehicles and odd clockworks that are e fare of steampunk novels. The British Empire is preeminent among the mperial powers but the way that he has remixed them and played with details is pure joy to discover in the action and exploration that happens throughout London. The novel plays a lot like an adventure travelogue in the Victorian era; we get races through the London streets and skies, air travels across Europe and well beyond that would be telling. There is action and bloodshed a plenty along the way and since most of the characters are motivated by the need for justice otherwise known as revenge its no surprise that violence is the outcome. If you read the above lined tales you can get a feel for the way David handles it and its very pulp fiction in my opinion. He does not linger on details but on the outcomes and when the chips finally fall, though there is plenty of questions and territory to explore, this tale feels satisfyingly concluded.

Gideon Smith over the corse of the story goes from being naive and hero worshiping fan to someone who can step up and be the hero he admires. The undertone of the novel to me explored the nature of having a heroic figure that you pin your hopes to and looked at the realities of being exposed to the person you'd imagined the hero to be in reality. Exposure to the world away from Sandend change Gideon from his meeting the man Bram Stoker who aids Gideon for his own ends, his faithful encounter with the Mechanical Girl who's situation and struggles motivate him to act, the gruf profane journalist Bent who offers his aid for price - a story to his meeting with the idols of the penny blood stories Captain Lucian Trigger, Rowena the Belle of the Airways and the rogueish American antihero to name just a few. Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl is a book hat will thrill and surprise people who check it out; it should have wider appeal then books locked into a subgenre, Davdi succeded to write a truly ripping yarn that leaves you satisfies and wanting another look at this alternate history pulp adventure.

[Blue · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was set in Britain but a character distinctly said "aluminum" not "aluminium". There were probably other errors too, but that one is what stood out. Somehow I did have an impression that despite the setting it was written by someone who was not British, although I have not looked into it. (Okay, I did. He apparently is and must have a crap publisher and/or editor.) There were some other spellings that were American-English, the cussing was American, and some phrasing seemed not-so-British despite the characters being ostensibly British. hmmm If I liked this book slightly more I would probably beat myself into a virtual wall in an attempt to find a non-American publication of the novel. Maybe I will have to be more careful when picking up the sequels.

Or listen to less BBC news, and the Documentary podcast, and People Fixing the World (The best of their line-up!).

lol no.

The story was neat, and the world, although it had some "nods" to other works that made the book feel more like a patchwork/bobblehead than its own thing. Playing with the stuff was creative though, unless I have avoided the published fanfics called 'reimaginings' better than I thought. The start was a promising story and world I was excited to jump into, but eventually it grew dull, bland with repeating tropes. For example, the start had women poking fun at gender roles (being told to wait and just 'lol no') but they became marginalized as sidekick/driver, always damsel in distress, and wife.

The ending was strange. I swore this would be a 4 star book, maybe 5, but too many odd things and then the ending settled it. It is a real psychology thing that the end matters more than the overall - especially with pain if the pain is less at the end of the experience it is a better experience than if the total pain and duration is less even with the same high point if the high point is the end. Okay, that is extreme - the ending wasn't bad, just odd, and thus highlighted the other odd parts.
What was it? There was some predictability, which wasn't a surprise although much of the book plays against the tropes, but really I just found it hard to follow. I got lost, even tried to visualize the characters moving and couldn't place it all. There was a switch of . . . location switched vessels . . . and I just felt lost. Perhaps somewhere something contradicted itself (and unfix revision ghost) but if so I missed what the contradiction was, instead I was just confused.

[Connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

[spoilers]

I received this as a Page One books surprise recommendation. I'm not sure if I didn't like this because I don't like steampunk, or because it was written for a younger audience, or because the story itself wasn't inspiring, but characters are little more than stereotypes. The main character is boring to the point that I wish it had been literally anyone else.

What annoyed me the most was how every single one of the main female characters was constantly getting sexualized by multiple male characters, except the gay ones. I'm not saying we can't enjoy lecherous characters, mainly that Bent just is not a good one. He doesn't get kicked around enough in response for the slapstick to work, so the result is just a slobbering fat man leering at ~boobies~ and suffering zero consequences for his actions. Gross.

Oh, and of course our simple hick main character gets FOUR (4) on-the-mouth kisses from all the hot female leads. Seriously? What? With that personality? Fanshawe strolls up to his bed 7 hours after meeting him and stuffs his hands into her boobs because this simpleton is just that irresistible? At the end, instead of just waving bye like a normal unattainable MILF, Bathory kisses him? Is this a porno? Do independent women in this universe just have a thing for unaccomplished, bland boys? Do they just go about doling out pity smooches to boring virgins whose only personality traits are that they're "nice"?

Also you'd think Fanshawe would be at least a little bit pissed that Cockayne shot her ability to make a living out of the sky, but no, we don't even hear a single "hey that was my ship" out of her. Just goes to show we have no idea what her motivations are and that they don't matter!

[Regan · Rating 1 out of 5]

BOOK FAIL (meaning I got about halfway through and remembered life is too short to read stuff that you don't like):

Ugh. I just rarely like steampunk and I REALLY REALLY hate stuff that is overly referential of other works. I mean, I don't mind if you take someone else's story and turn it on its head (some of my fave stuff falls into that realm) but this had, like, I don't know - ALL the characters pulled from somewhere else, turned on their heads, and reworked into something, well, in the immortal words of The Mighty Boosh,
"Elements of the past and the future combining to make something not quite as good as either..."

(and, yes, I DO get the irony of what I just did there)

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I realise that this isn't supposed to be taken too seriously but it really is a light bit of fluff. Quite enjoyable but still rather fluffy.

It's a light-hearted swashbuckling adventure story that I might have classified as 'Young Adult' had it not been for the numerous moments of gratuitous adult content that mean that I wouldn't be overly happy letting my teenage children read this. To me that seems a strange authorial/editorial decision as it shuts out what seems to me to be an otherwise natural market for this kind of adventure fiction.

So, it's set up quite plainly for (any number of) sequels but I'm not sure whether I'll pursue any of them although I'll see how my mood takes me.