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Burton & Swinburne #6
The Rise of the Automated Aristocrats
Burton and Swinburne return for their final thrilling adventure!
Sir Richard Francis Burton’s expedition has returned from the future, bringing with it knowledge of technologies which must remain secret for history to follow its natural course.
Betrayed by one of their own, Burton and Swinburne watch in horror as the Empire’s elite use this knowledge to secure their positions for all eternity, branding any who oppose them as enemies of the State.
Can their band of hunted revolutionaries overthrow the ultimate automated autocrat – their King?.
Sir Richard Francis Burton’s expedition has returned from the future, bringing with it knowledge of technologies which must remain secret for history to follow its natural course.
Betrayed by one of their own, Burton and Swinburne watch in horror as the Empire’s elite use this knowledge to secure their positions for all eternity, branding any who oppose them as enemies of the State.
Can their band of hunted revolutionaries overthrow the ultimate automated autocrat – their King?.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published July 30, 2015
15 people are currently reading
678 people want to read
About the author
Mark Hodder
74 books523 followersBritish author living in Valencia, Spain.
Burton & Swinburne Novels:
THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF SPRING-HEELED JACK (Winner of the Philip K. Dick Award 2010)
THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE CLOCKWORK MAN
EXPEDITION TO THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON
THE SECRET OF ABDU EL YEZDI
THE RETURN OF THE DISCONTINUED MAN
THE RISE OF THE AUTOMATED ARISTOCRATS
Other Novels:
A RED SUN ALSO RISES
THE SILENT THUNDER CAPER
A DARK AND SUBTLE LIGHT
Novels in Collaboration with Michael Moorcock:
CARIBBEAN CRISIS/VOODOO ISLAND
THE ALBINO'S SECRET (forthcoming)
THE ALBINO'S HONOUR (forthcoming)
THE ALBINO'S EYE (forthcoming)
As Editor:
SEXTON BLAKE AND THE GREAT WAR
SEXTON BLAKE VERSUS THE MASTER CROOKS
SEXTON BLAKE'S ALLIES
SEXTON BLAKE ON THE HOME FRONT
SEXTON BLAKE'S NEW ORDER
Burton & Swinburne Novels:
THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF SPRING-HEELED JACK (Winner of the Philip K. Dick Award 2010)
THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE CLOCKWORK MAN
EXPEDITION TO THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON
THE SECRET OF ABDU EL YEZDI
THE RETURN OF THE DISCONTINUED MAN
THE RISE OF THE AUTOMATED ARISTOCRATS
Other Novels:
A RED SUN ALSO RISES
THE SILENT THUNDER CAPER
A DARK AND SUBTLE LIGHT
Novels in Collaboration with Michael Moorcock:
CARIBBEAN CRISIS/VOODOO ISLAND
THE ALBINO'S SECRET (forthcoming)
THE ALBINO'S HONOUR (forthcoming)
THE ALBINO'S EYE (forthcoming)
As Editor:
SEXTON BLAKE AND THE GREAT WAR
SEXTON BLAKE VERSUS THE MASTER CROOKS
SEXTON BLAKE'S ALLIES
SEXTON BLAKE ON THE HOME FRONT
SEXTON BLAKE'S NEW ORDER
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
December 14, 2020
This final volume of Burton & Swinburne's rollicking and philosophical steampunk, time travel, alt-history, lizard people, genetic engineering, technology gone mad, psychic diamond, and poetry saga brings it all to a satisfying conclusion. This is one of my all-time favorite series, although it will not be everyone's cup of tea. (Because it's British. See what I did there?) If you're looking for something unique, full of adventure, surprises, 19th century homage, and historical characters, I highly recommend it. I don't know how to summarize the plot in any way that would not spoil events.
I was worried about starting this book, even a little scared, because the end of book five saw a major character changed in a way that I didn't know how the story could come back from. I was quickly relieved by the change in tack, which was internally consistent and drove the story in a wonderful new direction. I am astounded, looking back over the series, at how well themes such as the natures of time, history, humanity, identity, and fate, are explored in an action adventure series with pulp foundations.
The end of chapter three . . . I had chills. It's on par with the end of chapter eleven from the second book, The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man for moments that had me wanting to jump and shout, "Yeah!"
The only drawback is a lack of ethnic and gender diversity in the cast of characters, if that is important to you. There is one British Indian woman who is a solid player throughout, but she is usually relegated to the background. The storyline quickly disposes of the one other recurring female character of note, more than once in the series. The impacts of British colonialism and racism on the world are not ignored, and the main character specifically supports the value of other cultures, Arabic in particular, but on the whole it's a story of white British aristocrats.
Final word (perhaps): I am not a poetry fan, but this series' incorporation of real-world Algernon Swinburne's work has moved that needle.
I was worried about starting this book, even a little scared, because the end of book five saw a major character changed in a way that I didn't know how the story could come back from. I was quickly relieved by the change in tack, which was internally consistent and drove the story in a wonderful new direction. I am astounded, looking back over the series, at how well themes such as the natures of time, history, humanity, identity, and fate, are explored in an action adventure series with pulp foundations.
The end of chapter three . . . I had chills. It's on par with the end of chapter eleven from the second book, The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man for moments that had me wanting to jump and shout, "Yeah!"
The only drawback is a lack of ethnic and gender diversity in the cast of characters, if that is important to you. There is one British Indian woman who is a solid player throughout, but she is usually relegated to the background. The storyline quickly disposes of the one other recurring female character of note, more than once in the series. The impacts of British colonialism and racism on the world are not ignored, and the main character specifically supports the value of other cultures, Arabic in particular, but on the whole it's a story of white British aristocrats.
Final word (perhaps): I am not a poetry fan, but this series' incorporation of real-world Algernon Swinburne's work has moved that needle.
January 17, 2016
One last Burton and Swinburne adventure. I've enjoyed every single book in this series. All have gotten 5 stars. One of the top 5 series I've ever read. Steampunk, time traveling, historical, great characters, great setting and some of the best covers ever.
August 18, 2015
(Note: I've tried to hide spoilers behind tags, but it's possible something not tagged will be spoilery to you if you haven't read the full series. This review is more a reaction to the book and series than the kind of review telling people whether or not they should read the book.)
I found this book to be, on the whole, very disappointing.
First, let me back up and say something good. The beginning hooked me right off (well, after the brief intro part). It was very promising and had some amusing parts. Also, there were several laugh-out-loud phrases or bits of dialogue in this book, something that this series has done pretty well at, especially in the last few books. And Swinburne (any version of him) continues to be a delight of a character.
It’s because there are some things about this series that are so wonderful which make the problematic things so frustrating to me.
So, the time travel. It’s clear the author has put a lot of thought into it. Maybe this is a case of someone trying to make something so complicated that it gets out of hand and stops making sense because the more complicated they make it, the more room there is for holes, and the more invested in their own theories they become, the less likely they are to see those holes. I mentioned some of the logic holes and inconsistencies in my Goodreads review of the last book. This one doesn’t really do anything to satisfactorily answer those, and it adds more.
There are a number of logical problems which are hand-waved away with non-answers or simply ignored as if we’re not supposed to think of them. Such as: Why did they return so much later and not immediately after they left the past? (They just say that they deemed it best, without any reasoning.) Or how about, When Krishnamurti and Ragavendra are kidnapped, why don’t Gouch or Lawless use their nanotech communication devices they had implanted in the future to talk to them and find out where they are? (This is not brought up as an option or mentioned in any way.) The big climax at the end with the main villain and how that is dealt with is just mind-bogglingly strange and seems to come out of nowhere with no logic or reason behind it.
In the end but no rational reason is given for how or why. It’s like an end-of-series tack-on.
Really, there’s no reason for the plot of this novel to exist, given what we’re shown in the beginning part of it. Here’s what I mean:
That was all that was needed to fix time and bring this whole series full circle (though it would do so by basically wiping everything that happened out of existence).
But logic aside, I think the biggest flaw of this series is the way it deliberately jettisons all momentum it manages to build up in regard to my caring about the characters. Twice.
For me, the characters are the most important aspect of a story. I need to like them and invest in them emotionally or nothing else matters. This is why I don’t usually like horror stories (all/most of the good guys usually die) or thriller/mystery/military type books (characters are usually one-dimensional clichéd shells) or hard sci-fi (too much focus on the fake science/technology/civilization with shallow characters) or even a lot of epic fantasy (there are so many characters that none of them are featured or developed enough for me to care about, or they’re clichés). An author really needs to get me invested in the characters (or at the very least one character) for me to rate the story very highly on my personal scale.
This series did not hook me with its characters very quickly. After the first book, I still really didn’t care much about any of them. This improved somewhat in the second book, and by part-way through the third, I was finally invested in them. And then , and the next book begins with a different cast of characters entirely, in a different world entirely. I don’t have a problem with the different world. The setting is not what I get attached to (very much) and it was interesting to see a different alternate history. But the Burton, Swinburne, etc. who are in the fourth book are different people—different characters—from the ones I’d just spent three books getting to know and slowly growing attached to. While there was some bleedover of fondness for them from their alternate versions, it wasn’t the same. It was like having a friend and then that person dies or goes away forever and you befriend their twin. They’re similar, yes, but they’re not the same person, and you have to start all over again building up that connection. For me, the second batch of characters never attached themselves to me as closely as the first batch did.
In book four . And then, in the second book with this second batch of characters, it ends with . Which seems a bit like the author’s written himself into a corner, right?
It should come as no surprise at this point, to anyone who’s been keeping up with the series, that the sixth and supposedly last book in the series starts off with a whole new Burton. In fact, three of the major characters (Burton, Swinburne, and Trounce) are replaced entirely with versions of themselves from a history that’s nearly the real one (meaning alternate but not by very much, comparatively). Most of the other characters are still the same as the second batch (though they have little to no presence in this book), but we have to start fresh again with yet another version of these three major characters, and it’s like if that second twin died and was replaced with another of what turns out to be triplets. Each time they’re replaced and start over, I’m less and less eager to put the emotional investment in, especially (in this case) knowing this is the last book so I won’t have much time with this version of them.
There was even a great way to bring back the first Trounce and Burton, and maybe even Swinburne . The way that the new versions of them in this story are brought in is that Why didn’t the author just have ? It would have melded the two batches of characters (although still having only one version of each and missing some members) without introducing whole new protagonists in the last book.
It’s as if the author was having so much fun coming up with different versions of his characters that he kept killing them off and bringing in alternate versions. And yet he doesn’t even make the best use of this by having each new version have to learn about the established history and alternate selves the hard way, and let us see their entertaining reactions, but rather in this story he just has Burton, Swinburne, and Trounce 3.0 magically have the memories of their alternate selves so that they fit right in and nothing’s really as shocking as it should be and there’s no period of adapting to their new reality.
Meanwhile, Isabelle is still dead so the badass warrior chick from book 3 doesn’t come back into the story, which is a real wasted opportunity to have more than one important female character in what, on the whole, a bit of a sausage-fest. (And even Ragavendra was almost entirely absent from this book.) Aside from a few brief references to events in the first history (the one he spent the first three books developing), that first timeline and first batch of characters are pretty much entirely forgotten about. All that emotional collateral the author had built up (and it didn’t come particularly easily in my case) is and continues to be wasted. I had grown to really like and care about the first batch of characters. I cared less about the second batch. I care even less about the third. After book 3, I kept hoping that the first Swinburne, Trounce, Isabelle, Honesty, etc. would come back into the story somehow. After book 4, original Burton was added to that list. But they didn’t. (I’m not counting .) The characters introduced and developed in the first three books are simply gone, replaced by similar-but-not-the-same copies, and in some cases not even that.
In the end, I would have been able to look past the many logical problems and inconsistencies if the characters had not been tossed aside and replaced so frequently. As it is, I feel as if the author is punishing me for allowing him to sucker me into caring for them.
If you’re the type of reader for whom characters are a secondary concern and an interesting plot is a primary concern, and you don’t analyze everything and expect it all to line up in a perfectly logical manner, then by all means check this series out. Especially if time travel and/or steampunk is your thing. Because there really is a huge amount of imagination in this world and the plot of the story is very engaging. I don’t think I’ve read any time travel story that even attempted to get this complex, so I have to give the author props for putting so much thought and effort into it. Even though I still see lots of plot holes and inconsistencies, I can’t hold that against him too much because of the sheer scope and complexity of what he was going for, a challenge which few authors would even attempt.
Also, I listened to these on audiobook. The narrator, Gerard Doyle, is very good. His narration was always good and sometimes outstanding. There were some odd parts where lines or whole paragraphs get repeated or where the wrong name is used in a dialogue tag, but I don’t have a hard copy to compare if that’s unique to the audio version or if it was in the printed version as well. Overall, a very good production, though.
In closing, I want to list some of my favorite things about this series: Swinburne’s aunt-related exclamations, the creative insults of foul-mouthed messenger parakeets, Swinburne’s masochistic delight (especially as enacted by the narrator), riding crustaceans, the spider-sweep dialogue in book five, Swinburne’s moments of true heroism, and the too-brief glimpse of King’s Agent Isabelle. Also Swinburne.
(There's an even longer version of this review on my review blog.)
I found this book to be, on the whole, very disappointing.
First, let me back up and say something good. The beginning hooked me right off (well, after the brief intro part). It was very promising and had some amusing parts. Also, there were several laugh-out-loud phrases or bits of dialogue in this book, something that this series has done pretty well at, especially in the last few books. And Swinburne (any version of him) continues to be a delight of a character.
It’s because there are some things about this series that are so wonderful which make the problematic things so frustrating to me.
So, the time travel. It’s clear the author has put a lot of thought into it. Maybe this is a case of someone trying to make something so complicated that it gets out of hand and stops making sense because the more complicated they make it, the more room there is for holes, and the more invested in their own theories they become, the less likely they are to see those holes. I mentioned some of the logic holes and inconsistencies in my Goodreads review of the last book. This one doesn’t really do anything to satisfactorily answer those, and it adds more.
There are a number of logical problems which are hand-waved away with non-answers or simply ignored as if we’re not supposed to think of them. Such as: Why did they return so much later and not immediately after they left the past? (They just say that they deemed it best, without any reasoning.) Or how about, When Krishnamurti and Ragavendra are kidnapped, why don’t Gouch or Lawless use their nanotech communication devices they had implanted in the future to talk to them and find out where they are? (This is not brought up as an option or mentioned in any way.) The big climax at the end with the main villain and how that is dealt with is just mind-bogglingly strange and seems to come out of nowhere with no logic or reason behind it.
In the end but no rational reason is given for how or why. It’s like an end-of-series tack-on.
Really, there’s no reason for the plot of this novel to exist, given what we’re shown in the beginning part of it. Here’s what I mean:
That was all that was needed to fix time and bring this whole series full circle (though it would do so by basically wiping everything that happened out of existence).
But logic aside, I think the biggest flaw of this series is the way it deliberately jettisons all momentum it manages to build up in regard to my caring about the characters. Twice.
For me, the characters are the most important aspect of a story. I need to like them and invest in them emotionally or nothing else matters. This is why I don’t usually like horror stories (all/most of the good guys usually die) or thriller/mystery/military type books (characters are usually one-dimensional clichéd shells) or hard sci-fi (too much focus on the fake science/technology/civilization with shallow characters) or even a lot of epic fantasy (there are so many characters that none of them are featured or developed enough for me to care about, or they’re clichés). An author really needs to get me invested in the characters (or at the very least one character) for me to rate the story very highly on my personal scale.
This series did not hook me with its characters very quickly. After the first book, I still really didn’t care much about any of them. This improved somewhat in the second book, and by part-way through the third, I was finally invested in them. And then , and the next book begins with a different cast of characters entirely, in a different world entirely. I don’t have a problem with the different world. The setting is not what I get attached to (very much) and it was interesting to see a different alternate history. But the Burton, Swinburne, etc. who are in the fourth book are different people—different characters—from the ones I’d just spent three books getting to know and slowly growing attached to. While there was some bleedover of fondness for them from their alternate versions, it wasn’t the same. It was like having a friend and then that person dies or goes away forever and you befriend their twin. They’re similar, yes, but they’re not the same person, and you have to start all over again building up that connection. For me, the second batch of characters never attached themselves to me as closely as the first batch did.
In book four . And then, in the second book with this second batch of characters, it ends with . Which seems a bit like the author’s written himself into a corner, right?
It should come as no surprise at this point, to anyone who’s been keeping up with the series, that the sixth and supposedly last book in the series starts off with a whole new Burton. In fact, three of the major characters (Burton, Swinburne, and Trounce) are replaced entirely with versions of themselves from a history that’s nearly the real one (meaning alternate but not by very much, comparatively). Most of the other characters are still the same as the second batch (though they have little to no presence in this book), but we have to start fresh again with yet another version of these three major characters, and it’s like if that second twin died and was replaced with another of what turns out to be triplets. Each time they’re replaced and start over, I’m less and less eager to put the emotional investment in, especially (in this case) knowing this is the last book so I won’t have much time with this version of them.
There was even a great way to bring back the first Trounce and Burton, and maybe even Swinburne . The way that the new versions of them in this story are brought in is that Why didn’t the author just have ? It would have melded the two batches of characters (although still having only one version of each and missing some members) without introducing whole new protagonists in the last book.
It’s as if the author was having so much fun coming up with different versions of his characters that he kept killing them off and bringing in alternate versions. And yet he doesn’t even make the best use of this by having each new version have to learn about the established history and alternate selves the hard way, and let us see their entertaining reactions, but rather in this story he just has Burton, Swinburne, and Trounce 3.0 magically have the memories of their alternate selves so that they fit right in and nothing’s really as shocking as it should be and there’s no period of adapting to their new reality.
Meanwhile, Isabelle is still dead so the badass warrior chick from book 3 doesn’t come back into the story, which is a real wasted opportunity to have more than one important female character in what, on the whole, a bit of a sausage-fest. (And even Ragavendra was almost entirely absent from this book.) Aside from a few brief references to events in the first history (the one he spent the first three books developing), that first timeline and first batch of characters are pretty much entirely forgotten about. All that emotional collateral the author had built up (and it didn’t come particularly easily in my case) is and continues to be wasted. I had grown to really like and care about the first batch of characters. I cared less about the second batch. I care even less about the third. After book 3, I kept hoping that the first Swinburne, Trounce, Isabelle, Honesty, etc. would come back into the story somehow. After book 4, original Burton was added to that list. But they didn’t. (I’m not counting .) The characters introduced and developed in the first three books are simply gone, replaced by similar-but-not-the-same copies, and in some cases not even that.
In the end, I would have been able to look past the many logical problems and inconsistencies if the characters had not been tossed aside and replaced so frequently. As it is, I feel as if the author is punishing me for allowing him to sucker me into caring for them.
If you’re the type of reader for whom characters are a secondary concern and an interesting plot is a primary concern, and you don’t analyze everything and expect it all to line up in a perfectly logical manner, then by all means check this series out. Especially if time travel and/or steampunk is your thing. Because there really is a huge amount of imagination in this world and the plot of the story is very engaging. I don’t think I’ve read any time travel story that even attempted to get this complex, so I have to give the author props for putting so much thought and effort into it. Even though I still see lots of plot holes and inconsistencies, I can’t hold that against him too much because of the sheer scope and complexity of what he was going for, a challenge which few authors would even attempt.
Also, I listened to these on audiobook. The narrator, Gerard Doyle, is very good. His narration was always good and sometimes outstanding. There were some odd parts where lines or whole paragraphs get repeated or where the wrong name is used in a dialogue tag, but I don’t have a hard copy to compare if that’s unique to the audio version or if it was in the printed version as well. Overall, a very good production, though.
In closing, I want to list some of my favorite things about this series: Swinburne’s aunt-related exclamations, the creative insults of foul-mouthed messenger parakeets, Swinburne’s masochistic delight (especially as enacted by the narrator), riding crustaceans, the spider-sweep dialogue in book five, Swinburne’s moments of true heroism, and the too-brief glimpse of King’s Agent Isabelle. Also Swinburne.
(There's an even longer version of this review on my review blog.)
June 26, 2022
Perhaps too ambitious for this type of literature. Also, too dystopic for my tastes.
September 4, 2017
In this sixth and final volume of the Burton and Swinburne series, Burton is retrieved from his death bed in our line of history, and taken to the alternate steampunk universe to help his friends find the missing inventor, Babbage. The very history that Burton risked his life to change is now becoming a reality as he must fight against technologically-enhanced aristocrats, sadistic enemies, and an artificial intelligence gone rogue.
Hodder has an amazing talent for creating a realistic alternate universe with believable crises. This novel, while at times too philosophical, wraps up the series nicely with an exciting, complex plot and wonderful, multidimensional characters. Overall, this steampunk fantasy series is a winner and comes highly recommended.
Hodder has an amazing talent for creating a realistic alternate universe with believable crises. This novel, while at times too philosophical, wraps up the series nicely with an exciting, complex plot and wonderful, multidimensional characters. Overall, this steampunk fantasy series is a winner and comes highly recommended.
August 26, 2015
Well, we got there in the end. Mark Hodder's Burton and Swinburne adventures wrap up in The Rise of the Automated Aristocrats. And what a ride the six books (starting with The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack) have been. Admittedly, I found the first section a bit of a jumble, like Hodder once again had all these ideas that he just needed to get out there and couldn't quite fit into a story easily. However, the philosophical musterings and character musings do have a purpose in getting our heroes where and when they need to be for the majority of the story to pan out.
We've gone all the way back to 1861 and things get dire quickly causing Burton, in particular to suffer under some rather distressing circumstances. For sake of not spoiling much, I'll just say this - more than any other B&S adventure, this one has truly difficult to read passages if you're not a fan of violence. But, much like the rambling first section, there is a purpose to it all. There's even a sense that we've come to the end of the series proper. (Not to say that off shoot stories couldn't result in, say, short story or novella format.) I say a sense. With Hodder, one never quite knows what he's going to come out with next. With plenty of the usual expected twists, unexpected turns, character call backs and steampunkery, Rise of the Automated Aristocrats lives up to its predecessors assuming you've gotten this far. Burton & Swinburne really are best enjoyed if you've read them all.
We've gone all the way back to 1861 and things get dire quickly causing Burton, in particular to suffer under some rather distressing circumstances. For sake of not spoiling much, I'll just say this - more than any other B&S adventure, this one has truly difficult to read passages if you're not a fan of violence. But, much like the rambling first section, there is a purpose to it all. There's even a sense that we've come to the end of the series proper. (Not to say that off shoot stories couldn't result in, say, short story or novella format.) I say a sense. With Hodder, one never quite knows what he's going to come out with next. With plenty of the usual expected twists, unexpected turns, character call backs and steampunkery, Rise of the Automated Aristocrats lives up to its predecessors assuming you've gotten this far. Burton & Swinburne really are best enjoyed if you've read them all.
September 24, 2019
One crazy steampunk finale.
This one has been a work in progress for the last 5 or even 6 years. It also complicated my perception of the book as there were several years that separated this book from its predecessor, and I am not talking about the usual publishing delay, but my personal procrastination as well.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book even though it was a challenge sometimes to follow the plot lines due to personal reasons, or plot sluggishness, or an attempt to put together so many timelines in which
our character got stranded.
There was a little bit of everything in this final installment - some swashbuckling adventure, some sacrifice, some jokes, some comical relief, some social commentary, some critical commentary, theory of time, questions about the nature of poetry, and of course, some very shroomy images and ideas. Steampunk in its full swing.
I am not completely sure that the book deserve 4 stars, but it is the one that I enjoyed, and it is mostly a sentimental rating as I liked the series and keep its protagonists close to my heart.
This one has been a work in progress for the last 5 or even 6 years. It also complicated my perception of the book as there were several years that separated this book from its predecessor, and I am not talking about the usual publishing delay, but my personal procrastination as well.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book even though it was a challenge sometimes to follow the plot lines due to personal reasons, or plot sluggishness, or an attempt to put together so many timelines in which
our character got stranded.
There was a little bit of everything in this final installment - some swashbuckling adventure, some sacrifice, some jokes, some comical relief, some social commentary, some critical commentary, theory of time, questions about the nature of poetry, and of course, some very shroomy images and ideas. Steampunk in its full swing.
I am not completely sure that the book deserve 4 stars, but it is the one that I enjoyed, and it is mostly a sentimental rating as I liked the series and keep its protagonists close to my heart.
August 11, 2019
The last in the series of the increasingly confusing adventures of Richard Burton and Algernon Swinburne through time and parallel timelines. This one tries to wrap everything up as multiple Burtons and Swinburnes travel back to a new timeline to stop the automated aristocrats from taking over. Not exactly a total wrap up - I wouldn't be totally surprised to see another book come out - but it was a good, fun, finale to the set and better put together than the previous one I thought...
March 31, 2016
The sixth and final Burton and Swinburne novel was a joy to read. I thought initially that the first three books were a compete trilogy and it took me a while to get used to the idea of, let alone started on, book four (The Secret of Abdu El Yezdi). I rather like to think of books four to six as a separate related trilogy not least because within its pages is a tub-thumping, sharp-tongued paen to anti-capitalism. There are some delicious sideswipes at our increasingly world-isolating geopolitics and militarised police (I dare you to read book five without howling with laughter).
If you read the previous books you should love this, I have absolutely no idea why this single book receives less praise than the others. You could not read this and make sense of it if you haven't read the first five but I guess you know that before reading this review.
One day I will return to the first series as it would be quite splendid to read those with the knowledge garnered from books four to six.
If you read the previous books you should love this, I have absolutely no idea why this single book receives less praise than the others. You could not read this and make sense of it if you haven't read the first five but I guess you know that before reading this review.
One day I will return to the first series as it would be quite splendid to read those with the knowledge garnered from books four to six.
May 26, 2024
Minor spoilers about the previous books.
I read this for completeness but I will say that despite having some good characters (Swineburn) and interesting plots the overall story and series is frustrating with Burton being one of the whitest, most ineffective,and successful only through base luck and plot armor, characters l have read about in a while. This book carries that tradition forward with Burton being a slack- jawed simp always caught off guard and useless throughout. Even worse the book had so many inconsistencies. Why wait a year between when they left and returned, why could the clockwork men use technology that did not exist even in the future 2 days after they got back? Hell, the clockwork men are beyond what we could make now. What happened to the red jungle that had taken over the cauldron? I know it started rotting at the end of the previous book, but a time/dimension hopping super plant would not be able to aware of.
I read this for completeness but I will say that despite having some good characters (Swineburn) and interesting plots the overall story and series is frustrating with Burton being one of the whitest, most ineffective,and successful only through base luck and plot armor, characters l have read about in a while. This book carries that tradition forward with Burton being a slack- jawed simp always caught off guard and useless throughout. Even worse the book had so many inconsistencies. Why wait a year between when they left and returned, why could the clockwork men use technology that did not exist even in the future 2 days after they got back? Hell, the clockwork men are beyond what we could make now. What happened to the red jungle that had taken over the cauldron? I know it started rotting at the end of the previous book, but a time/dimension hopping super plant would not be able to aware of.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 14, 2015
A magical mystery tour on LSD. This story comes out and smacks you upside the head until you are dizzy. Then when it has you totally off balance the book starts to gel, and make some sense.
A dashing steampunk story with lots of action, double crosses and twists. Throw in some time travel and you are off on your journey.
I wouldn't put it at the top of the stories in this series but still a worthy read.
A dashing steampunk story with lots of action, double crosses and twists. Throw in some time travel and you are off on your journey.
I wouldn't put it at the top of the stories in this series but still a worthy read.
August 14, 2016
A wonderful end to a fantastic, crazy, inventive (insanely inventive!) series that's not like anything else I've ever read. I'm truly sad there will be no more Burton and Swinburne books.
October 13, 2024
After six books, the Burton and Swinburne 2nd trilogy ends with a fizzle.
Lets start with the positive. There are some thrilling, funny and action packed moments in this novel and the middle 100-ish pages was really pretty good. The problem is that the first 100-ish pages, and last 100-ish pages, are...not great.
Starting off (kinda) where book 5 left us, Burton, Swinborne and the crew of the Orpheus return to mid-1800s London, having (kinda) defeated Spring Heeled Jack for the last time in the year 2206. But it doesn't really start like that (kinda). It really starts with a Burton from a different timeline, one in which he became ambassador to Trieste, married Isabella and lived a long, productive life, being plucked up by The Beetle (who, it turns out, is also like some sort of meta-Burton...) on his deathbed and taken to the primary(?) timeline and through something something time travel means, made a much younger version of himself again. The Beetle (nay Burton) also does this for Swinburne and Trouce, and the young, vigorous gang is back together again. Yay! (kinda).
The Beetle (Burton, kinda) then induces a multi-time line hallucination in all three main characters to sort of, kind of, explain, what's going wrong in this timeline in a 100-ish page vision quest snooze-fest that spans multiple timelines and lives of our protagonists in a very verbose way to explain to the reader just what the heck is going on (kinda) in this timeline. Cool. Off we go then - another time stream of London in the mid-1800's where the Prime Minster (Disreli again) and multi-timeline Burton antagonist, Colonel Rigby are attempting to destroy the growing English middle-class because they've been led to believe that the only way for the UK to move forward is to have an elite ruling class, and a labor class, and nothing else. Babbage has (kinda) gone nuts again and is supporting (kinda) Disreli in this effort by creating clockwork men who will only obey the ruling class/government.
What ensues is an interesting, then mildly interesting, then not-that-interesting series of Burton being captured, then escaping only to be recaptured and escape again and then get captu...
Yeah.
By the 3rd recapture, I found myself just rolling my eyes and wishing it was over. Which it (kinda) is, because the key to unlocking Burton's potential in this time line is, apparently, repeatedly having the shit kicked out of him. Good guys win, bad guys lose. We're told, over the course of a 2-3 page (kinda) epilogue that all the timelines are now fixed (kinda). Then there's an epilogue to the epilogue where it's implied that the timelines are not fixed (kinda).
Disappointing wrap up to an up-and-down series. The time travel stuff just got nonsensical to me at some point - an excuse to write another book in the series. The steampunk London stuff was always interesting and I wish author Mark Hodder had tracked more in that direction.
Lets start with the positive. There are some thrilling, funny and action packed moments in this novel and the middle 100-ish pages was really pretty good. The problem is that the first 100-ish pages, and last 100-ish pages, are...not great.
Starting off (kinda) where book 5 left us, Burton, Swinborne and the crew of the Orpheus return to mid-1800s London, having (kinda) defeated Spring Heeled Jack for the last time in the year 2206. But it doesn't really start like that (kinda). It really starts with a Burton from a different timeline, one in which he became ambassador to Trieste, married Isabella and lived a long, productive life, being plucked up by The Beetle (who, it turns out, is also like some sort of meta-Burton...) on his deathbed and taken to the primary(?) timeline and through something something time travel means, made a much younger version of himself again. The Beetle (nay Burton) also does this for Swinburne and Trouce, and the young, vigorous gang is back together again. Yay! (kinda).
The Beetle (Burton, kinda) then induces a multi-time line hallucination in all three main characters to sort of, kind of, explain, what's going wrong in this timeline in a 100-ish page vision quest snooze-fest that spans multiple timelines and lives of our protagonists in a very verbose way to explain to the reader just what the heck is going on (kinda) in this timeline. Cool. Off we go then - another time stream of London in the mid-1800's where the Prime Minster (Disreli again) and multi-timeline Burton antagonist, Colonel Rigby are attempting to destroy the growing English middle-class because they've been led to believe that the only way for the UK to move forward is to have an elite ruling class, and a labor class, and nothing else. Babbage has (kinda) gone nuts again and is supporting (kinda) Disreli in this effort by creating clockwork men who will only obey the ruling class/government.
What ensues is an interesting, then mildly interesting, then not-that-interesting series of Burton being captured, then escaping only to be recaptured and escape again and then get captu...
Yeah.
By the 3rd recapture, I found myself just rolling my eyes and wishing it was over. Which it (kinda) is, because the key to unlocking Burton's potential in this time line is, apparently, repeatedly having the shit kicked out of him. Good guys win, bad guys lose. We're told, over the course of a 2-3 page (kinda) epilogue that all the timelines are now fixed (kinda). Then there's an epilogue to the epilogue where it's implied that the timelines are not fixed (kinda).
Disappointing wrap up to an up-and-down series. The time travel stuff just got nonsensical to me at some point - an excuse to write another book in the series. The steampunk London stuff was always interesting and I wish author Mark Hodder had tracked more in that direction.
August 19, 2022
E' un vero peccato che la saga di Burton & Swinburne, di cui questo libro è la sesta ed ultima parte, non sia stata tradotta in italiano.
Per me che conosco discretamente l'inglese ma lo usavo solo per lavorare, leggerli è stata un'impresa durata tre anni (durante i quai però ho letto anche altre cose). Lessico ricchissimo, humor, riferimenti a eventi e personaggi storici, macchine steampunk, organismi geneticamente modificati, viaggi nel tempo, non manca niente. Tra le cose che mi hanno veramente messo alla prova, la descrizione di un duello con le spade lunga quattro pagine.
L'autore è molto disponibile, gli ho scritto due o tre volte su Twitter e mi ha sempre risposto il giorno stesso.
Se vi piace la narrativa steampunk, potete leggerla in originale e avete MOLTO tempo, non perdetevela.
Per me che conosco discretamente l'inglese ma lo usavo solo per lavorare, leggerli è stata un'impresa durata tre anni (durante i quai però ho letto anche altre cose). Lessico ricchissimo, humor, riferimenti a eventi e personaggi storici, macchine steampunk, organismi geneticamente modificati, viaggi nel tempo, non manca niente. Tra le cose che mi hanno veramente messo alla prova, la descrizione di un duello con le spade lunga quattro pagine.
L'autore è molto disponibile, gli ho scritto due o tre volte su Twitter e mi ha sempre risposto il giorno stesso.
Se vi piace la narrativa steampunk, potete leggerla in originale e avete MOLTO tempo, non perdetevela.
October 22, 2025
The book is at it's best when it drops the multiverse-time travel shenanigans and falls back into it's Victorian steampunk roots for a detective punch-up. Which is a pretty telling summary of the whole series. So despite it's grand attempts at building a multiverse and have complex plot hooks, looping paradoxes, and time related plot twist ; the best and most memorable scenes are rooted in the here and now, at the more personal fundamental level.
Is this book better than it's predecessors? maybe, it's surely better than the Mountains of the Moon atrocity, and it's better than the jumbled mess that was the Discontinued Man. However it never manages to capture the same grounded mystique of the first two books, which IMO have done time travel much better and at a much more intimate scale.
Is this book better than it's predecessors? maybe, it's surely better than the Mountains of the Moon atrocity, and it's better than the jumbled mess that was the Discontinued Man. However it never manages to capture the same grounded mystique of the first two books, which IMO have done time travel much better and at a much more intimate scale.
February 1, 2017
This series is a mixed bag for me. I enjoyed the books, but the last three felt a bit forced and the word "rehash" keeps coming to mind. That said, I enjoy Hodder's writing and love the main characters.
In this the final book of the series, we seemingly wrap up the time travel problems. Alternate Burtons/Swinburnes are resolved and complete.... or are they.
My recommendations. Best: Read the first book - a fantastic one shot and introduction. Next Best: Read the first three books. This will give you a nice trilogy without belaboring the time travel shenanigans. Last Choice: Read all three. Still good writing, but kind of a slog.
In this the final book of the series, we seemingly wrap up the time travel problems. Alternate Burtons/Swinburnes are resolved and complete.... or are they.
My recommendations. Best: Read the first book - a fantastic one shot and introduction. Next Best: Read the first three books. This will give you a nice trilogy without belaboring the time travel shenanigans. Last Choice: Read all three. Still good writing, but kind of a slog.
December 24, 2020
You know what? I kind of wish I’d stopped with the first trilogy rather than going through the second trilogy.
I am still giving the books 3 stars because they’re well-written and carefully, intricately plotted. But, oh my God, no more timelines! And this version of Burton was my least favorite yet. I understand why, but...that was a lot going on. I will give my brain a rest and, at some point in the future, re-read them with a better understanding of what I’m getting in to. Having some expectation of what I’m getting into would probably help the weirdness go down easier.
Still a great author. Just...my head hurts.
I am still giving the books 3 stars because they’re well-written and carefully, intricately plotted. But, oh my God, no more timelines! And this version of Burton was my least favorite yet. I understand why, but...that was a lot going on. I will give my brain a rest and, at some point in the future, re-read them with a better understanding of what I’m getting in to. Having some expectation of what I’m getting into would probably help the weirdness go down easier.
Still a great author. Just...my head hurts.
May 25, 2019
Nice ending to the series. The GOT TV show writers could have learned something from this author on how to end a series without cheesing off the fans.
I’ve enjoyed hanging with this Victorian crew. I’ve become intrigued with some of the real lives of the characters in these books (and have read their biographies too). So I’ve gotten great stories, some history lessons and some steampunk too. I’ve even read some of Mr Swinbourne’s poetry and that is really something for a person once labelled a “philistine”.
I’ve enjoyed hanging with this Victorian crew. I’ve become intrigued with some of the real lives of the characters in these books (and have read their biographies too). So I’ve gotten great stories, some history lessons and some steampunk too. I’ve even read some of Mr Swinbourne’s poetry and that is really something for a person once labelled a “philistine”.
December 30, 2018
It concluded the story well, though I did think introducing new versions of the characters in the last book was a bit risky, because it gave readers less time to get used to them and attached to them.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 22, 2025
Originally rated this 3-stars, but revised it as it took me forever to get this book read. Was it a bad book? No, but it was the last captivating one, and I won't be reading any further in the series. Thus, my revised review.
July 5, 2017
A great series. Really enjoyed each story. One review said Mark Hodder writes like Jules Verne on acid...100% accurate.
August 16, 2017
What an excellent series as a whole, definitely recommend it to everyone.
February 19, 2018
It took a long while to get going and a further while to then get going with the plot. Too much navel gazing and Burton merely reacting to events and not enough action.
March 31, 2018
A very good book that wraps the series up.
July 9, 2018
Lots of action in this, the final chapter of the timeline twisting "Burton and Swinburne" series.
Entertaining but often confusing, a part of me is glad that it's finally wrapped up.
Entertaining but often confusing, a part of me is glad that it's finally wrapped up.
December 4, 2018
It would have been helpful to read the books in order but was able to struggle even without through, great imagery but too dry in humor.
January 1, 2020
Good thing this was the final episode. This book was a hodge-podge of plot. The author had no more inspiration and closed out the story.
January 27, 2017
Felt like yet another reboot. Still good, but in a formulaic sort of way.
September 26, 2015
The Rise of the Automated Aristocrats
Author: Mark Hodder
Publisher: Pyr Books
Published In: Amherst, NY
Date: 2015
Pgs: 382
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
Sir Richard has taken an expedition into the future. On his return with knowledge and technologies beyond anything imagined in the current era. These technologies must remain secret if history is to proceed as it should. But one of Sir Richard’s colleagues has gone rogue. And those secrets have fallen into the hands of those very people who are most likely to misuse them. Horror as London is transformed into a steampunk nightmare. Enemies of the state. Propaganda. Automata. Betrayal. Counter betrayal. Danger abounds. Sir Richard and his band of revolutionaries are faced with an indestructible and immortal autocrat.
Genre:
Adventure
Alternate History
Detective
Fiction
Historical fiction
Multiverse
Science fiction
Steampunk
Why this book:
Burton and Swinburne are great. Hodder is great.
______________________________________________________________________________
Favorite Character:
Edward Burton, Sir Richard’s brother and Minister of Chronological Affairs...even though we can’t be sure for most of the story which side he’s really on. Twist, counter twist, great stuff. Is he a villain? Is he a patriot? Is he a self serving, snivelling politician? Is he a hero?
Least Favorite Character:
Disraeli is a douche.
The Feel:
The steampunk isn’t overwhelmed by the time travel and robots. Great stuff.
Favorite Scene:
The sword duel.
Pacing:
Love the pace.
Plot Holes/Out of Character:
The crew of the Orpheus being cyphers when they reappear in the second act.
The Beetle disappearing from the narrative so completely after the first act. I understand it, but he’s too important to vanish so completely.
Hmm Moments:
The crossing of timelines and Gordian knot of lifetimes is well presented here.
Love the who is behind it mystery.
Great class warfare elements with the automated men both a means to an end and an end in themselves.
“If the ladder could be more easily climbed, the weight would surely accrue at the top, and inevitably, it would overbalance and fall. In order to be safe, the center of gravity must stay at the foot. Thus does the empire’s stability depend upon their being a clear division between the few at the heights and the laboring masses at the bottom”
...wow...that sounds like a lesson in the economics of the last 30 years in America where lipservice is paid to the idea of someone being able to climb the ladder while rungs are being removed from the ladder on an ongoing basis.
Why isn’t there a screenplay?
Probably won’t be...but it would be awesome if done right. Give it a Warehouse 13, Victoriana feel and let the steampunk awesomeness flow.
Casting call:
William B Davis of X-Files fame could be Disraeli or Babbage or Edward Burton. He could fit all those roles and bring the proper amount of menace, self servingness, madness, or officiousness to them. Yes...I am currently binging on X-Files on Netflix.
______________________________________________________________________________
Last Page Sound:
Awesome.
Author Assessment:
I read Book 6 of this series and it stood on its own. It gave enough detail on past adventures to make it all hang together. The book stands on its own even with 5 other novels ahead of it. Love it when an author can do that.
I thought I had previously read something by Hodder, but I can’t find it listed on my Goodreads or on my LibraryThing accounts. This is probably because the style and prose sucks you in and makes the world of Sir Richard feel familiar to the reader even as the Sir Richards are at odds with themselves across multiple alternate historical iterations of his psyche.
Editorial Assessment:
See the Author’s Assessment above. The same can be said about editorial. Having the story stand up on its own while the other 5 books all indirectly influence this one is awesome. Well done.
Knee Jerk Reaction:
real genre classic
Disposition:
Irving Public Library
South Campus
Irving, TX
Dewey Decimal System:
F
HOD
Would recommend to:
everyone
_____________________________________________________________________________
Errata:
Author: Mark Hodder
Publisher: Pyr Books
Published In: Amherst, NY
Date: 2015
Pgs: 382
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
Sir Richard has taken an expedition into the future. On his return with knowledge and technologies beyond anything imagined in the current era. These technologies must remain secret if history is to proceed as it should. But one of Sir Richard’s colleagues has gone rogue. And those secrets have fallen into the hands of those very people who are most likely to misuse them. Horror as London is transformed into a steampunk nightmare. Enemies of the state. Propaganda. Automata. Betrayal. Counter betrayal. Danger abounds. Sir Richard and his band of revolutionaries are faced with an indestructible and immortal autocrat.
Genre:
Adventure
Alternate History
Detective
Fiction
Historical fiction
Multiverse
Science fiction
Steampunk
Why this book:
Burton and Swinburne are great. Hodder is great.
______________________________________________________________________________
Favorite Character:
Edward Burton, Sir Richard’s brother and Minister of Chronological Affairs...even though we can’t be sure for most of the story which side he’s really on. Twist, counter twist, great stuff. Is he a villain? Is he a patriot? Is he a self serving, snivelling politician? Is he a hero?
Least Favorite Character:
Disraeli is a douche.
The Feel:
The steampunk isn’t overwhelmed by the time travel and robots. Great stuff.
Favorite Scene:
The sword duel.
Pacing:
Love the pace.
Plot Holes/Out of Character:
The crew of the Orpheus being cyphers when they reappear in the second act.
The Beetle disappearing from the narrative so completely after the first act. I understand it, but he’s too important to vanish so completely.
Hmm Moments:
The crossing of timelines and Gordian knot of lifetimes is well presented here.
Love the who is behind it mystery.
Great class warfare elements with the automated men both a means to an end and an end in themselves.
“If the ladder could be more easily climbed, the weight would surely accrue at the top, and inevitably, it would overbalance and fall. In order to be safe, the center of gravity must stay at the foot. Thus does the empire’s stability depend upon their being a clear division between the few at the heights and the laboring masses at the bottom”
...wow...that sounds like a lesson in the economics of the last 30 years in America where lipservice is paid to the idea of someone being able to climb the ladder while rungs are being removed from the ladder on an ongoing basis.
Why isn’t there a screenplay?
Probably won’t be...but it would be awesome if done right. Give it a Warehouse 13, Victoriana feel and let the steampunk awesomeness flow.
Casting call:
William B Davis of X-Files fame could be Disraeli or Babbage or Edward Burton. He could fit all those roles and bring the proper amount of menace, self servingness, madness, or officiousness to them. Yes...I am currently binging on X-Files on Netflix.
______________________________________________________________________________
Last Page Sound:
Awesome.
Author Assessment:
I read Book 6 of this series and it stood on its own. It gave enough detail on past adventures to make it all hang together. The book stands on its own even with 5 other novels ahead of it. Love it when an author can do that.
I thought I had previously read something by Hodder, but I can’t find it listed on my Goodreads or on my LibraryThing accounts. This is probably because the style and prose sucks you in and makes the world of Sir Richard feel familiar to the reader even as the Sir Richards are at odds with themselves across multiple alternate historical iterations of his psyche.
Editorial Assessment:
See the Author’s Assessment above. The same can be said about editorial. Having the story stand up on its own while the other 5 books all indirectly influence this one is awesome. Well done.
Knee Jerk Reaction:
real genre classic
Disposition:
Irving Public Library
South Campus
Irving, TX
Dewey Decimal System:
F
HOD
Would recommend to:
everyone
_____________________________________________________________________________
Errata:
March 12, 2017
I was getting really worried for this series. I did not like the last 2 volumes I read; I kinda hated book 5. Book 6 here went back to what this series does right. Burton and Swinburne together with pals taking on weirdness, and the final conclusion is pretty satisfying, even though it end up feeling a little like the whole series was designed around the question of why the historical Isabel burned all her husband's papers after he died.
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