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Engine Ward #2
The Gauge War
A new iron curse threatens London
Now that the Sunken have been defeated, Isambard Kingdom Brunel can begin the task of making the British Empire great once more. All that stands in his way are the French forces closing in on the country, and rival engineer Robert Stephenson, who seeks to undermine Brunel's power by disobeying his orders at every turn.
Nicholas Thorne once again finds himself caught in the middle of a war he does not believe in. Only now, Nicholas is assailed every waking hour by terrible voices – animals in excruciating pain pound against his skull, begging for release. Can Nicholas fight through the pain and retain control of his mind to protect the people he loves?
Not content to lay idle while his empire is attacked and civil war looms, Brunel has one last great innovation to unveil. This new machine could be the salvation of England, or the destruction of them all.
The Gauge War is the second book in S C Green's Engine Ward series, exploring the clash of science and religion in an alternatee history London where dinosaurs still survive.
Now that the Sunken have been defeated, Isambard Kingdom Brunel can begin the task of making the British Empire great once more. All that stands in his way are the French forces closing in on the country, and rival engineer Robert Stephenson, who seeks to undermine Brunel's power by disobeying his orders at every turn.
Nicholas Thorne once again finds himself caught in the middle of a war he does not believe in. Only now, Nicholas is assailed every waking hour by terrible voices – animals in excruciating pain pound against his skull, begging for release. Can Nicholas fight through the pain and retain control of his mind to protect the people he loves?
Not content to lay idle while his empire is attacked and civil war looms, Brunel has one last great innovation to unveil. This new machine could be the salvation of England, or the destruction of them all.
The Gauge War is the second book in S C Green's Engine Ward series, exploring the clash of science and religion in an alternatee history London where dinosaurs still survive.
558 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 31, 2015
2 people are currently reading
19 people want to read
About the author
S.C. Green
7 books44 followersS C Green lives in an off-grid house on a slice of rural paradise near Auckland, New Zealand, with her cantankerous drummer husband, their two cats, and their medieval sword collection. She writes dark, dystopian fantasy featuring heavy historical elements. Her latest novel, The Sunken, explores an alternative Georgian London where dinosaurs still survive. The second book in the series, The Gauge War, is due out early 2015.
She also writes humorous fantasy under the name Steff Metal.
She writes about metal music, her books, living off-grid, and her adventures with home-brewing on her blog www.steffmetal.com.
Stay up to date with her books by signing up to her newsletter at http://steffmetal.com/subscribe, or like her Facebook page at http://facebook.com/steffmetal.
She also writes humorous fantasy under the name Steff Metal.
She writes about metal music, her books, living off-grid, and her adventures with home-brewing on her blog www.steffmetal.com.
Stay up to date with her books by signing up to her newsletter at http://steffmetal.com/subscribe, or like her Facebook page at http://facebook.com/steffmetal.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
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March 18, 2021Almost as good as the first book!
Wow! High energy action, devastating pathos, horror story at its best. The first book was all about the world, well researched characters, and love in its many forms, familial, fraternal, romantic, patriotic etc. This book is good old gothic horror through the lens of steam-punk dystopia. Craven villains, misguided heroes, misunderstood monsters the whole works.
Some minor word choices differences would have polished this one to perfection, it's close enough for my top shelf. Very well done indeed.
Wow! High energy action, devastating pathos, horror story at its best. The first book was all about the world, well researched characters, and love in its many forms, familial, fraternal, romantic, patriotic etc. This book is good old gothic horror through the lens of steam-punk dystopia. Craven villains, misguided heroes, misunderstood monsters the whole works.
Some minor word choices differences would have polished this one to perfection, it's close enough for my top shelf. Very well done indeed.
August 1, 2019
Book two in this extremely dark steampunk trilogy.
Full of interesting inventions some with darker purposes, this series is excellent.
Definitely one for those that like horror.
Full of interesting inventions some with darker purposes, this series is excellent.
Definitely one for those that like horror.
November 25, 2015
Where should I start with this book? It took me some time to get back into the groove, but once I was back in the world of the Engine Ward, I couldn't put the book down at all.
The Gauge War is the second book in the Engine Ward series, the first being The Sunken (read my review here). In fact, this book picks up where The Sunken left off, so it's probably a good thing to re-read the first book before moving on to this one. I managed to eventually remember enough of the story, but it meant that the first few pages were somewhat confusing to me.
And like I speculated in the first book, the true protagonist of this series appears to be Isambard Brunel, now the Metal Messiah, the only character without a point of view. I mentioned that the book ended with the different view points holding contradictory views, but in this book, they gradually start to converge again.
Why? Because absolute power corrupts absolutely. That's all I'm going to say. But to elaborate just a little bit more on the plot; basically, the Boilers built by Brunel are now everywhere. But the threat to England isn't over yet, and it's not just coming from the outside (France).
Can I just say that Brunel scares me to death? He's really cool and all, but I suspect that he has no heart, judging by the way that he treats his friends. Either that or the things he went in his childhood have really traumatised him. As always, Nicholas and Aaron are two awesome and likeable dudes, while James, the blind physician, was interesting until he fell.
My biggest surprise, though, was Stephenson. He's an antagonist for most of the book, but the more I see of him, the more I realise my first impression of him was wrong. Not gonna say anymore, because that would probably veer into spoiler territory.
A word of warning though - the ending is incredibly dark. But, I just re-read it, and I think S.C. Green is setting it up for a book three in a very clever way. I hope I'm right!
Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for a free and honest review.
This review was first posted at Inside the mind of a Bibliophile
The Gauge War is the second book in the Engine Ward series, the first being The Sunken (read my review here). In fact, this book picks up where The Sunken left off, so it's probably a good thing to re-read the first book before moving on to this one. I managed to eventually remember enough of the story, but it meant that the first few pages were somewhat confusing to me.
And like I speculated in the first book, the true protagonist of this series appears to be Isambard Brunel, now the Metal Messiah, the only character without a point of view. I mentioned that the book ended with the different view points holding contradictory views, but in this book, they gradually start to converge again.
Why? Because absolute power corrupts absolutely. That's all I'm going to say. But to elaborate just a little bit more on the plot; basically, the Boilers built by Brunel are now everywhere. But the threat to England isn't over yet, and it's not just coming from the outside (France).
Can I just say that Brunel scares me to death? He's really cool and all, but I suspect that he has no heart, judging by the way that he treats his friends. Either that or the things he went in his childhood have really traumatised him. As always, Nicholas and Aaron are two awesome and likeable dudes, while James, the blind physician, was interesting until he fell.
My biggest surprise, though, was Stephenson. He's an antagonist for most of the book, but the more I see of him, the more I realise my first impression of him was wrong. Not gonna say anymore, because that would probably veer into spoiler territory.
A word of warning though - the ending is incredibly dark. But, I just re-read it, and I think S.C. Green is setting it up for a book three in a very clever way. I hope I'm right!
Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for a free and honest review.
This review was first posted at Inside the mind of a Bibliophile
April 25, 2016
This is at times, the best book in this style and the worst book I've ever read. There were times when I really wanted to throw my Kindle out the window whilst reading this novel. The scope of this book is truly deep, going into the past, into the future, and all around England and France. It reminds me of reading George RR Martin, wherein certain portions of the book get a lot of detail, sometimes too much, and other crucial scenes get too little detail or time to really help you feel what emotions the characters are feeling.
Part of the problem when I was reading it is that this book could easily be two books. Going back and forth in time with the memoirs of James Holman, there needs to be a font change or something to help you understand that you're jumping around to a different part of the story. It reminded me a bit of Caesar's Women by Colleen McCullough in that respect - taking you off on a long side tour for something that is going to be coming together later in the story.
But at the same time, the sheer ingeniousness of the characters makes you breathless and wanting more. An atmospheric railroad! Invincible ships! A precursor to modern computers! Action! Adventure! It kept me hanging on until the end. The character development done in small spurts kept me going, especially Nicholas and his wife, Aaron and Chloe, and the surprising Ada.
This book is definitely worth the work to read it, its just one I would recommend taking some time with and not reading in small chunks.
I'm going to hide this last part because of spoilers. So don't open it unless you want to be spoiled!
Part of the problem when I was reading it is that this book could easily be two books. Going back and forth in time with the memoirs of James Holman, there needs to be a font change or something to help you understand that you're jumping around to a different part of the story. It reminded me a bit of Caesar's Women by Colleen McCullough in that respect - taking you off on a long side tour for something that is going to be coming together later in the story.
But at the same time, the sheer ingeniousness of the characters makes you breathless and wanting more. An atmospheric railroad! Invincible ships! A precursor to modern computers! Action! Adventure! It kept me hanging on until the end. The character development done in small spurts kept me going, especially Nicholas and his wife, Aaron and Chloe, and the surprising Ada.
This book is definitely worth the work to read it, its just one I would recommend taking some time with and not reading in small chunks.
I'm going to hide this last part because of spoilers. So don't open it unless you want to be spoiled!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews