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Wild Surmise
Adventure was not an unexpected circumstance, sneaking up on unsuspecting innocents in the middle of the it was in fact a foregone conclusion. Even if Arrington Pentecost had not been born to be a hero, even if Algernon Vaudeville had not agreed to a foolhardy proposition, even if Jacob Damascus had not appeared on their doorstep, orphaned, frightened, and undeniably adventure would have found them. The appearance of a pretty girl in fear for her life only compounded it. Caught up in a whirlwind exploit of master criminals, steam powered technology, double crossing enemies, and triple crossing partners, Pentecost, Vaudeville, and young Damascus quickly find themselves careening from train robberies and daring rescues to a desperate search for answers to the secrets that had cost the lives of a mysterious group of vigilante heroes, slain in the dark of the night for defying an evil consortium. The Adventure would have found them they just went out to meet it.
239 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 20, 2016
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December 4, 2016
I'm not an avid steampunk reader, but when I do read it I tend to enjoy it. This book was recommended to me by a close friend who has great taste in books, telling me it was light-hearted and quick. She was totally right. I really enjoyed the plot and the build up of the mystery story element. I recognize this is the first book in a series and like a lot of first books, it has a few weaknesses while the story and characters get established.
First (and I admit this is a pretty big beef), it doesn't pass the Bechdel test. There's one woman in the book essentially, Annie, and she's a caricature of the whore with the heart of gold. Her only interest is men, namely her brother and everyone else she manipulates (because ALL of the other characters are men [the nagging neighbor and kitchen maid are hardly worth mentioning]).
The character Fadhi is the token exotic foreign man in a sea of white man privilege. Painted as "middle eastern," Fadhi has a harem of women and sisters who attempt to entrap other men into marriage. Of course he's Western educated, indicating that wherever he's from is inferior both in intellect and social set. As the second best friend to the protagonist, Pentecost (who is a sociopath, I am sure), he's there as a plot device to get the hero out of trouble.
As for the other men, they teeter dangerously on the edge of being insultingly stereotypically gay or closeted gay (would Pentecost and Vaudeville just kiss already?). The author does make sure the audience knows that some of the characters, namely Housesparrow, know they come off as camp and that this performance is strategic. It is a Very Fine Line. While I absolutely applaud the inclusion of LGBTQ identity, like Fadhi's character it feels tokenized and forced in many places.
Apparently this is American steampunk, but I don't know what that means. It reads like any other steampunk I've read. There are trains, flying machines, and things that are mechanized that don't require it (a champagne chiller?). In terms of geography, and I'm hoping the sequel will clear up a lot of this, I have no idea where I am. "New City" doesn't lend any sense of place, nor do the directions in which the characters travel. There's very little world building outside of the typical opposition between grungy industrial revolution city streets and the high class electrically illuminated parlors. As a reader, I wish the book had been published with a map in the jacket flap.
Don't mistake me, I really did enjoy the reading experience. Many of my criticisms are the mark of a writer figuring out her world, trying to do things she feels are novel but need more finesse to hit home. I think Blackburn has a promising future (provided she can work out these kinds of kinks!), and I look forward to reading Heroic Rascality in the near future.
First (and I admit this is a pretty big beef), it doesn't pass the Bechdel test. There's one woman in the book essentially, Annie, and she's a caricature of the whore with the heart of gold. Her only interest is men, namely her brother and everyone else she manipulates (because ALL of the other characters are men [the nagging neighbor and kitchen maid are hardly worth mentioning]).
The character Fadhi is the token exotic foreign man in a sea of white man privilege. Painted as "middle eastern," Fadhi has a harem of women and sisters who attempt to entrap other men into marriage. Of course he's Western educated, indicating that wherever he's from is inferior both in intellect and social set. As the second best friend to the protagonist, Pentecost (who is a sociopath, I am sure), he's there as a plot device to get the hero out of trouble.
As for the other men, they teeter dangerously on the edge of being insultingly stereotypically gay or closeted gay (would Pentecost and Vaudeville just kiss already?). The author does make sure the audience knows that some of the characters, namely Housesparrow, know they come off as camp and that this performance is strategic. It is a Very Fine Line. While I absolutely applaud the inclusion of LGBTQ identity, like Fadhi's character it feels tokenized and forced in many places.
Apparently this is American steampunk, but I don't know what that means. It reads like any other steampunk I've read. There are trains, flying machines, and things that are mechanized that don't require it (a champagne chiller?). In terms of geography, and I'm hoping the sequel will clear up a lot of this, I have no idea where I am. "New City" doesn't lend any sense of place, nor do the directions in which the characters travel. There's very little world building outside of the typical opposition between grungy industrial revolution city streets and the high class electrically illuminated parlors. As a reader, I wish the book had been published with a map in the jacket flap.
Don't mistake me, I really did enjoy the reading experience. Many of my criticisms are the mark of a writer figuring out her world, trying to do things she feels are novel but need more finesse to hit home. I think Blackburn has a promising future (provided she can work out these kinds of kinks!), and I look forward to reading Heroic Rascality in the near future.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 of 1 review