Hodgepodge of northern adventure and steampunk extravaganza
920644
Awesome read ! Fast paced and action packed ! I wish it didn't come to an end so quickly.

This short novel combines steam powered engineering in the wintery backdrop of the Canadian Arctic. It's a great show of men versus nature versus technology. Who said dogless steam powered sleds and airships were out of fashion ?

I highly recommend it. Can't wait to read the sequel !
4230061
I really wanted to like this book more than I did.  The writing is solid and I learned a lot about Caribbean trade of the era.  It is an adventure more than a mystery (who done it) in the Doyle tradition.

The story is often bogged down by the Douglas character's thought about Mycroft, and seriously bogged down by a way-too-long boat ride that suspends plot developments other than violent attacks declaring the already obvious theme that someone doesn't want Mycroft traveling.  Maybe other readers will like it more than me.  It is a great idea with good writing but lacking the kick of a great adventure (don't blink, a rowdy band of thugs just attacked Mycroft and Douglas again).
4700317
Ive just had the pleasure of reviewing a new anthology of short fiction put out by Curiosity Quills Press. When asked if Id like to review Chronology, I had the impression that it was a steampunk anthology, which is a genre Im newly discovering. Some of the stories in this collection do have steampunk elements, such as Wind Up Hearts, the steampunk-ish romance that is sure to break readers hearts, by Bram Stoker Award finalist, Stan Swanson, or Flight of the Pegasus by Dr. Darin Kennedy. Theres also That Which is Hidden, a haunted steampunk-ish werewolf romance, by Julie Frost. But, I was pleasantly surprised to find the stories in Chronology to be a diverse mixture of speculative fiction.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. You can see my full review on my blog, "Writing to be Read": [...]
162729
A fun and jolly steampunk romp ... enjoying the series so far.  As my first (2nd?) foray into this genre and world - I quite enjoy it
2819052
Others have described the novel so I won't go into detail.  It was thin, that is, there was not a lot of character development of secondary characters.  I am not even certain that I got to know Zeke that well.  The protagonist, Briar was the most developed character.  I really thought this was probably wrtten out of a love for Seattle, zombies and steampunk.  It is actually, in some ways a horror story.  It is more Science Fiction though since it does not contain any suspernatural elements.  There was a little too much Deus Ex Machina in if for me.  There were a number of happy coincidences that rescued the main characters

Where it failed to me as a Hugo nominated novel, is that it really did not have any exciting new ideas.  Jules Verne had better ideas in his steam punk novels and we have traversed a lot of technical, social and science fiction progress since then.  Verne used steampunk to tell his stories.  Steampunk was the story in this novel.

I do recommend it as a steampunk novel though, if you are new to steampunk.  Also if you are looking for strong female characters this book has three nicely written women heroes.

Fans of airship technology may also enjoy the book.  There were some interesting ideas about the use and propulsion of airships.

Villains are important to any story and the villain in this one just did not seem anymore villainous than an ordinary warlord who is just trying to keep things together.  One of the characters revealed that he has harmed women but this is told not shown.  You don't get the feeling of evil from the character.  The final battle came off as a battle between gang lords even in the light of the fact that the environment was the true enemy.
1131955
I've had this book sitting on my shelf for some time just waiting for me to get around to it.  Well it took a reading challenge, but I did it.  And now I'm kicking myself in the pants for putting it off.  Talk about a fantastic steampunk world, deep engaging characters, a riveting intrigue style plot, and ho hey, the sweltering passion in a slow-burn romance.  Definitely planning on taking this series full steam ahead!

This first book, The Iron Duke, was a great blend of present time action, but a steady release of the complex world of an alternate history steampunk world.  The steampunk elements are fundamental to this series instead of just an annoying gadget name drop here and there.  I think I was equally taken with the world and elements as the actual plot which was a great blend of mystery, action, passion, and character growth.

It's based on the premise of what would have happened if Ghenghis Khan and his Mongolian Horde had steamrolled across Europe and even the British Isles using a blend of steampowered and nano-tech weaponry.  At the beginning of this story, England is finally free of the rule, thanks to the daring act of one dashing pirate now made a duke.  But recovery isn't so simple.  The people who were under horde rule are indelibly altered and looked on differently compared to those who fled, lived in exile, and the new generations are returning and reclaiming family titles and fortunes or jobs.  All stratas of society and culture are effected.  I found it all quite fascinating.

Beyond fascination, the heroine and the hero are in their own way, outcasts and trying to make their way.  Mina struggles under the stain of being the result of her mother being forced by someone from the horde.  Her family loves her and she loves them, but they are all tainted and though titled are poor and have little respect.  Mini works as a female police detective inspector and must accept a protective constable's burly strength to keep her safe because of her 'horde' features.  She has no dreams more than the little she has.  The insouciance and free-spirited arrogance of the duke who sees what he wants and takes it is grating on her- but she fears the emotions and desires he raises inside her.
For his part, Rhys Trahaern, the 'Iron' Duke of Anglesey, never set out to be a hero.  He has been scrabbling after life's scraps since he was born and raised himself up from abuse and slavery to being a pirate captain until respectability clipped his wings and he channeled his efforts into a merchant and shipping empire.  Mini flashes into his life and he is forced to see another perspective.  And yet, he is determined to get her to see beyond the cage she has placed herself in to what might be if she will take the chance.

The romance is full of sparks.  The pair are combustible.  Mina is so strong-willed and stubborn.  She is an abuse survivor in her way and must be handled as such, but the ruthless, straight-shooting Rhys who was also abused struggles to understand and  has to navigate things carefully with her.  They are so full of passion and I don't just mean sexually- though there was that.  I was riveted and anticipating as they drew closer and closer though it did not come easy.

The action part of the plot began as a sort of murder mystery that expanded to involve a secret plot of tremendous proportions.  The secretive and powerful Black Guard are a formidable enemy.  And some are still loose to wreck havoc in the on going series.  There was great fight action and sea battles and woot, we do have a kracken sighting.

All in all, this was a steampunk romance power house that packs many punches to hook in readers well outside the usual steampunk fandom.  I am definitely powering up for more passion and adventure with the Iron Seas series.
793145
Initially, I was surprised that Gaiman's "A Study in Emerald" wasn't included here. But what was included was a good selection of stories set in various Victorian-Era apocalypses. For such a restrictive theme, there's a pretty wide variety of stories. Some of them do suffer from not being so much Steampunk as just Gaslight Horror, but I'll give it to them.
4027952
I'm not sure why all the reviews for Tick Tock are showing up under Icebound, but this is a review for the latter.

Icebound is, as freely admitted by the author (albeit in a note stuffed in the back of the book that comes off as a belated warning), something of a homage to the adventure-suspense genre. I would also call it a literary experiment for Koontz--and not a terribly successful one. It's not a huge surprise when that he announces his lack of interest in exploring these sorts of stories further. Writing this book must have been a complete chore. You get the feeling that Koontz had to really hold himself back in order to hit all the necessary tropes. Instead of the main threat being malevolent men or otherworldly forces at work, it's the uncaring and entirely natural environment (which is slightly anthropomorphized now and then to little effect). Yes, there's a subplot about a secret killer among the heroes that rears its head about halfway through the story, but it's not very compelling because 1) The red herring is really obvious and 2) most of the focus is on escaping the icy environment anyway.

Did I mention there was ice? Lots and lots of ice. And snow! That's where the monotony really kicks in, because it turns out there's not much to see (or, poor Dean, to describe) that far up north. Especially not in the middle of a blizzard. So everything becomes ice and snow and ice and snow and a cliff and a crag and more ice and snow. On and on and on! It gets boring fast, so maybe that's why Dean devoted so much attention to describing particular character actions in sometimes excruciating (and uninteresting) detail. Around the third act I started skipping the paragraphs between the bits of dialogue in hope that the characters themselves might add a little flavor. Unfortunately, there's not much there either. The main protagonist is a loving and dutiful husband who's prone to taking huge risks. The wife is terrified of the cold and ice but reliably gets over it so often that it might as well not be a thing for most of the book. One of the scientists has spastic anger issues that no one really understands. Her ex seems a decent enough guy but patronizes women. The other two scientists barely matter and for the most part are totally forgettable. So much for the main cast keeping your interest.

Now, in theory, the chapters focusing on the rescue attempt would be a good break from all that, but toward the end I was skipping those as well. All I wanted to know was the identity of the killer. So here comes the last chapter, the bad guy is finally revealed with little fanfare and dealt with about as quickly. Woo hoo. You probably won't care because for all the buildup and mystery there really isn't much to the guy.

So there you have it in a nutshell: Dean's style is great when focusing on characters at length, but here he was forced to abandon that in favor of playing up a really boring environment and the whole book suffered for it. Maybe he should have thrown in a few hungry polar bears or something to shake things up. Either way, it was a valiant effort on Koontz's part, but I don't blame him for hanging up the hat on this one.
595770
I'm liking Meljean Brook more and more.  This was obviously an older story before she mastered her world of steampumk.  It wasn't bad.  I liked the Scandinavian lore.  It took a long time to finish though.
3278730
Andrew P. Mayer's debut has a lot going for it:  the combination of steampunk and superheroes is timely in terms of the market, exciting in its execution, and strong in combining dominant themes from both genres, but it is ultimately an incomplete work.

The book delivers on the big themes -- pitting a determined and clever woman against both a sexist society and the dangerous plot which lead to her mentor's death, as well as showing the heroic efforts of an automata whose heart is in the right place but is constantly distrusted and treated as a non-person.

Action and suspense work well here, and the superhero 'Paragons' evoke familiar archetypes in a way that isn't terribly innovative but is totally competent, with steampunk versions of Captain America and Iron Man, a cool Batman/Sherlock Holmes fusion character, and the Automaton himself.

My biggest problem with the novel is the ending.  I knew going in that the novel would be part of a series, but I felt that the ending wasn't sufficient for the ending of a volume.  All of the main character pieces are still in motion at the end, on a cliffhanger which is both tantilizing and frustrating.  I feel that a novel, even part of a series, should have its own fulfilling ending, and I felt that The Falling Machine failed to deliver sufficient resolution on the main plot.

I'm likely to keep reading, but I hope that the ending of subsequent books and the series are more satisfying.
564227
This book is divided into three separate stories with one theme running through all of them; Lord Kelvin's machine.  In the first story, Dr. Ignacio Narbondo is trying to shift the orbit of the Earth into the path of a passing comet.  The Royal Academy wants to use Lord Kelvin's machine to change the magnitude of the Earth's poles to repel the comet but Professor Langdon St. Ives believes that using the device will harm, and not help, the planet.  The second tale starts with a mysterious explosion at the Royal Academy where Lord Kelvin's machine is being stored.  A little while later there are reports of steel hulled ships going down off Dover.  Then a creepy mother and son show up searching for an elixir that prolongs life. They think that the people who stole the apparatus also have the potion along with the cryogenically frozen Narbondo.  In the third plot St. Ives is in possession of Lord Kelvin's apparatus and has turned it into a time traveling device.

This is what I imagined steampunk to be; real scientists from history working on impossible technology during the Victorian era with plenty of action and adventure. There really was a scientist named Lord Kelvin who developed the absolute temperature scale called the `Kelvin scale,' formulated the second law of thermodynamics, and worked to install telegraph cables under the Atlantic. Another real scientist mentioned the novel is Sir Alexander Fleming who discovered penicillin. These aren't just science fiction stories they are also adventure stories.  Professor St. Ives has a group of men, including his faithful valet Hasbro, who follow him as he tracks down the evil Narbondo and saves the day.  I look forward to reading more books in this series.
4394194
We're off to... not see the Wizard persay in our next Steampunk Adventure:
So, technically there is a wizard or two in this high caliber Steampunk adventure, they just don't hide behind emerald curtains, or don pointy hats. Wizards in this OZ manipulate the sciences and magic to manipulate the people of the Outcast Zone(OZ) to dally in mischief and mayhem. Some may speculate that this is solely fan fiction, but I would argue against that. Is the marvelous Gregory Maguire's Series nothing but fan fiction? I think not. I personally feel that this is a unique idea that Stuart had, that at the most stemmed from an admiration for the work of L. Frank Baum. From start to finish Stuart engages the reader in a tale of intrigue, action and trickery. I was drawn into the adventure faster than the fastest airship in OZ, and locked into every detail. I found myself finished with book one so fast, I was extremely thrilled that I had book two waiting for me, The Scarecrow of OZ: A Steampunk Adventure (Steampunk OZ 2). Now, I hope that there is a third book on the very near horizon, as I am hooked!
Steampunk Quotient = 10/10
S.D. Stuart knows the genre and incorporated it precisely within the characters, setting, inventions, intrigue, and every finite detail of the tale being told. From start to finish there is the Gale family, who personify Steampunk with their talents in the sciences, inventions and physical prowess. Enter into the world of OZ via airship no less and you are greeted by scientific experiments and you cannot forget the automotons. From the lumbering Tin Men, to the more advanced humanoids that are barely recognizable as anything other than human, you will never know who is real and who isn't. Stuart creates a highly detailed series of settings that each delight and horrify in the way they are meant to. From historic, to scientific, to even the fair fashion of the genre, Stuart has a panache for the details. Read more for the rest of the review:

Breaking it Down by the 3 Building Blocks of Literature:
A. Characters:
Don't expect that the usual suspects will appear as if recreated straight from the classic, do realize that over time you will meet the majority of the usual suspects. Each character is crafted with exemplary attention to details that make them original, and very different from the characters of Baum's classic. No character is left underdeveloped, even if it will not be around for long. I personally love Munch, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man, but one cannot deny the dynamic between Dorothy and Caleb. From sheriffs to wizards, to Nero wannabes and soldiers of fortune the cast that was built almost begs for a movie to be made, at the least a graphic novel.
B. Structure and Flow:
This is not a fan fiction story so it is not built on the foundation of the original classic. Stuart does a marvelous job of world building and makes the story mold itself into shape steadily and gracefully. There is no doubt that Stuart has a way with a pen and can craft a well formulated story that flows steadily from the page.
C. Plot:
Get ready for a mystery, that just gets more interesting as the pages flip by. Dorothy Gale is never really in Kansas, and be prepared, there is no Toto for her to moan the fact too, an omission the author admits he made. How can you have Dorothy with no Toto? Never fear, book two rectifies that minor detail. Dorothy faces many odds that go against her from an early age, but one thing drives her... the need to go to OZ, a very personal treasure has been taken from her and she is bound and determined to get it back. To do so requires her to trust not only people, but other wonders of science and nature, as she literally drops into OZ. You guessed it I'm sure, she does drop onto someone, thus replacing their role in the world of OZ. (No Spoilers from me, you know my rule!) Her adventures in OZ are wild, crazy, dangerous, frightening, and beyond her imagination... and frankly even mine as the reader.
2399313
I bought this book primarily because of its gorgeous cover art. The $15 I paid for the book is not a total loss because Jon Fosters beautiful illustration will still look great on a bookshelf. I only wish the writing between the covers would have stacked up.
This should have been a hit for me. I love steampunk, zombies, and weird contraptions. I loved the title. I was very excited to read it, especially with all the rave reviews and blurbs it had on its cover. I suspect I was exactly the demographic this novel was aimed for. Sadly, it missed, and it missed badly. There are a variety of reasons why.
Cherie Priest set up a decent premise. A mother with a murky past has to search a zombie infested, Seattle Underground for her missing son. The poisonous interior of the walled-in city is only accessible by tunnels or by airships operated by pirates, and is haunted by a man from her past who once wreaked havoc on the city with a mysterious machine called The Boneshaker. It sounds like an awesome premise, right? Priest even populated the story with some cool side characters like a bartender with a mysterious mechanical arm and a perpetually masked villain in a crimson trench coat.
The best analogy I can make is that Priest set up a really elaborate chess board with intricately carved pieces capable of astounding feats, then proceeded to play a really boring game of checkers with them.
Nothing of real interest happens in the majority of this book. I feel like the characters spent all of their time walking around a confusing labyrinth of tunnels and fire escapes, going in and out of blight gas infected areas, then wandering around some more in an underground train station, only to accomplish basically nothing by it. The villain, who should have been really cool, basically does nothing. He is terrible at being villainous. All he manages to do is be vaguely threatening, and the resolution of his situation is so anti-climactic I couldn't believe it. The main POV characters were so dull (and one of them was so irritatingly dumb and obstinate) that I couldn't help but imagine how much better the story would have been if it had revolved around almost any of the vastly more interesting side characters.
The most astoundingly disappointing aspect of the story, however, is that the novel is named after a super bad@ss machine called THE BONESHAKER, which NO ONE EVER USES! Are you kidding me? I dragged myself through all those mind-numbing tunnels and forced myself to try to care about these disappointing characters and you aren't even going to use the freaking namesake of the book anywhere in the plot?! Im sorry, that is just terrible writing. I tried really hard to like this book. I wanted so much to like this book and enjoy it, and I even paid full price for it in a bookstore, and it was just progressively more and more terrible. No book full of flesh-eating zombies should ever be this boring. No book with as many awesome contraptions and such a cool setting should be this anticlimactic.
Jon Foster gets five stars for the cover art, but no book should be better left unopened. This one had earned that dubious designation from me. Ill do my best to enjoy what Cherie Priest has done here with her great setting, quality premise, and interesting side characters, and do my best to forget the limp excuse of a plot that tied them together. Im glad I finally talked myself into finishing it, but only so I can move on to something better.
1097711
Free-Wrench was my first foray into the world of steampunk, and as it turned out the author's as well. Joseph Lallo normal realm is sci-fi, but as his notes at the end of the book, decided to venture into steampunk for NaNoWriMo. I had not read anything by Lallo before and only found Free-Wrench by looking at new releases and seeing an interesting cover. It's interesting how many books I choose to read simply because of the cover, and certainly something for aspiring authors, myself included, to keep in mind.

Free Wrench begins by introducing us to Nita, the rebel child of an aristocratic family who works in her country's steamworks. Her nation of birth, Caldera, isolated itself from the rest of the word. We quickly meet her mother and discover that she is dying from a degenerative disease. Just the next day Nita is taken to meet a group of smugglers who claim to know where to get a cure for her mother's illness. However, the only way for Nita to get the medicine is to travel with them; thus the adventure begins.

The smugglers' mode of travel is the Wind Breaker, an airship power by steam. (I'm starting to sense a pattern.) As we are introduced to the crew, five rather stereotypical characters, we learn that the rest of the world was forced to the air because of a fog creeping over most of the planet. This fog is toxic to most people, and forever changes those it doesn't kill. Civilization clings to life along the tops of mountain ranges. I liked this touch. I don't know if it's a standard aspect of steampunk, but I thought that it helped to give people reason to take to the air. I think it's worth mentioning that another aspect that, to my limited understanding, is a common element of steampunk - that is storing energy via coil springs - is evident among the Calderans, but the metal needed to make the springs is only found in their mountains, and so the technology is not available to the rest of the world.

Now that we've gotten the basic premise of the plot out of the way we can talk about what I thought about the book. I think the best word to sum up the book is decent. Free-Wrench does a lot of stuff right, but doesn't do anything amazing. It also doesn't do much wrong. Of course I have complains; I always have complaints. I think that the characters were a little shallow and could have used a lot more depth.

I think that if Lallo wrote the book from Nita's perspective it would have worked better. She knows very little about the world she's venturing into, and moving out of her head removes some of the mystery of that world. This also would have helped add depth, or at least perceived depth to some of the characters. Free Wrench is a short book, and with the limited amount of time and space limiting the perspective could have allowed Lallo to do more.

Overall Free-Wrench was good enough that I think if you're a fair of steampunk you could do worse than picking it up. I may also read some of Lallo's other books to see what he does with some more space and in a genre that he and I are both more familiar with.
506064
This is an unusual time travel novel by the inventive Sean McMullen, the author of the very entertaining Greatwinter Trilogy.  In this book, time travel is accomplished one way by suspended animation technology discovered by a group of Etruscans. The hero is a Roman Centurion and this book is the story of his experiences while emerging from the ice episodically over the last 2000 years.  The central character is presented well and the first half of the book, covering classical Rome, Barbarian age Britain, and the high Middle ages, is entertaining. The second half of the book, dealing with the immediate near future is an attempt at a cyperpunk type adventure novel with a very convoluted plot and many of the stock tricks of this sub-genre.  It is less interesting.  Worth buying as a paperback, though not as a hardcover.
2712634
This is a fun romp on the fringe of well-off society in England and Scotland.

A young lady has been abducted by an older man who wishes to take her to Gretna Green and marry her, having compromised her name. The girl's older sister, still unwed after five seasons, might be thought to be envious when she chases off in pursuit, but we're assured that she's only thinking of the girl's happiness.  She goes to a tavern and finds a Scotsman she knows who, being acquainted with the roads north, might help her.

The story is a bit flimsy and calamities occur, and I can't see any well-raised young woman going off on such a chase without her maid. She couldn't even shop without a maid. So we'll just have to see it as a romantic fantasy. I also see no reason why someone injured as described in a coach accident would be unconscious for several days. There is adult behaviour and a scene reminiscent of Gulliver's Travels when a host refuses to let the travellers continue their journey.

Sadly the spell fell apart for me when a character is reminded of a chipmunk.  These are American mammals and while it's just possible a picture or stuffed version would have made its way to a London exhibition, we need a line explaining why an English lady would ever have heard of one let alone seen one. A hare is the obvious animal if we're looking for something toothy in front; she'd have eaten jugged hare and probably seen someone with a hare lip. Even a rabbit would do; Cook would have them hanging in the pantry.

So overall the story in the series about Scots sisters who sew ladies' unmentionables from fine fabrics to restore the clan's fortunes, is fun but lacking the depth of research we'd expect from this author.
4580247
Let me say from the outset that this book is best enjoyed with a liberal helping of rum. Be tipsy enough to giggle and you'll be all well and good.
This is a steampunk tale filled with lashings of sex, torture and swearing. Steamypunk, perhaps. But golly, if it doesn't get off to matters at quite the pace.
Our erstwhile heroine, Larissa, is practically ripping off her blouse and throwing herself at her would-be beau, The Professor, before we've reached the end of chapter two. Frankly, I had more anticipation and build-up waiting for my foot-long Italian. Perhaps I should clarify that I read the first chapters of this waiting for my sandwich in Subway. Did I mention rum? Rum and liberal usage of the adjective phwoar are what you need here.
Anyhow, there she is, shuffling her shirt, then before you know it, the next chapter has an explosion leaving her corset in tatters, then scant moments later she's tucking something into her bra. I'm not entirely sure all this is consistent in terms of continuity but what I'm trying to say is I'm just an Irish Catholic boy and all this talk of women's undergarments has me shifting into a bright shade of uncomfortable. Rum, phwoar and keep a fan on hand to waft oneself while reading.
So, to recap, Larissa is a humble clerk, but one with a destiny. She is in possession of a rare element, Anthonium, which The Professor needs to power his wondrous machine. That's just fine with Larissa, as The Professor is powering her imagination with the things she'd like to... ahem, anyway, things don't go quite according to plan and before you know it, Larissa is the one needing to come to the rescue of The Professor (sure he's got a name we discover later of Max Watts, yes Max Watts, a powerful name indeed, but the very definite article before his title seems to suit much better).
Aided by The Professor's faithful engineer Cid (surely a nod to Final Fantasy), and the hunky and mysterious Holt, who may either kill her or bed her along the way, Larissa takes charge of The Professor's dirigible and off they soar. Her cat, Imago, may or may not be the grand hero of the piece too, and is certainly the character most likely to enjoy ear rubs and chasing mice.
There's also a fair bit of swooning - I'm not entirely sure this isn't the fault of the corsets but oh good lord, you've got me talking about the undergarments again and isn't it warm in here?
Imagine, if you will, that RKO made a steampunk serial brimful of airships, goggles, and wish fulfillment, but with lashings of HBO-style sauciness and nudity, and lo, behold, we have The Machine.
By the end, Larissa is a much-changed young lady, and the world had better watch out. Frankly, I want a spin-off with the whole thing from Imago's perspective. I'll drink to that.