colleen the convivial curmudgeon's bookshelf: steampunk en-US Sat, 21 Sep 2024 08:48:59 -0700 60 colleen the convivial curmudgeon's bookshelf: steampunk 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Long Live the Queen (The Immortal Empire, #3)]]> 17333781 The fantastic conclusion to the Immortal Empire series that started with the spectacular God Save the Queen.Xandra Vardan thought life would be simpler when she accepted the goblin crown and became their queen, but life has only become more complicated. Everyone -- vampires, werewolves, and humans -- wants the goblins on their side, because whoever has the goblins -- wins. With human zealots intent on ridding the world of anyone with plagued blood and supernatural politics taking Britain to the verge of civil war, Xandra's finding out that being queen isn't all it's cracked up to be, and if she doesn't do something fast, hers will be the shortest reign in history.]]> 352 Kate Locke 0316235482 4
3.5

***

One thing that really jumped out at me in this re-read, which I'm not sure whether I caught/comment on my first read, is the amount of repetition in this story.

Some of it was the seemingly obligatory reminder of what happened in prior books - which is helpful when you're reading months or years apart, but annoying when reading back to back.

A lot of it, though, is in Xandra's inner thought process. I mean, in the past two books she must've thought, at least a dozen times, how inconveniently grey real life is, and how she wishes she could go back to the comfortable illusion of black/white thinking.

Or how she's a strong person, really, but still enjoys being able to be taken care of and rely on Vex.

Like, I get it... I do... but this are pretty short books, and I don't need to read about her having the same thoughts a hundred freaking times.

That aside - I still enjoyed the series, and Vex is quite yummy.

Merged review:

3.5

The concluding book of this trilogy may be my least favorite of the series - but I still liked it.

I can't really put my finger on what felt off about it. I mean, some of it was the same issues in past books - Lexi often seems to do the whole 'one step forward, two steps back' thing. Also, there's just too much repetition and circular thought processes. Like, I don't know how many times Xandra had to point out that her world used to be more black and white, but now she's seeing people more in shades of grey. It was repeated at least 3 or 4 times that I remember off-hand.

Also, I felt like maybe Xandra and/or the author was being too defensive for wanting to rely on Vex. Like she kept having to explain how she's totally kick-ass and independent, but it's nice to have someone to rely on and take care of you now and again. And, again, we've gone through this before and it was just repeated too often - like there was a point to make.

And I get that it could be a sort of insecurity Lexi has - but this is my issue with first-person narratives in general. Our thought processes are circular and repetitive, yes. But this is boring. Hell, it's boring to me to have the same thoughts over and over again - I don't want to read about it from other people, ya know?

Anyway -

Aside from that, everything was honky-dory. A decent blending of action and romance and character moments, and I liked the overall conclusion.

Actually, I'm pretty sad to see it go. I could certainly live with another book or two in this world, as long as we could keep with more forward momentum - and it would be kind of interesting to see how things play out after the conclusion - but I do appreciate that everything was tied up pretty nicely.

(Maybe a bit too nicely, in some ways. I mean, one of the battles, at least, was kind of anti-climactic after all the build up to it... but I can live with it because of what contributed to it.)

So, anyway -

I have considered that part of my feelings of slight underwhelment with the book is more because I kinda don't want it to be over, so I'm curious to see how it turns out if/when I do a back-to-back reread at some point in the future.

'Til then, it was a satisfying, if not spectacular, conclusion to the trilogy, and I can live with that.


ETA: I really like how ole Vicky was portrayed in this one - that weird blending of almost Puritanical rigidness and total badassery.

Merged review:

Re-read

3.5

***

One thing that really jumped out at me in this re-read, which I'm not sure whether I caught/comment on my first read, is the amount of repetition in this story.

Some of it was the seemingly obligatory reminder of what happened in prior books - which is helpful when you're reading months or years apart, but annoying when reading back to back.

A lot of it, though, is in Xandra's inner thought process. I mean, in the past two books she must've thought, at least a dozen times, how inconveniently grey real life is, and how she wishes she could go back to the comfortable illusion of black/white thinking.

Or how she's a strong person, really, but still enjoys being able to be taken care of and rely on Vex.

Like, I get it... I do... but this are pretty short books, and I don't need to read about her having the same thoughts a hundred freaking times.

That aside - I still enjoyed the series, and Vex is quite yummy.]]> 4.12 2013 Long Live the Queen (The Immortal Empire, #3)
author: Kate Locke
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2016/08/17
date added: 2024/09/21
shelves: steampunk, vampire, urban-fantasy
review:
Re-read

3.5

***

One thing that really jumped out at me in this re-read, which I'm not sure whether I caught/comment on my first read, is the amount of repetition in this story.

Some of it was the seemingly obligatory reminder of what happened in prior books - which is helpful when you're reading months or years apart, but annoying when reading back to back.

A lot of it, though, is in Xandra's inner thought process. I mean, in the past two books she must've thought, at least a dozen times, how inconveniently grey real life is, and how she wishes she could go back to the comfortable illusion of black/white thinking.

Or how she's a strong person, really, but still enjoys being able to be taken care of and rely on Vex.

Like, I get it... I do... but this are pretty short books, and I don't need to read about her having the same thoughts a hundred freaking times.

That aside - I still enjoyed the series, and Vex is quite yummy.

Merged review:

3.5

The concluding book of this trilogy may be my least favorite of the series - but I still liked it.

I can't really put my finger on what felt off about it. I mean, some of it was the same issues in past books - Lexi often seems to do the whole 'one step forward, two steps back' thing. Also, there's just too much repetition and circular thought processes. Like, I don't know how many times Xandra had to point out that her world used to be more black and white, but now she's seeing people more in shades of grey. It was repeated at least 3 or 4 times that I remember off-hand.

Also, I felt like maybe Xandra and/or the author was being too defensive for wanting to rely on Vex. Like she kept having to explain how she's totally kick-ass and independent, but it's nice to have someone to rely on and take care of you now and again. And, again, we've gone through this before and it was just repeated too often - like there was a point to make.

And I get that it could be a sort of insecurity Lexi has - but this is my issue with first-person narratives in general. Our thought processes are circular and repetitive, yes. But this is boring. Hell, it's boring to me to have the same thoughts over and over again - I don't want to read about it from other people, ya know?

Anyway -

Aside from that, everything was honky-dory. A decent blending of action and romance and character moments, and I liked the overall conclusion.

Actually, I'm pretty sad to see it go. I could certainly live with another book or two in this world, as long as we could keep with more forward momentum - and it would be kind of interesting to see how things play out after the conclusion - but I do appreciate that everything was tied up pretty nicely.

(Maybe a bit too nicely, in some ways. I mean, one of the battles, at least, was kind of anti-climactic after all the build up to it... but I can live with it because of what contributed to it.)

So, anyway -

I have considered that part of my feelings of slight underwhelment with the book is more because I kinda don't want it to be over, so I'm curious to see how it turns out if/when I do a back-to-back reread at some point in the future.

'Til then, it was a satisfying, if not spectacular, conclusion to the trilogy, and I can live with that.


ETA: I really like how ole Vicky was portrayed in this one - that weird blending of almost Puritanical rigidness and total badassery.

Merged review:

Re-read

3.5

***

One thing that really jumped out at me in this re-read, which I'm not sure whether I caught/comment on my first read, is the amount of repetition in this story.

Some of it was the seemingly obligatory reminder of what happened in prior books - which is helpful when you're reading months or years apart, but annoying when reading back to back.

A lot of it, though, is in Xandra's inner thought process. I mean, in the past two books she must've thought, at least a dozen times, how inconveniently grey real life is, and how she wishes she could go back to the comfortable illusion of black/white thinking.

Or how she's a strong person, really, but still enjoys being able to be taken care of and rely on Vex.

Like, I get it... I do... but this are pretty short books, and I don't need to read about her having the same thoughts a hundred freaking times.

That aside - I still enjoyed the series, and Vex is quite yummy.
]]> <![CDATA[The Queen Is Dead (The Immortal Empire, #2)]]> 17406467 The sequel to Kate Locke's spectacular Immortal Empire series that began in God Save the Queen.Xandra Vardan is the newly crowned Goblin Queen of England. But her complicated life is by no means over. There are the political factions vying for her favor, and the all-too-close scrutiny of Queen Victoria, who wants her head. Not to mention her werewolf boyfriend has demands of his own, and her mother is hell-bent on destroying the monarchy. Now she's the main suspect in a murder investigation -- and Xandra barely knows which way is up.What she does know is that nothing lasts forever -- and immortality isn't all its cracked up to be.]]> 353 Kate Locke 031621535X 4 Re-read<br /><br />3.5 4.16 2013 The Queen Is Dead (The Immortal Empire, #2)
author: Kate Locke
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2016/08/16
date added: 2024/09/18
shelves: steampunk, urban-fantasy, vampire
review:
Re-read

3.5
]]> Ghosts by Gaslight 10575798 Seventeen all-new stories illuminate the steampunk world of fog and fear!

Modern masters of the supernatural weave their magic to revitalize the chilling Victorian and Edwardian ghostly tale: here are haunted houses, arcane inventions, spirits reaching across the centuries, ghosts in the machine, fateful revelations, gaslit streets scarcely keeping the dark at bay, and other twisted variations on the immortal classics that frighten us still.]]> 391 Jack Dann 0061999717 2
In this case - I didn't even finish them. I just stalled out and couldn't muster the energy or desire to continue. Especially since the "steampunk" elements are barely existent... and completely non-existent in some of the stories. Which, I could be down for a good ghost story now and again, but that's not what I was looking for in a book which promotes itself on the steampunk tailcoats.

Anyway-

The first two stories were lackluster, though 'The Iron Shroud' better than
Music, When Soft Voices Die' which was just boring.

'The Shaddowwes Box' was the best of the ones I read, and gave me hope that I could get through the set.

'The Curious Case of the Moondawn Daffodil Murders' was fun - introducing a more supernaturally inclined cousin to the Holmes brothers. Bit silly, but not bad.

'Why I Was Hanged' was ok, and the 'The Proving of Smollett Standforth' utterly failed to be suspenseful.

'The Jade Woman of the Luminous Star' is where I call it quits, and I never even got through the whole story.

I suppose I could've just skipped it and hopped stories until I found some likely looking ones... but I had got this to read for a suspenseful October book, and since it didn't really work on that account, and since I put it aside for awhile and it's now mid-November, I'm throwing in the towel.

Maybe I'll get it from the library again at some point in the future... but I highly doubt I'll bother.]]> 3.53 2011 Ghosts by Gaslight
author: Jack Dann
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2011
rating: 2
read at: 2016/11/16
date added: 2024/03/22
shelves: historical-fantasy, horror-esque, steampunk, dnf
review:
I don't know why I keep falling for these anthologies, when I don't tend to have a good track record with them. Usually one or two of the short stories are good, and the rest of just meh or outright boring.

In this case - I didn't even finish them. I just stalled out and couldn't muster the energy or desire to continue. Especially since the "steampunk" elements are barely existent... and completely non-existent in some of the stories. Which, I could be down for a good ghost story now and again, but that's not what I was looking for in a book which promotes itself on the steampunk tailcoats.

Anyway-

The first two stories were lackluster, though 'The Iron Shroud' better than
Music, When Soft Voices Die' which was just boring.

'The Shaddowwes Box' was the best of the ones I read, and gave me hope that I could get through the set.

'The Curious Case of the Moondawn Daffodil Murders' was fun - introducing a more supernaturally inclined cousin to the Holmes brothers. Bit silly, but not bad.

'Why I Was Hanged' was ok, and the 'The Proving of Smollett Standforth' utterly failed to be suspenseful.

'The Jade Woman of the Luminous Star' is where I call it quits, and I never even got through the whole story.

I suppose I could've just skipped it and hopped stories until I found some likely looking ones... but I had got this to read for a suspenseful October book, and since it didn't really work on that account, and since I put it aside for awhile and it's now mid-November, I'm throwing in the towel.

Maybe I'll get it from the library again at some point in the future... but I highly doubt I'll bother.
]]> <![CDATA[Extraordinary Engines: The Definitive Steampunk Anthology]]> 3259963 441 Nick Gevers 1844166007 2 fantasy, steampunk, dnf
edited 2/24/10: I've decided that I have no desire to ever really finish this, so I'm just gonna call it quits.]]> 3.59 2008 Extraordinary Engines: The Definitive Steampunk Anthology
author: Nick Gevers
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2008
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/03/22
shelves: fantasy, steampunk, dnf
review:
I'm sure I'll get back to this at some point, but I'm about half way through and none of the stories have really grabbed me, so I can't be bothered to finish right now.

edited 2/24/10: I've decided that I have no desire to ever really finish this, so I'm just gonna call it quits.
]]> <![CDATA[The Bullet-Catcher's Daughter (Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire, #1)]]> 20697500 375 Rod Duncan 0857665308 2
Anyway -

It's set in an AU universe where the Luddite rebellion was successful, and now Britain is split into two parts, one that embraces technology and one that doesn't, but there's also the Patent Office who seems to be worldwide, and their job is to limit "disruptive" technology, so, like, if technology is going to put people out of work, they limit the impact of that technology - without ever really addressing the rise and fall of technology and how tech which puts some people out of jobs also creates new jobs.

But, anyway.

Elizabeth poses as her non-existent twin-brother to work as an Intelligence Officer, after she is forced to flee from the part of the world where people can be slaves. (I don't remember the names, but the one part where London is is more progressive with tech but less with individual freedoms, and it's colorful and bohemian, and the other part is all repressed and grey clothed, but has more personal freedoms like not being a slave... )

She's hired to find a missing aristocrat, who also fled from the Empire place, and is forced to risk her personal safety by going to London to find him.

She gets mixed up in some political turmoil which never seems fully explored - the whole "Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire" doesn't even begin to get touched on in this book - and she becomes a person of interest to the Patent Office, who can, like, black bag and torture people.

But one of the Patent Officers inexplicably likes her and helps her, so it's ok...

Ugh.

Elizabeth, for all the derring-do of the book, doesn't seem to have much agency a lot of the time, and has to rely on other people to save her and help her get out of situations she seems to get herself into.

Also, I wouldn't, personally, call this book particularly steampunk. There's some tech and gadgets, but it's more background dressing than anything else. It's actually more focused on alchemy, and the creation of the elixir of life, and there's a lot of weirdly random hokum mixed in with the technological stuff.

Overall, as I said, a forgettable story that I will not be continuing with.

***

Oh, one last thing - there is a circus, at one point, but based on the title of the book I expected there to be a lot more circus type stuff than there was.]]> 3.71 2014 The Bullet-Catcher's Daughter (Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire, #1)
author: Rod Duncan
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2014
rating: 2
read at: 2019/08/16
date added: 2019/09/09
shelves: 2019-tbr-challenge, steampunk, mystery
review:
This review is an example of why I should review things right away because, frankly, I forget a lot about this rather forgettable book already...

Anyway -

It's set in an AU universe where the Luddite rebellion was successful, and now Britain is split into two parts, one that embraces technology and one that doesn't, but there's also the Patent Office who seems to be worldwide, and their job is to limit "disruptive" technology, so, like, if technology is going to put people out of work, they limit the impact of that technology - without ever really addressing the rise and fall of technology and how tech which puts some people out of jobs also creates new jobs.

But, anyway.

Elizabeth poses as her non-existent twin-brother to work as an Intelligence Officer, after she is forced to flee from the part of the world where people can be slaves. (I don't remember the names, but the one part where London is is more progressive with tech but less with individual freedoms, and it's colorful and bohemian, and the other part is all repressed and grey clothed, but has more personal freedoms like not being a slave... )

She's hired to find a missing aristocrat, who also fled from the Empire place, and is forced to risk her personal safety by going to London to find him.

She gets mixed up in some political turmoil which never seems fully explored - the whole "Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire" doesn't even begin to get touched on in this book - and she becomes a person of interest to the Patent Office, who can, like, black bag and torture people.

But one of the Patent Officers inexplicably likes her and helps her, so it's ok...

Ugh.

Elizabeth, for all the derring-do of the book, doesn't seem to have much agency a lot of the time, and has to rely on other people to save her and help her get out of situations she seems to get herself into.

Also, I wouldn't, personally, call this book particularly steampunk. There's some tech and gadgets, but it's more background dressing than anything else. It's actually more focused on alchemy, and the creation of the elixir of life, and there's a lot of weirdly random hokum mixed in with the technological stuff.

Overall, as I said, a forgettable story that I will not be continuing with.

***

Oh, one last thing - there is a circus, at one point, but based on the title of the book I expected there to be a lot more circus type stuff than there was.
]]> <![CDATA[Karen Memory (Karen Memory, #1)]]> 22238181
Set in the late 19th century—when the city we now call Seattle Underground was the whole town (and still on the surface), when airships plied the trade routes, would-be gold miners were heading to the gold fields of Alaska, and steam-powered mechanicals stalked the waterfront, Karen is a young woman on her own, is making the best of her orphaned state by working in Madame Damnable's high-quality bordello. Through Karen's eyes we get to know the other girls in the house—a resourceful group—and the poor and the powerful of the town. Trouble erupts one night when a badly injured girl arrives at their door, begging sanctuary, followed by the man who holds her indenture, and who has a machine that can take over anyone's mind and control their actions. And as if that wasn't bad enough, the next night brings a body dumped in their rubbish heap—a streetwalker who has been brutally murdered.

Bear brings alive this Jack-the-Ripper yarn of the old west with a light touch in Karen's own memorable voice, and a mesmerizing evocation of classic steam-powered science.]]> 346 Elizabeth Bear 0765375249 2 group-read, steampunk New Amsterdam, but was less impressed with Blood and Iron, and based on the blurb of this book I was a bit iffy about picking it up, but then it was picked for a group read this month, so I decided to give it a whirl.

First thing's first, I will say that the patois which turned me off the blurb a bit wasn't really much of an issue for me reading. Yes, it's colloquial and not entirely proper, but I'm not a total grammar snob, which is probably clear form my own reviews, and aside from a few words here and there which made me twitch, I was mostly able to just go with it. I am glad I read it in paper form, though, because I think it would've bothered me more in an electronic format. (Don't ask me to explain the mysteries of my brain... )

Anyway -

I liked what we saw of the world, though it also leaves you feeling there's a lot more that we're not seeing. I also liked the characters. This story definitely had one of the more diverse cast of characters that I've seen, and they were all developed enough that it didn't feel like tokenism. (The one possible exception being [spoilers removed])

The first half of the story is small and personal - a town squabble between rival businesses, you could say, though the antagonist is a great bit giant git. I enjoyed the story, or found it interesting enough, but kept waiting for something more to happen.

So it was a bit ironic when that something more happened and I found myself incredulous and sort of wishing to go back to the way things were.

The second half of the story just felt like a different thing altogether. Things - which admittedly are hinted at in the beginning of the story, but which always feel "out there" - suddenly come to the fore, but in such a sort of weird way that it just didn't sit well with me. (I'm speaking primarily of the [spoilers removed] was just weird, and I had a really hard time visualizing how that would work.

Anyway -

I did like the first half of the story, and I liked the overall ending well enough, though I felt [spoilers removed]]]> 3.66 2015 Karen Memory (Karen Memory, #1)
author: Elizabeth Bear
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2015
rating: 2
read at: 2015/03/14
date added: 2018/07/08
shelves: group-read, steampunk
review:
I'm a fan of Bear's New Amsterdam, but was less impressed with Blood and Iron, and based on the blurb of this book I was a bit iffy about picking it up, but then it was picked for a group read this month, so I decided to give it a whirl.

First thing's first, I will say that the patois which turned me off the blurb a bit wasn't really much of an issue for me reading. Yes, it's colloquial and not entirely proper, but I'm not a total grammar snob, which is probably clear form my own reviews, and aside from a few words here and there which made me twitch, I was mostly able to just go with it. I am glad I read it in paper form, though, because I think it would've bothered me more in an electronic format. (Don't ask me to explain the mysteries of my brain... )

Anyway -

I liked what we saw of the world, though it also leaves you feeling there's a lot more that we're not seeing. I also liked the characters. This story definitely had one of the more diverse cast of characters that I've seen, and they were all developed enough that it didn't feel like tokenism. (The one possible exception being [spoilers removed])

The first half of the story is small and personal - a town squabble between rival businesses, you could say, though the antagonist is a great bit giant git. I enjoyed the story, or found it interesting enough, but kept waiting for something more to happen.

So it was a bit ironic when that something more happened and I found myself incredulous and sort of wishing to go back to the way things were.

The second half of the story just felt like a different thing altogether. Things - which admittedly are hinted at in the beginning of the story, but which always feel "out there" - suddenly come to the fore, but in such a sort of weird way that it just didn't sit well with me. (I'm speaking primarily of the [spoilers removed] was just weird, and I had a really hard time visualizing how that would work.

Anyway -

I did like the first half of the story, and I liked the overall ending well enough, though I felt [spoilers removed]
]]> <![CDATA[Mortal Engines (The Hungry City Chronicles, #1)]]> 13046692 296 Philip Reeve 0545222117 1
I put off rating this for a bit, mulling it over but, in the end, I just didn't like it. I wish I could rave about it like most of the other reviews but, alas, it's just not to be.

It's not without any charm - which is what the little extra half star is for. I liked Anna Fang, for instance, and Pomeroy definitely grew on me, though it would've been nice if maybe [spoilers removed] - but, in a way, that's part of the problem - all the interesting characters are secondary and minor, only appearing here and there, and the main characters are all kind of annoying.

Tom and Katherine, especially, are annoyingly naive for most of the book, and both come across as closer to 10-12 than the 15+ they are meant to be. Hester, at least, seems closer to actually being a teenager, hardened though she is.

Also, I was just never able to fully buy into the whole concept of the traction cities roaming the wilds and eating each other. I guess it's a metaphor for warfare and all, as the cities would destroy smaller cities and take all its resources, but the whole thing just seemed kind of silly to me.

It was also unclear, to me, whether the cities were meant to be alive. I mean, I can dig biotech and all, and if the cities were something like, say, Moya from Farscape, I could get behind that and understand more them acting like animals.

But while it sort of talked like the cities were alive, when you see the workings of things it seems all tech and no biology, so it's not the cities, really, that are attacking and eating as much as the cities are like giant tanks.

Also, when they attack a city they take on the survivors and put them to work. But, surely, this is just going to use more resources and it already seemed pretty full of people. The book does mention that, once-upon-a-time, larger cities would spawn predator suburbs, but since resources are scarce now, that doesn't really happen.

Speaking of limited resources - there are an amazing number of places and people that Tom and Hester run into for the Wastelands, or whatever, to be so empty and barren...

And, with everyone and everything moving around all the time, how is it that everyone seems to know where everything else is? Like, everyone knows that London is on the move - but how can you even have a system of "predator cities" if everyone sort of seems to know about everyone else's movements?

So, yeah...

Oh - and because I know it's bound to happen: 1) Yes, I know it's a kid's book. No, I don't think that's an excuse. 2) Yes, I'm sure I'm "over-thinking" things because gods forfend world building actually make sense.


Anyway -

I could deal with the world stuff not making a whole lot of sense. I mean, it wouldn't be the first time in a book like this I just sort of shrugged it off and went with it for the sake of the story.

But I just wasn't interested in the story. I never connected with any of the characters, except for moments with Hester. And I mostly found the story boring. I mean, it took me, like, 5 days to read a less than 300 pg book. That's unheard of. But I found myself hardcore procrastinating. The thought of picking the book back up just made me sort of groan, and I'd checked goodreads or Facebook again for the umpteenth time instead of reading. To me, that's become a pretty good indication about where a book falls in my rating scale - so this book could get 2, at tops.


But, then, the other issue I had was just the earnestness of it.

See, I've read Larklight: A Rousing Tale of Dauntless Pluck in the Farthest Reaches of Space by the same author, and I've really enjoyed that series - at least the two I've read. But the tone of the two series couldn't be more different. Both are sort of adventure books, but Larklight is sort of tongue-in-cheek where Mortal Engines is intensely earnest.

Not that I was expecting Mortal Engines to be quite the same as Larklight, but I wasn't expecting this bit of , and I developed a serious case of .

It kinda made me think of , actually - some mildly interesting world stuff that doesn't make much sense when examined, but is cool on the surface, but populated with so much crap that, by the end, I just wanted the hurting to stop...


(written 8/11/13. Edited for typos 10/26/16)]]> 3.76 2001 Mortal Engines (The Hungry City Chronicles, #1)
author: Philip Reeve
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2001
rating: 1
read at: 2013/08/10
date added: 2016/10/26
shelves: dystopian-and-post-apoc, middle-grade, steampunk
review:
1.5

I put off rating this for a bit, mulling it over but, in the end, I just didn't like it. I wish I could rave about it like most of the other reviews but, alas, it's just not to be.

It's not without any charm - which is what the little extra half star is for. I liked Anna Fang, for instance, and Pomeroy definitely grew on me, though it would've been nice if maybe [spoilers removed] - but, in a way, that's part of the problem - all the interesting characters are secondary and minor, only appearing here and there, and the main characters are all kind of annoying.

Tom and Katherine, especially, are annoyingly naive for most of the book, and both come across as closer to 10-12 than the 15+ they are meant to be. Hester, at least, seems closer to actually being a teenager, hardened though she is.

Also, I was just never able to fully buy into the whole concept of the traction cities roaming the wilds and eating each other. I guess it's a metaphor for warfare and all, as the cities would destroy smaller cities and take all its resources, but the whole thing just seemed kind of silly to me.

It was also unclear, to me, whether the cities were meant to be alive. I mean, I can dig biotech and all, and if the cities were something like, say, Moya from Farscape, I could get behind that and understand more them acting like animals.

But while it sort of talked like the cities were alive, when you see the workings of things it seems all tech and no biology, so it's not the cities, really, that are attacking and eating as much as the cities are like giant tanks.

Also, when they attack a city they take on the survivors and put them to work. But, surely, this is just going to use more resources and it already seemed pretty full of people. The book does mention that, once-upon-a-time, larger cities would spawn predator suburbs, but since resources are scarce now, that doesn't really happen.

Speaking of limited resources - there are an amazing number of places and people that Tom and Hester run into for the Wastelands, or whatever, to be so empty and barren...

And, with everyone and everything moving around all the time, how is it that everyone seems to know where everything else is? Like, everyone knows that London is on the move - but how can you even have a system of "predator cities" if everyone sort of seems to know about everyone else's movements?

So, yeah...

Oh - and because I know it's bound to happen: 1) Yes, I know it's a kid's book. No, I don't think that's an excuse. 2) Yes, I'm sure I'm "over-thinking" things because gods forfend world building actually make sense.


Anyway -

I could deal with the world stuff not making a whole lot of sense. I mean, it wouldn't be the first time in a book like this I just sort of shrugged it off and went with it for the sake of the story.

But I just wasn't interested in the story. I never connected with any of the characters, except for moments with Hester. And I mostly found the story boring. I mean, it took me, like, 5 days to read a less than 300 pg book. That's unheard of. But I found myself hardcore procrastinating. The thought of picking the book back up just made me sort of groan, and I'd checked goodreads or Facebook again for the umpteenth time instead of reading. To me, that's become a pretty good indication about where a book falls in my rating scale - so this book could get 2, at tops.


But, then, the other issue I had was just the earnestness of it.

See, I've read Larklight: A Rousing Tale of Dauntless Pluck in the Farthest Reaches of Space by the same author, and I've really enjoyed that series - at least the two I've read. But the tone of the two series couldn't be more different. Both are sort of adventure books, but Larklight is sort of tongue-in-cheek where Mortal Engines is intensely earnest.

Not that I was expecting Mortal Engines to be quite the same as Larklight, but I wasn't expecting this bit of , and I developed a serious case of .

It kinda made me think of , actually - some mildly interesting world stuff that doesn't make much sense when examined, but is cool on the surface, but populated with so much crap that, by the end, I just wanted the hurting to stop...


(written 8/11/13. Edited for typos 10/26/16)
]]> <![CDATA[God Save the Queen (The Immortal Empire, #1)]]> 13075038 The first in an alternate fantasy series where vampires, werewolves, and goblins rule London. Queen Victoria rules with an immortal fist. The undead matriarch presides over a Britain where the Aristocracy is made up of werewolves and vampires, where goblins live underground and mothers know better than to let their children out after dark. It's a world where the nobility are infected with the Plague (side-effects include undeath), Hysteria is the popular affliction of the day, and leeches are considered a delicacy. And a world where technology lives side by side with magic. The year is 2012 and Pax Britannia still reigns.Xandra Vardan is a member of the elite Royal Guard, and it is her duty to protect the Aristocracy. But when her sister goes missing, Xandra will set out on a path that undermines everything she believed in and uncover a conspiracy that threatens to topple the empire. And she is the key -- the prize -- in a very dangerous struggle.The fantastic start to The Immortal Empire series that continues with the spectacular undead books, The Queen is Dead and Long Live the Queen.]]> 360 Kate Locke 4 steampunk, vampire Re-read<br /><br />3.5 3.92 2012 God Save the Queen (The Immortal Empire, #1)
author: Kate Locke
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2016/08/12
date added: 2016/08/12
shelves: steampunk, vampire
review:
Re-read

3.5
]]> <![CDATA[Gunpowder Alchemy (The Gunpowder Chronicles, #1)]]> 22837890 In 1842, the gunpowder might of China’s Qing Dynasty fell to Britain’s steam engines. Furious, the Emperor ordered the death of his engineers—and killed China’s best chance of fighting back�

Since her father’s execution eight years ago, Jin Soling kept her family from falling into poverty. But her meager savings are running out, leaving her with no choice but to sell the last of her father’s possessions—her last memento of him.

Only, while attempting to find a buyer, Soling is caught and brought before the Crown Prince. Unlike his father, the Emperor, the Prince knows that the only chance of expelling the English invaders is to once again unite China’s cleverest minds to create fantastic weapons. He also realizes that Soling is the one person who could convince her father’s former allies—many who have turned rebel—to once again work for the Empire. He promises to restore her family name if she’ll help him in his cause.

But after the betrayal of her family all those years ago, Soling is unsure if she can trust anyone in the Forbidden City—even if her heart is longing to believe in the engineer with a hidden past who was once meant to be her husband�

Includes a preview of the second book in the Gunpowder Chronicles.]]> 287 Jeannie Lin 0698135334 2 historical-fiction, steampunk
In fairness to this book, I was reading this as my gym read, and I do worry that I'm not quite able to give a book my full attention when I'm huffing and puffing and sweating like a mo-fo which on the elliptical.

On the other hand, if I'm enjoying a work-out read it tends to get elevated to a main read - such as the case with Cinder which I recently started while working out and then quickly elevated and ended up really enjoying.

So, really, I'm trying to make excuses for the book, but maybe it's just the book, in the end...

It's not a bad book, per se. It's just, well... it's kind of boring, really. It also seems to lack focus. It's about the English invading the culture, and it's about opium, and it's about civil strife, and it's about building stuff, but only sometimes, and things that get hidden one second are being shared the next, because reasons.

And I never really connected with the characters. Soling is inconsistent. She's also passive. Most of the story she sort of gets tossed from being chased by one group and then another, and rarely plays an active role in the events going on around her.

Inconsistent because at first she agrees to something to restore her family honor, but then she decides she wants to return to her family and doesn't really care about their honor. That sort of thing seemed rampant throughout the story.

Also, the romance was entirely predictable and very tepid. And I'm not an erotica reader or anything. I mean, most of the romances I read are YA, so I tend to stay on the tamer side of things - but even for all my timidity this romance lacked passion.

Just overall a very meh story. Meh characters, meh plot...

And I doubt I'll be continuing the series. Frankly, I don't even remember enough about it now, a scant 13 days after finishing it, to write up a decent review. ;)]]> 3.64 2014 Gunpowder Alchemy (The Gunpowder Chronicles, #1)
author: Jeannie Lin
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2014
rating: 2
read at: 2016/03/31
date added: 2016/04/12
shelves: historical-fiction, steampunk
review:
2.5

In fairness to this book, I was reading this as my gym read, and I do worry that I'm not quite able to give a book my full attention when I'm huffing and puffing and sweating like a mo-fo which on the elliptical.

On the other hand, if I'm enjoying a work-out read it tends to get elevated to a main read - such as the case with Cinder which I recently started while working out and then quickly elevated and ended up really enjoying.

So, really, I'm trying to make excuses for the book, but maybe it's just the book, in the end...

It's not a bad book, per se. It's just, well... it's kind of boring, really. It also seems to lack focus. It's about the English invading the culture, and it's about opium, and it's about civil strife, and it's about building stuff, but only sometimes, and things that get hidden one second are being shared the next, because reasons.

And I never really connected with the characters. Soling is inconsistent. She's also passive. Most of the story she sort of gets tossed from being chased by one group and then another, and rarely plays an active role in the events going on around her.

Inconsistent because at first she agrees to something to restore her family honor, but then she decides she wants to return to her family and doesn't really care about their honor. That sort of thing seemed rampant throughout the story.

Also, the romance was entirely predictable and very tepid. And I'm not an erotica reader or anything. I mean, most of the romances I read are YA, so I tend to stay on the tamer side of things - but even for all my timidity this romance lacked passion.

Just overall a very meh story. Meh characters, meh plot...

And I doubt I'll be continuing the series. Frankly, I don't even remember enough about it now, a scant 13 days after finishing it, to write up a decent review. ;)
]]> <![CDATA[The Iron Jackal (Tales of the Ketty Jay, #3)]]> 12351412
Even Trinica Dracken, Frey's ex-fiancée and long-time nemesis, has given up her quest for revenge. In fact, she's offered them a job - one that will take them deep into the desert heart of Samarla, the land of their ancient enemies. To a place where the secrets of the past lie in wait for the unwary.
Secrets that might very well cost Frey everything.

Join the crew of the Ketty Jay on their greatest adventure a story of mayhem and mischief, rooftop chases and death-defying races, murderous daemons, psychopathic golems and a particularly cranky cat.
The first time was to clear his name. The second time was for money. This time, Frey's in a race against the clock for the ultimate to save his own life.]]> 537 Chris Wooding BA 0575098082 3
Once again, my favorite parts were the character bits - filling in some of the back stories, and watching some of the characters grow. I do sort of wish Frey would grow up a bit more, though. It's like we're sort of meant to believe that he is, but we're never really shown it. At least not in any kind of consistent or meaningful way.

My favorite characters continue to be Jez and Crake, though it was really cool to learn more about Silo.

That said, I find myself having a hard time really getting into the action bits - and there are a lot of them. I think it's just a writing style preference, maybe. I like action sequences that make your pulse pound - maybe not explicit in all the details, but which really make you feel like you're in the moment.

In these books, Wooding seems to go more for describing the details in depth. What the views look like. What actions are being taken. And I found many of them a bit too drawn out to really keep my focus.

The second chase seen between Frey and the Iron Jackal was really good, though.

Conversely, the race thing made me think of the pod-race in the Phantom Menace. Never a good thing.

And the black-spot on the hand curse thing reminded me a bit too much of Pirate's of the Carribean movies (but at least that's better thought than Phantom Menace).

I do still think these books would make really good movies - but I wish the book format was a bit tighter.]]> 4.40 2011 The Iron Jackal (Tales of the Ketty Jay, #3)
author: Chris Wooding BA
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2013/03/11
date added: 2014/03/11
shelves: action-adventure, steampunk, sword-and-sorcery
review:
I do enjoy this series, but I never quite love it.

Once again, my favorite parts were the character bits - filling in some of the back stories, and watching some of the characters grow. I do sort of wish Frey would grow up a bit more, though. It's like we're sort of meant to believe that he is, but we're never really shown it. At least not in any kind of consistent or meaningful way.

My favorite characters continue to be Jez and Crake, though it was really cool to learn more about Silo.

That said, I find myself having a hard time really getting into the action bits - and there are a lot of them. I think it's just a writing style preference, maybe. I like action sequences that make your pulse pound - maybe not explicit in all the details, but which really make you feel like you're in the moment.

In these books, Wooding seems to go more for describing the details in depth. What the views look like. What actions are being taken. And I found many of them a bit too drawn out to really keep my focus.

The second chase seen between Frey and the Iron Jackal was really good, though.

Conversely, the race thing made me think of the pod-race in the Phantom Menace. Never a good thing.

And the black-spot on the hand curse thing reminded me a bit too much of Pirate's of the Carribean movies (but at least that's better thought than Phantom Menace).

I do still think these books would make really good movies - but I wish the book format was a bit tighter.
]]> The Alchemy of Stone 6900573
Automate douée de conscience, unique en son genre, Mattie est la création d’un Mécanicien ambigu. Bien qu’émancipée, elle peine à se libérer de l’emprise de son ancien maître, une ombre qui ne l’a pas empêchée, malgré tout, d’embrasser la carrière d’alchimiste. Les gargouilles l’ont chargée d’une mission cruciale : trouver un remède au mal qui les frappe, une inexorable pétrification. Mission que compliquent des événements tragiques : des attentats frappent la ville, tandis que dans ses entrailles couvent les ferments de la révolution…]]> 344 Ekaterina Sedia 1607012154 3
But, anyway -

The story follows Mattie, an insanely advanced automaton that seems to be made out of clockwork and stuff. A blurb on the book says something aobut how this is a study in what it is to not be human - so I suppose it was purposeful that, in some ways, Mattie seems to most human. Or, at least, the most humane - less caught up with her own issues and more concerned with others.

But Mattie's level of advancement proved problematic for me, because I kept being pulled out of the story as my suspension of disbelief would come grinding to a halt repeatedly. I can usually let a fair amount of handwavium go, and even often accept "a wizard did it" as an answer for things - but, for this book, I just kept wondering how Mattie, who seems to be mostly clockwork with a static, porcelain face, was so advanced in thought and movement and, well, everything.

I could accept it more if magic was involved, and there is magic - alchemy - in this world, but there's also a big schism between the Mechanics and Alchemists, and I feel like you're meant to get the impression Mattie is all mechanic, though there is a hint that maybe it's more than that, but...

I had an easier time accepting the living gargoyles (though I still found myself wondering how something with flesh like stone can fly, but at least I could kind of write that off as magic, and they aren't stone-stone, but, anyway... )


Long story short, I can accept Data from Star Trek because it's the future and there's positronics involves, which sounds impressively sci-fi-y to me, but I had a hard time with Mattie being so, well, human just with clockwork and shit.


Moving on -


I mentioned that there's a schism between the Mechanics and Alchemists, and there's political intrigue and vying for power and, ultimately, this plays a large role in the plot of the story. But Mattie keeps saying she's not interested in politics, and tries to stay on the periphery - pulled into events more because the people she interacts with are involved than any direct involvement herself. However, while this gives a sort of objective view on events, it also limits the story in many ways because so much seems to happen off-stage, as it were.

Mattie's main focus is helping the gargoyles and in getting her key from Loharri. And, also, through her we see an examination of the world she lives in.

Through the politics of the story we visit issues of xenophobia and racism, classism, and sexism and the objectification of women. In Loharri, her creator, we have issues of controlling yet negligent parent and jealous yet disdainful lover all in one. We see patterns of abuse - the twisted for of love and hate which gets manipulated by the one in power. Mattie is like a child, in a way, trying to break free and yet cleave to.

And yet, as I said, both the personal and global issues - of which there are many - seem to be dabbled in but never really delved into.

And then it sort of just ends, and nothing gets resolved.

True to life, in its way, but not making for a satisfying story.



As to the writing itself, it has a lyrical, dream-like quality - even moreso when we flit into the gargoyles collective experience (differentiated in the text by italics). But, like the scatter-shot focus, the writing both enhances and hinders the story. It enhances it in that I enjoyed reading it, and tasting the words in my minds, as it were... but it hinders it in that the dream-like quality serves to add another layer of abstraction and distance over the whole thing.

In other words, I could never feel fully engaged in the story or the characters.


It's certainly an interesting little book, and it's far from being bad... but I just felt like it maybe tried to be too many things, and so, in a way, managed to be nothing much at all.

]]> 3.55 2008 The Alchemy of Stone
author: Ekaterina Sedia
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2014/01/29
date added: 2014/02/07
shelves: historical-fantasy, science-fantasy, steampunk
review:
I'm not really sure what to say about this book. I liked it ok, but I also found it disappointing. It just seems like it could've been more than it was. Maybe it's because it sort of seems like it wants to be several things, and ends up just kind of skimming on the surface of all of them instead of picking one focus and delving into it. Mostly, though, it was the ending that did it, I think. Not only was it kind of a bummer, but it just felt so abrupt. All this slow build up, and then it just kind of stops.

But, anyway -

The story follows Mattie, an insanely advanced automaton that seems to be made out of clockwork and stuff. A blurb on the book says something aobut how this is a study in what it is to not be human - so I suppose it was purposeful that, in some ways, Mattie seems to most human. Or, at least, the most humane - less caught up with her own issues and more concerned with others.

But Mattie's level of advancement proved problematic for me, because I kept being pulled out of the story as my suspension of disbelief would come grinding to a halt repeatedly. I can usually let a fair amount of handwavium go, and even often accept "a wizard did it" as an answer for things - but, for this book, I just kept wondering how Mattie, who seems to be mostly clockwork with a static, porcelain face, was so advanced in thought and movement and, well, everything.

I could accept it more if magic was involved, and there is magic - alchemy - in this world, but there's also a big schism between the Mechanics and Alchemists, and I feel like you're meant to get the impression Mattie is all mechanic, though there is a hint that maybe it's more than that, but...

I had an easier time accepting the living gargoyles (though I still found myself wondering how something with flesh like stone can fly, but at least I could kind of write that off as magic, and they aren't stone-stone, but, anyway... )


Long story short, I can accept Data from Star Trek because it's the future and there's positronics involves, which sounds impressively sci-fi-y to me, but I had a hard time with Mattie being so, well, human just with clockwork and shit.


Moving on -


I mentioned that there's a schism between the Mechanics and Alchemists, and there's political intrigue and vying for power and, ultimately, this plays a large role in the plot of the story. But Mattie keeps saying she's not interested in politics, and tries to stay on the periphery - pulled into events more because the people she interacts with are involved than any direct involvement herself. However, while this gives a sort of objective view on events, it also limits the story in many ways because so much seems to happen off-stage, as it were.

Mattie's main focus is helping the gargoyles and in getting her key from Loharri. And, also, through her we see an examination of the world she lives in.

Through the politics of the story we visit issues of xenophobia and racism, classism, and sexism and the objectification of women. In Loharri, her creator, we have issues of controlling yet negligent parent and jealous yet disdainful lover all in one. We see patterns of abuse - the twisted for of love and hate which gets manipulated by the one in power. Mattie is like a child, in a way, trying to break free and yet cleave to.

And yet, as I said, both the personal and global issues - of which there are many - seem to be dabbled in but never really delved into.

And then it sort of just ends, and nothing gets resolved.

True to life, in its way, but not making for a satisfying story.



As to the writing itself, it has a lyrical, dream-like quality - even moreso when we flit into the gargoyles collective experience (differentiated in the text by italics). But, like the scatter-shot focus, the writing both enhances and hinders the story. It enhances it in that I enjoyed reading it, and tasting the words in my minds, as it were... but it hinders it in that the dream-like quality serves to add another layer of abstraction and distance over the whole thing.

In other words, I could never feel fully engaged in the story or the characters.


It's certainly an interesting little book, and it's far from being bad... but I just felt like it maybe tried to be too many things, and so, in a way, managed to be nothing much at all.


]]> <![CDATA[Boneshaker (The Clockwork Century, #1)]]> 1137215
But on its first test run the Boneshaker went terribly awry, destroying several blocks of downtown Seattle and unearthing a subterranean vein of blight gas that turned anyone who breathed it into the living dead.

Now it is sixteen years later, and a wall has been built to enclose the devastated and toxic city. Just beyond it lives Blue’s widow, Briar Wilkes. Life is hard with a ruined reputation and a teenaged boy to support, but she and Ezekiel are managing. Until Ezekiel undertakes a secret crusade to rewrite history.

His quest will take him under the wall and into a city teeming with ravenous undead, air pirates, criminal overlords, and heavily armed refugees. And only Briar can bring him out alive.]]> 416 Cherie Priest 0765318415 1 steampunk, dark-fantasy
Steampunk and zombies and mini-apocalypse, oh my. How could you go wrong?

For starters, you could have lead characters that I never really connected with or cared that much about. Protagonists whose most active role was to get themselves into the city, and then who became fortunes of fate, as things happened to them.

I did like some of the secondary characters better, especially Swakhammer. (Though it seemed weird to me that Briar called calling him Mr. Swakhammer. It was probably meant to be an affectation to remind us of the time period, when men and women were more formal, but since these characters are so informal, it was just kind of weird. Just another layer of distance in a book which keeps you at yours...

I think, really, that's what it is. The characters are never really developed - it's more an actiony-adventure type story, which could be fine, except it seemed like it almost wanted to be a deeper, more thoughtful story at times, it just never quite managed to be so.

Oh, and the brown font on the off-white paper killed me at first, but I did mostly get used to it.

Anyway, I never felt truly frightened or saddened for these characters and their exploits, though I did sometimes feel annoyed that they seemed so ingrateful for the help people were giving them (Briar), and that they kept running off and getting themselves in trouble without finding out what was going on first (Zeke). And I never really connected with them, so didn't much care.

And the whole thing with the big bad was meh. And I don't just mean the anti-climactic end, I mean everything about it. The build-up, the reveal, everything. There's something which happens at the end which Briar is said not to care about because her focus is on something else. Well, I didn't care, either.

Wow - do you think I could say "I didn't care" any more?

The only thing I did sort of care about is the fate of Swahkhammer, which we're left not knowing. I read somewhere that this is the first of a planned trilogy, but I doubt I'll continue unless I hear really good things about the follow-up.

All that said, I do agree with one reviewer who said that this story could make a good movie, though. Visually it would be pretty awesome, and you can get away with less develoepd characters and more haphazard happenings in movies.]]> 3.53 2009 Boneshaker (The Clockwork Century, #1)
author: Cherie Priest
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2009
rating: 1
read at: 2010/03/19
date added: 2014/01/13
shelves: steampunk, dark-fantasy
review:
(1.5)

Steampunk and zombies and mini-apocalypse, oh my. How could you go wrong?

For starters, you could have lead characters that I never really connected with or cared that much about. Protagonists whose most active role was to get themselves into the city, and then who became fortunes of fate, as things happened to them.

I did like some of the secondary characters better, especially Swakhammer. (Though it seemed weird to me that Briar called calling him Mr. Swakhammer. It was probably meant to be an affectation to remind us of the time period, when men and women were more formal, but since these characters are so informal, it was just kind of weird. Just another layer of distance in a book which keeps you at yours...

I think, really, that's what it is. The characters are never really developed - it's more an actiony-adventure type story, which could be fine, except it seemed like it almost wanted to be a deeper, more thoughtful story at times, it just never quite managed to be so.

Oh, and the brown font on the off-white paper killed me at first, but I did mostly get used to it.

Anyway, I never felt truly frightened or saddened for these characters and their exploits, though I did sometimes feel annoyed that they seemed so ingrateful for the help people were giving them (Briar), and that they kept running off and getting themselves in trouble without finding out what was going on first (Zeke). And I never really connected with them, so didn't much care.

And the whole thing with the big bad was meh. And I don't just mean the anti-climactic end, I mean everything about it. The build-up, the reveal, everything. There's something which happens at the end which Briar is said not to care about because her focus is on something else. Well, I didn't care, either.

Wow - do you think I could say "I didn't care" any more?

The only thing I did sort of care about is the fate of Swahkhammer, which we're left not knowing. I read somewhere that this is the first of a planned trilogy, but I doubt I'll continue unless I hear really good things about the follow-up.

All that said, I do agree with one reviewer who said that this story could make a good movie, though. Visually it would be pretty awesome, and you can get away with less develoepd characters and more haphazard happenings in movies.
]]> <![CDATA[Infernal Devices (Infernal Devices, #1)]]> 9222475 384 K.W. Jeter 0857660977 1 steampunk, science-fantasy
I keep bouncing back and forth on whether to give this one or two stars - though I'm pretty much sticking with the 1.5 either way. My dilemma is that while I didn't really like it, per se, I didn't actively dislike it, which is what I usually use 1-stars for, but I didn't like it, either.

I guess, for the most part, it was "ok", and I was going to give it a 2-stars for most of the book, but the ending left me feeling kinda "wtf?", which is why I was thinking of dropping it down. But it did have some things going for it... and also 'cause I feel like maybe I wasn't reading it in the right frame of mind... thus the consideration of keeping it at 2.

What I mean about being in the right frame of mind is that, for one of my status messages, I'd said that it would be better having been written as a comedy because of the absurdity of the situations the bumbling Dower kept getting himself in, and it crosses that threshold of believability after one thing after another after another after another keeps getting piled on top of the idiot.

The 'feeling bad' part comes in because, reading the afterword, is mentions the humor and the absurdity as being purposeful, as a sort of homage to the over-the-top Victorian adventure stories.

So I'm thinking that, maybe, if I'd read it in that light, maybe I would've found it more enjoyable and less annoying?

Though I can't say my expectations were skewed going in 'cause, honestly, I didn't really know what to expect, and I usually try and let the style of writing and the seeming mood of the book come across in the writing. So I'm not going to take blame, or anything, if I wasn't in the right frame of mind because I would say the writing, in the beginning, lead me to believe it was going for a more serious tone - so if it's meant to be more humorous in an absurd kind of way, then I would say the author failed to convey that intention via the tone.

So there.

Anyway -

That's a whole lot of semi-ranting without touching that much on the book, yet, aside from the fact that it seemed like it wanted to be serious, but ended up being absurd, which I found more stupid and irritating than amusing or endearing.

So a bit about the book and some of the good things:

This book first came onto my radar when I was involved in a sort of genre debate about steampunk, and I discovered that Jeter coined the term. Being a fan of the genre - or, at least, the idea of the genre - I wanted to read some of the proto- works and this seemed like an interesting place to start.

Of course, while I've often argued that steampunk is a form of sci-fi, generally, Jeter, himself, coined it in reference to "Victorian fantasies", and the science in this is very, well, fantastical. With few exceptions, there doesn't seem to be any attempt to stick within the confines of possible, or even plausible, science, what with the fishmen type things interbreeding with humans, and clockwork automaton working on principles of a metaphysical sort of resonance...

That aspect of it, actually, made me think a bit of Perdido Street Station, but whereas China Miéville's work - though wordy and overly dense in place - had flashes of brilliance and awe-inspiring profundity for me, this book's attempt at metaphysical philosophies came across as mostly waffle.

But, really, my biggest complaints were as I said before - Dower is one of those protagonists who is never pro-active, who constantly gets buffeted this way and that, and never really comes into his own at any point, and the sheer level of stuff that gets thrown at him from every angle is just beyond the pale.

I never really connected with any of the characters - though I did enjoy Creff and Abel - and the various twists and surprise reveals at the end were just... *smh*

I guess it makes a kind of sense, if it's meant to be an absurdist kind of tale, but, for me, it just came across as kind of asinine and I was thankful when it was done because I could say it was done...

Blech.

So - 1 or 2 stars? I still can't decide...


ETA: I forgot to mention all the type-setting issues. There were quite a few of them and they were pretty distracting at times.

What I mean is things like missing quotation marks, missing periods at ends of sentences, and random periods in the middle of sentences. Since things like punctuation can alter the meaning of sentences, or how you read them, I often had to go back and reread bits 'cause I was thrown by their random placement.]]> 3.36 1986 Infernal Devices (Infernal Devices, #1)
author: K.W. Jeter
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.36
book published: 1986
rating: 1
read at: 2012/11/15
date added: 2013/12/27
shelves: steampunk, science-fantasy
review:
1.5

I keep bouncing back and forth on whether to give this one or two stars - though I'm pretty much sticking with the 1.5 either way. My dilemma is that while I didn't really like it, per se, I didn't actively dislike it, which is what I usually use 1-stars for, but I didn't like it, either.

I guess, for the most part, it was "ok", and I was going to give it a 2-stars for most of the book, but the ending left me feeling kinda "wtf?", which is why I was thinking of dropping it down. But it did have some things going for it... and also 'cause I feel like maybe I wasn't reading it in the right frame of mind... thus the consideration of keeping it at 2.

What I mean about being in the right frame of mind is that, for one of my status messages, I'd said that it would be better having been written as a comedy because of the absurdity of the situations the bumbling Dower kept getting himself in, and it crosses that threshold of believability after one thing after another after another after another keeps getting piled on top of the idiot.

The 'feeling bad' part comes in because, reading the afterword, is mentions the humor and the absurdity as being purposeful, as a sort of homage to the over-the-top Victorian adventure stories.

So I'm thinking that, maybe, if I'd read it in that light, maybe I would've found it more enjoyable and less annoying?

Though I can't say my expectations were skewed going in 'cause, honestly, I didn't really know what to expect, and I usually try and let the style of writing and the seeming mood of the book come across in the writing. So I'm not going to take blame, or anything, if I wasn't in the right frame of mind because I would say the writing, in the beginning, lead me to believe it was going for a more serious tone - so if it's meant to be more humorous in an absurd kind of way, then I would say the author failed to convey that intention via the tone.

So there.

Anyway -

That's a whole lot of semi-ranting without touching that much on the book, yet, aside from the fact that it seemed like it wanted to be serious, but ended up being absurd, which I found more stupid and irritating than amusing or endearing.

So a bit about the book and some of the good things:

This book first came onto my radar when I was involved in a sort of genre debate about steampunk, and I discovered that Jeter coined the term. Being a fan of the genre - or, at least, the idea of the genre - I wanted to read some of the proto- works and this seemed like an interesting place to start.

Of course, while I've often argued that steampunk is a form of sci-fi, generally, Jeter, himself, coined it in reference to "Victorian fantasies", and the science in this is very, well, fantastical. With few exceptions, there doesn't seem to be any attempt to stick within the confines of possible, or even plausible, science, what with the fishmen type things interbreeding with humans, and clockwork automaton working on principles of a metaphysical sort of resonance...

That aspect of it, actually, made me think a bit of Perdido Street Station, but whereas China Miéville's work - though wordy and overly dense in place - had flashes of brilliance and awe-inspiring profundity for me, this book's attempt at metaphysical philosophies came across as mostly waffle.

But, really, my biggest complaints were as I said before - Dower is one of those protagonists who is never pro-active, who constantly gets buffeted this way and that, and never really comes into his own at any point, and the sheer level of stuff that gets thrown at him from every angle is just beyond the pale.

I never really connected with any of the characters - though I did enjoy Creff and Abel - and the various twists and surprise reveals at the end were just... *smh*

I guess it makes a kind of sense, if it's meant to be an absurdist kind of tale, but, for me, it just came across as kind of asinine and I was thankful when it was done because I could say it was done...

Blech.

So - 1 or 2 stars? I still can't decide...


ETA: I forgot to mention all the type-setting issues. There were quite a few of them and they were pretty distracting at times.

What I mean is things like missing quotation marks, missing periods at ends of sentences, and random periods in the middle of sentences. Since things like punctuation can alter the meaning of sentences, or how you read them, I often had to go back and reread bits 'cause I was thrown by their random placement.
]]> <![CDATA[God Save the Queen (The Immortal Empire, #1)]]> 17261265
The Year is 2012—and Queen Victoria still rules with an immortal fist.

She's the undead matriarch of a Britain, where the Aristocracy is made up of werewolves and vampires, where goblins live underground, and mothers know better than to let their children out after dark. A world where technology lives side by side with magic, where being nobility means being infected with the Plague (side-effects include undeath) and Hysteria is the popular affliction of the day.

Xandra Vardan is a member of the elite Royal Guard, and it's her duty to protect the Aristocracy. But things get complicated when her sister goes missing. Xandra will not only realise she's the prize in a dangerous power struggle—but she'll also uncover a conspiracy that threatens to topple the empire itself.]]> 336 Kate Locke 1405511699 4
But then it was picked as a member's choice book-of-the-month and I figured - hey, why not? I needed a workout read anyway, and this was as good as any of my other options.

I'm really glad I gave it that chance. Doubly glad since, 9-times-outta-10, I'm usually disappointed in books acquired under similar circumstances.

Anyway -

In some ways the book is kind of standard. Xandy is a halvie - half-vampire, half-human - and works for a sort of protective detail in the government for aristocrats, all of which are full vampire or werewolf. Queen Vicky is still on the throne, and has been for 175 years, and there's a blending of past and present, with motorcars on the same streets as horse-drawn carriages, and tech resembling cellphones and televisions, but with a steampunky kind of vibe to it.

It has the feel of fantasy steampunk, but it's technically set in present day.

Anyway, the book opens with Xandy's sister going missing and her hunt for the truth, and that leads her into a whole deeper level of things than she was aware of going on. The protag is an outcast, even amongst her own kind, there's a super-sexy alpha-wolf that she's into, and her family loves her, but doesn't get her.

So, in some ways, it has a sort of typical set-up and character types.

But, for all that, it's written well. I've come to realize lately, as I've paid more attention to such things, how important voice is in a story. I mean, it can literally make or break a book for me - and, in this instance, it went a long way to making it.

Also, there are enough twists and turns to keep things hopping, and, even though Xandy's a bit slow on the uptake sometimes, there were some which genuinely took me aback. At one point I was pretty sure the story was going one way, and it managed to throw me a bit of a curveball. Granted, maybe I just wasn't paying attention, wrapped up in things as I was, but it was nice to have a twist which I didn't see coming.

(And it doesn't hurt that her ever-so-sexy love-interest really is damned sexy. A lot of times I find myself boggled at the romance aspect of these stories, but Vex, who started off as pretty one-dimensional, quickly became more developed and an important part of the overall story. And while his alpha-thing was a bit eye-rolling at times, I also liked how it was handled from Alexandra's end, i.e. [spoilers removed]


I gotta say - I've always considered myself more of a vamp girl, but between Macoon in Parasol Protectorate and Vex in this, I might be on the road towards conversion. *growl*


Anyway -

It was an enjoyable romp, not without a few bumps here and there, but I found myself connecting with the characters and rooting for them and thinking about the book when I wasn't reading it, which seems to be a rarity of late.

So while it was something of a 3.5 overall, I'm bumping it to 4 and looking forward to the next in the series.]]> 4.00 2012 God Save the Queen (The Immortal Empire, #1)
author: Kate Locke
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2013/04/02
date added: 2013/12/09
shelves: steampunk, urban-fantasy, group-read, loved, vampire
review:
This book first came to my attention when someone in a group I'm in linked to it, and the cover instantly drew my eye. Well, hell, with that red it'd be hard not to, right? Plus Steampunk is a weakness of mine. But when I read the blurb I was kind of ambivalent, and figured I might give it a pass.

But then it was picked as a member's choice book-of-the-month and I figured - hey, why not? I needed a workout read anyway, and this was as good as any of my other options.

I'm really glad I gave it that chance. Doubly glad since, 9-times-outta-10, I'm usually disappointed in books acquired under similar circumstances.

Anyway -

In some ways the book is kind of standard. Xandy is a halvie - half-vampire, half-human - and works for a sort of protective detail in the government for aristocrats, all of which are full vampire or werewolf. Queen Vicky is still on the throne, and has been for 175 years, and there's a blending of past and present, with motorcars on the same streets as horse-drawn carriages, and tech resembling cellphones and televisions, but with a steampunky kind of vibe to it.

It has the feel of fantasy steampunk, but it's technically set in present day.

Anyway, the book opens with Xandy's sister going missing and her hunt for the truth, and that leads her into a whole deeper level of things than she was aware of going on. The protag is an outcast, even amongst her own kind, there's a super-sexy alpha-wolf that she's into, and her family loves her, but doesn't get her.

So, in some ways, it has a sort of typical set-up and character types.

But, for all that, it's written well. I've come to realize lately, as I've paid more attention to such things, how important voice is in a story. I mean, it can literally make or break a book for me - and, in this instance, it went a long way to making it.

Also, there are enough twists and turns to keep things hopping, and, even though Xandy's a bit slow on the uptake sometimes, there were some which genuinely took me aback. At one point I was pretty sure the story was going one way, and it managed to throw me a bit of a curveball. Granted, maybe I just wasn't paying attention, wrapped up in things as I was, but it was nice to have a twist which I didn't see coming.

(And it doesn't hurt that her ever-so-sexy love-interest really is damned sexy. A lot of times I find myself boggled at the romance aspect of these stories, but Vex, who started off as pretty one-dimensional, quickly became more developed and an important part of the overall story. And while his alpha-thing was a bit eye-rolling at times, I also liked how it was handled from Alexandra's end, i.e. [spoilers removed]


I gotta say - I've always considered myself more of a vamp girl, but between Macoon in Parasol Protectorate and Vex in this, I might be on the road towards conversion. *growl*


Anyway -

It was an enjoyable romp, not without a few bumps here and there, but I found myself connecting with the characters and rooting for them and thinking about the book when I wasn't reading it, which seems to be a rarity of late.

So while it was something of a 3.5 overall, I'm bumping it to 4 and looking forward to the next in the series.
]]> <![CDATA[Phoenix Rising (Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, #1)]]> 9795166 402 Pip Ballantine 0062049763 2 steampunk, whodunit
The first chapter starts with a bang (see, I can do puns, too), and we're thrust into the world of Books and Braun.

Yes - Books (the Archivist/librarian/stuffy one) and Braun (the muscle/spunky/fighter). (There is also a character named Bruce Campbell, which may or may not be a nod to the man with the chin, and a couple named Barnabas and Angelique Collins - though they are of little consequence to the story.)

Anyway...

One thing I often expect from books set in Victorian England, and which I often don't feel like I get, is a certain expression of language and attitude. Often the writing is a bit too modern to really feel period, and I like my period-y books, even ones with a decidedly modern bend, to feel period. This one didn't quite manage. (And I don't think pepperpot was a word around at the time and, even if it was, you really need more adjectives for Braun.)

Speaking of Braun - I like a good anachronistically spunky woman in these adventure stories as much as the next gal, but Braun was just a little bit much. Too modern, I suppose.

But back to the first chapter, from Books's perspective. For a minute there there were hints of The Parasol Protectorate, and it seemed like it would follow the sort of tongue-in-cheek humor of that wonderful series, but that tone barely lasts the chapter.

Then the tone seems sort of Adventure style story - sort of like Larklight, though that's a younger series - but there's that whole over-the-top excitement and silliness about it that makes things like using Books and Braun as names perfectly acceptable.

But that didn't last, either - except via the chapter titles.

Then it turned serious, with shades of The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters thrown in for good measure.

In other words, it didn't seem to know what it wanted to be. I don't know if this was because of the two authors or what, but it didn't seem to want to settle.

Of course, I guess in a way that fits since the characters didn't always seem to know who they were or how they wanted to be, either. (And while I sympathize with Books and his daddy-issues, the Jekyll-Hydeness was a bit odd.)

Personally, I think if the tone had kept to the more light-hearted Grand Old Adventure story it could've worked better. But, really, just picking one and sticking with it would've been better.

As for the Steampunky elements - I thought these were mostly handled pretty well, and were parts of the story as opposed to the story being about the tech. (Which I, personally, prefer as I'm not much of a hard sci-fi reader.) That said, I would've liked a little more originality with the tech (as well as some constraints, since the Analytical Engine worked more like a modern day PC/butler and less like an advanced calculator).

But, really, it's not all bad. I did enjoy it well enough, and while the characters were sort of charicatures more often than not - and while this mystery sort of felt more like an introduction to the characters as opposed to a thing in its own right (as evidenced by the various hints to a larger plot afoot and various background goings on) - I did enjoy it enough to give it another shot.

I may pick the next book up at the library instead of buying it, but I do think I'll see how it fares. (One thing I will hope is some better editing. The first time I came across "treamours" for tremors I thought it would be a one-off typo, but then it kept happening. And "shear ridiculousness" instead of "sheer ridiculousness"? Really? I expect better copy-editing from a professionally published work.)]]> 3.69 2011 Phoenix Rising (Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, #1)
author: Pip Ballantine
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2011
rating: 2
read at: 2012/05/02
date added: 2013/08/30
shelves: steampunk, whodunit
review:
2.5

The first chapter starts with a bang (see, I can do puns, too), and we're thrust into the world of Books and Braun.

Yes - Books (the Archivist/librarian/stuffy one) and Braun (the muscle/spunky/fighter). (There is also a character named Bruce Campbell, which may or may not be a nod to the man with the chin, and a couple named Barnabas and Angelique Collins - though they are of little consequence to the story.)

Anyway...

One thing I often expect from books set in Victorian England, and which I often don't feel like I get, is a certain expression of language and attitude. Often the writing is a bit too modern to really feel period, and I like my period-y books, even ones with a decidedly modern bend, to feel period. This one didn't quite manage. (And I don't think pepperpot was a word around at the time and, even if it was, you really need more adjectives for Braun.)

Speaking of Braun - I like a good anachronistically spunky woman in these adventure stories as much as the next gal, but Braun was just a little bit much. Too modern, I suppose.

But back to the first chapter, from Books's perspective. For a minute there there were hints of The Parasol Protectorate, and it seemed like it would follow the sort of tongue-in-cheek humor of that wonderful series, but that tone barely lasts the chapter.

Then the tone seems sort of Adventure style story - sort of like Larklight, though that's a younger series - but there's that whole over-the-top excitement and silliness about it that makes things like using Books and Braun as names perfectly acceptable.

But that didn't last, either - except via the chapter titles.

Then it turned serious, with shades of The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters thrown in for good measure.

In other words, it didn't seem to know what it wanted to be. I don't know if this was because of the two authors or what, but it didn't seem to want to settle.

Of course, I guess in a way that fits since the characters didn't always seem to know who they were or how they wanted to be, either. (And while I sympathize with Books and his daddy-issues, the Jekyll-Hydeness was a bit odd.)

Personally, I think if the tone had kept to the more light-hearted Grand Old Adventure story it could've worked better. But, really, just picking one and sticking with it would've been better.

As for the Steampunky elements - I thought these were mostly handled pretty well, and were parts of the story as opposed to the story being about the tech. (Which I, personally, prefer as I'm not much of a hard sci-fi reader.) That said, I would've liked a little more originality with the tech (as well as some constraints, since the Analytical Engine worked more like a modern day PC/butler and less like an advanced calculator).

But, really, it's not all bad. I did enjoy it well enough, and while the characters were sort of charicatures more often than not - and while this mystery sort of felt more like an introduction to the characters as opposed to a thing in its own right (as evidenced by the various hints to a larger plot afoot and various background goings on) - I did enjoy it enough to give it another shot.

I may pick the next book up at the library instead of buying it, but I do think I'll see how it fares. (One thing I will hope is some better editing. The first time I came across "treamours" for tremors I thought it would be a one-off typo, but then it kept happening. And "shear ridiculousness" instead of "sheer ridiculousness"? Really? I expect better copy-editing from a professionally published work.)
]]> Nell Gwynne's Scarlet Spy 7979192 165 Kage Baker 1596063254 3 historical-fiction, steampunk
As the blurb says, this slight - 165 pages - book contains both "The Women of Nell Gwynne's", which I guess qualifies as a novella, and "The Bohemian Astrobleme", which is definitely a short story.

In the first story we meet Lady Beatrice, the eponymous Scarlet Spy, who is "ruined" and turns to prostitution to survive, and is soon picked up by the house of Nell Gwynn to turn her talents to larger purposes.

I generally don't like when rape is used as a plot device, as I feel it's overdone, by-and-large, but it does make some sense in the context of this story. Since Lady Beatrice came from a higher class family, which is one reason she is particularly suited to become a spy at the high class Nell Gwynne's, and it would have to either be "ruin" or financial disaster of some sort to lead her there. There is no angst in this book. She deals with it pragmatically and by disassociating - which is, in some ways, more disturbing, but it's never really dwelt on, which makes it more tropey than not.

Anyway -

Getting past that it's a fairly standard sort of spy story, complete with special gadgets made for the ladies to help in the endeavors - which is the only thing that makes it remotely steampunkish.

Like I said - decent for a set of short stories, but not a lot of depth, which I suspect is due to time constraints. Sort of enjoyable and pulpy, but nothing spectacular.]]> 3.90 2010 Nell Gwynne's Scarlet Spy
author: Kage Baker
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2013/08/05
date added: 2013/08/11
shelves: historical-fiction, steampunk
review:
This is a pretty decent story, for a short story. Or, possibly, novella.

As the blurb says, this slight - 165 pages - book contains both "The Women of Nell Gwynne's", which I guess qualifies as a novella, and "The Bohemian Astrobleme", which is definitely a short story.

In the first story we meet Lady Beatrice, the eponymous Scarlet Spy, who is "ruined" and turns to prostitution to survive, and is soon picked up by the house of Nell Gwynn to turn her talents to larger purposes.

I generally don't like when rape is used as a plot device, as I feel it's overdone, by-and-large, but it does make some sense in the context of this story. Since Lady Beatrice came from a higher class family, which is one reason she is particularly suited to become a spy at the high class Nell Gwynne's, and it would have to either be "ruin" or financial disaster of some sort to lead her there. There is no angst in this book. She deals with it pragmatically and by disassociating - which is, in some ways, more disturbing, but it's never really dwelt on, which makes it more tropey than not.

Anyway -

Getting past that it's a fairly standard sort of spy story, complete with special gadgets made for the ladies to help in the endeavors - which is the only thing that makes it remotely steampunkish.

Like I said - decent for a set of short stories, but not a lot of depth, which I suspect is due to time constraints. Sort of enjoyable and pulpy, but nothing spectacular.
]]> <![CDATA[The Queen Is Dead (The Immortal Empire, #2)]]> 17261237 Book two in a thrillingly original new urban fantasy series—set in a dark alternate world where the Victorian age never ended...

Xandra Varden is the newly crowned Goblin Queen of England. But her complicated life is by no means over.

There are the political factions vying for her favor, and the all too-close scrutiny of Queen Victoria, who for some reason wants her head. Not to mention her werewolf boyfriend with demands of his own, and a mother hell bent on destroying the monarchy. Now she's the suspect in a murder investigation—and Xandra barely knows which way is up.

What she does know is that nothing lasts forever—and immortality isn't all it's cracked up to be.]]> Kate Locke 1405511966 4
Can I just say how much I love Vex? Tall, dark and sexy aside - I love the way that he can be supportive, but not mollycoddling. I love the whole "I will support you whatever you decide but, woman, making a damned decision!" and "Would you like me to get you a cross you can nail yourself on, dear?" (Paraphrasing).

I'm a little less enamored with Xandra, though I do like her, overall.

That said, I still have some issues with the book. (Of course.):

* It's a little overly repetitive. Most of this is because of the whole first person format which is not, as any regular readers of my reviews will know, my favorite perspective. I grok XAndy's uncertainty about her identity and what it means, and her general insecurity even aside from that, but compounded by it, and her irritation and being felt put upon and all... I really, really get it.

But I don't need hear the circular mental narrative repeat itself every coupla pages.

And it's not just the personal stuff, it's the world stuff... like how aristos are scared of humans because even though they and halvies are much stronger than humans, the humans outnumber them by a lot, and, what with modern technology and mob-mentalities and all, they could inflict lots of damage.

While it's important to the world of the story, and an issue she deals with both personally and on a larger scale, I really don't need to be reminded of that little tidbit. I mean, it had to be repeated at least a dozen times.

It almost makes me start to feel like the author thinks her audience is really stupid, or something.


* I would love for Alexandra to, um, I dunno... investigate shit. Seriously, if people didn't, like, walk up to her and give her a clue and a kick in the pants from time to time, I don't think anything would get done. And the whole [spoilers removed]

She's also lucky that the bad guys in the book are prone to monologuing and shit.

If I recall correctly, this was an issue in the first book, too, and I'm not sure if it was just worse in this book, or if I noticed it more, but I hate whodunit type stories where the detective-type person sort of stumbles into the answer through sheer luck or happenstance as opposed to actual, erm, detecting.

***

That's all I can think of right now, and I know it's only two things but, considering what this book is and the way it's told, it's kinda two big things.

But, for all that, I still find the books enjoyable reads - to the point I'd say they're easily my favorite discovery of the year so far. They're quick, fun and compulsive. I want to keep reading when I'm reading, and I want to get back to it when I'm not reading. I like the characters, overall, and the world, and I like how, with a lot of good sci-fi and fantasy, it touches on real world type stuff through a mix of real issues (i.e. lesbian and transgender characters) and metaphor.

I mean, a lot of this book is about xenophobia and prejudice - both of Alexandra's personally, fighting the conflicting issues of her upbringing and trying to readjust her views based on new data, and of the larger society.

The way that fear of the unknown or strange can quickly turn to anger and lashing out, and the way that we're all guilty of it, in our own ways, and the best we can do is try to get over it and deal with it the best we can.

***

Oh, and did I mention Vex is way yummy? ;)

(Speaking of which, there was a moment where I was a bit scared where the story was going... romantically. Can't go into a lot of detail without giving stuff away, so, vaguely, I'll say I was afraid it could potentially go in a direction that I find tiresome and annoying*, and it didn't, and that was awesome.)

*[spoilers removed]]]> 4.00 2013 The Queen Is Dead (The Immortal Empire, #2)
author: Kate Locke
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2013/05/08
date added: 2013/05/09
shelves: steampunk, urban-fantasy, vampire
review:
3.75

Can I just say how much I love Vex? Tall, dark and sexy aside - I love the way that he can be supportive, but not mollycoddling. I love the whole "I will support you whatever you decide but, woman, making a damned decision!" and "Would you like me to get you a cross you can nail yourself on, dear?" (Paraphrasing).

I'm a little less enamored with Xandra, though I do like her, overall.

That said, I still have some issues with the book. (Of course.):

* It's a little overly repetitive. Most of this is because of the whole first person format which is not, as any regular readers of my reviews will know, my favorite perspective. I grok XAndy's uncertainty about her identity and what it means, and her general insecurity even aside from that, but compounded by it, and her irritation and being felt put upon and all... I really, really get it.

But I don't need hear the circular mental narrative repeat itself every coupla pages.

And it's not just the personal stuff, it's the world stuff... like how aristos are scared of humans because even though they and halvies are much stronger than humans, the humans outnumber them by a lot, and, what with modern technology and mob-mentalities and all, they could inflict lots of damage.

While it's important to the world of the story, and an issue she deals with both personally and on a larger scale, I really don't need to be reminded of that little tidbit. I mean, it had to be repeated at least a dozen times.

It almost makes me start to feel like the author thinks her audience is really stupid, or something.


* I would love for Alexandra to, um, I dunno... investigate shit. Seriously, if people didn't, like, walk up to her and give her a clue and a kick in the pants from time to time, I don't think anything would get done. And the whole [spoilers removed]

She's also lucky that the bad guys in the book are prone to monologuing and shit.

If I recall correctly, this was an issue in the first book, too, and I'm not sure if it was just worse in this book, or if I noticed it more, but I hate whodunit type stories where the detective-type person sort of stumbles into the answer through sheer luck or happenstance as opposed to actual, erm, detecting.

***

That's all I can think of right now, and I know it's only two things but, considering what this book is and the way it's told, it's kinda two big things.

But, for all that, I still find the books enjoyable reads - to the point I'd say they're easily my favorite discovery of the year so far. They're quick, fun and compulsive. I want to keep reading when I'm reading, and I want to get back to it when I'm not reading. I like the characters, overall, and the world, and I like how, with a lot of good sci-fi and fantasy, it touches on real world type stuff through a mix of real issues (i.e. lesbian and transgender characters) and metaphor.

I mean, a lot of this book is about xenophobia and prejudice - both of Alexandra's personally, fighting the conflicting issues of her upbringing and trying to readjust her views based on new data, and of the larger society.

The way that fear of the unknown or strange can quickly turn to anger and lashing out, and the way that we're all guilty of it, in our own ways, and the best we can do is try to get over it and deal with it the best we can.

***

Oh, and did I mention Vex is way yummy? ;)

(Speaking of which, there was a moment where I was a bit scared where the story was going... romantically. Can't go into a lot of detail without giving stuff away, so, vaguely, I'll say I was afraid it could potentially go in a direction that I find tiresome and annoying*, and it didn't, and that was awesome.)

*[spoilers removed]
]]> <![CDATA[Timeless (Parasol Protectorate, #5)]]> 12348550
Until, that is, she receives a summons that cannot be ignored. With husband, child, and Tunstells in tow, Alexia boards a steamer to cross the Mediterranean. But Egypt may hold more mysteries than even the indomitable Lady Maccon can handle. What does the vampire Queen of the Alexandria Hive really want from her? Why is the God-Breaker Plague suddenly expanding? And how has Ivy Tunstell suddenly become the most popular actress in all the British Empire?
TIMELESS is the final book of the Parasol Protectorate series: a comedy of manners set in Victorian London, full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.]]> 386 Gail Carriger 0316127183 4
This is a really fun book, in a fun series, and I almost want to give it 5 stars, but I can't help but feeling just a small sense of dissatisfaction which is keeping me from jumping it with a full 5.

The book starts off very strong. It picks up about 2 years after the end of the last book, and Prudence as a child had me laughing out loud on the train more than once, and Ivy, who's a big part of this story, left me chuckling and shaking my head and just the first several chapters are hysterical.

It takes awhile to get to the real meat of the story and, honestly, I didn't mind all that much because everything else was such a pleasure.

But when we did get to the heart of the plot it felt, I don't know, a bit discombobulated, I suppose. It retained some, though not all, of the humor and wryness as things started turning more serious, but it was more that things were happening almost too quickly and I just couldn't shake this niggling feeling like I was missing something.

Part of it, perhaps, is the usual mystery sort of atmosphere where you only know so much as the main character, so you are actually missing pieces, but even after everything was 'resolved' I felt like some things were just too glossed over and not really explained to my satisfaction (for instance [spoilers removed] I could live with this if this wasn't the last book in the series*.

Conversely, there were some parts that were, perhaps, a bit too pat. (Such as [spoilers removed])

And while I really enjoyed the scenes with Lyall and Biffy and their [spoilers removed], I would've liked to have seen more of the 'Lyall to the rescue' that we saw in past books and, also, I'm not sure how I feel about Biffy [spoilers removed]

So, while, overall I enjoyed the series, once again the real joy lies in the characters and the humor and the interaction and not so much in the actual plot line.

Ah well. At least there was quite a lot of the good stuff to get me through. ;)



* While this is the last book of the series starring Alexia, there is a follow-up series with Prudence so I console myself that we haven't heard the last of some of those loose ends.]]> 4.10 2012 Timeless (Parasol Protectorate, #5)
author: Gail Carriger
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2012/02/25
date added: 2012/12/19
shelves: steampunk, romantic, historical-fantasy
review:
4.5

This is a really fun book, in a fun series, and I almost want to give it 5 stars, but I can't help but feeling just a small sense of dissatisfaction which is keeping me from jumping it with a full 5.

The book starts off very strong. It picks up about 2 years after the end of the last book, and Prudence as a child had me laughing out loud on the train more than once, and Ivy, who's a big part of this story, left me chuckling and shaking my head and just the first several chapters are hysterical.

It takes awhile to get to the real meat of the story and, honestly, I didn't mind all that much because everything else was such a pleasure.

But when we did get to the heart of the plot it felt, I don't know, a bit discombobulated, I suppose. It retained some, though not all, of the humor and wryness as things started turning more serious, but it was more that things were happening almost too quickly and I just couldn't shake this niggling feeling like I was missing something.

Part of it, perhaps, is the usual mystery sort of atmosphere where you only know so much as the main character, so you are actually missing pieces, but even after everything was 'resolved' I felt like some things were just too glossed over and not really explained to my satisfaction (for instance [spoilers removed] I could live with this if this wasn't the last book in the series*.

Conversely, there were some parts that were, perhaps, a bit too pat. (Such as [spoilers removed])

And while I really enjoyed the scenes with Lyall and Biffy and their [spoilers removed], I would've liked to have seen more of the 'Lyall to the rescue' that we saw in past books and, also, I'm not sure how I feel about Biffy [spoilers removed]

So, while, overall I enjoyed the series, once again the real joy lies in the characters and the humor and the interaction and not so much in the actual plot line.

Ah well. At least there was quite a lot of the good stuff to get me through. ;)



* While this is the last book of the series starring Alexia, there is a follow-up series with Prudence so I console myself that we haven't heard the last of some of those loose ends.
]]> The Prestige 239239
Their rivalry will take them to the peaks of their careers, but with terrible consequences. In the course of pursuing each other's ruin, they will deploy all the deception their magicians' craft can command--the highest misdirection and the darkest science.

Blood will be spilled, but it will not be enough. In the end, their legacy will pass on for generations...to descendants who must, for their sanity's sake, untangle the puzzle left to them.]]> 404 Christopher Priest 0312858868 2
I think I may have enjoyed this book if I hadn't seen the movie, because much of the book revolves around the big secrets of the two protagonists - Borden and Angier - and since I already knew what was going on, I never felt any real suspension or even much curiosity.

And I almost felt I was reading the wrong book at first, since it starts in the present day with the descendants of the two. At least that bit added something to the story not found in the movie, though, again, it revolved around the same secrets so...

I will say I found the style interesting. Basically we have two notebooks - one of Borden's and one of Angier's - which tells their story in diary format. The two were different enough to believe they were written by different people, but I would've liked a bit more personality in both of them, to be honest. (That said, I will say I preferred Angier's part, as it just seemed better written.)

There are, of course, differences between the book and the movie. Some things I preferred the way the movie had them, particularly the cause of the feud. [spoilers removed]

Also, I liked that the movie made more of the secondary characters. Since the book is written in first person, all of the secondary characters, even the wives and lovers, are more sort of just there and not really given much of a life of their own. And Michael Caine's character is hardly there at all. I mean, the basis for the character is there, but the movie fleshed him out in ways the book doesn't even begin to do.

But I kind of preferred the ending of the book. It was darker, more morbid, and more fitting, in some ways.

In the movie I sort of got the feeling that Angier was meant to sort of be 'the winner', if there can be said to be one, but in the book everyone loses in some way - in ways particular to their lives and lies - and I appreciated the bleakness of it. It works better, as a morality tale, than the movie ending did.

Overall, just thinking of what actually happens, I think it could've been a very good book. But the writing, and perhaps, as I said, simply the knowing, both killed it for me. I was more bored than anything, which is a shame because it shouldn't have been a boring book, all things considered.]]> 3.92 1995 The Prestige
author: Christopher Priest
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1995
rating: 2
read at: 2012/07/18
date added: 2012/07/18
shelves: historical-fantasy, steampunk, group-read
review:
2.5

I think I may have enjoyed this book if I hadn't seen the movie, because much of the book revolves around the big secrets of the two protagonists - Borden and Angier - and since I already knew what was going on, I never felt any real suspension or even much curiosity.

And I almost felt I was reading the wrong book at first, since it starts in the present day with the descendants of the two. At least that bit added something to the story not found in the movie, though, again, it revolved around the same secrets so...

I will say I found the style interesting. Basically we have two notebooks - one of Borden's and one of Angier's - which tells their story in diary format. The two were different enough to believe they were written by different people, but I would've liked a bit more personality in both of them, to be honest. (That said, I will say I preferred Angier's part, as it just seemed better written.)

There are, of course, differences between the book and the movie. Some things I preferred the way the movie had them, particularly the cause of the feud. [spoilers removed]

Also, I liked that the movie made more of the secondary characters. Since the book is written in first person, all of the secondary characters, even the wives and lovers, are more sort of just there and not really given much of a life of their own. And Michael Caine's character is hardly there at all. I mean, the basis for the character is there, but the movie fleshed him out in ways the book doesn't even begin to do.

But I kind of preferred the ending of the book. It was darker, more morbid, and more fitting, in some ways.

In the movie I sort of got the feeling that Angier was meant to sort of be 'the winner', if there can be said to be one, but in the book everyone loses in some way - in ways particular to their lives and lies - and I appreciated the bleakness of it. It works better, as a morality tale, than the movie ending did.

Overall, just thinking of what actually happens, I think it could've been a very good book. But the writing, and perhaps, as I said, simply the knowing, both killed it for me. I was more bored than anything, which is a shame because it shouldn't have been a boring book, all things considered.
]]> The Hunchback Assignments 7052505
The mysterious Mr. Socrates rescues Modo, a child in a traveling freak show. Modo is a hunchback with an amazing ability to transform his appearance, and Mr. Socrates raises him in isolation as an agent for the Permanent Association, a spy agency behind Brittania’s efforts to rule the empire. At 14, Modo is left on the streets of London to fend for himself. When he encounters Octavia Milkweed, another Association agent, the two uncover a plot by the Clockword Guild behind the murders of important men. Furthermore, a mad scientist is turning orphan children into automatons to further the goals of the Guild. Modo and Octavia journey deep into the tunnels under London and discover a terrifying plot against the British government. It’s up to them to save their country.


From the Hardcover edition.]]> 288 Arthur Slade 0375854037 2
What's not to like?

Thing is - I don't really know, but something about this bookjust didn't quite work for me. I never felt hooked or fully invested.

Another reviewer said it lacked depth, and maybe that's it. It never felt fully developed. Things happened, one after the next, but I felt no real sense of urgency. The character's seemed odd somehow - not quite realistic and maybe even inconsistent at times.

Not to mention actions which lacked credulity sometimes. And I don't even mean the fantastical science. I mean like when Modo (yes, the hunchback is named Modo) drags himself home one night, exhausted and injured, barely making it home, and then decides to go out again, the same night, to confront the person who sent him there. He couldn't wait one night?

(Another naming thing: the scientist who creates a tincture that brings out people's darker impukses is named Hyde. But not that Hyde. I might find such things funny or clever in certain instances, but in this book it just made me roll my eyes a bit.)

Anyway - this seems like a book I should love, and it wasn't terrible or anything, but it just didn't quite work for me for some ineffable reason. *shrugs*]]> 3.31 2009 The Hunchback Assignments
author: Arthur Slade
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.31
book published: 2009
rating: 2
read at: 2012/01/28
date added: 2012/01/30
shelves: dark-fantasy, steampunk, young-adult
review:
Mystery and mayhem in Victorian England. Protagonist tortured by his disfigurement and sheltered upbringing - to put it nicely. Another protagonist fitting the anachronistic, spunky girl role. Clockwork andsteampunky type goodness - well, badness, really.

What's not to like?

Thing is - I don't really know, but something about this bookjust didn't quite work for me. I never felt hooked or fully invested.

Another reviewer said it lacked depth, and maybe that's it. It never felt fully developed. Things happened, one after the next, but I felt no real sense of urgency. The character's seemed odd somehow - not quite realistic and maybe even inconsistent at times.

Not to mention actions which lacked credulity sometimes. And I don't even mean the fantastical science. I mean like when Modo (yes, the hunchback is named Modo) drags himself home one night, exhausted and injured, barely making it home, and then decides to go out again, the same night, to confront the person who sent him there. He couldn't wait one night?

(Another naming thing: the scientist who creates a tincture that brings out people's darker impukses is named Hyde. But not that Hyde. I might find such things funny or clever in certain instances, but in this book it just made me roll my eyes a bit.)

Anyway - this seems like a book I should love, and it wasn't terrible or anything, but it just didn't quite work for me for some ineffable reason. *shrugs*
]]> Thomas Riley 7063554 277 Nick Valentino 1590807006 3 young-adult, steampunk
I'm a bit torn on how to rate this one, to be honest.

On one hand, it was a decent story and concept, overall, filled with lots of action and, even better, a lot of fun, steampunky gadgets. The main characters were pretty cool - though they don't really have much in the way of depth to them... but since I've decided to read this as, predominantly, an action story, well, action characters aren't known to have much depth, so I'm being forgiving on that account.

(That said, there was one point where it seemed like some depth would be added to the characters and/or explored within the world, specifically when [spoilers removed]

On the other hand - the villains had zero depth and were rather annoyingly stereotypical in their cartoonish behavior. Maier, especially, was just kinda crap.

And the action - well, as I said, there was a lot of it. Some of it was handled well, other parts were hard to follow but, overall, while fun it seemed a bit too-much at times. One thing after another after another, and even Thomas and Cynthia were routinely commenting on how lucky they've been being as how they're scientists and never been in combat before and now they're surviving crashes and fights and all sorts of things left, right and center. Not to mention the numerous miraculously lucky saves. (I will say, though, that between the action and the visuals offered by the various flying machines, weaponry, and gadgetry in general, this is a story that would work well as a movie or even in manga or GN format. Also, I think the book would've been much better if it had more humor and didn't seem to take itself so seriously considering how OTT much of it was.)

And the climax seemed a bit, well, anti. Rushed, I suppose, and there were some ideas and things which were introduced and seemed promising and never fully came into fruition. (On the other side of that, I liked that not every gadget worked out the way it was planned.)

And the writing itself - well, it's not horrible, and it does carry you along easily enough (though, as I said, hard to follow in places), but it also needs some tighter editing - not to mention someone looking out for continuity.

There were several instances of just sloppy grammar, additional words (like "Thomas was hadn't been... "), and weird slips. For instance, it seems like this is an entirely fictional universe, but then someone is described as having a British accent. In one paragraph Cynthia is said to be putting on a pair of pants, and in the next it says "Thomas' pants were black, like her skirt". Things like that. Very shoddy and unprofessional with all the typos and things - so that's definitely something that needs to be kept a closer eye on in the future.

And there is suggestion of a future. The story is left open for further installments, and the write-up on Amazon does say "Thomas Riley (Echelon Press/Quake), is the first in a series of alternative history books..." so it's quite possible that the dangling threads will be picked up in those. I may very well come along for the ride - but only time will tell.

3.5 for overall story and concept
2.25 for execution


***

Additional thoughts (that I'm too lazy to try to work into my earlier review):

This is being marketed as a YA book*, but it doesn't really seem like one to me on the surface. Firstly there's the fact that Thomas Riley is 29 and Cynthia is 25, whereas most YA books are written with young protagonists.

Moreso, though, it just didn't have the overall tone I've come to associate with YA lit. I can't really put my finger on it - it's an undefined quality, one of those 'you know it when you see it' sort of things - but this seemed different.

Also, while I have seen a lot of action and violence and death in some YA stories, both the abundance of it, the description of it, and the sort of blase nature of it in this story would sort of make me not want to recommend this to younger readers - and since a lot of people seem to think 10 and 11 year olds fall under the YA category (even though they don't) - I want to add the caveat that I would not necessarily recommend this for younger YA readers. Of course, it depends on the individual in question, so this is just a general note of caution.

* I read on one blog that this was written as an adult book but then marketed for 13+. I could definitely see a PG-13 movie being adapted from it, minus a few descriptions, so I think that is probably a good marker for age level. ]]> 3.69 2009 Thomas Riley
author: Nick Valentino
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2012/01/22
date added: 2012/01/23
shelves: young-adult, steampunk
review:
2.75

I'm a bit torn on how to rate this one, to be honest.

On one hand, it was a decent story and concept, overall, filled with lots of action and, even better, a lot of fun, steampunky gadgets. The main characters were pretty cool - though they don't really have much in the way of depth to them... but since I've decided to read this as, predominantly, an action story, well, action characters aren't known to have much depth, so I'm being forgiving on that account.

(That said, there was one point where it seemed like some depth would be added to the characters and/or explored within the world, specifically when [spoilers removed]

On the other hand - the villains had zero depth and were rather annoyingly stereotypical in their cartoonish behavior. Maier, especially, was just kinda crap.

And the action - well, as I said, there was a lot of it. Some of it was handled well, other parts were hard to follow but, overall, while fun it seemed a bit too-much at times. One thing after another after another, and even Thomas and Cynthia were routinely commenting on how lucky they've been being as how they're scientists and never been in combat before and now they're surviving crashes and fights and all sorts of things left, right and center. Not to mention the numerous miraculously lucky saves. (I will say, though, that between the action and the visuals offered by the various flying machines, weaponry, and gadgetry in general, this is a story that would work well as a movie or even in manga or GN format. Also, I think the book would've been much better if it had more humor and didn't seem to take itself so seriously considering how OTT much of it was.)

And the climax seemed a bit, well, anti. Rushed, I suppose, and there were some ideas and things which were introduced and seemed promising and never fully came into fruition. (On the other side of that, I liked that not every gadget worked out the way it was planned.)

And the writing itself - well, it's not horrible, and it does carry you along easily enough (though, as I said, hard to follow in places), but it also needs some tighter editing - not to mention someone looking out for continuity.

There were several instances of just sloppy grammar, additional words (like "Thomas was hadn't been... "), and weird slips. For instance, it seems like this is an entirely fictional universe, but then someone is described as having a British accent. In one paragraph Cynthia is said to be putting on a pair of pants, and in the next it says "Thomas' pants were black, like her skirt". Things like that. Very shoddy and unprofessional with all the typos and things - so that's definitely something that needs to be kept a closer eye on in the future.

And there is suggestion of a future. The story is left open for further installments, and the write-up on Amazon does say "Thomas Riley (Echelon Press/Quake), is the first in a series of alternative history books..." so it's quite possible that the dangling threads will be picked up in those. I may very well come along for the ride - but only time will tell.

3.5 for overall story and concept
2.25 for execution


***

Additional thoughts (that I'm too lazy to try to work into my earlier review):

This is being marketed as a YA book*, but it doesn't really seem like one to me on the surface. Firstly there's the fact that Thomas Riley is 29 and Cynthia is 25, whereas most YA books are written with young protagonists.

Moreso, though, it just didn't have the overall tone I've come to associate with YA lit. I can't really put my finger on it - it's an undefined quality, one of those 'you know it when you see it' sort of things - but this seemed different.

Also, while I have seen a lot of action and violence and death in some YA stories, both the abundance of it, the description of it, and the sort of blase nature of it in this story would sort of make me not want to recommend this to younger readers - and since a lot of people seem to think 10 and 11 year olds fall under the YA category (even though they don't) - I want to add the caveat that I would not necessarily recommend this for younger YA readers. Of course, it depends on the individual in question, so this is just a general note of caution.

* I read on one blog that this was written as an adult book but then marketed for 13+. I could definitely see a PG-13 movie being adapted from it, minus a few descriptions, so I think that is probably a good marker for age level.
]]> <![CDATA[The Inventor (Fantasies of New Europa Series Book 1)]]> 9337362 Mood: Lighthearted
Intimacy Rating: Adult Erotic
Word Count: 20,000

For the Countess of Caithmore, a life of wealth has led to misery. Abandoned by her husband and widely accused of being nothing more than a porcelain doll without passion or intelligence, she has ventured into dangerous territory and commissioned the help of the most famous inventor in New Europa for a scandalous project.
In the depths of his laboratory, she will submit herself to a custom-built machine that will determine the extent of her coldness once and for all. The answer she craves carries a hidden risk, however, and the man whose invention has proven her ability to feel passion may not accept the role of lover-by-proxy for long.
The first in the Fantasies of New Europa series, The Inventor debuts a collection of novellas set at the beginning of a lush and adventurous era. Amid the golden hue of gaslights and the clatter of horse-drawn coaches, the series follows a generation of dreamers and explorers that will find each other through separate twists of fate. They will brave impossible odds, solve the exotic mysteries of their time and navigate the sensual desires of the human heart.
]]> 90 Morgan Karpiel 0982936001 3 romantic, steampunk
So, anyway, that out of the way...

While it's not the type of book I usually read, mostly because I can't quite get past the flowery language often used in these kinds of books, not to mention I'm a giant prude, I have to say that I did feel the sex scenes, while a bit florid in places, were generally very tactfully handled and not overly belabored.

I think my biggest issues with the book are actually more plot related:

The first issue can mostly be attributed to the short length of the book, but everything just seemed a bit rushed and the characters weren't as fleshed out as I would've liked (no pun intended). As I said, though, I think this is more an issue with the length and not really with the writing. The writing was generally good and I believe the author would've definitely developed the world and characters more given more time.

The second issue, and, really, the most important one, for me, was that I felt the conceit of the story was a bit thin. The necessity of the machines were a bit of a stretch since [spoilers removed], and I felt it was kind of a weak plot-device manufactured to bring our protagonists together and, also, so it could have the steampunk label, since it is all the rage these days (and, quite frankly, it was my interest in steampunk which brought this novella to my attention in the first place).

Oh, and one other smaller point, [spoilers removed].

I know with all that it seems like I would've like the book at all, but I still did. Since it was short it was a quick read, and it was a easy read in the sense that it flowed well and was just generally well put together. (I guess it's a bit of a bias in me that I expect romance-type novels to be painful to read, not just because of my embarrassment with certain parts but just because, well, they're just badly written, but that was definitely not the case with this one.)

Anyway -

I'm not sure whether I'll read any more books in the series since, as I said, erotica isn't quite my thing, but I wouldn't be opposed to reading books in a different genre from the author. (And, that said, I did like the characters enough in this one that if they continue on I might follow them.)]]> 3.40 2010 The Inventor (Fantasies of New Europa Series Book 1)
author: Morgan Karpiel
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.40
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2012/01/04
date added: 2012/01/05
shelves: romantic, steampunk
review:
First let me dispense with the disclaimer that I don't usually read erotica type books and when I first read the blurb for this book, while I realized there was definitely a strong romance element I didn't realize it was listed as erotica. (Yes, I know reading the blurb now one might wonder how I could've missed it, but I swear it was different and more ambiguous before!)

So, anyway, that out of the way...

While it's not the type of book I usually read, mostly because I can't quite get past the flowery language often used in these kinds of books, not to mention I'm a giant prude, I have to say that I did feel the sex scenes, while a bit florid in places, were generally very tactfully handled and not overly belabored.

I think my biggest issues with the book are actually more plot related:

The first issue can mostly be attributed to the short length of the book, but everything just seemed a bit rushed and the characters weren't as fleshed out as I would've liked (no pun intended). As I said, though, I think this is more an issue with the length and not really with the writing. The writing was generally good and I believe the author would've definitely developed the world and characters more given more time.

The second issue, and, really, the most important one, for me, was that I felt the conceit of the story was a bit thin. The necessity of the machines were a bit of a stretch since [spoilers removed], and I felt it was kind of a weak plot-device manufactured to bring our protagonists together and, also, so it could have the steampunk label, since it is all the rage these days (and, quite frankly, it was my interest in steampunk which brought this novella to my attention in the first place).

Oh, and one other smaller point, [spoilers removed].

I know with all that it seems like I would've like the book at all, but I still did. Since it was short it was a quick read, and it was a easy read in the sense that it flowed well and was just generally well put together. (I guess it's a bit of a bias in me that I expect romance-type novels to be painful to read, not just because of my embarrassment with certain parts but just because, well, they're just badly written, but that was definitely not the case with this one.)

Anyway -

I'm not sure whether I'll read any more books in the series since, as I said, erotica isn't quite my thing, but I wouldn't be opposed to reading books in a different genre from the author. (And, that said, I did like the characters enough in this one that if they continue on I might follow them.)
]]> <![CDATA[The Strange Case of Finley Jayne (Steampunk Chronicles, #0.5)]]> 11130686 83 Kady Cross 2 steampunk
It was an ok steampunkish/mad-scientist kind of story, but the characters weren't interesting or unique enough to really catch my attention, and the story was pretty straight-forward and obvious, and it was definitely a "d'oh" moment when the heroine didn't cop onto the mystery right away.

I realize that this is just a novella so there's not a lot of time for world-building and back-story and whatnot. There's enough, I suppose, but I felt a lack of any real depth to the story - to all aspects of the story, really.

I wasn't really that keen on the series when I first saw it, and this novella has done nothing to change my mind.]]> 3.80 2011 The Strange Case of Finley Jayne (Steampunk Chronicles, #0.5)
author: Kady Cross
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2011
rating: 2
read at: 2011/07/27
date added: 2011/07/27
shelves: steampunk
review:
This prequel novella was offered as a free download on amazon, so I decided to give it a go to see if it would whet my appetite for the series. It didn't.

It was an ok steampunkish/mad-scientist kind of story, but the characters weren't interesting or unique enough to really catch my attention, and the story was pretty straight-forward and obvious, and it was definitely a "d'oh" moment when the heroine didn't cop onto the mystery right away.

I realize that this is just a novella so there's not a lot of time for world-building and back-story and whatnot. There's enough, I suppose, but I felt a lack of any real depth to the story - to all aspects of the story, really.

I wasn't really that keen on the series when I first saw it, and this novella has done nothing to change my mind.
]]> <![CDATA[The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack (Burton & Swinburne, #1)]]> 8181143
Sir Richard Francis Burton—explorer, linguist, scholar, and swordsman; his reputation tarnished; his career in tatters; his former partner missing and probably dead.

Algernon Charles Swinburne—unsuccessful poet and follower of de Sade; for whom pain is pleasure, and brandy is ruin!

They stand at a crossroads in their lives and are caught in the epicenter of an empire torn by conflicting forces: Engineers transform the landscape with bigger, faster, noisier, and dirtier technological wonders; Eugenicists develop specialist animals to provide unpaid labor; Libertines oppose repressive laws and demand a society based on beauty and creativity; while the Rakes push the boundaries of human behavior to the limits with magic, drugs, and anarchy. The two men are sucked into the perilous depths of this moral and ethical vacuum when Lord Palmerston commissions Burton to investigate assaults on young women committed by a weird apparition known as Spring Heeled Jack, and to find out why werewolves are terrorizing London's East End.

Their investigations lead them to one of the defining events of the age, and the terrifying possibility that the world they inhabit shouldn't exist at all!]]> 371 Mark Hodder 1616142405 2
An alt-history, steampunk mystery with various contraptions, Eugenicists and Technologists and a secret history style look into the origins and Spring Heeled Jack, investigated by a rough and tumble explorer and a quasi-Libertine poet. What could go wrong?

Well, mostly, the writing.

There's a lot of interesting ideas and potential, and I think the book could've been a lot better than it actually was. But there's a lot of telling instead of showing - from the ambiance and atmosphere of the world and society, to the characters and descriptions of the devices, to the huge chunks of (repetitive) expository text and the ever-popular pontificating of the villain in which he, knowingly or otherwise, reveals his plots and plans.

I also felt a good deal of the "second part" wherein we learn the truth of Spring Heeled Jack was mostly redundant and unnecessary. I wish that Hodder would've trusted his readers a bit more to put the pieces together once the major reveal was revealed 'cause, honestly, I didn't feel like we needed to revisit the whole damn book a second time from a second perspective.

All that said, it wasn't terrible. The characters were relatable and interesting enough, and the story was intriguing (even if I'm not the biggest fan of [spoilers removed]. I liked the dirtier and grittier vibe that it has - a change of pace from the more romanticized notions of Victorian England which a lot of these stories have. (Not that I mind the romanticized past - this was just an interesting change of pace.) That said, there wasn't a lot about the story or writing that "felt" period. I mean, there were the passing nods in descriptions and things, but it didn't have that ring of periodness which I so love in alt-history type books.

But I do plan on reading the second book in the series at some point to see if maybe the writing gets tightened up. But I'll be getting it from the library - just in case it doesn't.]]> 3.68 2010 The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack (Burton & Swinburne, #1)
author: Mark Hodder
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2010
rating: 2
read at: 2011/07/14
date added: 2011/07/15
shelves: steampunk, whodunit-supernatural
review:
2 1/2

An alt-history, steampunk mystery with various contraptions, Eugenicists and Technologists and a secret history style look into the origins and Spring Heeled Jack, investigated by a rough and tumble explorer and a quasi-Libertine poet. What could go wrong?

Well, mostly, the writing.

There's a lot of interesting ideas and potential, and I think the book could've been a lot better than it actually was. But there's a lot of telling instead of showing - from the ambiance and atmosphere of the world and society, to the characters and descriptions of the devices, to the huge chunks of (repetitive) expository text and the ever-popular pontificating of the villain in which he, knowingly or otherwise, reveals his plots and plans.

I also felt a good deal of the "second part" wherein we learn the truth of Spring Heeled Jack was mostly redundant and unnecessary. I wish that Hodder would've trusted his readers a bit more to put the pieces together once the major reveal was revealed 'cause, honestly, I didn't feel like we needed to revisit the whole damn book a second time from a second perspective.

All that said, it wasn't terrible. The characters were relatable and interesting enough, and the story was intriguing (even if I'm not the biggest fan of [spoilers removed]. I liked the dirtier and grittier vibe that it has - a change of pace from the more romanticized notions of Victorian England which a lot of these stories have. (Not that I mind the romanticized past - this was just an interesting change of pace.) That said, there wasn't a lot about the story or writing that "felt" period. I mean, there were the passing nods in descriptions and things, but it didn't have that ring of periodness which I so love in alt-history type books.

But I do plan on reading the second book in the series at some point to see if maybe the writing gets tightened up. But I'll be getting it from the library - just in case it doesn't.
]]> <![CDATA[The Bookman (The Bookman Histories, #1)]]> 6922360 416 Lavie Tidhar 0007346611 2 steampunk, sci-fi too many ideas, and it felt like the author just had to include them all.

Set in an alt-reality Victorian England, where Victoria, and all the royalty, are Lizards from another planet (yes, boys and girls - meet the Reptilian Overlords), we enter this Steampunkish world which has, in a way, simply too much tech. Babbage Engines and Edison recorders and Tesla wires (radios) and submarines and rocket ships automatons with extremely advanced AI - the tech was so advanced that the little touches that reminded us we were "in the past", such as gas lights and landaus, seemed more anachronistic than not - and how strange for the period touches to seem to be the things that are out of place?

In other words, it didn't have a very strong period feel, which is one of the things I like about Steampunk type books. So there's that.

There was also the plethora - and I do mean plethora - of references to fictional and historical characters and books, many of which are mentioned in passing, and some of which are actual parts of the story. And while the Holmes fan in me enjoyed seeing that particular coterie of characters (and, no, that's not really a spoiler), they didn't add much to the story except passing pleasure in recognizing names and faces, so to speak. (It was almost like reading A Night in the Lonesome October by Zelazny, playing this game of "spot the reference". Unfortunately for me, I seemed to not get most of them.)

Anyway - the real failing of the story, in my opinion, is that while Orphan is likable enough, he's not nearly proactive enough. Sometimes I don't mind a character thrown into situations above his head, and watching as he flounders to get his feet on the ground, but this time I did. Orphan was little more than a piece of driftwood tossed on the sea, sent this way and that, and even told that he's a pawn more than a few times, only to later get all indignant about "being used". Well, dear boy, they did, essentially, tell you you were being used and you went along with it anyway. Can you really get mad about it now?

Not to mention that he gets knocked unconscious an awful lot. (At least five times that I remember.)

He's sent this way and that, saved here and there, gets told bits of pieces of the mystery as he goes along, not really discovering anything for himself as all the plot-points are giving to us via exposition... and that "big reveal" was not only not surprising, it was eye-roll worthy in its clicheness.

But, for all that, I didn't hate the story. The damndest thing, though, is that I can't really tell you why I didn't. I think it might be that particular joy I mentioned earlier, of recognizing certain names and faces, and seeing them in a different context, and playing the game, as it were. But the story itself didn't do much for me.

A not terrible book, but a far from great one. I will not be reading the sequel.]]> 3.32 2010 The Bookman (The Bookman Histories, #1)
author: Lavie Tidhar
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2010
rating: 2
read at: 2011/04/20
date added: 2011/07/11
shelves: steampunk, sci-fi
review:
There are a lot of good ideas in this book, but, in a way, I think that's part of its problem. There are too many ideas, and it felt like the author just had to include them all.

Set in an alt-reality Victorian England, where Victoria, and all the royalty, are Lizards from another planet (yes, boys and girls - meet the Reptilian Overlords), we enter this Steampunkish world which has, in a way, simply too much tech. Babbage Engines and Edison recorders and Tesla wires (radios) and submarines and rocket ships automatons with extremely advanced AI - the tech was so advanced that the little touches that reminded us we were "in the past", such as gas lights and landaus, seemed more anachronistic than not - and how strange for the period touches to seem to be the things that are out of place?

In other words, it didn't have a very strong period feel, which is one of the things I like about Steampunk type books. So there's that.

There was also the plethora - and I do mean plethora - of references to fictional and historical characters and books, many of which are mentioned in passing, and some of which are actual parts of the story. And while the Holmes fan in me enjoyed seeing that particular coterie of characters (and, no, that's not really a spoiler), they didn't add much to the story except passing pleasure in recognizing names and faces, so to speak. (It was almost like reading A Night in the Lonesome October by Zelazny, playing this game of "spot the reference". Unfortunately for me, I seemed to not get most of them.)

Anyway - the real failing of the story, in my opinion, is that while Orphan is likable enough, he's not nearly proactive enough. Sometimes I don't mind a character thrown into situations above his head, and watching as he flounders to get his feet on the ground, but this time I did. Orphan was little more than a piece of driftwood tossed on the sea, sent this way and that, and even told that he's a pawn more than a few times, only to later get all indignant about "being used". Well, dear boy, they did, essentially, tell you you were being used and you went along with it anyway. Can you really get mad about it now?

Not to mention that he gets knocked unconscious an awful lot. (At least five times that I remember.)

He's sent this way and that, saved here and there, gets told bits of pieces of the mystery as he goes along, not really discovering anything for himself as all the plot-points are giving to us via exposition... and that "big reveal" was not only not surprising, it was eye-roll worthy in its clicheness.

But, for all that, I didn't hate the story. The damndest thing, though, is that I can't really tell you why I didn't. I think it might be that particular joy I mentioned earlier, of recognizing certain names and faces, and seeing them in a different context, and playing the game, as it were. But the story itself didn't do much for me.

A not terrible book, but a far from great one. I will not be reading the sequel.
]]> <![CDATA[Heartless (Parasol Protectorate, #4)]]> 8356487
Will Alexia manage to determine who is trying to kill Queen Victoria before it is too late? Is it the vampires again or is there a traitor lurking about in wolf's clothing? And what, exactly, has taken up residence in Lord Akeldama's second best closet?]]> 400 Gail Carriger 0316127191 4
Still not as good as the fabled first, but not as belabored as the bits with the Templars in the last one. Still full of wit and humor, but maybe not as much as before. But, then, I think some things which are meant to be funny came across as more absurd this time around.

That said, there were quite a few interesting happenings and shocking revelations. But I couldn't help but feel this was more a set-up for what's coming and less a book which stood solidly on it's own swollen feet.

Still, I can't say it wasn't enjoyable, and I did titter and snort quite a few times - so unladylike, I know - and I continue to look forward to the next installment.]]> 4.06 2011 Heartless (Parasol Protectorate, #4)
author: Gail Carriger
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2011/07/03
date added: 2011/07/03
shelves: historical-fantasy, steampunk, romantic
review:
3 1/2

Still not as good as the fabled first, but not as belabored as the bits with the Templars in the last one. Still full of wit and humor, but maybe not as much as before. But, then, I think some things which are meant to be funny came across as more absurd this time around.

That said, there were quite a few interesting happenings and shocking revelations. But I couldn't help but feel this was more a set-up for what's coming and less a book which stood solidly on it's own swollen feet.

Still, I can't say it wasn't enjoyable, and I did titter and snort quite a few times - so unladylike, I know - and I continue to look forward to the next installment.
]]> Leviathan (Leviathan, #1) 6050678
Deryn Sharp is a commoner, disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She's a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.

With World War I brewing, Alek and Deryn's paths cross in the most unexpected way…taking them on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure that will change both their lives forever.]]> 440 Scott Westerfeld 1416971734 2
This is yet another book that I wasn't going to pick up, but then was talked into it by multiple recommendations and all the positive buzz about it, only to end up being tepid about the whole thing.

This is something which should, theoretically, be right up my alley - a YA steampunk adventure book pitting machines vs. bio-engineered beasts.

Well, for one, I had some trouble swallowing the beasties. There's a lot of suspension of disbelief in this book, because not a lot is really explained, including the real workings of the beasties. You're given general ideas, but it's a bit thin on the details.

But, mostly, I just went with it.

I think the biggest problem is that the characters are only marginally likable, though I did like Deryn more than Alek (even if the girl posing as a boy thing is wearing a bit thin), but even where they are likable they're not really developed very well. They're just sort of there and they are who they are the whole time.

Also, the adventuring was a bit, well, underwhelming and the pacing kind of haphazard.

All-in-all it's not a bad book. It's certainly not the worst I've ever read or anything, but I wasn't excited to be reading it, and I'm not remotely compelled to continue with the series.

Speaking of continuing with the series, another big issue with the book is that it feels mostly like set-up. Once things finally started to get interesting the book ended in a giant cliffhanger-esque "you must read the next book to find out wtf the first book set you up for" thing. Not impressed.]]> 3.92 2009 Leviathan (Leviathan, #1)
author: Scott Westerfeld
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2009
rating: 2
read at: 2011/06/14
date added: 2011/06/14
shelves: steampunk, library-read, young-adult, group-read
review:
2 1/2

This is yet another book that I wasn't going to pick up, but then was talked into it by multiple recommendations and all the positive buzz about it, only to end up being tepid about the whole thing.

This is something which should, theoretically, be right up my alley - a YA steampunk adventure book pitting machines vs. bio-engineered beasts.

Well, for one, I had some trouble swallowing the beasties. There's a lot of suspension of disbelief in this book, because not a lot is really explained, including the real workings of the beasties. You're given general ideas, but it's a bit thin on the details.

But, mostly, I just went with it.

I think the biggest problem is that the characters are only marginally likable, though I did like Deryn more than Alek (even if the girl posing as a boy thing is wearing a bit thin), but even where they are likable they're not really developed very well. They're just sort of there and they are who they are the whole time.

Also, the adventuring was a bit, well, underwhelming and the pacing kind of haphazard.

All-in-all it's not a bad book. It's certainly not the worst I've ever read or anything, but I wasn't excited to be reading it, and I'm not remotely compelled to continue with the series.

Speaking of continuing with the series, another big issue with the book is that it feels mostly like set-up. Once things finally started to get interesting the book ended in a giant cliffhanger-esque "you must read the next book to find out wtf the first book set you up for" thing. Not impressed.
]]> <![CDATA[Blameless (Parasol Protectorate, #3)]]> 7719355 Quitting her husband's house and moving back in with her horrible family, Lady Maccon becomes the scandal of the London season in the third book of the NYT bestselling Parasol Protectorate series.

Queen Victoria dismisses her from the Shadow Council, and the only person who can explain anything, Lord Akeldama, unexpectedly leaves town. To top it all off, Alexia is attacked by homicidal mechanical ladybugs, indicating, as only ladybugs can, the fact that all of London's vampires are now very much interested in seeing Alexia quite thoroughly dead.

While Lord Maccon elects to get progressively more inebriated and Professor Lyall desperately tries to hold the Woolsey werewolf pack together, Alexia flees England for Italy in search of the mysterious Templars. Only they know enough about the preternatural to explain her increasingly inconvenient condition, but they may be worse than the vampires -- and they're armed with pesto.
BLAMELESS is the third book of the Parasol Protectorate series: a comedy of manners set in Victorian London, full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.


The Parasol Protectorate
Soulless
Changeless
Blameless
Heartless
Timeless


For more from Gail Carriger, check out:

The Custard Protocol
Prudence
Imprudence
Competence
Reticence

Finishing School (YA)
Etiquette & Espionage
Curtsies & Conspiracies
Waistcoats & Weaponry
Manners & Mutiny]]> 355 Gail Carriger 0316074152 4
Another fun and witty entry, though perhaps not quite as good as the others. Still, couldn't bring myself to give it anything less than 4 stars. I did still quite enjoy it - enough to finish it in two days.

I especially liked seeing so much of Professor Lyall and Floote.

Conall was forgiven too easily, but at least he realized how much of an ass he was and went to some lengths to make amends.

And, best of all, this one did not end in a dreadful cliffhanger, though there are quite enough thread to carry into the next book: what will become of Biffy, how will the Fangs react to the goings on, and what is the nature of the infant-inconvenience?

July seems so far away. I can hardly wait! I suppose I must have some tea to calm my nerves. It seems the thing to do. :)

***

On the re-read, the bits with the Templars seems a bit slow and draggy. The parts with Lyall & Co. where much more interesting. And I do still hope that Alexia gives Conall more grief in the next bok, because he really did get off quite too easily.]]> 3.99 2010 Blameless (Parasol Protectorate, #3)
author: Gail Carriger
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2010/11/11
date added: 2011/06/09
shelves: steampunk, romantic, historical-fantasy
review:
3.5

Another fun and witty entry, though perhaps not quite as good as the others. Still, couldn't bring myself to give it anything less than 4 stars. I did still quite enjoy it - enough to finish it in two days.

I especially liked seeing so much of Professor Lyall and Floote.

Conall was forgiven too easily, but at least he realized how much of an ass he was and went to some lengths to make amends.

And, best of all, this one did not end in a dreadful cliffhanger, though there are quite enough thread to carry into the next book: what will become of Biffy, how will the Fangs react to the goings on, and what is the nature of the infant-inconvenience?

July seems so far away. I can hardly wait! I suppose I must have some tea to calm my nerves. It seems the thing to do. :)

***

On the re-read, the bits with the Templars seems a bit slow and draggy. The parts with Lyall & Co. where much more interesting. And I do still hope that Alexia gives Conall more grief in the next bok, because he really did get off quite too easily.
]]> <![CDATA[The Affinity Bridge (Newbury and Hobbes, #1)]]> 7103872

Welcome to the bizarre and dangerous world of Victorian London, a city teetering on the edge of revolution. Its people are ushering in a new era of technology, dazzled each day by unfamiliar inventions. Airships soar in the skies over the city, while ground trains rumble through the streets and clockwork automatons are programmed to carry out menial tasks in the offices of lawyers, policemen, and journalists.

But beneath this shiny veneer of progress lurks a sinister side.

Queen Victoria is kept alive by a primitive life-support system, while her agents, Sir Maurice Newbury and his delectable assistant Miss Veronica Hobbes, do battle with enemies of the crown, physical and supernatural. This time Newbury and Hobbes are called to investigate the wreckage of a crashed airship and its missing automaton pilot, while attempting to solve a string of strangulations attributed to a mysterious glowing policeman, and dealing with a zombie plague that is ravaging the slums of the capital.

Get ready to follow dazzling young writer George Mann to a London unlike any you’ve ever seen and into an adventure you will never forget�

]]> 336 George Mann 0765323222 3 steampunk, whodunit
I figured it out the first time Veronica visited her sister, and I was kind of annoyed that she didn't.

I was going to bump this up to a 3 1/2 stars, but then came the part with the impossibly unstoppable man.

Ok - here be some spoilers

**

So, our hero gets himself injured, then stitched up and mended, but still, ya know, injured. Then he ends up doing much derring-do, with constant references to occassional stitches popping - and I was distracted by the whole heroics by the fact that I kept thinking this was a bit beyond the realm of believability.

Then the moment happens where his stitches finally do pop entirely, he as blood streaming down his body - again - and, yet, he still manages to help land the zepplin, half drag an unconscious body to the banks, and only then passes out...

I just couldn't get into the action of it because I kept thinking how absurd it was.

***

I might continue the series. It did have some nice steampunk elements, and the characters were interesting enough - and I'm curious about Amelia and also the little 'twist' at the end. So I guess we'll see.]]> 3.43 2008 The Affinity Bridge (Newbury and Hobbes, #1)
author: George Mann
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2010/06/26
date added: 2011/04/22
shelves: steampunk, whodunit
review:
This wasn't a bad little story. It moved along at a fair pace, it had some interesting characterizations - and I love anachronistic female characters - and the mystery wasn't entirely obvious, though it was hardly surprising, either.

I figured it out the first time Veronica visited her sister, and I was kind of annoyed that she didn't.

I was going to bump this up to a 3 1/2 stars, but then came the part with the impossibly unstoppable man.

Ok - here be some spoilers

**

So, our hero gets himself injured, then stitched up and mended, but still, ya know, injured. Then he ends up doing much derring-do, with constant references to occassional stitches popping - and I was distracted by the whole heroics by the fact that I kept thinking this was a bit beyond the realm of believability.

Then the moment happens where his stitches finally do pop entirely, he as blood streaming down his body - again - and, yet, he still manages to help land the zepplin, half drag an unconscious body to the banks, and only then passes out...

I just couldn't get into the action of it because I kept thinking how absurd it was.

***

I might continue the series. It did have some nice steampunk elements, and the characters were interesting enough - and I'm curious about Amelia and also the little 'twist' at the end. So I guess we'll see.
]]> <![CDATA[Soulless (Parasol Protectorate, #1)]]> 6381205 Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations.

First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire--and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?]]> 357 Gail Carriger 0316056634 5
The romance was to my taste - titillating without being overly graphic or, worse, uncomfortably voyeuristic, even if there were a few times and places where it was inappropriate. Of course, bonus points for their a) being a logical reason within the story as to why and how it happened that way and b) recognition from the characters that it was bad timing.

A few cons:

Firstly, it grew tiresome to be reminded that Alexia is Italian, tan and had a big nose on every other page. Yes, she did not fit in to the pale, botton nose English society. I get it and do not need to be reminded constantly.

Secondly, I thought the ending wrapped up a bit too quickly and too neatly. I had guessed the perpetrators before our detectives did (though, luckily, not too much sooner where it became ridiculous), but the way it all came together in the end seemed just a bit too pat.

Other than that, though, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and look forward to the next in the series.

(As a side note, the first book that comes to mind as a comparison is 'Dead Until Dark', the first and, thus far, only Sookie Stackhouse book I've read. I know many people on my list enjoyed the Sookie book more than I did, because I found Sookie vapid and annoying and Bill one-dimensional. I recommend this highly to those who liked the Sookie books because, imo, it has the same elements that makes Sookie fun, but with far fewer of that book's pitfalls.)

***

On second read, I still find the story delightful. A bit slower in some places than I remembered, but I was actually less annoyed by some of the things that annoyed me the first time, instead of more annoyed.]]> 3.90 2009 Soulless (Parasol Protectorate, #1)
author: Gail Carriger
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2010/11/07
date added: 2010/12/10
shelves: romantic, historical-fantasy, steampunk, loved, whodunit-supernatural
review:
I was expecting more of a mystery and a bit less of a PNR, but, even with that said, I quite enjoyed the story and the characters. I quite like strong, intelligent, "modern" women but in old time periods when women were under-rated and devalued. The mix of brashness and feminity, of both flouting and adhering to conventions, was quite fun.

The romance was to my taste - titillating without being overly graphic or, worse, uncomfortably voyeuristic, even if there were a few times and places where it was inappropriate. Of course, bonus points for their a) being a logical reason within the story as to why and how it happened that way and b) recognition from the characters that it was bad timing.

A few cons:

Firstly, it grew tiresome to be reminded that Alexia is Italian, tan and had a big nose on every other page. Yes, she did not fit in to the pale, botton nose English society. I get it and do not need to be reminded constantly.

Secondly, I thought the ending wrapped up a bit too quickly and too neatly. I had guessed the perpetrators before our detectives did (though, luckily, not too much sooner where it became ridiculous), but the way it all came together in the end seemed just a bit too pat.

Other than that, though, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and look forward to the next in the series.

(As a side note, the first book that comes to mind as a comparison is 'Dead Until Dark', the first and, thus far, only Sookie Stackhouse book I've read. I know many people on my list enjoyed the Sookie book more than I did, because I found Sookie vapid and annoying and Bill one-dimensional. I recommend this highly to those who liked the Sookie books because, imo, it has the same elements that makes Sookie fun, but with far fewer of that book's pitfalls.)

***

On second read, I still find the story delightful. A bit slower in some places than I remembered, but I was actually less annoyed by some of the things that annoyed me the first time, instead of more annoyed.
]]> <![CDATA[Changeless (Parasol Protectorate, #2)]]> 6933876
But Alexia is armed with her trusty parasol, the latest fashions, and an arsenal of biting civility. So even when her investigations take her to Scotland, the backwater of ugly waistcoats, she is prepared: upending werewolf pack dynamics as only the soulless can. She might even find time to track down her wayward husband, if she feels like it.

CHANGELESS is the second book of the Parasol Protectorate series: a comedy of manners set in Victorian London, full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.]]> 374 Gail Carriger 0316074144 4
Oh dear gods, what just happened? I finished this book last night, up to the wee hours, and that ending... I was so upset! I was practically tearing up. No, it just can't be...

And angry. Oh so angry at stupid Conall. Argh!

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot, though perhaps a little less than the first. Perhaps it's merely because the first was so novel/ I was glad, however, that Alexia Italian-ness and dark complexion were only mentioned a handful of times, and not constantly.

I liked the additional of Madame Lefoux, the interplay between the newly married couple, the ever charming Lord Akeldama and his interesting involvement in the turn of events.

Ivy and Felicity were annoying, which, granted, they are meant to be, but their comments were just too repetitive. And the bit at the end with Ivy and Tunstell was just a mite predictable.

My main complaints, I suppose, was that I never really felt any sense of urgency in solving the case. And, for the most part, Alexia again seemed to sort of stumble onto answers, until the end, anyway. The mystery part, once again, was the weaker element of the story. But the personal touches were, once again, quite enough to make up for it.

And then the ending where the floor dropped out and everything lovely fell apart. All last night I was tossing and turning, waking up with reprimands and incriminations in my mind. Oh dear, oh dear - when is the next book out?


(Btw, everyone should read because it captures all my thoughts and does a much better job of it.

***

Finished my reread. Still mad at the ending, even though I knew it was coming.

I still generally liked it. I thought the part on the dirigible seemed a bit slow going, but I thought it picked up once they landed and the stuff between Conall and Alexia picked up again, but then it got a bit draggy figuring out the mystery again.

My biggest impression from the second read was how over-the-top annoying Ivy is in this one. Getting in the way, being entirely dense, and insisting Alexia didn't marry for love, when she was there for the first book. It just seemed out-of-character and was more vexing than amusing.

Weakrer than the first, but still enjoyable.]]> 3.99 2010 Changeless (Parasol Protectorate, #2)
author: Gail Carriger
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2010/11/09
date added: 2010/11/12
shelves: steampunk, romantic, historical-fantasy, whodunit-supernatural
review:
3.75

Oh dear gods, what just happened? I finished this book last night, up to the wee hours, and that ending... I was so upset! I was practically tearing up. No, it just can't be...

And angry. Oh so angry at stupid Conall. Argh!

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot, though perhaps a little less than the first. Perhaps it's merely because the first was so novel/ I was glad, however, that Alexia Italian-ness and dark complexion were only mentioned a handful of times, and not constantly.

I liked the additional of Madame Lefoux, the interplay between the newly married couple, the ever charming Lord Akeldama and his interesting involvement in the turn of events.

Ivy and Felicity were annoying, which, granted, they are meant to be, but their comments were just too repetitive. And the bit at the end with Ivy and Tunstell was just a mite predictable.

My main complaints, I suppose, was that I never really felt any sense of urgency in solving the case. And, for the most part, Alexia again seemed to sort of stumble onto answers, until the end, anyway. The mystery part, once again, was the weaker element of the story. But the personal touches were, once again, quite enough to make up for it.

And then the ending where the floor dropped out and everything lovely fell apart. All last night I was tossing and turning, waking up with reprimands and incriminations in my mind. Oh dear, oh dear - when is the next book out?


(Btw, everyone should read because it captures all my thoughts and does a much better job of it.

***

Finished my reread. Still mad at the ending, even though I knew it was coming.

I still generally liked it. I thought the part on the dirigible seemed a bit slow going, but I thought it picked up once they landed and the stuff between Conall and Alexia picked up again, but then it got a bit draggy figuring out the mystery again.

My biggest impression from the second read was how over-the-top annoying Ivy is in this one. Getting in the way, being entirely dense, and insisting Alexia didn't marry for love, when she was there for the first book. It just seemed out-of-character and was more vexing than amusing.

Weakrer than the first, but still enjoyable.
]]> Steampunk 2246092
Content

"Introduction: The 19th Century Roots of Steampunk" by Jess Nevins

"Benediction: Excerpt from The Warlord of the Air" by Michael Moorcock
"Lord Kelvin's Machine" by James P. Blaylock
"The Giving Mouth" by Ian R. MacLeod
"A Sun in the Attic" by Mary Gentle
"The God-Clown is Near" by Jay Lake
"The Steam Man of the Prairie and the Dark Rider Get Down: A Dime Novel" by Joe R. Lansdale
"The Selene Gardening Society" by Molly Brown
"Seventy-Two Letters" by Ted Chiang
"The Martian Agent, A Planetary Romance" by Michael Chabon
"Victoria" by Paul Di Filippo
"Reflected Light" by Rachel E. Pollock
"Minutes of the Last Meeting" by Stepan Chapman
"Excerpt from the Third and Last Volume of Tribes of the Pacific Coast" by Neal Stephenson
"The Steam-Driven Time Machine: A Pop Culture Survey" by Rick Klaw
"The Essential Sequential Steampunk: A Modest Survey of the Genre within the Comic Book Medium" by Bill Baker]]> 373 Ann VanderMeer 1892391759 2 3.54 2008 Steampunk
author: Ann VanderMeer
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2008
rating: 2
read at: 2008/07/30
date added: 2010/08/24
shelves: historical-fantasy, fantasy, steampunk
review:

]]> New Amsterdam 2436624 267 Elizabeth Bear 1596061634 3 3.62 2007 New Amsterdam
author: Elizabeth Bear
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2010/03/31
shelves: historical-fantasy, fantasy, steampunk
review:

]]> Whitechapel Gods 2302159
TWO GODS-ONE CHANCE FOR MANKIND

In Victorian London, the Whitechapel section is a mechanized, steam-driven hell, cut off and ruled by two mysterious, mechanical gods-Mama Engine and Grandfather Clock. Some years have passed since the Great Uprising, when humans rose up to fight against the machines, but a few brave veterans of the Uprising have formed their own Resistance-and are gathering for another attack. For now they have a secret weapon that may finally free them-or kill them all...]]> 374 S.M. Peters 0451461932 2 3.30 2008 Whitechapel Gods
author: S.M. Peters
name: colleen the convivial curmudgeon
average rating: 3.30
book published: 2008
rating: 2
read at: 2008/09/15
date added: 2010/03/31
shelves: dark-fantasy, historical-fantasy, steampunk
review:

]]>