Graphic Novel Review: Lady Mechanika Vol 5: La Belle Dame Sans Merci by M. M. Chen and Joe Benitez

Pros: gorgeous artwork, interesting story, great costumes

Cons: depressing ending

Lady Mechanika’s quest to discover her past is sidetracked when Mr Lewis’s depression suddenly dissipates and he announces his engagement to a mysterious woman.

This volume collects the three comics that make up this storyline. It references some of the earlier volumes, but as situations and people are given enough reference, you can follow along even if you haven’t read those.

As with the other volumes, the artwork is gorgeous with some great steampunk costumes and a Victorian style setting. There are a few fight scenes with good action and a new female bad guy.

I found myself conflicted by the depression plotline. On the one hand I think the team did a great job of showing that it can take a long time for people who have suffered lost to recover. On the other hand, Lady Mechanika seems to have reached a point where she’s tired of Mr Lewis’s grief and just wants him to go back to being her occasional sidekick. I could actually understand his choice for marriage at the end of the volume and felt that Lady Mechanika took something from him and then left him alone to deal with the fallout at a point when he clearly needs intervention. The idea that he’ll just recover on his own - given enough time - is unfortunately rarely true in real life, and it would have been nice to see this acknowledged in the comic, maybe by sending him to a convalescent home or giving him a pet to care for (it’s possible this will be addressed in the next issue). But that last page with him is very depressing to read.

On the whole though, I thought it was a great volume.

Shout-Out: Cogheart by Peter Bunzl

Thirteen-year-old Lily Harman always dreamed of adventure. A strong-willed girl, Lily felt trapped in a life of Victorian stuffiness at her prim boarding school. But after her father-a famous inventor-disappears on a routine zeppelin flight, Lily's life gets turned upside down.

Now cared for by her guardian, the heartless Madame Verdigris, Lily is quite certain that she's being watched. Mysterious, silver-eyed men are lurking in the shadows, just waiting for their chance to strike. But what could they possibly want from her?

There are rumors, Lily learns, that her father had invented the most valuable invention ever made-a perpetual motion machine. But if he made such a miraculous discovery, he certainly never told Lily. And all he left behind is a small box-with no key, no hinges.

With the help of a clockmaker's son, Robert, and her mechanimal fox, Malkin, Lily escapes London in search of the one person who might know something about her father's disappearance-and what he left behind.

Graphic Novel Review: Lady Mechanika Volume 4: The Clockwork Assassin Written by Joe Benitez and M. M. Chen

Illustrated by Joe Benitez and Martin Montiel

Pros: gorgeous artwork, interesting characters, short mystery

Cons:  

When old co-workers of Archibald Lewis start dying, Lady Mechanika is implicated in their murders.

As with the previous volumes I loved the artwork. I love the sharp cheekbones and narrow chins. I love Lady Mechanika’s Victorian-steampunk outfits. There’s a lot of motion and animation to the frames.

This volume can easily be read independent of the others (there are 2 minor references to prior events). The mystery is fast paced and while there are only a few suspects, it’s neat seeing the team investigate. I was curious why Gwendolyn Cain wasn’t the first person they questioned given her entourage at the funeral and the description of the killer.

This volume collects three issues and tells a complete story that’s entertaining and beautifully rendered.

Shout-Out: Flotsam by R. J. Theodore

A fantastical steampunk first contact novel that ties together high magic, high technology, and bold characters to create a story you won’t soon forget.

Captain Talis just wants to keep her airship crew from starving, and maybe scrape up enough cash for some badly needed repairs. When an anonymous client offers a small fortune to root through a pile of atmospheric wreckage, it seems like an easy payday. The job yields an ancient ring, a forbidden secret, and a host of deadly enemies.

Now on the run from cultists with powerful allies, Talis needs to unload the ring as quickly as possible. Her desperate search for a buyer and the fallout from her discovery leads to a planetary battle between a secret society, alien forces, and even the gods themselves.

Talis and her crew have just one desperate chance to make things right before their potential big score destroys them all.

Book Review: Dominion by Shane Arbuthnott

Pros: fun protagonist, interesting world

Cons: lack of nuance

Molly Stout has lived most of her fourteen years in the sky, engineer on her father’s airship, harvesting the spirits that control the machines that power the new world. When she helps capture a powerful spirit that talks to her, a skill spirits aren’t supposed to have, she begins to learn that her world is built on lies. 

Molly’s a great character navigating a difficult world. She deals with some terrible consequences, both for the actions she takes and the actions of those around her. As she discovers that spirits aren’t the monsters she’s been taught they are, she’s forced to realize the extent of the slavery and murder perpetrated on them by humans - herself included. 

I was impressed that the book pointed out both the ills of slavery and how difficult it is to dismantle an institution so much depends on. 

This may not bother other readers but I found Molly’s designation of engineer suspect. To me an engineer should know the ins and outs of the machines they’re working with. Molly doesn’t know what all the interior wires and gears do, she simply does exterior maintenance to keep the engine working.

While you don’t learn everything about the spirits, the author does a great job of showing both their powers and limitations in the Earthly realm. I liked that there are more than one kind of spirit, though not much is said about the terrics.

The family dynamics were interesting. The mother dead in childbirth seems to happen a lot in stories, as does the mixture of anger and sadness surrounding the child whose birth caused it. So I found Molly’s relationship with Rory refreshing. I’d assumed he’d be the teasing brother who drove her nuts or screamed abuse at her, and instead he helps her with a later goal in the book. I would have liked to see more interaction (or even flashbacks) with Brigid, and more nuanced interactions with her father, but I liked that the family loves each other but is also disfunctional in some ways. Molly’s emotions regarding her father at the end of the book were realistic given everything that happened.

There’s a lot of adventure - even if Molly manages to get away with more than is likely (I’d still like to know how she left the shipyard considering her route of entry wasn’t an option). But it’s no different from other books for this age group.

One aspect of the ending left me feeling troubled. I’ll deal with it in the spoiler section below.

All in all it’s a fun, quick read, that asks some hard questions and requires some contemplation.

***SPOILERS***

It greatly disturbed me that the spirit who ran their ship comes back to help them after it’s freed, because Molly was nice to it. I found the idea that a creature that was tortured for so long would return, ridiculous. Regardless of Molly’s treatment, Legendermain should have felt nothing but anger towards her family for the years it lost and the lives of its kind they captured and sold. From an outsider’s point of view it’s possible to feel sympathy for the masters - especially children who don’t realize why slavery is wrong - but I cannot believe the slaves themselves feel any such sympathy. As a book for young adults, it’s dealing with themes that apply to the real world, which help teach real world kids how to react to things. And I believe the book dropped the ball here. I understand that the author wanted the family to have a flight capable ship for the next book. But maybe that book could have dealt with the family creating a new friendship and mutually beneficial relationship with the spirits instead, which would achieve the same goal while showing that abusing people doesn’t make them friends, but actual change and hard work can dismantle dysfunctional systems and create systems that work for everyone. Beyond Molly’s dubious friendship (she only freed it when the ship was taken away), what does Legendermain get out of this new arrangement?

Graphic Novel Review: Lady Mechanika: La Dama de la Muerte by Joe Benitez and M. M. Chen

Illustrated by Joe Benitez and Martin Montiel

Pros: gorgeous artwork, touching story

Cons: makes the locals look ignorant

Mourning the death of a friend, Lady Mechanika makes her way to Mexico, where she’s coerced into joining the Day of the Dead festivities.

This graphic novel gathers a 3 issue storyline.

As with the previous volumes the artwork is simply gorgeous. I love the costumes and make-up associated with the festival. There are some beautiful double page spreads.

I enjoyed the story, though it does depend on the ‘superstitious natives are easily duped’ trope and it’s not particularly original. I found the opening beautiful and sad, despite the positive message of the festival. 

I was confused by who Dallas was. He isn’t mentioned in the earlier volumes nor was there a flashback explaining how he died or any explanation of why Mechanika felt responsible for his death.

Despite a few minor issues, I love this series. Each volume stands alone and uses unique new locations and outfits. The artwork really is worth it.

Book Review: The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder

Pros: excellent worldbuilding, deftly woven alternate history, fun characters

Cons: lot of explanations of steampunk vehicles, antagonist gives an expository speech, albino antagonist

A major assassination has changed the world of 1860s Britain into one with mechanical flying and driving machines and genetically modified bird and dog messengers. Sir Richard Burton, the famous explorer, is called by the prime minister to become an agent of the crown and investigate two cases: werewolves kidnapping chimneysweeps and appearances of an entity called Spring Heeled Jack. 

The melding of history and fantasy in this book is fantastic. The book ends with short biographies of the principle characters, but further research showed just how much research went into this book. I loved how the world has changed - adding both biological and mechanical developments. The use of language - especially given Spring Heeled Jack’s unintelligible (to them) speech - and how they interpret his pronouncements, was quite convincing.

The ‘characters’ were all pretty fun, and surprisingly bizarre considering they’re mostly based on real people (which just shows that truth is stranger than fiction).

I personally found the longer descriptions of the steampunk technology kind of boring, but your mileage may vary.

There’s a long section where you finally learn all about Spring Heeled Jack by way of the main antagonist telling it to a group of peers in a place where Burton can overhear it. Seems to me this story would have been told long ago, like when everyone joined together in the first place. In the author’s defence, I’m not sure how else all of this information could have been relayed to Burton, though he seemed to figure out enough of what was going on that a full reveal to him wasn’t really necessary, and readers could have kept the flashback scenes from ‘Jack’s’ point of view.

One of the antagonists is called an albino, though he isn’t really one once you learn his background. It’s annoying just in that albinos are often made into bad guys for no reason other than their looks.

On the whole this was an entertaining novel with a decent mystery. It’s a cool period of history to examine and it’s fascinating the changes one death can make.

Graphic Novel Review: Lady Mechanika volume 3: The Lost Boys of West Abbey by M.M. Chen

Pencils by Joe Benitez and Martin Montiel

(collects issues 1-2 of Lady Mechanika: The Lost Boys of West Abbey)

Pros: beautiful artwork, interesting story, great characters

Cons: short

Lady Mechanika hears of a strange murder case where kidnapped urchin boys were found murdered next to mechanical parts. She starts investigating, wondering if this case could lead to information about her own origins.

As with the previous volumes, this one stands alone, though there is a quick, non spoilery callback for the events of volume 2. It’s only two issues, so the story is much shorter than those of the earlier graphic novels (and the price reflects that).

Once more the artwork is gorgeous. The characters have a fun mix of Victorian and steampunk fashions.The cast is widened with the addition of a detective inspector, who I suspect will show up in later volumes.

The cover gallery at the end has some nice pieces. 

I’m loving this series.

Graphic Novel Review: Lady Mechanika Volume 2: The Tablet of Destinies by M.M. Chen

Pencils by Joe Benitez and Martin Montiel

(collects issues 1-6 of Lady Mechanika: The Tablet of Destinies)

Pros: gorgeous artwork, fast paced story, lots of women

Cons: 

Lady Mechanika returns to London in time to witness the kidnapping of Lewis’ niece. Seems the girl’s grandfather is part of an African expedition uncovering a long lost underground city. And within that city is the tablet of destinies, rumoured to be a powerful weapon.

Once again the artwork is incredible. It’s lush and detailed.

The story’s fast paced, going from one crisis or revelation to another. I enjoyed that this book had several diverse locations, and peoples.

Lady Mechanika’s a fantastic protagonist. I’m impressed with the number of women the series has introduced, and the great costumes they wear (some sexy, others practical).

I’m loving this series.

Graphic Novel Review: Lady Mechanika volume 1: Mystery of the Mechanical Corpse by Joe Benitez

(collects Lady Mechanika issues 0-5)

Pros: gorgeous artwork, interesting characters, good story

Cons: 

Issue 0 is a prequel story that takes place about a year before the main comic. It features Lady Mechanika hunting a ‘demon’ that’s been killing children.

Issues 1-5 comprises a story about a young woman, found dead in a train station, who has similar mechanical arms to Lady Mechanika.

I LOVED the artwork. The colours are rich and bold, the backgrounds lush, and the characters vibrant.

Lady Mechanika is portrayed in a sexy fashion without showing much (or sometimes any) skin. I loved her costumes (particularly her Victorian style dresses), and the occasional steampunk elements of it. She’s intelligent, no nonsense, and kickass.

The supporting cast are also well dressed and appropriately quirky. I enjoyed the fact that there’s history between Lady Mechanika and the two lead antagonists.

The story was pretty interesting, though there was one scene where the antagonists had an expository conversation meant for the reader rather than each other.

This volume is self-contained, with a quick mention of what will begin the next volume.

Shout-Out: Buffalo Soldier by Maurice Broaddus

Having stumbled onto a plot within his homeland of Jamaica, former espionage agent, Desmond Coke, finds himself caught between warring religious and political factions, all vying for control of a mysterious boy named Lij Tafari.

Wanting the boy to have a chance to live a free life, Desmond assumes responsibility for him and they flee. But a dogged enemy agent remains ever on their heels, desperate to obtain the secrets held within Lij for her employer alone.

Assassins, intrigue, and steammen stand between Desmond and Lij as they search for a place to call home in a North America that could have been.

Artist Spotlight: Gregory and Olga Grozos

The Grozos' are a couple living on Cyprus who own a shop called Micro (as well as an Etsy shop where you can buy some of their amazing creations).

They work in a micro scale, making tiny steampunk and other inspired jewelry. Here's a tiny sample from Gregory Grozos' facebook page:

Not a Review: Everfair by Nisi Shawl

Not a Review looks at books I got a good way through before giving up on them. I’ll explain why I read so much and why I didn’t finish.  These are - by their nature - going to be predominately negative reviews.  They’ll also contain some amount of spoilers (though I’ll try not to give anything major away without a warning).

I read 221 pages out of 381.

Pros: great setting, shines light on horrific historical abuses

Cons: jumps in time, focus on sexual relationships over politics, limited steampunk

This is a Neo-Victorian alternative history novel focusing on the horrors of Belgium’s colonization of the Congo and what might have happened had the native population had access to air ships and the backing of some Europeans and Americans.

What I liked: the setting. This is a time and place I know nothing about and this book encouraged me to research some of what actually happened. And it is horrifying. The abuses in the book - lost limbs, families used as ransom to make the natives into rubber harvesting slaves. The book shows native religion and healing practices in a positive light, which was wonderful. It also showed how people of different races could band together to fight injustice. 

I also liked the unflinching look at racism from many sides. Even people who join the utopic society of Everfair find themselves unhappy with mixed marriages. Lisette’s black grandfather spoils her otherwise white European ancestry, causing problems for her when it’s revealed. These are sad reminders of reality, but reality all the same. And if we can’t look at it in fiction, we can’t see it in ourselves, and can’t help face it and deal with it in our daily lives.

The steampunk additions - aircanoes and metallic prosthetics - were cool but used very sparingly. They only enter the book 100 pages in, and while they are central to the book’s purpose (used in the war against Belgium in the Congo) they’re used more as window dressing, showing up for a paragraph here, a chapter there, but not feeling as important as they undoubtedly are.

The book jumps ahead in time by months and years making it hard to get to know more than the basics about the different characters. And while I didn’t have trouble remembering who anyone was, I also didn’t really care about anyone. The chapters are so short that you don’t get to learn much more about people than who they want to sleep with and why that’s bad (usually because of racist or age related reasons). Had there been more development of the different characters outside their romances, I might have cared more about those romances. As it was, I barely knew who anyone was and so didn’t really feel invested in their lives. There were also times when circumstances changed so drastically it was hard to understand how someone went from one place to another (like Wilson’s training in one of the native religions).

I was surprised by how little politics were in the book. The last chapter I read dealt with what I can only believe was an important political choice: should Everfair join with the German side or the French side of the coming conflict, but the reasoning behind the difference was lost on me. It sounded like both sides wanted the same things from Everfair, but it’s clear that Daisy’s on one side and Mattis is on the other, but I have no idea which side I should be on because I don’t understand the difference between them or what the ultimate stakes are for Everfair. The chapter dealt more with Lisette’s love life and a potential scandal (one that was obviously coming according to Lisette’s asides) than with the politics involved. 

Ultimately I was hoping for the book to go more into the politics of Everfair and the Congo and for there to be more steampunk gadgetry in the book. What I got was a fascinating primer on the problems in the Congo caused by Belgium in the late 1800s and early 1900s and a lot of romantic pairings I didn’t care much about.  

Steampunk Story Bundle

If you're looking for a batch of steampunk novels to read, Cat Rambo has curated the new Story Bundle. Sold DRM free in a pay what you want fashion (minimum $15 if you want the Bonus titles), it's a great way to check out new authors. (Book links are from the story bundle page.)

The main titles are:
The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia

The Bookmanby Lavie Tidhar

City of the Saintsby D.J. Butler

Altered America: Steampunk Storiesby Cat Rambo

All the Paths of Shadowby Frank Tuttle

The bonus titles are:

The Emperor's Edge Series: Books 1-3by Lindsay Buroker
Ghost in the Cogsedited by Scott Gable & C. Dombrowski
Blood Tiesby Quincy J. Allen
Mechaniqueby Genevieve Valentine
The SEA Is Ours - Tales of Steampunk Southeast Asiaby Jaymee Goh and Joyce Chng
Best of Penny Dread Talesedited by Kevin J. Anderson and Quincy J. Allen

Book Review: Toru: Wayfarer Returns by Stephanie Sorensen

Pros: interesting characters, good ending

Cons: advances are made ridiculously fast, some continuity errors, gets boring at times

After spending two years in America, Toru returns to Japan, defying the Shogun’s law of isolation and the death penalty his return will earn him. He knows American ships will come, forcing the country to open its borders on their terms, unless Japan can innovate and show its strength in time.

Toru is a great protagonist, deeply in love with his homeland but also an admirer of the technology and people he met in America. He straddles a difficult line as a commoner advising a Lord, trying to foster quick changes in a society that honours tradition.

I really liked Masuyo, Lord Aya’s feisty daughter. Her flaunting of custom on her father’s land was well contrasted by her embarrassment in front of other noble women, where she tried to fit society’s ideals. This accurately portrays the juxtapositions common in Japan today.

There were a lot of supporting characters, ranging from peasantry to Lords, many of whom had well defined personalities. While she’s negatively portrayed, I thought Lady Tomatsu was well done, snobbish and overly proud of her family name while married to a less powerful Lord. I liked that she had impeccable taste in food and clothing. I also thought she showed astute political sense, given her circumstances, though she makes a decision towards the end of the book that could have used more clarification as it seemed to go against her earlier personality.

The plot consists of Toru convincing people to build trains, telegraph machines, Babbage Difference Engines, airships, and more in order to face the American threat. While I can believe that some of what they accomplish is possible within a year, the sheer scope of their operations and how much they achieve - necessarily kept hidden from the Shogun and requiring parts to be ordered from overseas - is hard to believe. Masuyo, an admittedly intelligent and well-educated woman, somehow translates enough English (which she’s never seen before) and engineering data (for things she’s never heard of before) in less than a week to put together a list in one night of all thing parts the Japanese can manufacture themselves and others they’ll need to order so that they can start building trains, etc. right away. Despite the failure of engineers with more experience in France to build working airships, the Japanese manage to make one using dictionaries to translate the French and then improving on the designs, again, despite never having seen such schematics before or (I would guess) knowing the science behind them.

I also wondered how the smaller Lords Toru influences have enough money to finance the large - and expensive - projects. Added to this is how they believed they could keep what they were doing hidden from the Shogun. Given the sheer number of people involved and the obvious damage to the land, it seems unreasonable to believe the Shogun wasn’t aware of things from a very early point. 

For anyone looking for steampunk elements, there are airships towards the end of the book, and mention of submersibles, but not much else.

The inclusion of Japanese words and phrases for things helped keep the oriental flavour of the setting. In a few places the immediate translation felt awkward (as someone who knows a fair bit of Japanese), like ofuro bath (which basically mean the same thing). A handful of times the Japanese was left untranslated, which might trip up readers unfamiliar with the language. I personally had trouble figuring out the meaning behind the name of the first dirigible, which was commented on, but not translated (as far as I could determine).

There were some long sentences with awkward phrasing that I had to reread a few times in order to understand properly. I also noticed some continuity errors with regards to timing. One section began by saying it was the next morning and a character was preparing for a meeting, despite the fact that the meeting was to be in 3 days. Other times characters suddenly travelled weeks worth of distance in a few days (two characters were said to be at their homes but managed to be at least a 4 week journey away from their homes the next day). 

While I founds parts of the story a bit tedious, it’s basically set-up for future books where the divergence from history becomes more stark. There’s an author note at the end of the book explaining how this book compares to history (while the tech advance is all added, the meeting with Commodore Perry at the end and the difficulties between the Shogun and his Lords was cribbed from history). Following books are meant to diverge more, showing Japan in a position of power as its borders open.

While it’s not a perfect book, it was an interesting look at an interesting time (imagined as parts of it were) of Japanese history. The author’s familiarity with the language and customs (and gestures) shows through.

***SPOILERS***

Lady Tomatsu’s decision to leave Edo during Masuyo’s rescue confused me. She’d repudiated her husband in an effort to retain her lands for their son. The author didn’t make it clear that this only worked so long as her husband returned for his execution. Since he decided not to return, she and their son would be execution in his stead. This confused me until I figured out that the situation had changed between when Lady Tomatsu urged Masuyo to repudiate her father, thinking their menfolk dead, and the time of Lady Tomatsu’s rescue.

The travellers alluded to in my time error above are Lords Aya and Tomatsu, who are supposed to be prepping their lands for their upcoming execution, but turn up at Lord Date’s home the day after Toru and co escape from Edo. Another time error involved the date of the execution. It’s 3 weeks away, but somehow Commodore Perry spends a month or more in the South of Japan before the date arrives.

Shout-Out: Everfair by Nisi Shawl

Everfair is a wonderful Neo-Victorian alternate history novel that explores the question of what might have come of Belgium's disastrous colonization of the Congo if the native populations had learned about steam technology a bit earlier. Fabian Socialists from Great Britian join forces with African-American missionaries to purchase land from the Belgian Congo's "owner," King Leopold II. This land, named Everfair, is set aside as a safe haven, an imaginary Utopia for native populations of the Congo as well as escaped slaves returning from America and other places where African natives were being mistreated.

Nisi Shawl's speculative masterpiece manages to turn one of the worst human rights disasters on record into a marvelous and exciting exploration of the possibilities inherent in a turn of history. Everfair is told from a multiplicity of voices: Africans, Europeans, East Asians, and African Americans in complex relationships with one another, in a compelling range of voices that have historically been silenced. Everfair is not only a beautiful book but an educational and inspiring one that will give the reader new insight into an often ignored period of history.

Shout-Out: The Iron Assassin by Ed Greenwood

In Ed Greenwood's The Iron Assassin, Victoria never ascended the throne; the House of Hanover held England only briefly before being supplanted by the House of Harminster. It is a time of gaslamps and regularly scheduled airship flights, of trams and steam-driven clockwork with countless smoke-belching stacks. London, the capitol of the Empire of the Lion, is a filthy, crowded, fast-growing city where a series of shocking murders threatens the throne itself.

Energetic young inventor Jack Straker believes he has created a weapon to defend the Crown: a reanimated, clockwork-enhanced corpse he can control. He introduces "the Iron Assassin" to the highly placed Lords who will decide if Straker's invention becomes a weapon of the Lion-or something to be destroyed.

It quickly becomes apparent that the Iron Assassin is more self-willed than Straker intended, and that the zombie's past life is far more sinister than Straker thought. Has he created a runaway monster? Or the best guardian the Lion could ever hope for?

Shout-Out: Steeplejack by A. J. Hartley

Thoughtfully imaginative and action-packed, Steeplejack is New York Times bestselling A. J. Hartley's YA debut set in a 19th-century South African fantasy world.

Seventeen-year-old Anglet Sutonga lives repairing the chimneys, towers, and spires of the city of Bar-Selehm. Dramatically different communities live and work alongside each other. The white Feldish command the nation's higher echelons of society. The native Mahweni are divided between city life and the savannah. And then there's Ang, part of the Lani community who immigrated over generations ago as servants and now mostly live in poverty on Bar-Selehm's edges.

When Ang is supposed to meet her new apprentice Berrit, she finds him dead. That same night, the Beacon, an invaluable historical icon, is stolen. The Beacon's theft commands the headlines, yet no one seems to care about Berrit's murder-except for Josiah Willinghouse, an enigmatic young politician. When he offers her a job investigating his death, she plunges headlong into new and unexpected dangers.

Meanwhile, crowds gather in protests over the city's mounting troubles. Rumors surrounding the Beacon's theft grow. More suspicious deaths occur. With no one to help Ang except Josiah's haughty younger sister, a savvy newspaper girl, and a kindhearted herder, Ang must rely on her intellect and strength to resolve the mysterious link between Berrit and the missing Beacon before the city descends into chaos.

Book Review: The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

Pros: wonderful concept, interesting world, fun characters

Cons: minor quibbles

Irene works for the Invisible Library, an edifice that stands outside of time and space, with access to numerous worlds, each with different levels of chaos and order, magic and technology.  Librarians enter theses different worlds and secure unique volumes of fiction in order to advance knowledge and prevent loss.  Irene and her new trainee, Kai, are sent to London in a magic-dominant alternate with a high chaos infestation to retrieve a particular Grimm manuscript.

When they arrive, they find the manuscript has been stolen, and numerous interested parties are looking for it.

While you don’t learn as much about the library in this book as I’d have liked, you do get some idea of how it and the librarians work.  The magic surrounding the Language is pretty cool.  The idea that words have power and names show truth is an old one, and used to advantage here.  I really liked the idea that there are factions in the library, and you can’t always be sure you’re being told everything you need to know before a mission.  

The world they’re sent to has an interesting mix of fae, vampires, and zeppelins.  I liked how magic effects how technology works, so that different worlds are forced to evolve in different ways.

The plot is pretty straight forward, with several mysteries introduced and events propelling the characters from one event to the next.  There’s enough downtime to get to know Irene and Kai a bit.  You don’t learn much backstory for them, the book stays pretty centered on the immediacy of the action.

I did find the antagonist a bit on the talkative side in a Bond villain kind of way.  I also thought Irene gets a bit too lucky with regards to leads on the case and the experimental use of the language.  Minor quibbles, though.

On the whole this was a fun romp with a great mystery that will keep you guessing about who you can trust and why everyone wants this book.  

Shout-Out: The Sea is Ours: Tales from Steampunk Southeast Asia Edited by Jaymee Goh and Joyce Chng

The stories in this collection merge technological wonder with the everyday. Children upgrade their fighting spiders with armor, and toymakers create punchcard-driven marionettes. Large fish lumber across the skies, while boat people find a new home on the edge of a different dimension. Technology and tradition meld as the people adapt to the changing forces of their world. The Sea Is Ours is an exciting new anthology that features stories infused with the spirits of Southeast Asia’s diverse peoples, legends, and geography.

Contents: 

"On The Consequence of Sound" - Timothy Dimacali"Chasing Volcanoes" - Marilag Angway"Ordained" - L. L. Hill"The Last Aswang" - Alessa Hinlo"Life Under Glass" - Nghi Vo"Between Severed Souls" - Paolo Chikiamco"The Unmaking of the Cuadro Amoroso" - Kate Osias"Working Woman" - Olivia Ho"Spider Here" - Robert Liow"The Chamber of Souls" - zm quỳnh"Petrified" - Ivanna Mendels"The Insects and Women Sing Together" - Pear Nuallak