Book Review: The Crown Phoenix Series

Today I'll be doing something a bit different. Over the past week I've been reading The Crown Phoenix series, by Alison DeLuca. Ms. DeLuca was generous enough to send the first three books in the mail free of charge. There was much rejoicing at the post office, in fact, people may have thought I was a bit mad. I was very excited to get my hands on these.

I'll be reviewing the first three books in the series here. For anyone interested, there is a fourth book, which I'll talk about after.

Warning: There will be spoilers.

The Night Watchman Express:

Each night, Miriam hears the eerie whistle of the Night Watchman Express. The sound of the train gives her visions of an underground factory and a terrifying laboratory.

Miriram has only her guardian's son for company, and she and Simon dislike one another from the start. But they must find a way to become friends or they will end up on the sinister Night Watchman Express.

What I Liked:

This book was great, full of adventure and mystery. The terrible guardians make bad guys you love to hate, and the mysterious Mana (Miriam's governess) keeps you guessing until the unexpected twist halfway through.

I thought it was wonderful that we get to see a different setting in this book. So much of steampunk is in London (I can't complain, my own is set there) so it was refreshing to hear so much about the island they end up on (Lampala). It's made me want to go visit, if such a place existed. 

The characters were well developed and lovable (or the love to hate kind). I started out hating Riki and ended up loving her, and Miriam is well fleshed out and relatable.

What I Didn't Like:

I would say not to pay the description of the book any mind. The book really doesn't focus a lot on The Night Watchman Express, for all that it's titled that. The back talks about how it gives her terrifying visions, when really, it's only given a cursory mention. Granted, they do end up on it later, but I didn't feel it was integral to the story.

I loathed the Marchpanes with every bit of my soul. I thought they were cruel and horrible and I wished the author had dropped a piano on both of them. Instead, they get a slap on the wrist, and later Miriam goes to live with them again. It's sort of like how I felt when I read that Dumbledore was sending Harry back to the Dursleys. "Well Harry, I know those people abused you pretty thoroughly, but I'm afraid I must leave you with them again. Sorry. Have a nice summer!" 

The Devil's Kitchen:

Miriam and Simon are kidnapped and taken to the terrifying destination known as Devil's Kitchen. Here they will face human experiments in a laboratory known as The Infirmary. Miriam is forced to work in an underground factory, while Simon is held in a luxurious prison by jailers who are as beautiful as they are deadly.

What I Liked:

I spent a good deal of this book frustrated and captivated. The frustration was not due to flaws in the book, but the type of situations the characters found themselves in. Miriam is basically a slave in a terrible factory that makes opium, and Simon is subjected to torture by a set of new and shiny bad guys, Barbara and her brother Valiant (who did play a role in the last book, but they're now the main bad guys in the series). 

This book basically had me reading non-stop. As I did with the Night Watchman Express, I finished it in a day. It's full of action and fascinating characters.

What I Didn't Like:

Again, the light treatment of the Marchpanes. They seem to have been changed from horrible and cruel to shallow and foolish. The characters don't seem nearly as threatening as they were at the beginning. Theodosia especially. Not to mention, I was a bit incredulous that they'd let Simon go off with Barbara and Valiant, and have no clue as to how their son was being treated, or even check up on him.

Lizzie and her beautiful sister Ninna are caught up in several mysteries: The squire's eldest son cannot leave the attic. An old typewriter seems to move time and space. A passenger hides in a secret room. A beautiful visitor is plotting against them. 

And Lizzie discovers that she has a strange, new ability. She and her sister must discover the secrets of The Lamplighters Special before their enemy catches up with them.

What I Liked:

Again I was stuck reading this book nearly all day. I was intrigued by the romance between Lizzie and Toby, the Squire's son, and Barbara and Valiant were once again, evil enough to be maddening. Lizzie's struggle to get used to life as a housemaid, her parents poor health and demands for "tonic" and the threatening Siddons (the woman who dresses Barbara) all make for a fascinating read.

What I Didn't Like:

Keep in mind, that there is another book after this, so some of what I say might be resolved. However, I found there were a few things that didn't make sense to me. The "strange new ability" that Lizzie develops is indeed strange. Not to mention, it sort of appears out of nowhere. If there was foreshadowing set down for it, or hints at it before that, I obviously missed them. What's more, the ability is strange and fascinating  but it's never really explained. I wouldn't normally harp on that. In the case of Mana and her ability, I'm fine with it being subtle and not over analyzed. Telekinesis is an established thing. But Lizzie's ability is new and different to me, I would have liked more. How did it develop? Why does she have it? And why on earth does Toby have it as well? The latter seemed like a bit of a stretch to me. They both have this crazy unusual power? That said, this might all be explained in later books, I'm not sure.

I found the very end a bit strange. Barbara, who I paint as "absolute evil" momentarily wonders if she could be good. This rang a little too "Disney" for me. I don't want Barbara to be good, I want her to be hit by a falling anvil. 

Also, why could Toby never come out of his rooms? Why does he get stuck in the cabin later? At first I thought it was a physiological thing, but now I'm thinking it's more. This is never really explained, and the characters don't seem to think it's that odd.

Siddons bothered me. Her irrational hatred towards Lizzie seemed almost personal, and it was never touched on in the end. I wanted to know why she hated her so much. Again, this might be explained in the next book.

Okay the very end twist. I'm going to spoil it. Look away. In fact, if you want the twist, you'll have to highlight what comes next, because I'm going to write it in white so you can't see it. 

In the end, it's revealed that Miriam's mother is black. Okay, so she's half Lampala (Lampalan?) The cover of The Night Watchman Express, shows a very pale little girl with black hair, who I assume is Miriam. One of the things I liked best about Alison DeLuca's series, is that Ms. DeLuca didn't dance around the issue of race. She embraced it head on and dealt with it, while so many steampunk authors don't touch it for fear of offending someone. That said, if Miriam was half Lampalan, it would be pretty darn obvious. Her skin would be very dark. That would have gotten the same extreme reactions as a full blooded Lampalan, I should think. But this was never mentioned at all. Again, maybe it will be touched on in further books, but I'm not sure how you explain that no one ever said anything about her dark skin, especially the Marchpanes, who took every little jab at her they could.

Overall Thoughts on The Series Thus Far:

I literally read these three books in three days. They were wonderful. The writing was terrific. I've no complaints at all on that aspect. The use of British slang was done well, and the characters all sounded natural and real.

 My overall thought is that I would call them Edwardian fantasy, more than Steampunk. I know I've complained about micro labeling Steampunk genres, but in this case I wouldn't call it Steampunk. There was one Steampunk contraption (the Crown Phoenix) which was very cool. And there was the Night Watchman express itself. Briefly there was mention of a steam powered ship, but aside from that, there wasn't much that was Steampunk about the series. This is of course, just my personal opinion. I don't think it takes away from the books in any way. From the point of view of the publisher, I suppose it makes sense to market it as Steampunk. But reader is forewarned, it's not as "Steampunky" as you might expect (or at least, there aren't as many steam powered gadgets as you might expect, and the cities in England seem to be much the same as they would have been).

Is it worth reading? Absolutely. If you're a fan of mystery, magic and adventure, you won't be disappointed. However, if you don't like it when a book sucks you in and refuses to let you go, you may want to pass these up. Luckily I'm a fast reader, but each one still stole half my day away, and I sort of wandered around trying to find lunch, still reading.

For someone that loves pretty shiny covers, these books are also addictive. The covers are beautiful and glossy, and they get a special place on my bookshelf.

Personally, I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the next book, The South Sea Bubble, which will be released in the spring.

If you wish to check out Alison DeLuca and her books, her blog is HERE.

Are We All Punked Out Yet?

Clockpunk, Dieselpunk, Cyberpunk, Spypunk, Stitchpunk, Witchpunk, Elfpunk, Bustlepunk, Stonepunk, Teslapunk, Sandalpunk, Sailpunk, Ricepunk, Atompunk, Retropunk, Rococopunk, Biopunk, Mythpunk, Mannerpunk, Splatterpunk, Nanopunk, Greenpunk...

I could go on, but I won't.

Recently I read a blog post by someone claiming to have written a Witchpunk book. I didn't think too much about it, other than "cool, sounds neat". But later I stumbled across someone talking about Elfpunk and was left scratching my head. At what point are we just tacking "punk" on in order to jump on the punk bandwagon? Greenpunk? What's that? And is "Witchpunk" just steampunk with witches in it? What makes Elfpunk so punk? The punks are flying so thick and fast that it's nearly impossible to keep up with them anymore.

So can I write about trolls, throw a few corsets and gears in there and dub it "Trollpunk"?

Well we DO have awesome punk hair!

I'll be honest, what inspired this blog post was in part someone saying that Gail Carriger doesn't write Steampunk, she writes "Bustlepunk". What she writes is too light and fluffy to be true Steampunk. When the Steampunk "experts" make statements like this, it makes me  want to reach up, grab them by their waistcoat and yank them off their high automaton horses.

Is the umbrella of Steampunk so small that we can't let anyone else in from the rain? We have to assign Ms. Carriger a different category because she isn't dark and gritty enough to be real Steampunk? That's bloody insulting. And what about "gaslight fantasy"? Another name for Steampunk that isn't gritty enough, or isn't focused enough on the science elements to be "real". At what point do we stop splitting hairs? (Hairpunk, YES. That's got to be a thing).

Often it's hard enough for writers when we're asked to describe our manuscript's genre to an agent or editor. What exactly do I write? And now those of us who thought we were writing Steampunk apparently have to ask ourselves another set of questions. Is it gritty enough to be Steampunk? Or is it Bustlepunk? Have I written a gaslight fantasy? 

Perhaps part of the problem is that we still haven't defined exactly what Steampunk is all about. Is it a genre, a movement, a lifestyle, an aesthetic? It's different for everyone, it means something different to everyone. If you ask one hundred people what Steampunk means to them, you may get similar answers, but never two the exact same. 

That's why there are entire forum threads dedicated to the question what is steampunk And there is no one out there who can tell you exactly what, and have everyone agree with them.

So should we go hogwild with the punks? Punkwild? Or maybe we can include a lot of these under the wide umbrella of Steampunk. I'm fairly certain there's room here, and I'll jostle people to make way for you (politely of course). 

But is there even a problem with going punkwild? What's the issue? Well, there might not be a problem if you're just dressing a certain way and telling people you're a stitchpunk. But authors who write in the punk genres have got to draw a line somewhere, don't we? Do you write to an agent and ask him to represent your "trollpunk" novel? 

There are quite a few "punks" as genres that are pretty well established. Should we stick to these?

What are your thoughts on the punk epidemic? We'd love your two pennies on the matter.

Band of the Month: Circus Contraption

Since we've already featured one of our punkette's favorite bands (Abney Park), it's time for another!

Circus Contraption is an eerie mixture of funky jazz and circus tunes. You'll find them both horrifying and delightful, and most likely delightfully horrifying.

From fast-paced, frenzied songs like "We're All Mad" to the slow, creepy "The Odditorium" every song has something to make you shiver.

If "Circuspunk" isn't a thing, it might be now. So close your eyes and let Circus Contraption take you away to a creepy carnival, where chilling and thrilling spectacles await you in every tent and booth.

Welcome to the freak show. Do come in, you'll never want to leave.

Book Review: Encounters of Sherlock Holmes

The spirit of Sherlock Holmes lives on in this collection of fourteen brand-new adventures.

What is it?

A collection of short stories featuring our old friends, Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, Mrs.Hudson and many more familiar faces.

What I Liked

The short stories within are amusing and well written. A few of them particularly stood out. We get a visit from H.G Wells in a science fiction style story (my favorite out of the book) and we encounter a giant squid, black magic and a giant metal "infernal device" type of machine.

What I Didn't Like

Some of the stories began to blur together in places, without enough to define one from the other. What saves the book is the sprinkle of original, different stories throughout. Please take in to account that as a reader I have a penchant for bizarre, dark stories. Those that entangle magic (or the threat of magic) with the mystery. Hence I found the "weird" stories to be more enjoyable. There was an even mix of normal and abnormal though, and should keep most Sherlock fans happy.

In Conclusion

This story collection is well worth adding to your shelf of steampunk reads. 

Oliver the Octopus Gives You 7 out of 8 Octopus legs.

1800's Clockwork Toy's and other fun finds

1800's Clockwork Toys and other fun finds

I find it fascinating that amidst the Industrial Revolution fantastical inventions and clockwork toys were created. I pictured kids playing with crochet dolls and wooden blocks, yet human ingenuity was vast at work. 

 Here are some unique toys I've found for sale..

1.The Ethiopian Catterpillar I'd love to have something like this in my clockwork toy collection. But this little beauty would run me over $300,000 Dollars!

The Ethiopian Caterpillar is a bejeweled automaton from the year 1820. Attributed to Henri Maillardet, only six automaton caterpillars are known to exist and the other five are in prestigious collections in Europe, include one in the Patek Philippe museum and another two in the Sandoz collection (see Parmigiani for more on them).

The pre-sale estimate for this piece is $350,000-$450,000.

2. Oriental Dancing Man This little beauty is at a no reserve bid on ebay. (Currently $650.00US) It is thought to be made in New York early 1800's.

3. Double Hanging Dancers on Platform Made by Automatic Toy Works Connecticut – Circa 1875 This is an extremely rare clockwork-jigging toy. They were probably less than 10 known examples.   The toy is 10” tall by 6 ¾“ wide. Material: Wood, Fabric and Composition. This fun piece has a starting bid of $1500! 

4. Or perhaps toys aren't your thing. What about a 1800's clockwork meat rotisserie?

There are so many unique early clockwork contraptions to be found for sale. If I had the money I'd buy them all! If you stumble across anything interesting send it my way! -The Clockpunkette



Book Review: The Warlord Of The Air, by Michael Moorcock

This review copy was provided by Titan Books, who just last month re-released this classic novel, originally published in the 70’s. Which I think is awesome, since Michael Moorcock is among those writers who stand accused of starting the whole steampunk thing.

The Warlord Of The Air is the story of Oswald Bastable, a man from 1902, who is mysteriously jolted out of his own time, and into the world of the (then) present, 1973. But this isn’t the 1973 that we all know and love. Oh no. 

The British Empire is still very much intact and alive, and colonialism rampant throughout the world. The atomic bomb has not been developed, nor has heavier than air flight. Instead, the skies are alive with airships, from the luxury liner Loch Etive to the run down old ship, The Rover.

The story is written in the style of H. G. Wells, which is kind of interesting, but it doesn't slip into excessive rambling, as writing of that time period often does. All the nostalgia of the style, none of the annoyances, I would say. H. G. Wells, and other writers of the time, often started a story with the premise of it being a recounting of events - either the story is being told to another character, or the narrator is committing remembered events to paper. The Warlord Of The Air follows this tradition - the narrator of the first chapter is the man who discovers Bastable, after all the events of the story have occurred, and convinces him to tell his story.

Bastable himself is a likable enough character, if naive. He's innocent enough that I could forgive him for being so staunchly supportive of British colonialism, believing the world to which he'd been sent a utopia. While his blind support of the status quo got to be a bit of an eye-roll after a while, when he did finally realize the cruel injustices of colonialism, it was a slow enough transition that it was believable. He's not a stupid character, he just knows what he knows, and a big part of the story is his discovery of the world.

The funny thing was, I realized this story is structured very similarly to The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman, which I disliked quite a bit for being little more than a masterpiece of world-building hung on nearly no plot. The difference between the two though, is the world of The Warlord Of The Air is much more integral to the main character's emotional arc, which kept me much more engaged in the story. William Mandella of The Forever War observes his world in a cold, emotionless way, whereas Bastable describes 1973 with wonder and excitement, and later frustration and despair, and that world - the point of the story - changes him as a person in the end. William Mandella's character is unaffected and unchanged by his experience.

Overall I enjoyed it very much, and I'm glad someone's making sure this classic stays in print. You can pick it up here.

Ten Cylinders.

The Aylesford Skull - A Book Review

It is the summer of 1883 and Professor Langdon St. Ives, brilliant but eccentric scientist and explorer, is at his home in Aylesford with his family. A few miles to the north a steam launch has been taken by pirates above Egypt Bay, the crew murdered and pitched overboard.

In Aylesford itself a grave is opened and possibly robbed of the skull. The suspected grave robber, the infamous Dr. Ignacio Narbondo, is an old nemesis of Langdon St. Ives. When Dr. Narbondo returns to kidnap his four-year-old son Eddie and then vanishes into the night, St. Ives and his factotum Hasbro race into London in pursuit...

What I liked about it: To begin with, Mr. Blaylock is an extraordinary writer. This rollicking steampunk adventure showcases his excellent prose.  Likeable characters, a vile villain and an imaginative setting makes this book into a must-read for lovers of steampunk literature.

What I didn’t like about it:  The only issue I had with this charming tale is that the end dragged out a little bit too long. It seems that poor Eddie is kidnapped, and then someone swoops in and rescues him, but then they get caught. Then he’s rescued again, but then they get caught again. I believe this happened three times, and it had me suffering from some literary whiplash. It seemed like the climax of the thing took a long time to get to, I was really impatient to get the big fight started. Then finally, it seemed to me that it ended very abruptly. Perhaps from all the buildup.

In Conclusion: Would I recommend The Aylesford Skull to Steampunk readers? Absolutely, in fact, I would say it’s headed the way of the steampunk classic, in spite of the minor flaws I mentioned. I feel I should be adding more of Mr. Baylock’s works to my personal bookshelf, so if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to the bookstore.

Rating:  7 out of 8 Octopus legs