Clementine (Clockwork Century book 2) by Cherie Priest (Subterranean)

Books View Comments
Aug 262010

Title: Clementine

Series: Clockwork Century 2
Author: Cherie Priest
Genre: Steampunk
Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: Subterranean Press
Copy: bought it myself

Order from: Amazon US | UK | B&N | sfbok

Maria Isabella Boyd’s success as a Confederate spy has made her too famous for further espionage work, and now her employment options are slim. Exiled, widowed, and on the brink of poverty…she reluctantly goes to work for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in Chicago.

Adding insult to injury, her first big assignment is commissioned by the Union Army. In short, a federally sponsored transport dirigible is being violently pursued across the Rockies and Uncle Sam isn’t pleased. The Clementine is carrying a top secret load of military essentials, essentials which must be delivered to Louisville, Kentucky, without delay.

Intelligence suggests that the unrelenting pursuer is a runaway slave who’s been wanted by authorities on both sides of the Mason-Dixon for fifteen years. In that time, Captain Croggon Beauregard Hainey has felonied his way back and forth across the continent, leaving a trail of broken banks, stolen war machines, and illegally distributed weaponry from sea to shining sea.

And now it s Maria’s job to go get him. He’s dangerous quarry and she’s a dangerous woman, but when forces conspire against them both, they take a chance and form an alliance. She joins his crew, and he uses her connections. She follows his orders. He takes her advice. And somebody, somewhere, is going to rue the day he crossed either one of them

I feel like a kid again when I read Cherie Priest’s wonderful clockwork tales. There is something soulful and handmade about the whole genre modern people is attracted to and it is the perfect excuse to indulge in airships, air pirates, secret weapons and the civil war era. Priest does more than feeding my juvenile delight in adventures, she also touches on racial issues, moral and loyalty conflicts. The characters do think about things like that in a way that feels very ‘period’ and natural. The story takes place to a background of an extended civil war where racism is very much alive and a white woman traveling with three black men has some issues.

This is a standalone story that share Clementine, Captain Hainey and his crew with Priest’s first Clockwork Novel Boneshaker.

Clementine has a good balance between fast pace  and good character development. The characters also have a good balance between strengths and vulnerabilities. Both Hainey and Boyd are formidable characters all by themselves. They don’t take crap from anyone. It is a delight to read them interact with each other, I got goose bumps. They do clash in a good way. But they come across as real humans even if they are not to be crossed.

My Clementine is a beautiful  print by Subterranean press with cover art by Jon Foster. I read the whole book in one go the same night I got it, I could not stop. Now I can’t wait until I get Dreadnought next month.

Related Posts

Clockwork Century
1. Boneshaker (Tor)

Share|
Posted by ove at 01:00 Tagged with: , , ,

Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds [Book Review] on TLR

Books View Comments
Aug 172010

New book review on Temple Library Review of Alastair Reynolds’ Terminal World by your’s truly.

Please jump over and read.

Share|
Posted by ove at 20:39 Tagged with: , , ,

The Black Lung Captain (Tales of the Kitty Jay) by Chris Wooding (Gollancz) [Book Review]

Books View Comments
Aug 142010

Title: The Black Lung Captain
Series: Tales of the Ketty Jay 2
Author: Chris Wooding [homepage]
Genre: Steampunk
Hardback:  448 pages
Publisher: Gollancz (2010)

Order by: Amazon US | UK | B&N | sfbok

Darian Frey is down on his luck. He can barely keep his squabbling crew fed and his rickety aircraft in the sky. Even the simplest robberies seem to go wrong. It’s getting so a man can’t make a dishonest living any more. Enter Captain Grist. He’s heard about a crashed aircraft laden with the treasures of a lost civilisation, and he needs Frey’s help to get it. There’s only one problem. The craft is lying in the trackless heart of a remote island, populated by giant beasts and subhuman monsters. Dangerous, yes. Suicidal, perhaps. Still, Frey’s never let common sense get in the way of a fortune before. But there’s something other than treasure on board that aircraft. Something that a lot of important people would kill for. And it’s going to take all of Frey’s considerable skill at lying, cheating and stealing if he wants to get his hands on it …Strap yourself in for another tale of adventure and debauchery, pilots and pirates, golems and daemons, double-crosses and double-double-crosses. The crew of the Ketty Jay are back!

It is not easy to twinkle like a young boy about to read Treasure Island for the first time at my age but that was how I felt when the parcel with The Black Lung Captain arrived. It has such a beautiful cover made by Stephan Martiniere. I have to admit that it was the cover of Retribution Falls that first got me interested. It was with some concern I started to read since a few early reviewers claimed some of the magic from the first book were gone but I was fast alleviated it was there, more mature and on a different level since I first meet the characters. I feel almost guilty for indulging and enjoying this book as much as I did, almost.

The Black Lung Captain has a theme about facing fears, overcome them and grow beyond them. The Kitty Jay and her charming crew are back and they will face some of their worst fears before it is all over. It is also Captain Frey’s leadership lesson number two. I think the crew would appreciate if the team-building didn’t include treacherous partners, attacks by beast-men, mysterious but dangerous artifacts, persistent ghouls and former girlfriends but luckily for us neither them or Frey have much choice in the matter.

There are many strong character moments this time around too, and you learn more about the characters as they face their fears and grow beyond them. One of the strongest moments is when Jez face one of the Awakener’s high level operatives adding a whole new level of fear to the story. Harkins’ epic and entertaining struggle with the ship-cat takes almost the whole book before it reaches climax.

The plot is not bad either with the treasure hunt, the double-crosses and the underlying sinister plan that is gradually revealed. There is action non-stop and never a dull moment. There is also a romance or three but not in the way you expect. The ending kept me smiling for hours but that’s just me.

As you understand I am a bit euphoric about The Black Lung Captain, the sequel is almost better than original. Here we learn more of their Victorian retro-future world and the characters go places they never expected to, they grow and they overcome but they stay quirky and interesting. Frey matures a bit but I suspect he will never grow up or lose his charm. The ending is wide open for a number of sequels and plot lines to follow. I can’t wait to see where the next lesson, sorry misfortune will take them.

I have good news and bad news. As part of my research I visited chriswooding.com, the good news is that there will be a book number three and four. The bad news is that Chris just threw the quarter he had written on The Iron Jackal in the bin and started over again that probably means the publication will get knocked back by a few months, meaning it’s likely to arrive late next year instead of the planned release date of August.

Share|
Posted by ove at 01:00 Tagged with: , , ,

Retribution Falls (Tales of the Ketty Jay 1) by Chris Wooding (Gollancz) [Book Review]

Books View Comments
Aug 122010

Title: Retribution Falls
Series: Tales of the Ketty Jay 1
Author: Chris Wooding [homepage]
Genre: Steampunk
Hardback: 384 pages
Publisher: Gollancz (2009)

Order by: Amazon US | UK | sfbok

Frey is the captain of the Ketty Jay, leader of a small and highly dysfunctional band of layabouts. An inveterate womaniser and rogue, he and his gang make a living on the wrong side of the law, avoiding the heavily armed flying frigates of the Coalition Navy. With their trio of ragged fighter craft, they run contraband, rob airships and generally make a nuisance of themselves. So a hot tip on a cargo freighter loaded with valuables seems like a great prospect for an easy heist and a fast buck. Until the heist goes wrong, and the freighter explodes. Suddenly Frey isn’t just a nuisance anymore – he’s public enemy number one, with the Coalition Navy on his tail and contractors hired to take him down. But Frey knows something they don’t. That freighter was rigged to blow, and Frey has been framed to take the fall. If he wants to prove it, he’s going to have to catch the real culprit. He must face liars and lovers, dogfights and gunfights, Dukes and daemons. It’s going to take all his criminal talents to prove he’s not the criminal they think he is …

I remembered sneaking a glimpse at my first pirate movie while my parents thought me sleeping. It was exciting until they caught me looking. I think it was something with Errol Flynn and Captain Frey here has the same kind of Errolesque attitude without being a gentleman about it . In a way this tale is about extraordinary accidental team-building with Captain Frey, who at first only sees the crew as a means to keep the Kitty Jay running but that change over time both for him and for his assorted crew of misfits. I like the way the story builds up depth as it moves along and we get to know the characters.

The characters are all charming quirky refugees from society. There is the haunted daemonist, his hard hitting daemon possessed suit of armor with a personality of her own, the alcoholic doctor afraid to do surgery, the former slave engineer, and two outrider fighter pilots one pining for his sweetheart at home and the other a coward outside the cockpit. We learn to know them when Jez their new navigator signs on. She has a dark secret of her own, that’s why she ended up where she is.

Frey is not the most competent Captain around but he is persistent and charming. The plot is maybe not the most original but it is mighty fun to read. It contains airship battles, conspiracies, daring rescues, vengeful former fiancées, mystic artifacts and a secret pirate lair. One of the most entertaining scenes in the book is when Captain Frey visits his former fiancée in the monastery her father forced her into to obtain information. The characters are well developed and interesting especially Jez.

The Victorian retro-future world comes alive around the characters and makes me want to know more about the Coalition, their enemies and their history. The world building is not extensive but effective for the story. I hope we will learn more in future books. Chris Wooding is a new to me author and I am mighty impressed with Retribution Falls. It is a well balanced fun adventure tale that makes me want to read more by Chris.

I am half way through the next standalone sequel The Black Lung Captain and I am still as impressed. A review will be forthcoming.

Share|
Posted by ove at 01:00 Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Boneshaker (Clockwork Century 1) by Cherie Priest [Review]

Books View Comments
Aug 072010

Title: Boneshaker
Series: Clockwork Century book 1
Author: Cherie Priest
Genre: Steampunk
Cover art: Jon Foster
Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Tor 2009

Order from: Amazon US | UK | B&N | sfbok

In the early days of the Civil War, rumors of gold in the frozen Klondike brought hordes of newcomers to the Pacific Northwest. Anxious to compete, Russian prospectors commissioned inventor Leviticus Blue to create a great machine that could mine through Alaska’s ice. Thus was Dr. Blue’s Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine born.

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.

Information

Everything about this book is beautiful the cover, the design and the story in itself. There is a even a beautiful map of Seattle 1879 inside by Jenifer Hanover. I think that the  popularity of Steampunk has something to do with a wish for more beautiful soulful things. I am not saying that modern design can’t be beautiful but they seldom have soul.

This is the story about  a strong persistent mother who would do anything for her son. Briar is a hardworking single mom that just manages to get by on what she brings in while she tries to live under the radar of the stigma of her former husband’s alleged crime. Her son Ezekiel convinced of his father’s innocence sets out to find proof inside the walled city.

The Author

Cherie comes quite well recommended from reviewers and nominations and she lives up to my expectations. She writes very accessible and with her own style that reminds me of pulp fiction writers like Sax Rohmer’s (Dr. Fu-Manchu) and old classic writers  like Jules Verne. This is the first book I read by her but not the last; I have Clementine on its way here and Dreadnought (the next book set in the Clockwork Century) on pre order.

World Building

I like the Steampunk version of Seattle even if I was a bit skeptical about the Zombie part at first. I am not really into horror that much. I enjoy the whole ‘what if’ with Steampunk. It makes you think and fantasize all by yourself.

Cherie uses a journalist that pesters Briar for an interview to give the back story in an excerpt from his unfinished works and the rest comes natural as the story develops with Briar doing most of the remembering. It feels like we just opened the door to the Clockwork Century and had a tiny peek, I want to know more and explore the different parts of this alternate universe. So I guess the world building worked great, I am hooked.

Plot

Zeke goes into the Blight to clear his father’s good name and Briar goes after to save his skin. The story focuses on Briar finding a way into the walled city, surviving the zombies, the blight, locating her son and getting him out of there. But it is not easy. She encounters the airship Clementine whose story I assume is covered in the novella by the same name. The walled city in itself holds more than one secret and she uncovers them one by one. The twists and turns reminded somewhat of pulp fiction but more coherent. Some of what happens seems to happen out of the blue when they do but they get their explanation later on much like they would in real life.

Characterization

I like the characters as much as I am in love with the settings. Briar is really set on saving her son from himself while she spare noting in scolding herself for her own short comings. The people she meets and form bonds with step out of the text lifelike and interesting in themselves. There are more than a couple of them I wouldn’t mind reading a short story or two about. Alastair, Cly, Fang and Angeline Princess to mention a few.

My View

I love Boneshaker, it is an easy read you will have trouble putting down and the storyline is compelling and you will want to read more of Cherie’s books afterwards. What is it that is so charming and compelling with goggles, gas masks, zombies, airships and 19th century technology? I don’t know but it got me under its spell too.

Share|
Posted by ove at 17:26 Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Warehouse 13 2.03 – Beyond Our Control (Review)

TV Series View Comments
Jul 212010

Last Week

Last week Pete and Myka tried to make friends with the town’s people with little success before going off dealing with a ‘superhero’.

This Week

We start to see more of the season arc promised by McPherson and H. G. Wells and their big plan. Mrs. Fredric arrives with a couple of agents to check Leena’s symptoms. It is all a bit creepy especially when they use the Pearl of Wisdom to examine the residues left by McPherson in her mind. Mrs. Fredric ‘smooths over’ the residue but there is always  some little echo left behind as one of the agent says and in the final scene we see the hair of someone? or a wig? or some really poorly drawn headphones drawn by Leena.

The town people’s failure to warm up to Pete and Myka get its explanation. The Warehouse’s cover story is that they are an IRS warehouse thus the cold shoulders. They go to the post office to check if Pete’s parcel with personal effects has arrived only to meet the post lady on her way out, the post is closed and she is retiring, going home to eat popcorn and watch movies.

Dr Kelly Hernandez is the local veterinarian and she doesn’t like IRS or Pete for that matter. The sparks makes me believe this is Pete’s love interest this season, besides H. G. Wells.

Claudia got the original Farnsworth communication device, but she is not happy with the old tech so she sets out to modify it so it can receive email and other modern features like a new ring tune. Artie discover her and is appalled. It is about then the Farnswoth makes strange sounds and a general alarm goes off for a disturbance in town.

Then follows a series of entertaining B movie events with marines, cowboys, gangsters, gladiators and tigers. Artie of course accuse Claudia for causing all the problems with her tweaking. Claudia goes to the hardware store to get some parts and meets Tod the clerk, looks like she might have found an interest outside work. I started to think it all had to do with Pete’s movie collection in the post office and it did sort of. They track down a projector artifact to the retired postmaster just as it is about to start a doomsday movie. I like the way Pete knows about all the geeky details in the movie. The end becomes a race as they try to get the camera for the projector to work so they can show something harmless.

All in all a good episode with all the antics we come to love with Warehouse 13. The big plan has me mystified, wonder what we learn next.

Bonus Photos

Next Week

Warehouse 13 2.04 – Age Before Beauty (Syfy)
When young super models rapidly age 50 years overnight, Pete and Myka go undercover in the glam world of high fashion to discover who – and what – is behind the transformations.

Related Posts

Share|
Posted by ove at 08:24 Tagged with: , , , ,
Page 1 of 3 1 2 3
© 2010 Cybermage Litteratur Cybermage - Blogged Blogg listad på Bloggtoppen.se Suffusion WordPress theme by Sayontan Sinha
/* ]]> */