Title: Arcadia Snips and the Steamwork Consortium

Author: Robert C. Rodgers, illustrated by Todd Wills

Genre: Steampunk, Fantasy, Adventure, Comedy, Young Adult

Publisher: Steam-Powered Press
Publication Date: October 2009
Paperback: 288 pages

In an era of bygone anachronisms and steam-powered ambulatory engines, a sharp-witted street-thief with a heart of semi-precious metal finds herself locked in a battle of wits against a secret plot to bring the city she loves to its knees. Arcadia will need to enlist the help of a reformed mad scientist, a stern suffragette, and a persnickety pigeon to unravel the mysterious past of the Steamwork Consortium – and stop the cabal of sinister mathematicians who would use that past to destroy all of Aberwick. Arcadia Snips and the Steamwork Consortium is both a cautionary tale against reckless mathematics and an accurate historical account all rolled up into one. In fact, the story is so accurate that you might consider it more of a history lecture than an illustrated novel.

Stand alone or series: Stand alone novel

How did I get this book: Review Copy from the author

Why did I read this book: Though we mostly review books from larger publishers, we also like to share the love with independent/self/small-presses too – provided the book sounds like something we want to read. When we received a review query from the author of the book last year, I read the synopsis and first chapter online and was instantly hooked – and what better a time to review this novel than during Steampunk Week?

Review:

“Dear Madame,” the letter read. “Although we remain appreciative of your continued attempts to bring a feminine touch to the world of aeronautics, the Royal Society of Aviation regrets to inform you that your design shall fly only once swine have taken to the skies.”

The letter was framed and mounted on the dining room wall.

So begins Arcadia Snips and the Steamwork Consortium (henceforth Arcadia Snips), described quite aptly in its tagline as “Being A Wholly Accurate Historical Account Concerning Matters Of Steam, Skullduggery, And The Irresponsible Application Of Reckless Mathematics In The 19th Century.” Of all the books I’ve read this week (so far), Arcadia Snips is by far the most traditionally Steampunkish (Steampunky?). Taking place in the late nineteenth century, the novel includes no shortage of creative machines, flying contraptions, and other steam-powered miscellanea. There’s even political intrigue, a dash of romance, and Great Peril – all of this in spades. Alternating storylines between “the past” (twenty years in the past), in which an unlikely partnership forms between three far-sighted individuals, and the present, in which a thief named Arcadia finds herself in the employ of a powerful Count, as his consultant in the Watts and Sons Detective Agency’s investigation of the murder of Basil Copper.

Arcadia Snips, the titled protagonist, is a delightfully quirky heroine in this delightfully quirky book. Just look at our initial introduction to her:

Beneath Arcadia Sinps’ derby hat and short black curls was the face of a silver-fanged cherub — a mocha-toned antel with enough charm to sell a pack of matches to a man doused in lamp oil. But whenever she grinned, the very tip of that silver fang would tuck over the edge of her bottom tooth. It gave her a savage, frightful look.

It is also worth mentioning that we first meet Arcadia as she is shackled in prison (having escaped from jail twice, and about to accomplish this wriggling, lock-defying feat for the third time in a row). She’s a thief, a wise-cracker, and, again, altogether delightful with her wit and verve. And while Arcadia on her own as a protagonist would be enough personality for this book teeming with silly cleverness, she also has a male counterpart in young William Daffodil, the son of two “mad scientists” (that greatly endangered the city of Aberwick in the past storyline) and a young man that is much more interested in the safety of mathematics than the perils of mad science. This pair…well, they just work.

Beyond these protagonists, there are the “past” characters that are wonderful in and of themselves – Abigail Parsley, for example, has one of the best opening sequences in the book. We also get into the minds of villains, a most unique perspective.

What I loved the most about Arcadia Snips, beyond the characters, was the pure delight of reading the book entails. It’s silly, to be sure, but so witty and absurdly fun, it’s all the better for it. Dialogue between characters verges on the persnickety and crazed at times, but the authenticity and eminent readability of this novel make it all worth it. For every misstep, there’s a gem like this:

The city of Aberwick was a topographical nightmare wrested from the laudanum-fueled fever dreams of half-mad cartographers. It was cradled in a yawning canyon of volcanic rock, with communities swelling up into massive heaps of brick and timber; the trains flowed aside, above, and even through these mounds.

As I said, truly wonderful stuff.

I also should mention that Arcadia Snips is an illustrated novel, with the visual stylings of artist Todd Wills. While I’m not a huge fan of the cover (a bit cartoony and a strange color scheme – does the cover version of Arcadia look like Calamity Jack to anyone else?), I do love the black and white illustrations within as they capture the book’s mood perfectly.

I’m always a little bit scared of taking on independently or self-published books – but books like Arcadia Snips remind me of why I agree to do so in the first place. Every now and then a true undiscovered gem comes along, and I’m happy to say that this book is one of them.

Whole-heartedly recommended to all looking for a farcical, somewhat deranged (in a good way!) steampunk read. Arcadia Snips and the Steamwork Consortium is a delight.

BUT IS IT STEAMPUNK? Oh, hell yes. It’s the most traditionally steampunk novel I’ve read this week!

Notable Quotes/Parts: From the introduction:

ACT 1

“In yet another example of tragically misapplied genius, the mysterious anarchist who calls himself Professor Hemlock has done it again—several of the Eastern Aberwick Bank’s calculation engines have been crippled through the irresponsible application of reckless mathematics. The rogue chaotician claimed responsibility for the financial disaster in a letter delivered to the Isle Gazette (see page 9a), citing the company’s cutthroat business tactics, support of imperialism, and rude bank tellers as justification. Authorities continue to investigate the anarchist’s activities while urging all citizens to behave no differently during this time of fiscal duress. Meanwhile, one question lingers upon the lips of every man, woman, and child: Who is Professor Hemlock?”
—Front page of the Isle Gazette, ‘PROFESSOR HEMLOCK STRIKES AGAIN’

Additional Thoughts: The coolest part about Arcadia Snips and the Steamwork Consortium? It’s available in its totality for FREE online!

You can check out the book’s website HERE and the illustrator’s website HERE. To download a free PDF copy of the book, go HERE. You won’t regret it.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

Title: Airborn

Author: Kenneth Oppel

Genre: Young Adult, Steampunk, Fantasy

Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication Date: May 2005
Paperback: 544 pages

Sailing toward dawn, and I was perched atop the crow’s nest, being the ship’s eyes. We were two nights out of Sydney, and there’d been no weather to speak of so far. I was keeping watch on a dark stack of nimbus clouds off to the northwest, but we were leaving it far behind, and it looked to be smooth going all the way back to Lionsgate City. Like riding a cloud. . . .

Matt Cruse is a cabin boy on the Aurora, a huge airship that sails hundreds of feet above the ocean, ferrying wealthy passengers from city to city. It is the life Matt’s always wanted; convinced he’s lighter than air, he imagines himself as buoyant as the hydrium gas that powers his ship. One night he meets a dying balloonist who speaks of beautiful creatures drifting through the skies. It is only after Matt meets the balloonist’s granddaughter that he realizes that the man’s ravings may, in fact, have been true, and that the creatures are completely real and utterly mysterious.

In a swashbuckling adventure reminiscent of Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson, Kenneth Oppel, author of the best-selling Silverwing trilogy, creates an imagined world in which the air is populated by transcontinental voyagers, pirates, and beings never before dreamed of by the humans who sail the skies.

Stand alone or series: Book 1 in the Matt Cruse trilogy

How did I get this book: Bought

Why did I read this book: I’ve heard nothing but praise for the works of Kenneth Oppel, and when looking for a new YA novel to read for Steampunk Week, Airborn was the clear choice.

Review:

Matt Cruse was born in the sky.

The son of a dedicated airman, Matt has always longed to fly like his father. And, after his father’s death, Matt finally gets to live out his wish, serving on his father’s old ship, the Aurora, as a cabin boy. Two years in service, the luxury airship comes across a marooned balloon in their path – and young Matt helps to bring the balloon’s sole inhabitant on board to safety. This old adventurer asks Matt if he had seen “them” – beautiful, flying creatures in the sky – just before he dies. One year later, Matt is still hard at work on the Aurora as a cabin boy, having lost out on his opportunity to advance to a junior sailmaker position (to a well-connected, rich young man). Though his hopes are temporarily dashed, Matt is always happiest in the air, and relishes his time aboard the magnificent ship. Then, he meets a girl named Kate de Vries – sassy, intelligent, and adventurous…as well as rich, pretty, and spoiled. As it turns out, Kate is the granddaughter of the man Matt rescued a year prior, and she is travelling on the Aurora with a very specific mission to discover exactly what her grandfather saw. Matt and Kate, despite their difference in class, become fast friends and work together to find answers, and elusive proof of Kate’s grandfather’s magnificent, winged creatures. Of course, things are never so easily accomplished and a number obstacles present themselves – namely pirates, a shipwreck, more pirates, and wild, unfettered danger.

Airborn is a rollicking adventure novel, blending aeronautics with compelling characters, stunning images, and a swashbuckling plot. It’s kind of like Titanic the The Swiss Family Robinson meets Up meets Treasure Island meets Die Hard in the sky. Sounds like an unlikely, unappetizing mix? Let me assure you, gentle readers, I mean this multi-genre/film/book mishmash comparison in the best possible way. I LOVE ALL OF THESE THINGS.

Ergo, I love Airborn.

At 500 pages, Airborn is a swift, unputdownable read. Narrated by Matt Cruse in a clear, level-headed, youthfully honest voice, this book managers to tread familiar waters – or rather, fly familiar skies, a more apropos metaphor – with pirates, young love across class differences, shipwrecks, and mythical bird creatures, and yet still feel fresh and exhilarating. This is the kind of adventure story I want to pass on to younger, reluctant readers, to get them excited about books, about the escapist, fun experience reading can be.

And fun Airborn truly is. Matt Cruse’s world is familiar in its Victorian-type era and aesthetic (impressive, dominant airships, strong class-dividing lines, era-specific wardrobes, etiquette and mannerisms), but Mr. Oppel manages to put a new, steampunk worthy spin on his technology, inventing an entirely new element called “hydrium,” lighter than hydrogen (enabling massive airships to fly to great altitudes without the need for gas or steam power) that smells, strangely, of mangoes. Throughout the book, it is little touches like this that make the setting seem completely natural, and the world plausible (for example, as Matt guides Kate on a tour of the Aurora he points out the many “Depressionist” paintings on display in the cigar room).

In addition to the swashbucking, altogether wondrous plot and worldbuilding, the characters are what make Airborn soar. Kate, as the headstrong and adventurous (dare I say young Amelia Peabody-esque – minus the parasol and ample…well, you know) young heroine is feisty and winsome, more so because she is not without her flaws. In addition to having the usual YA fantasy heroine traits (smart, driven, restless with the constraints of her class and family expectations), she also is uppity, spoiled, and careless – and it’s cool to see that. She’s not perfect, but that’s ok – she’s all the more real and endearing for it. But the true showstealer in Airborn is young Matt Cruse – Cabin Boy, narrator, and heart-wrenchingly honest young man. Matt’s voice is pure and resonant; he shares his fears and emotions without reserve, allowing readers to truly get a feel for this remarkable young protagonist. He’s (obviously) smitten with Kate, but infuriated by her manner at times too, and the interactions between these two characters is alternately tender and hilarious. They make quite the duo on their adventures together, and I cannot wait for more.

If you couldn’t tell, I truly loved Airborn. It’s a feast for the Young Adult, but also for the older, more world-weary reader, looking for pirate-story adventures to sweep them away on a current of mango scented Hydrium.

Plus, Airborn ends with the best closing line ever.

BUT IS IT STEAMPUNK? Hell freakin’ yeah it is. Ok, it’s light on the “punk” component. It doesn’t really challenge or critique society in any way – but the imaginative (yet still relatively simple) technology is central to the story, and it is set in a very Steampunk appropriate world. The book basically takes place on an airship, which isn’t just for show – we readers learn how it works, how the world looks, and what dangers accompany this strange technology. There’s also an almost a “Darwin goes to Galapagos” feel to the book so far as Kate and Matt’s excursions to discover the mysterious Cloud Cats and – very era and sub-genre appropriate.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From the official excerpt:

“Sir, there’s a ship headed towards us!”

The airship was small, and I could now see why I’d not picked her out earlier. Her skin was painted black, and she carried no running beacons anywhere. No light emanated from the Control Car either. Her side bore no markings, no name or number. It was only her dark sheen from the moon’s light that made her visible at all.

“She’s at ten o’clock and sailing straight for us, half a mile.”

“Bear away,” I heard the first office tell his rudder-man. “Elevator up six degrees. Summon the captain.”

That meant we were going into a climb. The Aurora was as responsive as a falcon. Stars streamed to my left as the ship began her turn, angling heavenward. High in the crowsnest, I swivelled in my chair so I could watch the smaller vessel. As we turned and climbed, she turned and climbed with us, keeping herself on a collision course. This was no mistake. She was chasing us. She was smaller and faster than the Aurora, and I could feel the vibration of our engines at full capacity. We would not be able to outrun her.

“Where is she, Mr. Cruse?”
“She’s changed course, but still coming right at us. Closing, at eight o’clock.”
“Raise her on the radio!” I heard the first officer shouting out to the wireless officer.
“She’s not responding.”

A collision seemed sure now, but for what purpose?

“Distance, Cruse!”
“Some two hundred yards, sir.”
“Send out a distress call,” I heard Mr. Rideau instruct the wireless operator.
“We’re too far out, sir,” Mr. Bayard’s voice replied.

It was clear there was no shaking her, this sleek black raptor shadowing us through the night sky.

“She’s angling up, sir,” I said into the speaking tube, “as though she means to overshoot us.”

“Take us down, Mr. Riddihoff, take us down five degrees, with haste!”

I felt the Aurora pivot and her bow dip. My ears popped and heaviness rose through me. I swirled in my seat, peering up and almost over the ship’s stern as the airship pulled closer, altering course as seamlessly as if she’d anticipated our moves.
“Fifty yards off our stern!” I shouted into the speaking tube. “Forty, thirty . . . she’s pulling up over our tail.”

And so she was, this predatory airship, skimming over our tail fins and gradually overtaking us, only a few dozen feet overhead.

“She’s directly overhead, sir, matching us.”

We were levelling out now and so was the other airship. Less than half our size, she was like some agile black shark hounding a whale.

“Hard about, please.”

Through the speaking tube it was the captain’s voice I heard now, and I felt a surge of confidence to know he was on the bridge. He would see us through this. Again the Aurora swivelled, trying to throw off her predator, but once more the smaller ship matched our movements, slinking over us like a shadow. A spotlight flared from its underside, and I saw ropes springing from open bay doors and unfurling towards the Aurora.

“She’s dropping lines on us!” I shouted into the speaking tube.

Pirates! That was all they could be.

“They’re trying to board,” the captain said. “Dive and roll to starboard, please.”

The lines were weighted, for they hit the ship and didn’t slide off. I saw six men already dropping down towards me. But then the Aurora banked sharply, dipped, and the lines slewed off the Aurora’s back, leaving the men dangling in mid-air.

“Ha! You’ll not have us!” I shouted, shaking my fist.

But the pirate airship was already adjusting its course, keeping pace, and as it forced us closer to the waves, we would have less space to manoeuvre. There was a great flash from the pirate ship’s underbelly and a thunderous volley of cannon fire scorched the night sky across our bow.

A voice carried by bullhorn shuddered the air.
“Put your nose to the wind and cut speed.”

There was no need for me to repeat this into the speaking tube for I knew they had heard it in the Control Car. There was a moment of silence, and I could imagine them all down there, standing very straight and still, the elevator men and rudder-men watching the captain, awaiting his command. He had no choice. That cannon could sink us in an instant.

“Level off and put her into the wind, please,” said Captain Walken. “Throttle back the engines to one-quarter. Thank you.”

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: Airborn is actually the first book in a trilogy following the adventures of Matt and Kate – the next two books are Skybreaker and Starclimber:

Former cabin boy Matt Cruse, now a student at the prestigious Airship Academy, is first to identify the Hyperion, the private airship of a reclusive and fabulously wealthy inventor that disappeared forty years ago with its owner. Armed with the Hyperion’s coordinates, which only he possesses, Matt, heiress Kate de Vries, and a mysterious young gypsy board the Sagarmatha, an airship fitted with the new skybreaker engines that will allow them to reach the Hyperion, 20,000 feet above the earth’s surface. Pursued by others who want the Hyperion and will stop at nothing to get it, and surrounded by dangerous high-altitude life forms, Matt and his companions are soon fighting not only for the Hyperion but for their very lives.

In this thrilling sequel to Airborn, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book, Kenneth Oppel evokes the classic storytelling of Robert Louis Stevenson and Jules Verne, creating a world in which a new discovery can have unimagined consequences — on earth and miles above it.

“Mr. Cruse, how high would you like to fly?”

A smile soared across my face.

“As high as I possibly can.”

Pilot-in-training Matt Cruse and Kate de Vries, expert on high-altitude life-forms, are invited aboard the Starclimber, a vessel that literally climbs its way into the cosmos. Before they even set foot aboard the ship, catastrophe strikes:

Kate announces she is engaged – and not to Matt.

Despite this bombshell, Matt and Kate embark on their journey into space, but soon the ship is surrounded by strange and unsettling life-forms, and the crew is forced to combat devastating mechanical failure. For Matt, Kate, and the entire crew of the Starclimber, what began as an exciting race to the stars has now turned into a battle to save their lives.

Award-winning and bestselling author Kenneth Oppel brings us back to a rich world of flight and fantasy in this breathtaking new sequel to Airborn and Skybreaker.

The series has an awesome interactive website, chock full of great extras. I highly recommend you go forth and check it out.

Rating: 8 – Excellent, and I cannot wait to pick up the next two books in the series!

Reading Next: Arcadia Snips and the Steamwork Consortium by Robert C. Rodgers

Title: The Warlord of the Air

Author: Michael Moorcok

Genre: Sci-fi (Proto-Steampunk)

Publisher: DAW / Hunt Barnard Printing (UK)
Publication Date: 1971 / 1974
Paperback: 156 pages

Suppose that a few of our present inventions had been made earlier, and others not discovered at all? How would the last century have evolved differently? This is the story of Oswald Bastable, a Victorian captain who found himself in such alternate worlds. It is based on notes handed down to Michael Moorcock from his great-grandfather. It’s a story of a world of empires secured by airships, and a Chinese genius who invented the means of overthrowing the West’s power!

Stand alone or series: First in the A Nomad of the Time Streams trilogy but this story is self-contained (sort of) and can be read as a stand alone.

Why did I read the book: The Warlord of the Air is generally listed as one of the seminal works which inspired the Steampunk sub-genre. In my quest to learn about all things Steampunk, I had to check it out.

How did I get the book: The book is currently out of print but is easily found on Amazon marketplace. I paid £0.01 for it (plus shipping).

Review:

The Warlord of the Air begins with an editor’s note in which the author, Michael Moorcok, tells of the discovery of a manuscript said to have been written by his own grandfather. This manuscript is the basics for the book as it follows Moorcock’s grandfather’s narrative as he describes his journey in 1903, to Rowe Island, in the Indian Ocean where he goes to recover from a nervous breakdown, away from civilization. Soon he is overcome with boredom, and Moorcock finds himself taking an interest on a young man who is kicked off a boat and seems to be in need for help with his clothes in ruins, in an obvious state of confusion and possibly addicted to opium. After taking a bath and being fed, the man presents himself as Oswald Bastable, and claims to have come from the year 1973, having just returned to 1903. Returned being the key word here as Bastable is a contemporary (or is he?) of Moorcock which was temporarily dislocated in time. His narrative, told in first person to Moocock as he writes it down is the meats and bones of The “Warlord of the Air” .

Bastable’s adventures begin in 1902 when, as a member of the British Army he is part of an expedition sent to deal with Sharan Kang, a mysterious religious figure who has been causing trouble in India. He is invited to visit the mystical temple of Teku Benga, where no westerner has set foot ever; after a confrontation with Kang’s men, he gets lost until an earthquake knocks him out. When he comes to, he finds himself alone in tattered clothes in the now completely destroyed temple. In the desolate ruins, at the top of the Himalayas, Bastable can’t find an explanation to what happened nor a way to get out. Rescue comes in the form of a huge airship – a sight he has never seen in his life. He soon discovers he has somehow ended up in 1973 – but not the 1973 that we, readers know to have happened.

In this reality, the airship he boards, is a Zepellin of the Indian Air Force, part of the British Empire. Imperialism is still very much alive, the First World War never happened and the world is largely at peace. London is clean and everybody is happy and healthy and well-off. Bastable is at first enamoured with this perfect vision and embodiment of Utopia; especially when, after joining the army once more (feigning amnesia he is able to explain how he doesn’t have an identity in this timeline) he observes that all colonies live happily under the rule of a benevolent empire.

When he is kicked out of the army (after a fight with an American called Reagan – that Reagan) , he joins another air crew who unbeknownst to him are sympathetic to the political claims that the Empire oppress the nations of the world into complacence. Bastable’s patriotism is put to test and finally crumbles down as the idea of a kind, paternalistic Empire which brings health and education to its children in the less developed colonies is turned in its head as the raging racism and oppression underneath shows their ugly faces. The consequences of uniting with the rebels – amongst them an aged Lenin who never saw the Russian Revolution take place and General O.T. Shaw, a Chinese leader who is the Warlord of the Air of the title – are catastrophic and send him right back in time and to point where the story starts.

The Warlord of the Air packs a lot of story and action in its few 150 pages or so. And as an adventurous Sci-fi romp, it is undoubtedly immensely entertaining. The idea of time travel is whole appealing to me as a reader – especially in this case, of a time traveller who doesn’t go from the future to the past but from the past to the future. Except that this future is still very much rooted in the past that he knows – the political and economical ideology of the Victorians as well as the Steam-powered technology which are still very much prevalent. The assumption is that once Imperialism takes roots, there is no further evolution.

It is as though the world is stuck in the past – part of the political, economical and sociological implications of a world that did not went through its “natural” history – proof of that is that you can’t stop history and regardless of who are the culprits, certain things will inevitably, come to happen. As cryptic as this may sound (in an effort to not spoil the ending) , that is the exact reason why the book fell short for me. For the less than subtle message towards the (rushed) ending as well as the caricaturised secondary characters who are part of it.

To sum up: the premise of the story is very cool and Bastable’s arc as someone lost not only in time but ideologically lost as well is very interesting; the ideas presented and the feeling of anti-imperialism and anti-racism expressed are ideas I wholly embrace even if those issues are simplistically handled in the end.

Now: it is Steampunk? The Warlord of the Air is actually regarded as proto-Steampunk. Published before term was even coined, I can see why the book makes most of essential lists. It has the right setting, the right technology and the right ideology. It has both the Steam and the Punk. I highly recommend it if you want to learn more about the sub-genre.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: Utopia:

In this London there were no ugly billboards, no illuminated advertisements, no tasteless slogans and, as we climbed into the steam-brougham and began to move along one of the ramps, I realised that there were no seedy slums of the sort found in many parts of the London I had known in 1902. Poverty had been banished! Disease had been exiled! Misery must surely be unkown!

Additional Thoughts: Oswald Bastable’s adventures through time as he goes back and forth in different time streams continue for two other books The Land Leviathan and The Steel Tsar

The desperation of Bastable’s bizarre fate runs deep, for an unpredictable time warp thrusts him into strange worlds, all parallel to his own, and yet different. Throughout all this, Bastable can remain steadfast in his determination to reach his own time, because of his faith in one woman, inextricably bound to him in all dimensions of Time, and his belief in the existence of a secret Utopian citadel. But there is one thing that may have the power to come between Bastable and his goal — a battle of Armageddon so horrifying in its believability that it almost obliterates his ability to keep searching.

In the Russian sector of a battle-torn multiverse, Captain Oswald Bastable confronts the mythical agents of destruction and death. In his epical adventures in the alternative twentieth century, Chrononaut Bastable, member of the League of Temporal Adventurers, has crossed and re-crossed many different time-streams.. The Steel Tsar finds him travelling backwards in time from a shell-shocked Singapore to a Tsarist Empire seething with conflict, and preyed on by motley bands of rogues and adventurers. Here he meets up with fellow-time-traveller Miss Una Persson, and together they change the course of history whose mythical deeds go beyond the boundaries of everyday imagination and glitter in the exuberant land of the eternal present.

The trilogy has been collected in a one volume edition, which has finally, been given a cool cover.

Verdict: With time travel and adventure, in a neo-Victorian setting, I highly recommend this to fans of Steampunk who would like to understand the history of the genre.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore

Title: The Mermaid’s Madness

Author: Jim C. Hines

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Daw Books
Publishing Date: October 6, 2009
Paperback: 352 pages

Stand Alone or series: book 2 in the Princess Novels’ series

Why did I read the book: I read the first one and loved it.
How did I get the book: Bought

Summary:

There is an old story — you might have heard it — about a young mermaid, the daughter of a king, who saved the life of a human prince and fell in love.

So innocent was her love, so pure her devotion, that she would pay any price for the chance to be with her prince. She gave up her voice, her family, and the sea, and became human. But the prince had fallen in love with another woman.

The tales say the little mermaid sacrificed her own life so that her beloved prince could find happiness with his bride.

The tales lie.

Review: After reading and enjoying The Stepsister Scheme, I immediately picked up its sequel, The Mermaid’s Madness, and ended up enjoying it even more than the first one.

The three princesses Sleeping Beauty (Talia), Snow White (Snow) and Cinderella (Danielle) return and this time, they must face another fairytale princess turned villain: The (not so) Little Mermaid.

The story opens and it’s one year after the events of The Stepsister Scheme. Princess Danielle and her mother-in-law Beatrice are at high seas, preparing to parley with the Undine in their annual meeting when they exchange tributes and reinforce their association. But this time around something goes awry when they are attacked by a group of merfolk led by their new Queen, Lirea – she is looking for her missing sister and she believes Queen Bea is keeping her. Lirea ends up stabbing the Queen who falls into a magic-induced coma. The undine declare war against the humans until the queen’s sister is returned. This is when Danielle and Talia learn that Snow knows where the mermaid is and why is Queen Bea keeping her. It turns out, she is hiding in fear of her sister’s madness, a madness that comes from her tragic story, a gritty and sad story worse than anyone ever thought.

A young girls fall in love with a prince and her sorceress grandmother helps her become human so that she can woo him. In order to become fully human he has to marry her within six days. The prince uses the young princess and ditches her without ever committing because no Prince could ever marry a half-animal; driven by grief, the mermaid stabs the prince with an enchanted knife provided her grandmother (which is the same knife used to stab Queen Bea) ; in her guilt and sadness the mermaid goes crazy, kills her father and older sister and is in search of her other sister for revenge for helping in the creation of the knife.

It is this knife that Snow, Danielle and Talia must find in order to save Queen Bea and on their perilous journey (full of adventure!) they will meet many friend and foe and they will once again, save the day but not before realising some truths about themselves.

Now, this is what I am talking about: a good, adventurous story, great fighting sequences, with truly fleshed out characters. This time around, we get the three princesses’ PoV and I loved it. These three are absolutely great characters: courageous, determined, interesting far from being timid, spineless, feeble protagonists. They are also complex: Snow for example, has a tendency to get lost in a power trip whenever she is using her magic; Talia is on the brink of losing control – not only for feeling guilty for not preventing the attack on the Queen but for her unrequited love for Snow (by the way, I am so shipping these two). Danielle is concerned about her son and what exactly did the black magic used to speed up her pregnancy DO to him. Plus her need to clean whenever she is anxious is both funny and a bit sad.

The true tragedy and sadness of the story lie in finding out that the villain is far from being one-dimensional. Instead, even though it is clear that she really must be stopped, it is impossible not to feel sympathy for her. And towards the end, there is a new revelation that was somewhat sad but not unexpected – and I think that will open a new possible thread in the next instalments. And I can’t wait to read them – these books are fun, quick reads and the author do not keep from packing some punches. I can feel such a potential for this series and I am deeply connected with these characters: I totally, truly LIKE them.

Notable Quotes/ Parts:
The final showdown between Talia and the Little Mermaid – when Talia knows what she must do, Lirea knows what must be done and it is not only sad but poignant. Especially when Talia says that she “knows”: because she too, was never lucky in love.

Additional Thoughts The next book in the series will be released in 2010 and is called Red Hood’s Revenge:

Roudette’s story was a simple one. A red cape. A wolf. A hunter.

Her mother told her she would be safe, so long as she kept to the path. But sometimes the path leads to dark places.

Roudette is the hunter now, an assassin known throughout the world as the Lady of the Red Hood. Her mission will take her to Arathea and an ancient fairy threat. At the heart of the conflict between humans and fairies stands the woman Roudette has been hired to kill, the only human ever to have fought the Lady of the Red Hood and survived:

The princess known as Sleeping Beauty.

Can’t wait!

Verdict: These books are a lot of fun and of the highest quality. The Fantasy elements are great, the twists to known fairytales are creative and the characters…. I just love them. And where else can you get a Sleeping Beauty that is gay and a ninja?

Rating: 7 – very good, leaning towards a 8

Reading next: The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Title: The Stepsister Scheme

Author: Jim C. Hines

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: DAW Books
Publishing date: January 2009
Paperback: 352 pages

Stand alone or series: First in the Princess Novels series.

Why did I read the book: Kaz Mahoney pointed it to me when we were visiting our favourite book store (that would be Forbidden Planet) and I just had to buy it.

How did I get the book: Bought

Summary: Cinderella–whose real name is Danielle Whiteshore (nee Danielle de Glas)–does marry Prince Armand. And if you can ignore the pigeon incident, their wedding is a dream come true.

But not long after the “happily ever after,” Danielle is attacked by her stepsister Charlotte, who suddenly has all sorts of magic to call upon. And though Talia–otherwise known as Sleeping Beauty–comes to the rescue (she’s a martial arts master, and all those fairy blessings make her almost unbeatable), Charlotte gets away.

That’s when Danielle discovers a number of disturbing facts: Armand has been kidnapped and taken to the realm of the Fairies; Danielle is pregnant with his child; and the Queen has her own very secret service that consists of Talia and Snow (White, of course). Snow is an expert at mirror magic and heavy duty flirting.

Can the three princesses track down Armand and extract both the prince and themselves from the clutches of some of fantasyland’s most nefarious villains?

Review: What happened after the Happily Ever After – IF there was ever one?

I love Fairytale retellings and the more different from the originals, the better and when I saw this book in the store, I knew I had to have it. But what I did not know, or what I did not expect was how much I would enjoy The Stepsister Scheme and its sequel, The Mermaid’s Madness. The cartoonish covers may indicate a cutesy (thanks to Thea for the choice of word) read but what is inside is anything but. Instead we get a somewhat dark take on known fairytales, good Fantasy writing, with strong, female characters as protagonists and yes, a good dose of humour.

The Stepsister Scheme is the first in a new series which follows a trio of fairytale princesses: Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. This first book is centred on Cinderella or Danielle de Glas as she settles down on her married life to Prince Armand, heir to the throne of Lorindar. It’s only been four months but the stories are already circulating about how she was a slave to her evil stepfamily and how she fell in love with the prince after sneaking into the Ball; how with the help of a magical influence (not a fairy godmother though – but actually the spirit of her mother), she got a beautiful dress and glass slippers and then one night she left one slipper behind and the besotted prince went around the reign looking for her. The rumours are mostly correct although the version that includes a magic pumpkin is a gross fabrication.

The story starts as Danielle is attacked by Charlotte, one of her stepsisters, who doesn’t seem to have gotten over the loss of Princess Charming. Crippled by her own mother (who tried to cut her foot to fit in the Glass Slipper) a resentful Charlotte tries to kill Danielle with the help of an undisclosed Magic source only to be thwarted by one of the Danielle’s servants, Talia.

Talia proves to be a good fighter, yet Charlotte escapes but not before revealing that Prince Armand has gone missing. Danielle is then confronted with the fact that her husband has been captured and that her mother-in-law, Queen Beatrice has a special force in charge of dealing with problems that can’t be solved with diplomacy and politics. Talia is one of them and to Danielle’s surprise she is the princess everybody knows as Sleeping Beauty. Snow White is the other. The three of them are entrusted with the task to go searching for Armand, a quest that eventually leads them to Fairytown (there is a diplomatic treaty prevents Queen Bea from using official channels to rescue her son) , where Danielle learns that her unborn baby is a most wanted commodity and where all three of them must face their worst nightmares.

The Stepsister Scheme is a fast-paced read ( I was done in one afternoon) and it was so much fun! Starting with the twists to the well-known fairytales: Sleeping Beauty did sleep for 100 years cursed by the fairies only to wake up in pain, giving birth to children born of rape by the grandson of a man who killed her entire family and usurped her throne; Snow White on the other hand fell in love with the hunter sent to kill her and they lived together in the woods until her mother, dressed as an old lady fed her a poisoned apple. Both women turned killers and had to escape their respective kingdoms and hide in Lorindar. Talia uses the gifts the fairies granted her to be a most skilled martial arts fighter and Snow has inherited her mother’s skills with magic Mirrors and became a sorcerer (and just wait till you learn what exactly are the seven dwarves and how they come into play in the story).

My one and only grippe with this book is how very plot centric it is – I tend to prefer character-driven stories or at least to have some character development. As this story is exclusively from Cinderella’s point of view – the one character that truly did get her happily ever after, married to a loving, passionate prince – and there isn’t a lot in the way of character’s growth (except for going from mostly passive to quite active) , I felt that there was something missing. And that something was the point of view of the characters I loved the most – Talia and Snow. We get only but a peek at how they are still suffering the consequences of their tragic pasts (Talia can’t sleep for example and hates fairies for all the “gifts” they gave her) in TheStepsister Scheme and I wished for more.

Although there are other interesting secondary characters (the Duchess is one I wish to see again) they are even less flesh-out than the three protagonists. But even if less fleshed-out than I hoped these three are strong characters and strong women. I loved how loyal and determined they all were and I revelled in the fact that Cinderella was the one to do the rescuing of her prince this time. And I absolutely adored how we find out that Talia has feelings for Snow.

Although for the most part, the book is a light read with a definite resolution of this particular story, both the repercussions of the princess’ pasts and the prospect of darkness in their future are great overreaching threads that I hope will come back in future instalments.

Bottom line is this: I finished reading The Stepsister Scheme and immediately opened the sequel, The Mermaid’s Madness.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: I have several favourite parts: from Talia and Snow’s bickering to the kiss of love (I am purposely cryptic) ; from the revelation of the villain to their adventures in fairy town (including the pixie bar) .

Additional Thoughts: I recently read another retelling of Cinderella which I loved: Ash by Malinda Lo.

Ash is a beautiful tale of a girl who suffers of depression after the death of her father and becomes obsessed with the world of fairies; and who ultimately, actively seeks to free herself from her stepfamily and then finds happiness in the arms of another girl, the King’s Huntress.

Highly recommended.

Verdict: The Stepsister Scheme is a fun read, with great Fantasy elements and three great protagonists. If you like fairytale retellings and strong female characters, look out for this one.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: The Mermaid’s Madness by Jim C. Hines

Title: The Dust of 100 Dogs

Author: A. S. King

Genre: YA (and a mish-mash of Romance! Pirates! History! Reincarnation!)

Publisher: Flux
Publishing Date: January 2009
Paperback: 336 pages

Stand alone or series: Stand Alone

Why did I read the book: The premise sounded awesome and different; the cover and title are amazing; and it generated some positive reviews.

How did I get the book: I bought it.

Summary: In the late 17th century, famed pirate Emer Morrisey was on the cusp of escaping pirate life with her one true love and unfathomable riches when she was slain and cursed with the dust of 100 dogs, dooming her to one hundred lives as a dog before returning to a human body—with her memories intact. Now she’s a contemporary American teenager, and all she needs is a shovel and a ride to Jamaica.

Review: Warning: this review contains spoilers as I don’t think I can address the issues I had with the book without them.

For a brief period time that went from the amazing prologue and lasted for about 100 pages, I thought I was reading a truly spectacular book:

It opens in the 17th century, with a pirate, Emer Morrisey, who is about to kill (and remove the right eyeball of) the Frenchman who has just murdered Seanie, the man Emer loved – just when they were about to end their life of piracy. There is a treasure buried nearby but Emer only cares about the end of her dreams. She did not know that she was about to be killed and cursed by the Frenchman’s lover to live one hundred lives as a dog, before she is able to inhabit a human body again.

Cue more than 300 years later and Emer is reborn as Saffron Adams, a member of a poor family with a mother who has a sad past of poverty and misery in Ireland; a deadbeat father; brother and sister long gone and a younger brother who is a drug addict. Saffron, who carries the last 300 years of memories intact, was incapable to keep her memories and knowledge a secret when she was little which end up making her the girl genius of the family and the one to carry their hopes for a better life. But Saffron, cares NOTHING about it, about this family’s wishes and all she wants is to turn 18 so that she can go away to Tortuga and get her treasure back.

The story alternates between present (Saffron’s narration in first person) and past (Emer’s life, in third person), between Saffron’s struggle to get by and her impatience at her family’s heavy expectations about her and Emer’s horrible, tragic life. Needless to say, the more interesting one is Emer: from her childhood in a small village in Ireland at the time of Cromwell’s invasion when her parents and brother were killed in front of her eyes to being rescued by an uncle who was a bully and who hated her. From meeting her childhood sweetheart – Seanie – and losing him when her uncle sold her to an old French man in marriage to escaping this fate, from living in the streets of Paris to boarding a ship to Tortuga where she is greeted by the Frenchman of the prologue and raped; to eventually turning to a life of infamous piracy complete with a signature move and everything (that would be the eyeball removing alluded to in the prologue). And this is only the beginning.

The Dust of 100 Dogs is a gritty and tragic tale of one girl who is an honest-to-God pirate who kills and maims and steals. The author doesn’t pull any punches and provides much food for thought about the theme of reincarnation. The line between Saffron and Emer is a very thin one, sometimes if actually felt nonexistent, and the issue of “memory” and how much would that influence one’s attempt of a new life is one that kept me thinking for hours after reading the novel.

Thus, the premise is undeniably original and also, extremely ambitious. There is an epic feel to the story but unfortunately that amount of “Epic” cannot possibly fit within the 300 pages of this book. My feeling is that the author tried to embrace the world with very short arms and the execution proved to be also epic as in an epic mess of titanic proportions.

Because, on top of Saffron and Emer’s point of views, we also get others as the author jumped heads: there was a dog, and also sometimes Seanie, and then David (Emer’s First mate) and several chapters from the point of view of a very crazy character, one Fred Livingstone. Plus, interludes with Dogs Facts that present lessons that Emer (or Saffron?) learnt living as a dog, and although most of these lessons are in theory quite interesting and could be applied to humans (which I think was the point of the dog facts) I hardly ever saw Saffron/Emer actually applying those to her life.

And that brings me to another HUGE problem I had with the book; let’s call it the two “M”’s: characters’ Motivations and the exact Mechanics of certain events. For example, the evil uncle. He hated Emer. Why? He was obviously a coward and a bully who mistreated his children and his wife but he had a certain something else for Emer. Again, why? Why did he have to sell her in marriage (M # 1 = Motivation) but most importantly why did it have to be to a French guy? Why did a rich French had to buy a bride from the interior of a war-stricken Ireland? Surely he could find a (willing or unwilling) bride in France? Furthermore, how exactly did an illiterate, poor Irish man find a connection to a rich, French from across the channel? (M # 2= Mechanics). Why couldn’t he marry Emer off to someone close, in Ireland itself? Plot contrivance to separate Emer and Seanie?

Similarly Frenchman number 2, the one in Tortuga, fell in love/obsession with Emer at first sight and spent his life searching for her after she escapes. He then finds her when she is arrested for piracy because he wants to marry her but he needs to teach her a lesson first and leaves her to rot – literally rot (she loses two toes to gangrene) – in prison for ONE YEAR. WHY? Then when he comes for her (what kept him away for so long? I don’t know) he is surprised that she does not look good. Really? What is the point of the entire sting in prison? Another unnecessary plot contrivance to add another layer of “tragic” to Emer’s life?

Finally, there are Saffron’s motivations. I never really got the feeling that Saffron was someone new. She was always “Emer” to me. Quite possibly because every single interaction with her parents were punctuated with her imagining she was hitting, maiming, torturing these people whom she thought were pathetic losers she needed to get away from. There is not a shred of sympathy for her parents even though her mother has had a very similar life to her own in Ireland. Which is ok, if you think that this is pirate EMER. Then close to the ending, when she finds out that her brother sold all of her stuff, and she feels bad and she muses about yearbooks, pictures, books, jewellery with sadness. Then she says she is surprised she didn’t care more – but when did she ever??? I was told that but I was never ever showed that. Never once did I feel that Saffron cared about her life as Saffron…which in turn ended up making me not to care about either.

Plus, I feel the book needed some heavy editing. The beginning, where we read about Emer’s childhood is very richly detailed and quite interesting and it lasts and it lasts, page after page, after page. The ending, the eventual confluence of all the storylines, past and present coming together, the explanation of who Fred Livingstone is, Emer and Saffron uniting, the return of Seanie? Two/three pages, not nearly enough as resolution. I am not even going to mention problems I had with certain parts of dialogue or the preachy nature of Saffron’s thoughts about her brother’s drug addition, as I think it is enough already.

I ended up, unfortunately, very disappointed with The Dust of 100 Dogs. There were quite a few things I really did enjoy about the story but sometimes it is not enough to have a damn good idea, you also have to know what to do with it.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: The Amazing Prologue:

Prologue – The Dust of One Hundred Dogs

With one last, almighty roar, the Frenchman fell to his knees and died. When the smoke cleared, Emer kicked him to make sure he was dead. Bent on one knee in the moonlight, holding his head with her left hand, she took a marlinspike and removed his right eyeball with relative ease. She rolled it in the sand next to his head and shoved the spike deep into his empty socket.

Placing her pistol gently into her waistband, she looked toward the sea.

“I curse you!” she screamed at the dark water. “I curse you for all you gave me and for all you pilfered! I curse you for the journeys you begin and the journeys you end! I curse you until I can’t hate you anymore! And I scarcely think I will ever hate you more than on this wretched day!” Her fair hair stuck to her face, wet with sorrow and surf, and her hand-embroidered cotton blouse clung to her, stained with her lover’s blood.

Turning again to the two dead bodies, she retrieved the shovel from underneath Seanie—Seanie, her first and only love. She limped back to the clearing. Looking around to make sure no one was watching, she sat down on the edge of the hole and talked to herself.

“There was only one reason to stop all of this poxy business.” She turned and looked at the distant dead. “What worth is a precious jewel now? Damn it! In all these years, over all this water! And I end up a fool with a lap full of precious nothing.”

She dragged the two crates into the hole and began to cover them quickly, concerned that the Frenchman’s reinforcements would arrive at any minute. She buried the shovel last, on top, and used her hands to fill the remaining depression, covering the sand with sticks and dead leaves.

Returning to the scene of the dead men, she lay down beside Seanie, placed her head on his chest and sobbed.

“It’s like two different lives in the same bloody day.”

Through her sobs, Emer heard footsteps. A voice boomed from the darkness, making her jump. She scrambled to her feet and reloaded her pistol.

“Foul bitch!” he began, in island-accented English. “You have meddled in my life for too many years! I’m sure you didn’t know every whore in these islands heard him scream your name a thousand times! And me, too! Now look at him! Dead!”

Emer saw the man emerging from the tree line, his hands hidden. She had seen him before, on Tortuga, and on board the Chester. It was the Frenchman’s first mate.

“You will see!” he yelled, jumping from the brush. “You will see how true love lasts! You will see how real love spans time and distance we know nothing of!”

He rushed forward, then, shaking a small purse toward her. From it came a fine powder that covered Emer’s hair and face. She reached up and wiped her eyes clear, confused.

“What are you at?” she asked, spitting dust from her lips.

He stood with his arms and face raised to the night sky. “I curse you with the power of every spirit who ever knew love!” he screamed. “I curse you to one hundred lives as the bitch you are, and hope wild dogs tear your heart into the state you’ve left mine!” He began chanting in a frightful foreign language.

Still brushing the dust from her hair, Emer took aim with her gun and fired.

As she watched the man fall, she felt a burning prod in her back and stumbled sideways—long enough to see that the Frenchman had miraculously not been all dead, and long enough to see that he was covered in stray pieces of the strange dust his first mate had thrown at her.

She tried to fall as near to Seanie as possible, and managed to get close enough to reach out and grab his cold hand. She took her dying breath lying halfway between her lover and her killer, covered in the dust of one hundred dogs, knowing she was the only person on the planet who knew what was buried beneath the chilly sand ten yards away.

Additional Thoughts: I REALLY like the book trailler for this one:

Verdict: The premise is amazing but the execution left a lot to be desired which I think could be explained by the author’s inexperience with novels (she has published short stories before that). There are very, very good ideas here and I would love to see what she writes next.This one though, is quite the mess.

Rating: 4 – Bad but not without some merit

Reading Next: The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

It is safe to say that I spend most of my free time reading. I read three to four books every week, sometimes more. I am very careful with what I choose to read which means that most of the books I read, I end up enjoying at least to some degree. But it is rare, extremely rare, to read a book that falls in that category of Books for Life. You know the ones: those that take over your heart and your mind, that even when you are reading you know that you are experiencing something unique, a connection with a story and its characters (that only serial readers can understand); those that you know will remain with you, forever.

I experienced such rapture when I read The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss earlier in the year, and to my utter surprise and delight, again a few weeks ago when I finally read The Queen’s Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner.

This series came under my radar only recently when Angie from Angieville started to blog about the books with not a little amount of excitement. From then on, I started to see more and more people talking about them with such fervor that I thought I should give them a try. And, HOLY GUACAMOLE.

I am totally, irrevocably, head over heels in love with this series. I knew I would have to review these books eventually, I had hoped to do so during this YA Month but I also realised that I had a decision to make: I could either review each book in the series separately or I could review the series as whole. The former would naturally lead to spoilers being revealed and since these books cannot, should not be spoiled, I opted for the latter by writing an overall review of the series, spoiler free. This is what I am trying to do here – although I am fully aware that so far, I only managed to basically behave like a fan-girl.

But it cannot be helped. I now completely understand the fervor, the excitement that this series inspire. As I was reading the books, as the pages were being turned I had only one thought in mind: this is why I read. THIS is why I read. THIS IS WHY I READ. And it all comes down to one word: Eugenides.

Gen, Eugenides is a thief. He boasts that he can steal anything. That lands him in the King of Sounis’ prison where he spends a couple of months until he is offered, by the King’s Magus, his freedom but in return he has to steal something that people don’t even think really exists.

This is how the whole thing opens, in The Thief and we are told about this expedition in search of the Gift, by Gen himself, a humorous narrator of this dashing adventure across the neighbouring countries of Sounis, Eddis and Attolia. This person, this ragamuffin, lazy, starved boy – can he really steal anything?

But you see, Gen is extremely clever, a fact which the reader and his companions in the first adventure, come to slowly realise. Close to the end of that book, we learn something that is crucial to the entire series – that Gen is actually cleverer than anyone else. And there is something else too, something that makes him important. But that doesn’t matter to us here and now, because what really matters is how amazing Gen is. By the end of book 1, it is impossible not to like the guy or his “voice”.

Then book 2 starts, and shock of the shocks. Gen is no longer the narrator – the narrative has shifted to third person with Gen’s, the Queen of Eddis’ and the Queen of Attolia’s PoV. At first, it is almost painful to lose Gen’s narration but then somewhere in the middle of the reading it hits you with a certainty:

OF COURSE the narrative has to change.

Because this is a different book. It is still the same story but progress has been made. Because now, the destiny of countries is at stake, war is brewing in the horizon between Attolia, Eddis and Sounis. This is a more sophisticated book, it has political discussion , political intrigue, it discusses the role that the Gods play in the fate of men and nations.

In the beginning of the series, Gen is a boy. A cocky, impetuous, adventurous, conniving boy. When book 2 starts, something terrible happens (did I say shock of the shocks before? Well, this is even more shocking) that shapes the man Eugenides becomes. A man who has now to steal more than a simple object: he is tasked to steal a man, a woman and peace.

The way he does it, takes us back to more twists like in the first book. And we, once again, are surprised by how clever Eugenides is. Even if we expect it by now.

Then book 3 starts. Once again, a shock. The book is entirely from the point of view of a character we never saw before. As the book progresses, the certainty hits once more:

OF COURSE the narrative has to change.

Because this time, this time we KNOW how clever Gen is. But no one else does. Including Costis, the narrator, a member of the Queen of Attolia’s Guard who commits the mistake of underestimating Eugenides. And this is the genius of Megan Whalen Turner because in book 3, we, the readers, are Eugenides’s accomplices. We sit back and wait for the coin to drop for everybody else as it has dropped for us in books 1 and 2. This is about pay-off, about Eugenides stealing respect and a kingdom. And what a story this is.

This is a series of books that have deep meanings, hidden clues throughout the story. Where everything matters from the type of clothes someone wears, to the reason behind a pair of earrings being worn at a particular right time, to the declaration of love that the raising of one’s eyebrow is.

And speaking of love: there is also romance in these books. It starts towards the middle of book 2 and it takes centre stage in book 3. But not in it a blatant way: the romance is subtle, almost private (especially in book 3) and I am not exaggerating when I say it is the most amazing romance I have read of late. It is unexpected and it is unusual. For starters, Eugenides is shorter and younger than the person he loves. But she is everything he ever wanted and he is everything she ever needed. Because of that, their dynamic is simply awesome and there is no other word for it. And what Eugenides is to his lady is aw-worthy at the same time that it is powerful. This is good stuff, plain and simple.

To sum up: I was lost in the world of Attolia and Eddis and I did not want to get away from it. I would be remiss if I didn’t say one last thing: that the female characters in the series are extremely capable, intelligent, strong, and I admired both of then, the two Queens, as different as they were in their personalities, immensely.

If you like unreliable narrators, cons, plot twists, political intrigue, character development, mythology, stories within stories, strong female characters and heart-warming romance and above all, a male protagonist that is all kinds of awesome, you should look no further than this series. It is not a perfect series by any means – there is change in pacing from one book to another, and the first book is clearly for a younger audience than the other two books. This is why, in my opinion, they should be read as a collection of books and not individually. I still love them though, flaws and all.

At the end of book three, Eugenides has stolen: a gift; a man; a woman; peace; a kindgom. He has also stolen my heart.

___________

I know how cryptic this overview has been and that I did not provide any real details about the story. I still think you should find them out by yourself by reading the books, but if you want to know more you can read these reviews:

Angieville’s: The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia

One last word: book 4 in the series, A Conspiracy of Kings is coming out in 2010. It is safe to say it my most anticipated book for 2010 along with The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss.

Now you will have to excuse me, because writing this made me want to read these books all over again.

Title: The Inferior

Author: Peadar O’Guilin

Genre: Science Fiction-Fantasy, Dystopian, Young Adult

Publisher: David Fickling Books
Publication Date: June 2008
Hardcover: 448 pages

Stand alone or series: The first novel in a planned trilogy.

Why did I read this book: After Trin & Thrinidir mentioned this novel in their Smugglivus Post, and after reading some reviews online for this debut effort, I was intrigued. So, when I saw this pretty hardcover staring at me in my local bookstore’s display table, I snatched it up!

Summary: (from Amazon.com)
Stopmouth and his family know of no other life than the daily battle to survive. To live, they must hunt rival species, or negotiate flesh-trade with those who crave meat of the freshest human kind. It is a savage, desperate existence. And for Stopmouth, considered slowwitted hunt-fodder by his tribe, the future looks especially bleak. But then, on the day he is callously betrayed by his brother, a strange and beautiful woman falls from the sky. It is a moment that will change his destiny, and that of all humanity, forever…Peadar Ó Guilín’s debut is an action—and idea-packed—blockbuster that will challenge your perceptions of humanity and leave you hungry for more.*

*Note: Synopsis has been edited to remove what I conisder a pretty big spoiler. Stay away from the Amazon synopsis if you want to buy this online and remain unspoiled!

Review:

“In that people the most natural and honest virtues and abilities are alive and vigorous; those same virtues that we have warped and adapted to our own twisted tastes.” –Michel de Montaigne: On Cannibals

“And they said: ‘Father, it would hurt less if you would eat us: you dressed us in this miserable flesh, take it off.’” –Dante Alighieri, Inferno, Canto xxxiii, 60

There is but one law in Stopmouth’s world: eat, or be eaten. Stopmouth is a young human man, hunting with his charismatic brother Wallbreaker when they are cornered by a deadly group of Armourbacks. Stopmouth heeds the survival rule he has been taught since birth and flees from the scene, but Wallbreaker is trapped. Unable to leave his brother behind, Stopmouth returns to help fight the Armourbacks even though he knows it means his own death. Wallbreaker runs off with the distraction Stopmouth creates, but leaves Stopmouth at the mercy of the Armourbacks. Miraculously, Stopmouth manages to escape with his life when one of the mysterious globes (which are always present on the overarching ‘Roof’–the sky) falls, crashing into the building face and allowing Stopmouth to kill and escape from his stunned attackers. When he returns to the Tribe (the Manways), however, he finds that Wallbreaker has grievously betrayed him–as Stopmouth had run back to save his brother, Wallbreaker simply left, told everyone Stopmouth was dead and that Wallbreaker had fended off the attacking Armourbacks. And because Wallbreaker is a charming, handsome young man and a great fighter, everyone easily believes him. Stopmouth returns to an overjoyed mother and a shaken (but relieved) Wallbreaker–and loyal brother that Stopmouth is, he doesn’t say a word against Wallbreaker. The wedge between the two brothers grows as Wallbreaker uses his bride price to marry Mossheart, whom Stopmouth has always cared for.

Then, one fateful day, another globe falls from the sky and an impossible, beautiful woman named Indrani finds herself in the midst of the Tribe…and everything that Stopmouth and his kind know and hold as true will change.

Stopmouth and his kind are one of the few species that live under the Roof. Humans have a treaty with the Hairbeast species, in which they trade human “volunteers” for food. Volunteers, in fact, are constantly required by the Tribe–there simply is not enough food to go around. The elderly, the widowed, and the injured are called upon to volunteer themselves for the good of the Tribe and honor their families and ancestors. Thus, there is a constant, pressing need for men to hunt the other species under the Roof, and to bring back more meat for their kin. Nothing is wasted in the Tribe–as said above, the rule is simple. Eat, or be eaten.

When Indrani falls from the sky and into the hands of the Tribe, the first instinct of the people is to volunteer her–she babbles in an incomprehensible language, and though beautiful there is no room for an unproductive extra mouth to feed. At the same time that Indrani enters the lives of the Tribe, Stopmouth is brutally injured on a hunt, his leg broken. The Tribe also calls for him to volunteer himself as they fear he will never be able to walk again. Indrani, however, forms a strange attachment to Stopmouth and sets his broken leg in splints, something the Tribe has never seen before. Under the protection of Wallbreaker–who takes the unwilling Indrani as his second wife–Stopmouth lives and heals, and he begins to try to communicate with the strange woman from the sky. She knows strange things that the Tribe could never have comprehended, and the ambitious Wallbreaker will stop at nothing to get his hands on the strange new technology Indrani introduces to the humans.

The Inferior is a thrilling novel and an impressive debut from Peadar O’Guilin. Frankly, I’m shocked that this is classified as a ‘Young Adult’ novel, as it deals with some hefty, unpleasant issues such as cannibalism, rape, and bloody betrayal. Though the issue of food is central to the plot, The Inferior isn’t necessarily just a tale about cannibalism–at its heart, this is a book about living versus surviving, and what lengths people will go to in order to ensure their survival. I loved that there was no value judgment or moral label placed on the cannibalism here–while the system to our own “modern” eyes might seem barbaric, ‘volunteering’ is done in the spirit of love and duty. A mother will volunteer herself so that her injured son may live; an elder will sacrifice his flesh so that another will not have to take his place. Even later in the story when the Tribe’s practices of eating the flesh of any creature they can kill is seen through a different perspective, what fascinated me was that the act of cannibalism still was seen as a secondary blasphemy to the bigger crime of eating the flesh of any intelligent, sentient animal–regardless of species. It’s an intriguing dynamic, and one I think Mr. O’Guilin explored brilliantly.

The Inferior is also a wonderfully written novel so far as characters and plotting are concerned. Stopmouth is an ideal protagonist. Named for his stutter, most everyone in the Tribe thinks Stopmouth is an idiot. Because he can hunt well and is one of the fastest men, however, and because of Wallbreaker’s important status in the Tribe, Stopmouth is tolerated and saved from volunteering. As the main character, Stopmouth is not without his own doubts and insecurities; in addition to his own reservations about his self worth because of his speech impediment, Stopmouth’s growing disillusionment with his beloved, idolized brother is a hard thing to come to grips with. Just as The Inferior is a story about survival, the title also holds incredible two-fold significance for Stopmouth: he is the inferior to his older, handsome brother; and also the inferior to Indrani, as a ’savage’. In spite of all these obstacles and doubts in Stopmouth’s path, however, he meets each challenge head-on, with enough bravery, pathos, and victory to win over even the most jaded readers. If it ain’t clear, let me put it simply: I heart Stopmouth.

The other characters in this novel are similarly beautifully portrayed in terms of their motivations, and are fully fleshed out (lame pun, ha ha). Wallbreaker’s initial cowardice and treatment towards his brother isn’t so much because he is just a jerk, but rather because he buys into his own hype. He perceives of himself as the infallible Wallbreaker–future leader of the Tribe, and entitled to most everything. He loves Stopmouth too, and it’s a painful thing to see how the one small event from the beginning of this novel triggers Wallbreaker’s increasing paranoia and distrust of all those around him. I loved that there is no “good” or “evil” in this book–there are just humans and creatures with their instincts to survive.

The other main character in this novel is Indrani, the beautiful woman from the sky. She also is wonderfully written as a character. Indrani is driven and fierce, and we see her change from brutally unyielding in her beliefs to becoming what she needs to become in order to live under the Roof. Her relationship with Stopmouth and Wallbreaker is absolutely tantalizing–I loved the dynamic between Indarni, with her tough exterior, and Stopmouth, with his charming naivete. The romantic elements of this novel are carried out simply and without needless embellishment–and I dig that.

So far as the plotting for this novel goes, Mr. O’Guilin also does a fantastic job. This is one of those ‘aw-crap-I’m-gonna-be-reading-until-the-sun-comes-up’ type of books. I had a hard time separating the glossy cover from my greedy hands. The pacing is brutal–so much happens in these 500-some pages, and danger lurks around every corner. The Inferior is even more than the simple fantasy/adventure survival story I have presented it to seem here in this review–to avoid spoiling anyone, I won’t go into those other elements. Suffice to say, there is a whole lot more going on. (Hint, take a look at the Genre tags for this novel.) O’Guilin’s worldbuilding is fantastic–I loved the Tarzan-like vernacular he employs for not only character names (i.e. Stopmouth, Rockface) but for locations (the Manways, the Roof) and for other creatures (Armourbacks, Hairbeasts, the terrifying Longtongues). The book is written in the third person limited perspective, with insights to Stopmouth’s thoughts and feelings, and the book’s prose follows accordingly.

If I had to cite one gripe with the novel, it would be with the lack of descriptions, and with the number of questions I was left with after finishing the last page. While I do think that Mr. O’Guilin does a fantastic job writing his characters, the action-packed plot, and accomplishing some fascinating world-building, I felt like nothing was described enough for me to get a vivid picture of the novel. We hear about the Armourbacks and The Roof and the strange, crumbling buildings that make up this world, but I constantly felt like I wanted more. More detail, more description beyond the preliminary pencil sketches. This didn’t really detract from the story in any way; it’s merely my preference. The other point that bothered me was the lack of closure in this novel. By the end of the book we learn a teasing bit more about why the world under the Roof is the way it is…but a whole new can of worms is opened up. When I finished reading The Inferior, I did not know it was part of a planned trilogy–so I was more than a little miffed with the quick, short answers. Luckily, there’s more for Stopmouth and Indrani on the horizon, and I eagerly await the release of book 2.

Notable Quotes/Parts: There’s an excerpt of the first few pages online at amazon HERE. Give it a read!

Additional Thoughts: Cannibalism repels and fascinates us, and this theme certainly was a selling point for me when I read the blurb of The Inferior. Here are a few other cool books, movies, shows that you might be interested in that deal with survival and cannibalism…

There are two types of cannibals on this list–those that resort to cannibalism in order to survive, and those that resort to cannibalism because they just like it. In the former, there’s the classic book and film Alive (following the soccer team survivors of a plane crash in the Andes) and the classic SF/Horror film Soylent Green (where cannibalism is a response to overpopulation). There’s also the novel In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick which is a superb read about the ill-fated 19th century whaling ship the Essex, which served as inspiration for Herman Melville’s classic Moby Dick. HIGHLY recommended.

And, in the ‘cannibals because we want to be cannibals’ category, there’s of course Thomas Harris’s Hannibal Lecter books and films–Manhunter, The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal and Hannibal Rising. There’s the fabulous, gory and gritty The Hills Have Eyes remake by Alexandre Aja, where cannibalistic nuclear fallout survivors terrorize tourists in the New Mexico desert. And, of course, there’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, in book, play or movie form.

Finally, (you didn’t think I’d forget, did you?) there’s “Our Town” episode 2×24 from my beloved The X-Files. Mmm, mmm, Chaco Chicken.

Verdict: I was very much impressed by Peadar O’Guilin’s solid debut novel. The characters are fantastic, the world building and plotting superb. I literally could not put the book down until I had devoured it whole…and I’m excited for the second course.

(You love my puns. You love them!)

Rating: 8 Excellent

Reading Next: THE (counter)DARE! The Briar King by Greg Keyes — make sure to stop by Graeme’s blog tomorrow to cheer on Ana and I!