Clockwork Alchemist by Sara C Roethle – Book review

Clockwork Alchemist – Book One of The Thief’s Apprentice by Sara C Roethle is a steampunk novel.

 

Plot:

 A thief is hired to steal an Alchemist’s notebook, which he does, he also finds the Alchemist’s automaton daughter, Liliana, whom he allows to accompany him back to London, where he discovers several plots, a secret society and more.

 

First thoughts:

  At first this sounds like a normal run of the mill steampunk story, a thief, an automaton, an alchemist’s formula and London, all basic stuff in a steampunk story.

However the author managed to add a lot more to it, even, believe it or not, questioning what it truest means to be alive.

 
Possible spoilers ahead!

  

In this steampunk universe, automatons are part mechanical and part biological, using human DNA to grow them, they are not supposed to have any free will or emotions. Liliana isn’t a normal automaton, her Alchemist father gave her a ‘soul’ and now she feels emotions and thinks for herself, but no one, not even Liliana herself, knows just what that makes her.

 The thief in this story, Arhyen, is also an interesting character, he’s ruthless if needed, more than willing to fight, yet he has high morals for a thief and oddly enough has a working relationship with a detective.

 
Final thoughts:

 I was surprised at just how well written this book was, the characters were well written, fully formed and pretty real, as real as possible for such a story.

 This story is certainly among the best steampunk stories I’ve ever read, it was hard to write this review without too many spoilers, hopefully I managed.

 Would I read this book again? Yes, I wouldn’t hesitate at all.

Would I recommend it to others? Yes, again I wouldn’t hesitate.

Book review: The Clockwork God by Jamie Sedgwick

The Clockwork God by Jamie Sedgwick 
This is a steampunk book, not only because of the name, nor the fact that it’s set on a steam powered train, the thing that shouts steampunk more than anything else is the fact the the leader of this band of adventurers is nothing less than a steam powered scientist who happens to be a actual gorilla.

 This is the first book in the series and is very well written.
Plot:

 This book follows the adventures of the great iron train Iron Horse as they are exploring the world. It is worth noting that this could also be considered a dystopian story as well, if only for the fact that it’s set several hundred or more years after an ice age hits and civilization falls into chaos.

Oh, did I mention that there are zombies in it? Yes, zombies play a large part in it, unfortunately.
Pros: 
it’s very well written.
Most of the book has good descriptions.
Well thought out and balanced characters for the most part.
Cons:
The idea that a railroad would last mostly unmaintained for such a lot time is unbelievable , if nothing else most of it should have been covered over, or cannibalized by villages or anyone who needed the metal, instead it’s mostly intact, save for a few spots.
 With the strong willed characters in this book, it’s hard to believe that they would willingly follow a steam powered gorilla on a great adventure, however there is really only one character who has a problem with him.
The fact that the steam powered gorilla was able to survive in an abandoned city for centuries without having a critical component fail seems like a stretch.

Last words:
 While I enjoyed this book and wouldn’t hesitate to read the next in the series, I have to say it felt like the second or third book in a series, I think one of the author’s other series might be set before this one and provide many of the answers that I was kept wondering about, if so, it’s likely that that series would clear up some if not all of the cons I found as well.

 I do recommend this book to steampunk fans if you can just enjoy the book without thinking too hard about some of the situations in it.

Short story review: Steambot Rampage, by Heather Massey

Steambot Rampage, by Heather Massey 
This is a steampunk short story.
 First off, I still say steampunk doesn’t lend itself to short stories well, however this story wasn’t too bad. The cover was great, a perfect steampunk cover that is well worth seeing, it’s possibly my favorite steampunk cover I’ve seen, but as always you can’t judge a book (or story) by its cover.
This story follows the Mayor’s secretary Sophie Bradshaw and newspaper reporter John Tyler as they are thrust into an adventure. One note of caution, this story is filled with violence, though the true plot seems to be the romance between the two main characters.

 The main part of the story takes place when the heroes hear noise in the mayor’s office, break down the door and see the steambot on a rampage that kills the mayor.
My take:
 The plot is well written and fully thought out. It’s fast paced and lively. The use of a steam powered robot rampaging through the town made it feel more steampunk than many other steampunk short stories I’ve read.

 Yet there was something missing, descriptions of the town and people. I know short stories sacrifice descriptions for action, but without the date (1893 I believe) and the robot being steam-powered, there really wasn’t anything that said it couldn’t be set in modern times.

 A few well crafted descriptions of clothes or even to have a cobblestone road would have set the tone better.

 That said, this short story is well worth the time it takes to read it. It’s one I will re read when I need something to fill up a few minutes of my day. Heather Massey is definitely an author to watch for other steampunk stories.

To Rescue General Gordon, by J.P. Medved (short story review)

To Rescue General Gordon, by J.P. Medved

This is a steampunk short story.
Synopsis:

 The main plot revolves around two British soldiers fighting in British Africa. When it becomes clear that the army won’t reach the besieged city where the famous general Gordon is holding out, the story’s heroes, James and Henry take matters in their own hands by stealing the army’s airship to go and rescue him.
My take:

 The main plot is good, the writing is good, even the action is good. However if it was stretched out into a full novel it might deserve the label of Steampunk.

 I enjoyed this story, it’s well written, but it really doesn’t meet my criteria of steampunk. Other than the airship and a single mention of clockwork artillery, there isn’t anything steampunkish in it.
 I feel that steampunk is not well suited to short stories, the genre needs a fully developed world to get the most out of it, this story didn’t give you a very well developed world, nor were there enough steampunk gadgets to entertain.

 That said, the author does have other steampunk stories or novels out and if this story was set in a previously developed world that would make a big difference.

I may check out some more of the author’s works, but they aren’t high on my list. I might reread this story if I do read more of J.P. Medved’s works.

Book review: The Adventures of Phineas Frakture by Joseph Gatch

The Adventures of Phineas Frakture by Joseph Gatch is SteamPunk at its best. Filled with steam powered devices, cleaver puns and plot twists, it also doesn’t lack in humor. Another thing this author manages to do is to briefly mention characters from classic, Victorian era, novels in this book, he does it in a way that is simple, yet subtle enough not to distract from the main story, which is very easy to read.

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Possible spoilers!

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 What I really enjoyed in this book was the easy flow of dialogue, the quick flow of events and the way the main characters were always easily able to defeat the government stooge, either by blowing up the warehouse district in New York, blowing up the living mummy or by attacking Atlantis.
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Real spoilers!

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 The way the evil scientist managed to destroy whole sections of London with his bombs was interesting, even if we never learn just what kind of bomb it was, it wasn’t a nuclear bomb due to the lack of fallout or sickness, I assume it was something like an antimatter bomb instead, not as if it really matters.

 The idea of steam powered devices in ancient Egypt was inspired, as was the clockwork cyborg powered by an Egyptian God.

 The inclusion of the Invisible man was great, even though he really wasn’t needed in the story, it was still great to see a classic character in the story.

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Problem

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 While I can easily give Steampunk stories a pass with many things, I found one thing in this novel that bothered me since I saw it: it gives a date of 1854 for President Abraham Lincoln issuing a secret order. I’m not sure if that was a typo, or part of the steampunk alternate timeline, as such it would have been really nice if he had given the date the events in this story took place. 
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Final thoughts:

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 It would have been nice to see a few more details of the World Exposition in the second adventure, also it would have been nice to see a bit more of the background of the secondary characters, Abigail and William, such as how each of them came to work for Professor Frakture, how Abigail came to be a pilot and so forth.

 This was a novel that I will definitely read again, maybe not for a few months, but whenever I want a quick read, I’ll turn to this book.