The first
volume in a projected trilogy, Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl is set in a
fairy typical steampunk world: Victorian era, airships, wild inventions,
paranormal beings, historical characters mixed in with fictional ones.
Gideon Smith is
a teenager living in out of the way Sandsend, son of a fisherman and addicted
to the penny dreadful adventures of Captain Lucian Trigger. When Smith’s father
and crew disappear off his fishing boat without a trace, things don’t seem
right. He vows to go to London and engage said captain to investigate. Along the
way to London, he meets (and intrigues with his
story) Bram Stoker and rescues a mechanical girl, Maria, from slavery. Soon a
band of adventurer’s is collected, with multiple aims: to again rescue the now
kidnapped Maria, to seek vengeance for various deaths, to follow an exciting
story; it’s all very exciting and at times confusing. But it’s well
constructed, the characters are great fun (although I had a little trouble
getting my mind around Elizabeth Bathory as a grieving and vengeful widow-
okay, the vengeful part is easy to see), some fairly unique supernaturals are
introduced, there are airship pirates, the women are as strong and resourceful
as the men, and Barnett doesn’t seem to drop any of the plot strands. I eagerly
await the next volume.
The above is an affiliate link. If you click through and buy something, Amazon will give me a few cents.
The above is an affiliate link. If you click through and buy something, Amazon will give me a few cents.
The above is an affiliate link. If you click through and buy something, Amazon will give me a few cents.
Thank you for that lovely review; much appreciated.
ReplyDelete