This is the
second book in the alternate history/fantasy/steampunk series featuring Sir
Richard Francis Burton and his sidekick, poet Algernon Swinburne. In the first
book, a time traveler altered time. Queen Victoria was assassinated and Prince Albert was made king. Steam mechanisms of all
kinds – including flying chairs (helicopter style) are being invented and used.
Genetic manipulation is being put to use, too, creating jumbo horses, parakeets
that deliver messages in between bouts of fluent obscenities, huge swans that
tow passengers through the air after themselves and hyperactive delivery dogs.
It’s also a world where the supernatural is real.
In this volume,
the long lost heir to the Tichborne estate turns up alive and ready to get his
hands on the family fortune. The problem is that, while his face looks roughly
like the heir and he has the proper tattoo on his arm, this person doesn’t
resemble the lost heir in any other way; he is slow of speech, his face has
sutures around it, and his right and left arms don’t match. He has strange
lumps under his scalp and most people immediately take to him and believe
whatever he says. Soon he has the working class stirred up and rioting against
the upper classes. Meanwhile his brother has been carried by spirits through
solid walls and through a window to his death. And some infamous black diamonds
have been stolen; gems that have metaphysical properties. And then there’s the
family curse of the Tichbornes…
This is one of
the most action filled books I’ve ever read. There is always something going on
or some new marvel being introduced. The personalities are bigger than life. In
the midst of all the action and fantasy the author finds ways to make social
commentary- but not with too heavy of a hand. The book can be read without
reading the first one, as Hodder fills in the background well enough. If you
like steampunk, you’ll probably like this book.
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