Tag Archives: steampunk

Review of Dr. Homebrew, by Snow Hudson

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Dr. HomebrewI was sent a free review copy of Dr. Homebrew, by Snow Hudson. (Though the illustrator, Chiara Rogazzo deserves mention too. It’s worth checking out the website just to see more of of her illustrations.) While not currently free, I also know that the book has been available for free through Amazon KDP and will likely come up again.

Description from Goodreads:
An unassuming Psychiatrist by day, Dr. Max Mason and his assistant, Amber, work after-hours in their underground laboratory making the world’s best beers. Unfortunately for Max and Amber, the global corporation, Lake’s Ltd., has forced all independent beer brewers out of business. Pursued by Mr. Wig (the CEO of Lake’s Ltd.) and the clueless Chief Inspector Hastings, Max and Amber dodge one close call after another in pursuit of having their home-brewed beers distributed amongst the general population.

Will Max and Amber ever be able to sell their delicious drinks in the real world? Will Mr. Wig or the Chief Inspector ever find out who Dr. Homebrew really is? Who is blackmailing Dr. Max Mason? And will Max and Amber ever acknowledge their feelings for one another?

Review:
To start with, I adore this cover. It sets the feel of the book before you even start page one. It’s what originally attracted me to the book. As a matter of fact, it’s only the cover that really makes this a steakpunk novella. The technology isn’t really described in enough detail to clue the reader in to its technological genre (normal, sic-fi, steampunk, etc).

I quite enjoyed the story, didn’t immediately figure out the mystery, adored Max and Amber and felt really sorry for poor Chief Inspector Hastings (even if maybe I shouldn’t have). I couldn’t decide if this was supposed to be an indictment of the perceived lack of choice available in the modern Western market or not. I think some of us would be surprised at how little variety is actually available to us once you consider that choice really is only an illusion if you’re only allowed to choose between the same few options. Not to mention how many of those options are actually owned by the same companies. But again, I couldn’t decide if this was or wasn’t the theme here. It could have been or it could just be me reading too much into it.

The novella was written in a tight, snappy narrative style that moved along nicely. I did find it just a little bit repetitive and thought it wrapped up quite quickly at the end. It definitely left ample opening for a second book. I look forward to reading it.

Book Review of C.E. Stalbaum’s The Last Goddess

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The Last GoddessI grabbed C.E. Stalbaum‘s The Last Goddess (The Shattered Messiah Trilogy, #1) from the Amazon KDP list.

Description from Goodreads:
When a man discovers the body of the long-lost Messiah, he fears her very presence might incite a holy war. When she wakes up, he is certain of it…

Nathan Rook never had much use for faith. As a soldier in the last war, he witnessed first-hand the devastation wrought by the ageless religious schism so deeply dividing his country. But when he discovers an ancient coffin and finds a living, breathing woman inside, he believes he may have stumbled across the greatest discovery in history – or the greatest hoax. From her ceremonial dress to her elaborate tattoos, the mysterious woman is the perfect incarnation of the Messiah, and she wields a power that defies the very laws of magic. There’s just one problem: she doesn’t remember anything, not even her own name.

As he strives to restore her memory, Rook realizes it might not matter if she is the genuine Messiah or not. Once word of her discovery gets out, every faction in the city will seek to claim her legendary power as their own. Together they struggle to evade a mad prince, a renegade general, and a power-hungry senator, but he has yet to confront the biggest problem of all: he is falling in love with her.

Review:
Accurate or not, let me tell you what I expected from this book after reading the description. I thought it would be something like a steampunk version of The Fifth Element. You see, Selaste would be Leeloo, Rook would be Korben Dallas, and there is even an arcane priesthood whose representatives could have been Vito Cornelius and his apprentice. Ok, so I was a bit off the mark. There is more going on here than in my favourite absurdist, Space Opera. For one thing, there is a lot of political intrigue. Understanding the numerous religious/political factions at play is imperative to follow the storyline. That makes the beginning of the book a little slow. There are a lot of terms and descriptions to get through. But once the story is able to get rolling it is quite interesting.

I’ll also tell you what my favourite aspect of it was. With a few notable exceptions almost none of the characters are solely black or white or strictly good or evil. There is some serious moral ambiguity here. For example, it’s difficult to decide who is really in the wrong between a mother/empress who is sacrificing the happiness of someone else by forcing her daughter into an unpleasant arranged marriage that essentially whores her out for the good of the nation, or the daughter who refuses to tolerate the unpleasantness of said marriage in order to save the lives of tens of thousands of people. Both are wrong, but sadly, both have seeds right in them, too. Or how about the military general who is an unquestionable warmonger but also a staunchly loyal and religious man who thinks he is doing the best thing for the people, avoids involving civilians, and never kills more than is necessary to win the battles? I think these grey characters are a real mark of the mature writer Stalbaum must be.

All of the main characters, or the main good guys, are a lot of fun. The banter between them is endless and often really funny. There are also a lot of really good quotables in this book. I highlighted more than a few passages, some because they are astute and some just because they are funny. Here are a few example:

In my experience, things rarely work out exactly the way you expect them to,” Rook warned gravely. “If they do, it usually means something is wrong.

The ability to destroy is a poor measure of power in the end.

You’ll never impress a lady with a claymore. They want to see skill, not a blade that’s bigger than they are.’” He grunted and lowered the sword. “I suddenly wonder if that was a metaphor for something else…

Fighting off a garrison of royal guardsmen,” Van muttered. “How depressing is it that this isn’t even in the top three crazy things we’ve done this week?

Now, I did think that there was a fairly severe kink in the timeline. I realise, of course, that this was misdirection on the part of the author rather than an actual breach in consistency. But my brain had a really hard time catching up on the reveal. The flip side of that same statement is that I obviously didn’t see that particular twist coming. I liked that. All in all, I enjoyed the book. There is a lot of action, some fun characters, and more depth than I expected.

The Exile's Violin title

Book Review of R.S. Hunter’s The Exile’s Violin

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The Exile's Violin coverAuthor, R.S. Hunter sent me an e-copy of his steampunk odyssey, The Exile’s Violin.

Description from Goodreads:
Why hire mercenaries to kill an innocent family just to obtain one little key? That question haunts Jacquie Renairre for six years as she hunts down the people responsible for murdering her parents.

Not even accepting an assignment to investigate a conspiracy that aims to start a war can keep her from searching for the key. Armed with her father’s guns and socialite Clay Baneport, she continues her quest for answers abroad.

With the world edging closer to disaster, Jacquie is running out of time to figure out how the war, the key, and ancient legend are intertwined. The fate of the world hinges on her ability to unravel both mysteries before it’s too late.

Review (with spoilers):
The first thing I want to say, before even addressing the story, is that I love, love, love, love, love the cover. It’s awesome. I thought the airships where largely made of metal instead of wood, but who cares. The cover rocks. The story was pretty good.

For me, the tag team comedy of Jacquie and Clay really made the book. In fact I would read the whole thing again just for Clay. His ability to blithely flaunt and disparage his wealthy upbringing at the same time was endearing and his obvious affection for the brash Jacquie admirable. There was no rushed romance here, but you just knew. I adored him.

While I greatly appreciated Jacquie’s strong backbone – no delicate, wilting heroines to be found here – I did wonder why there so often can’t be any sort of middle ground between a soft, genteel, mannered woman and a tactless, violent, loose cannon like Jacquie. This is something I’ve noticed before, not just here in Hunter’s book. It’s as if in order to emphasise how not useless a female character is (thereby suggesting that normally behaved women would be useless) they have to exaggerate their lack of female characteristics. They all HATE dresses, don’t wear makeup or make any effort to be pretty, eat more than would be expected in an ill-mannered fashion, speak roughly, and are quick to anger. This is more of a theoretical observation than any real complaint. I really liked Jacquie, foibles and all…or rather, most especially because of her foibles.

Where the book fell down was in logic. There were a few things worth mentioning in this vein. First, the book was staunchly linear. Once a challenge was surpassed it was never revisited. Example: After successfully stealing a pair of expensive artefacts from an important auction-house, in the company of a person whose face would be well known to the patrons and employees, not a single police officer, private detective, or even admonishing relative came to ask questions about it. Jacquie even spent the rest of the book carrying these items about, practically on display. Still, no fear of arrest for possession of stolen property or accusations of theft. It’s like some referee threw his arms out and declared the two of them “SAFE!” I don’t know. Maybe the law of their country says a person has to be caught in the act to be arrested. 

Second, the antagonist seems to purposely invite Jacque into his plans. Seriously, why bring himself to her attention at all? If he hadn’t employed her she wouldn’t have been traveling to all of the exotic places she did and wouldn’t have put the pieces together or figured his plan out. I never saw any purpose for this. Even plain old arrogance doesn’t cover it.

Lastly, Jacquie spends most of the book looking for her key. That’s it, she’s after information about a black key with broken teeth. I don’t care how extensive a library is or how talented the researcher, that isn’t enough information to differentiate it from any other key in the universe. She doesn’t even suggest drawing a picture of it to someone until ~60% through the book. Then there is the question of why Jacquie’s family had both the key and the alchemically altered guns in the first place. This isn’t really addressed at any point, making it feel like a convenient coincidence in the end (even if it wasn’t meant to be).

All-in-all I liked The Exile’s Violin, but really had to suspend a lot of disbelief to get into it. Mr. Hunter is a talented writer though. There were a few editorial mishaps (mostly missing particles), but the language flowed wonderfully and I don’t remember even one example of stiff dialogue. I’d have no trouble recommending the book.