July and August 2023 Book Clubs: What Mad Universe by Fredric Brown and Clockwork Boys (Clocktaur War #1) by T. Kingfisher

July-

 

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Sci-Fi
Content: Clean

 

The editor of a sci-fi pulp magazine is accidentally transported to a parallel universe where space travel is common, Earth is at war with creepy aliens, New York City isn't safe after dark, and his girlfriend is with someone else.

 

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book before I read it. Classic sci-fi can be so hit or miss with me but I liked the description even though it was short. I listened to this one on audio and at first I didn't care for the narrator but after a while I got used to him, and he didn't bother me as much. 

The main character gets blown into a parallel universe. The first moon rocket falls back to earth and there's an explosion, which is what I think this cover is depicting. There are several covers for this book, none of them are all that good. One of our book club members put together a fun montage of most of them. It went something like this-

It started out with the classic girl in the bathing suit (space bikini) on the cover.

 

Then they added in this weird winged creature.

 

Then they tried to make it all about the bug eyed monster, and came up with this ugly thing.

 

Then they went with this one that we can't figure out.

 

And finally they just gave up.

Anyway, I ended up enjoying this book. I liked the way the author added in old pulp fiction terms and ideas like the bug-eyed monster, and the woman in the space bikini. This book was written in 1949, so those things weren't so old when the book was written, but he leaned into them and kind of made fun of them in a way. It was cleverly done. And the whole working on a sewing machine leading to the accidental discovery of space flight was a pretty funny idea. 

The only thing that I really didn't like about the book was the fact that the main character is so in love with this woman, but the only reason we are ever given is because she is so beautiful. That was a bit shallow, but then maybe it was done that way on purpose since this seems to be a homage to pulp fiction.

August-

 

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy, Steampunk
Content: Strong Language

 

A paladin, an assassin, a forger, and a scholar ride out of town. It’s not the start of a joke, but rather an espionage mission with deadly serious stakes. T. Kingfisher’s new novel begins the tale of a murderous band of criminals (and a scholar), thrown together in an attempt to unravel the secret of the Clockwork Boys, mechanical soldiers from a neighboring kingdom that promise ruin to the Dowager’s city.

If they succeed, rewards and pardons await, but that requires a long journey through enemy territory, directly into the capital. It also requires them to refrain from killing each other along the way! At turns darkly comic and touching, Clockwork Boys puts together a broken group of people trying to make the most of the rest of their lives as they drive forward on their suicide mission.

 

I enjoyed this book and it's sequel. I found the characters easy to like and the story kept me interested. I will say though, that for a book called Clockwork Boys, we saw very little of the clockwork boys. I was expecting more, but thought that there would probably be more in the second book. The series is called Clocktaur War after all, so surely there would be a lot more clockworks and a war. That was not the case. 

I did like a lot of things about these two books, but the story just didn't dig deep enough into things for me. The world building was great, and I thought there were so many good ideas, but the execution was a bit lacking for me. I think the reason behind that is, in part, due to the fact that it focused too much on the romance. The main character mooning over the paladin got really old after a while. This is coming from someone who likes romance added into the books I read. I just wasn't expecting it to be so much of the focus in this series. Also, the drama that ensues because of Slate's reaction when someone dies was so overblown and really annoyed me. I did love the gnolls though! They were the best part of the book. 

I would probably read more in this world if the author ever wrote more. Like I said, I enjoyed it, even if I had some issues with it. I rated the second book, The Wonder Engine 3 stars.

The Olympian Affair (The Cinder Spires #2) by Jim Butcher

  

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy, Steampunk
Content: Strong language, Mostly off page sex

 

For centuries the Cinder Spires have safeguarded humanity, rising far above the deadly surface world. Within their halls, aristocratic houses rule, developing scientific marvels and building fleets of airships for defense and trade.

Now, the Spires hover on the brink of open war.

Everyone knows it’s coming. The guns of the great airship fleets that control the skies between the last bastions of humanity will soon speak in anger, and Spire Albion stands alone against the overwhelming might of Spire Aurora’s Armada and its new secret weapon–one capable of destroying the populations of entire Spires.

A trading summit at Spire Olympia provides an opportunity for the Spirearch, Lord Albion, to secure alliances that will shape the outcomes of the war, and to that end he dispatches privateer Captain Francis Madison Grimm and the crew of the AMS Predator to bolster the Spirearch’s diplomatic agents.

It will take daring, skill, and no small amount of showmanship to convince the world to stand with Spire Albion–assuming that it is not already too late.

 

I was so excited to get an early copy of this book! It's been a long time coming, and I dove right into this, even though I probably should have done a reread of The Aeronaut's Windlass first. There were quite a few things, and even characters that I had forgotten, but they all came back to me as I read. I loved the world building in this but what I love most are the characters. I especially love Miss Folly and Master Ferus, Captain Grimm, and Bridget and Rowl. Yet again the cats were there to provide a lot of the humor, which I loved. The airship battles and the duels were quite fun. There was a part that I found very sad near the end, and it ends with one character in quite the predicament, so obviously there will be more. I'm looking forward to finding out what happens next! Thank you Mr. Butcher for continuing this series! 

On a side note- I'm not super crazy about the cover redesign. I don't think it's a bad cover but I have the hardcover on pre-order and it won't match my hardcover copy of The Aeronaut's Windlass.

Thank to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with and ARC of this book.

 The Black Lung Captain by Chris Wooding

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy, Steampunk
Content: Strong language and implied sex.


Deep in the heart of the Kurg rainforest lies a long-forgotten wreck. On board, behind a magically protected door, an elusive treasure awaits. Good thing Darian Frey, captain of the airship Ketty Jay, has the daemonist Crake on board. Crake is their best chance of getting that door open—if they can sober him up.

In this installment of Tales of the Ketty Jay, Darian Frey is back to his old tricks. He's robbing an orphanage in the beginning of this book, and that didn't endear him to me much. By the end of the last book Frey had learned a few things, and for a little while I thought he had forgotten every one of them, but he ended up proving me wrong. Yet again Chris Wooding surprises me with the character growth of not only the main character, but all of them. Even the cat, Slag gets a tiny part of a chapter in his point of view. I still dislike Pinn to a great extent, but even he ended up better by the end of this book. Crake and Jez, in particular have great story arcs where they face their demons and come to grips with themselves. Crake's efforts to restore Bess is an especially emotional one. Speaking of Bess, whenever I read about her I can't help but think of Fullmetal Alchemist.



That's how I picture Bess.

Not only is the whole crew of the Ketty Jay present here, but Frey's former love and nemesis, Trinica Dracken is back, as well as the Century Knights. I liked the story arc with Trinica and also would love to read more of the Century Knights in the next books. We also learn a lot of interesting things about the Mane and The Awakeners. In general there is a much deeper level of emotion involved with the characters this time around, which is something that was missing in the first book. I'll definitely be reading the rest of the series.

Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Steampunk, fantasy
Content: Clean


Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners--and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality...But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped.

It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School.

Reading Gail Carriger is always a delightful experience. Her characters are charmingly quirky and just plain fun. I love the funny and absurd names she gives her characters too. There is Mrs Barnaclegoose, Frowbritcher the butler, and Lord Dingleproops to name a few. Not only are the characters funny and quirky but her descriptions can be too. This paragraph is a good example:

"He was very pale and boasted an unassuming mustache, which was perched atop his upper lip cautiously, as though it were slightly embarrassed to be there and would like to slide away and become a sideburn or something more fashionable."

Overall Etiquette & Espionage is a very fun, lighthearted read that is set in the same alternate Victorian steampunk world as the Parasol Protectorate series. Time-wise this one is set before The Parasol Protectorate and we get to meet Genevieve Lefoux as a 9 year old and Sidheag Macon as a 14 year old. The setting works well in a YA novel, although this novel did feel somewhat more like a middle grade novel at times.

While I find certain aspects of Carriger's writing delightful, there is something that doesn't pull me in as much as I would like and I never really feel compelled to move onto the next book. Sadly that is again the case here. I'm not sure if I will ever read further into this series, but this book was fun and it did make me laugh which is always a plus.



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Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy, Steampunk
Content: Strong language and implied sex.


Retribution Falls is a steampunk fantasy that has loads of action. The air ships were interesting and I especially liked the air battles. The second half was better than the first half, but I pretty much liked it from the beginning. The characters were all interesting but Frey, the captain, had to grow on me.

Sky piracy is a bit out of Darian Frey’s league. Fate has not been kind to the captain of the airship Ketty Jay—or his motley crew. They are all running from something.

I wouldn't say fate had anything to do with it. More like personal choices. Frey does have extremely bad luck, mostly brought on by his own choices. I wasn't sure what to think of him at first, then I pretty much hated him for a while, and finally I ended up kind of liking him. Why the big change in the way I felt about him? Character growth. There was a lot of character growth and in the end Frey was not the same man that he was at the beginning of this book. I really like when books have flawed characters that actually grow.

Crake is a daemonist in hiding, traveling with an armored golem and burdened by guilt. Jez is the new navigator, desperate to keep her secret from the rest of the crew. Malvery is a disgraced doctor, drinking himself to death.

That's most of the ship's crew and I must say that I liked the crew a lot better than Frey in the beginning. I think my favorite character in the book was probably Jez. She also was the only one who wasn't in her predicament because of some choice she made. Crake and his golem, Bess were also very interesting. My least favorite crew member was probably Pinn. He's a real dimwit and clearly he's not playing with a full deck. This I suppose could be funny at times, but I didn't find much to like about him, except for when he was in the cockpit of his little airship entertaining us during the air battles.

When an opportunity arises to steal a chest of gems from a vulnerable airship, Frey can’t pass it up. It’s an easy take—and the payoff will finally make him a rich man.

The crew takes on this mission that sounds really simple and is supposed to make them rich. Of course the mission goes south. I've never read a book like this where it didn't. Could you imagine if everything went as planned and the characters all ended up filthy rich almost from the beginning? How much fun would that be and what story would there be left to tell? I would actually like to see someone try to pull that off in a book. I'm not sure what the rest of the story would be about, but hey, it would be different. So of course things don't go as planned, and in the most horrible way, and Frey and the crew of the Ketty Jay are left trying to figure out what is going on while on the run.

Most of what happens in the book is pretty predictable, but still entertaining, It does remind me a lot of Firefly, which many people have compared it to. I didn't have high expectations going into this so I feel like it checked off all the boxes of what I wanted it to be. A fun, rather light steampunk fantasy. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series.



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June 2017 Book Club: The Aeronaut's Windlass

The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy, Steampunk



Since time immemorial, the Spires have sheltered humanity. Within their halls, the ruling aristocratic houses develop scientific marvels, foster trade alliances, and maintain fleets of airships to keep the peace.

Jim Butcher is one of my favorite authors and I thoroughly enjoyed the Aeronaut's Windlass. The world is interesting; a great steampunk and traditional fantasy mix, and I am looking forward to more world building and character development in the next books in the series. The characters were all great. I can't think of one that I didn't like. If you like cats you will love this book. I loved the addition of Rowl the cat, and I think this book would be appropriate for my teen daughter to read even though it's written for adults. I ended up reading excerpts aloud to her when the point of view shifted to Rowl.

I think besides Rowl, what I liked the most about this book were the airship battles and the quirky Etherealists. I loved the Etherealists and can't wait to read more about them in coming books. I'm looking forward to reading more and hopefully also finding out a lot more about the world on the ground.