And hey, did you know that Jeter coined that term?
Remember when those fantastic adventure tales whose main goal was to tell a fast-pa...moreSteampunk, ahoy!
And hey, did you know that Jeter coined that term?
Remember when those fantastic adventure tales whose main goal was to tell a fast-paced story with some interesting ideas used to clock in under 250 pages and could be enjoyed in one long afternoon? And didn't have sequels? Probably not and I'm probably dating myself. It is nice to be reminded that such things were once fairly common. Maybe authors these days are afraid of being seen as somehow disposable or too lightweight. And what's wrong with being lightweight?
Infernal Devices is a great example of swiftly-paced, lightweight entertainment. It is a retro-chic thriller full of tricky clockwork mechanisms, cobblestones and foggy nights, demented aristocrats and dodgy lower class types, inhuman creatures from the sea and their barely human half-breed spawn, creepy flights into darkness and sudden escapes, and two brassy mercenaries who are strangely familiar with 20th century slang. Best of all, there is also an automaton who comes equipped with all of the wit, intelligence, and sexual drive that his original human model - our strangely bland hero - appears to lack. Two peas in a pod, except one pea is infinitely more tasty.
Imagine a clockwork version of this:
Note the eyes! Spoiler?
The writing is luscious and rather gleefully sardonic. It winks at you while delivering its narrative thrills in a delightfully vivid, semi-archaic purple prose package. And it almost feels like Jeter is even sending up his own traditionally enigmatic heroes. The answers to many of the questions swirling around the oddly placid protagonist lie within his very stolidity; his unimaginative blankness and prim limitations are actually the key to Infernal Devices' central conundrums and contraptions. Clever. And the climax is a literal climax. Ha!
Also featuring... The End of the World! Maybe.
A version of this review is part of a larger article on Jeter posted onSHELF INFLICTED(less)
Behemoth is the second book in Westerfeld's steampunk adventure series for the little ones. It continues at...morereview buffet
✥
A Review in the Classic Style
Behemoth is the second book in Westerfeld's steampunk adventure series for the little ones. It continues at breakneck pace, following its plucky young protagonists as they hurtle through misadventure, politics, and just the teensiest bit of lovelorn longing, all taking place in an alternate World War I-era Ottoman Empire (vividly and vibrantly depicted as a near-ideal melting pot of cultures). All of the tropes of steampunk remain firmly in place. Overall this is an endearing book full of enjoyable characters, strange mechanical contraptions, and amusing beasties. Westerfeld writes with an expertly light touch and manages to hit (gently) upon such topics as duty vs loyalty, respect for living beings, and the importance of diversity. This reviewer could have used less of the words "barking" (as in 'that's barking ridiculous') and, most unfortunately, "bum-rag".
✥
I AM A MODERNIST REVIEW,
and all the angst that implies, all the feelings that I could be reading more challenging fiction, writing deeper thoughts, experiencing a richer life between pages; I read a review by Steve or Ceridwen or Sven or Elizabeth and sometimes I just feel Oh! mark! You shallow person! You write in such a shallow way! You like shallow things! Shallow things in this shallow genre Steampunk and its shallow use of now-tired tropes and its breathless pace and its sweetly clueless characters and all of that, and I don't care, because yes I liked this one, I did, is this flight into childhood? Regression into simple and easy things? Are the daring adventures of X and Y a way for me to peel back the layers of complexity that life can be, could be, should be? Do I read these rather thrilling adventures because I lack a certain substance? Behemoth lacked a certain substance itself and I do not hold it against it, although I do hold its overuse of the phrases "barking" and "bum-rag" against it because that's just steampunk-brit for "fucking" and "ass-wipe" and my shallow mind just objects to little kids running around calling people fucking ass-wipes all the time,
✥
it.is.post.modern.review.
the characters go to Istanbul. they call it Constantinople. they are corrected. i appreciate that. they might be giants. Constantinople was once Byzantium; that is not mentioned. i went to Istanbul, i went to Turkey; i loved it. modern day Istanbul is diverse. Behemoth: a dream-version of Istanbul. dream? dream of the past. the author admits it; his idealized version of a diverse society, he says. steampunk = "diverse society" as well. 1) mechanized society 2) use of animals [Darwin moved forward and then back into steampunk] 3) gender roles/essentialism [challenged] 4) overuse of quaint words like (adj. quaint·er, quaint·est 1. Charmingly odd, especially in an old-fashioned way (steampunk is quaint)... quaint. quaint. quaint? say a word too many times and it loses its meaning. quaint. an overuse of quaint words like "barking" and "bum-rag" and it's quaint its quaint it quaint and quaint and quaint and quaint and quaint and
your devious passivity and willful naivete know no boundaries! your crimes are many!
your poor doting mother - hustled off to an early grave, and you do nothing! you repay the Murdstones' attempts at improvement with intransigence and a savage bite! you return Mr. Creakle's guiding hand with laziness and scorn! you do nothing as your idol Steerforth humiliates Mr. Mell! you run from honest work in a factory! you must be too good for that! you impose upon your poor dear aunt Betsy Trotwood! you immediately discount poor umble Uriah Heep! how dare you condescend to him! you say nothing as Rosa Dartle defames good honest people! over dinner! you introduce that atrocious snake Steerforth to those good honest people! you terrorize your poor landlady! your drunken shenanigans with Steerforth are revolting! good Agnes was no doubt secretly appalled! you caution Traddles to avoid generosity with Micawber! mind your own business, Iago! you stalk your boss's daughter! only Jip recognizes your villainy! you entangle poor Julia Mills in your scheming! you attempt to extract money from your workplace - but fortunately Mr. Spenlow and his partner are wise to your gambits! you continue to stalk poor innocent Dora - even after her father's untimely death! and no doubt your villainy was the cause of that! you bind Dora to you! the poor doomed natural! you set the servants against her! you make her hold your pens, you tyrant! you help Uriah Heep cause a good Doctor much stress! you cast aspersions on that Doctor's own wife! her cousin! their marriage! you strike the poor umble Uriah Heep across the face! a resounding blow! you monster - berating and "improving" Dora to an early grave! the poor natural, the innocent child-wife! even Jip dies at your feet! you humiliate and drive away the poor umble Uriah Heep! you allow poor honest Ham to plunge into the sea - to his death! you fail to save your friend Steerforth from his own watery death! you allow Rosa Dartle to heap abuse upon his grieving mother! you laughingly exile two families to criminal Australia! you secretly gloat and sneer while witnessing the very proper Mr. Lattimer and poor umble Uriah Heep behind bars! your most dastardly deed: stringing along the good Agnes - for decades! and finally, you bind her to you in a long-game marriage-plot! i fear for her safety!
oh Diabolic Doady!
oh you monstrous villain, David Copperfield!(less)
apropos of nothing at all, and because no one asked, here is a list of the small number of steampunk novels i've read, in order of preference.
1. The G...moreapropos of nothing at all, and because no one asked, here is a list of the small number of steampunk novels i've read, in order of preference.
The Dark Volume is book 2 in a steampunk adventure trilogy featuring the misadventures of three pretty awesome characters as they wrestle with unpleasant aristocratic types, devious plots to control the world, unpleasant military types, an evil woman made all of glass who can control your thoughts, unpleasant political types, glass books that suck away memories and allow others to absorb them, unpleasant english village types, lots & lots of murder, and various unpleasant debauched dionysian types.
Dahlquist continues his writerly conceit of overlapping the action & mystery through alternating third-person limited perspectives, chapter by chapter; it worked well in the first book and i'm happy to report that this style operates at an even higher level of finesse in the second book. the effect is similar to working out a puzzle by coming at it from entirely different angles. overall the level of writing is quite high and often surprisingly poetic; this is to be expected from an author whose resume ranges from playwright to experimental film director. plus, to be completely superficial, just take a gander at him: he has a shock of black hair, a bushy gray moustache, a vaguely Prousty style, and looks all of 21 years of age. he's got the look of someone with talent (and perhaps pretension) to burn. and i definitely judge a book by its cover.
"The Dark Volume" in question is pretty nifty. i think this is rather spoilery, so (view spoiler)[i'll just say that this new sort of blue glass book contains the experience of a person as he dies. it's a snuff film sort of experience and the author has a deft touch in showing how exposure to this book completely up-ends our heroine's state of mind, and most strikingly, her outlook on life itself - life's pleasures becoming nothing but potential rot in her eyes. (hide spoiler)]
our deadly trio of protagonists remain, for the most part, quite delightful. Celestial Temple grows the most due to her extended exposure to various glass books. it is an interesting concept: gaining artificial memories that both your mind and your body remember as real experiences - by the book's end, the virginal Celeste has 'experienced' an excess of debauchery & death, and so in turn her outlook on life has become dark, jaded. sadly, for much of the narrative Celeste is forced to react rather than impact. fortunately, by the last third she has regained her footing and is knocking some bloody sense into folks left and right. Dr. Abelard Svenson is perhaps a little less delightful in this second book, as he spends most of his time mooning over the increasingly bovine Eloise Dujong, and we get to witness very little of his trademark anti-snob snobbery. sadly, there are no wads of phlegm hawked and spat at various jackasses who would dare to condescend to him. ah well, the guy's in love, and i guess that doesn't leave a lot of energy left over for the hawking and spitting of angry phlegm. however Cardinal Chang remains as persuasive a character as ever: the educated and angry assassin, always brooding, always sneering, always watchful for the slightest slight, a coiled and resentful anarchist. charming! he's like my brother from another mother.
the former prison-turned-palatial estate Harschmort Manor is revisited at length. a phenomenal setting: sinister, labyrinthine, and full of all sorts of secret doors & passageways & rooms. even better, since the events of the first book, about a third of it has been blasted into smoky ruins. this makes for a lot of scenes dripping with gloom and doom and eeriness. the extremely amusing and vicious villainess Contessa di Lacquer-Sforza also returns, murderous ambition and slashing wit all very much intact. and hey there's also a lesbionic interlude between her and Celestial Temple, free of charge.
although this novel lacks its predecessor's wonderfully bloody massacre in a dirigible as a finale, it still ends with a similar bloodbath - this time in a creepy forest and a creepier munitions factory. yahoo! i love it when assholes get slaughtered. does that make me a bad person?(less)
EH? EH! this desperate steampunk non-adventure plays like an overly hysterical farce with delusions of grandeur. although seemingly full of creative i...moreEH? EH! this desperate steampunk non-adventure plays like an overly hysterical farce with delusions of grandeur. although seemingly full of creative ideas, those ideas have run sadly amuck. there is no grounding of the frivolity in interesting characterization or sparkling dialogue - both of which remain almost obstinately insipid and amateurish; famous english personages are tossed around willy-nilly with little sense and zero resonance; cutesie-poo preciousness is found everywhere, from the lil' newsboy Oscar Wilde to foul-mouthed delivery parrots; "steampunk elements" themselves are parroted on an ad hoc basis but have little internal logic, only inspiring sighs & eye-rolling from this severely disappointed and agitated reader. at a little over the halfway mark (@ page 200, i think), i decided my time had been wasted enough and chose to skim the rest - if only to see how Hodder dealt with his inexplicably villainous creations Charles Darwin & Florence Nightingale. although they turned out to be a disappointment, i'm glad i chose skimming instead of tossing. the final third of the novel contains a rather awesome, multi-chapter novel-within-a-novel that details the sad, terrible, increasingly fearful misadventures of the titular, time-traveling, so-called villain "Spring Heeled Jack". now THAT portion of the novel was marvelous. certainly worthy of at least one extra star.(less)
whatever could be Lady Audley's secret? could it be... murder? miscegenation? malfeasance? misdirected malevolence ending in tears, tragedy, and gener...morewhatever could be Lady Audley's secret? could it be... murder? miscegenation? malfeasance? misdirected malevolence ending in tears, tragedy, and general tawdriness? an assumed identity? flatulence? that not-so-fresh feeling? bigamy? bigotry? child abuse? child abandonment? une affaire de coeur? une affaire de blanchiment d'argent? well, all or some of those things may or may not be a part of this novel - but they are not the secret in question. Lady Audley's terrible, terrible secret is... (view spoiler)[ha! did you actually think i was going to tell you? think again, sucker! (hide spoiler)]
this ripping victorian yarn is a tale of deceit and possible death, of class barriers breached, a man gone missing, long-held love and quick infatuation, uptight upper class twits mercilessly skewered and drunken lower class buffoons broadly lampooned. it has brilliant and ambitious Lady Audley and her equally ambitious but rather less brilliant servant. it has one of the more charming protagonists i've come across - the lazy, well-meaning, animal-loving young barrister Robert Audley, whose favored activities are smoking his pipe and napping. it has mystery, intrigue, vengeance, and dark rainy nights where evil deeds are afoot. and hey, guess what, it subverts paradigms! sorta.
Mary Elizabeth Braddon was a popular writer of what appears to be a million potboilers during everyone's favorite english time period, The Victorian Era. nowadays she is practically unknown. that's rather sad because she deserves much better. the novel is stylish and very easy going down. it is the opposite of a tortuous experience - it is delightful! and beautifully written as well: a winding but briskly paced narrative with fascinating and often amusing characters, fun twists and turns, overstuffed with lavish description and poetic imagery, and - best of all - an ironically formal and sneakily caustic authorial voice. the wonderful wit in this novel is delicious. delicious! i just used that word to describe a novel! i feel like Oscar Wilde. or Dame Edna.
if you've read this one, then you know the real selling point: LADY AUDLEY ROCKS! the english class system is no barrier to her dreams. i'd hesitate to call her a feminist icon, but she knows how to make things happen and how to take care of business. such a great villainess. and i barely consider her to be villainous.
some spoilers follow... but i'm still not giving away Lady Audley's secret. mainly because i think it is a rather tedious secret and one of the weaker elements of the novel.
i am confident that Braddon knew exactly what she was doing when she crafted the character of Lady Audley. this wondrous psychopath utterly rejects her so-called 'place in life' as some drudge in a small town. she uses the weapons she has at her disposal to get ahead: her doll-like beauty, her sweet and cheery smile that lights up a room and makes you feel like you are the most important person in that room, her perfect poise and her perfect manners, her truly phenomenal talent at lying, and her quick-thinking ability to promptly push an annoyingly threatening fellow right down a well. throughout the novel, i was 100% on Lady Audley's team. i love seeing class systems scorned by the underclass and i love seeing them mercilessly dismantled - even if it is a brief and inevitably foiled uprising. Spartacus!
so yeah, Lady Audley: i love her. her pride, her machinations, her capacity for violence, her elegant skill at avoiding public confrontations with annoying nobodies like resentful stepdaughters, clingy first husbands, and nosy young barristers. oh, Lady Audley, you are the dreamiest of mercenaries!
a breathless and action-packed steampunk adventure!
a breathless and action-packed steampunk adventure starring mystical special agent Jack Sparks and...morea breathless and action-packed steampunk adventure!
a breathless and action-packed steampunk adventure starring mystical special agent Jack Sparks and his doughty Doubting Thomas sidekick Arthur Conan Doyle!
a breathless and action-packed steampunk adventure starring mystical special agent Jack Sparks and his doughty Doubting Thomas sidekick Arthur Conan Doyle, united to fight an infernal Dark Brotherhood and their terrifying zombie and mummy minions!
a breathless and action-packed steampunk adventure starring mystical special agent Jack Sparks and his doughty Doubting Thomas sidekick Arthur Conan Doyle, united to fight an infernal Dark Brotherhood and their terrifying zombie and mummy minions, featuring thoughtful and at times amusingly fervent discourses on the nature of humankind and the pernicious influence of organized religion & the class system and the purpose of both God and Lucifer's competing Plans!
a breathless and action-packed steampunk adventure starring mystical special agent Jack Sparks and his doughty Doubting Thomas sidekick Arthur Conan Doyle, united to fight an infernal Dark Brotherhood and their terrifying zombie and mummy minions, featuring thoughtful and at times amusingly fervent discourses on the nature of humankind and the pernicious influence of organized religion & the class system and the purpose of both God and Lucifer's competing Plans (as well as an unfortunately lengthy and irritating passage where Doyle is disagreeably turned into an hysterical, paranoid heroine straight from a gothic penny dreadful, how tedious)!
a breathless and action-packed steampunk adventure starring mystical special agent Jack Sparks and his doughty Doubting Thomas sidekick Arthur Conan Doyle, united to fight an infernal Dark Brotherhood and their terrifying zombie and mummy minions, featuring thoughtful and at times amusingly fervent discourses on the nature of humankind and the pernicious influence of organized religion & the class system and the purpose of both God and Lucifer's competing Plans (as well as an unfortunately lengthy and irritating passage where Doyle is disagreeably turned into an hysterical, paranoid heroine straight from a gothic penny dreadful, how tedious) - penned by a little-known author who also scripted various Hill Street Blues episodes and co-created Twin Peaks, of all things!
a breathless and action-packed steampunk adventure starring mystical special agent Jack Sparks and his doughty Doubting Thomas sidekick Arthur Conan Doyle, united to fight an infernal Dark Brotherhood and their terrifying zombie and mummy minions, featuring thoughtful and at times amusingly fervent discourses on the nature of humankind and the pernicious influence of organized religion & the class system and the purpose of both God and Lucifer's competing Plans (as well as an unfortunately lengthy and irritating passage where Doyle is disagreeably turned into an hysterical, paranoid heroine straight from a gothic penny dreadful, how tedious) - penned by a little-known author who also scripted various Hill Street Blues episodes and co-created Twin Peaks, of all things... all-in-all, a well-crafted pastiche and a thoroughly entertaining experience!(less)
sure, i like candy. what's not to like? it's a sweet, brightly-hued thing to eat. but candy is not guilt-free. it is not substantial. it's not even th...moresure, i like candy. what's not to like? it's a sweet, brightly-hued thing to eat. but candy is not guilt-free. it is not substantial. it's not even the best dessert item out there. now chocolate, that's a dessert. chocolate can be sexy, right? when it's hot, chocolatey things get messy. on the other hand, candy is not really very sexy. it's cute - but it's too instantly disposable to be sexy. candy is for kids. now ice cream - that's a great dessert. i can spend some time with it. it is a more nuanced flavor. it's creamy and delicious and goes down smooth. candy is sadly insubstantial when compared to ice cream - there is literally nothing that is good for you that goes into the making of it. it's a superficial pleasure. and often a badly-made one, a luxury that is not that luxurious and seems somehow rather cheap. i do hate when i get shards of candy in my teeth - but it also melts away inoffensively. candy is not the worst thing in the world: a quick, sugary, forgettable pleasure. sometimes it can be quite delightful. but i certainly can't give candy more than 2 stars!(less)
this is a zippy, high-spirited breeze of a novel, aimed at the lucrative TROPE(1) audience - and with clear appeal for even younger folks. as far as c...morethis is a zippy, high-spirited breeze of a novel, aimed at the lucrative TROPE(1) audience - and with clear appeal for even younger folks. as far as characterization and narrative go, there is not much here that will suprise or challenge the reader...but the novel does have charm, lots of it. don't expect to get your mind blown, but it is certainly a pleasant way to spend a few hours. and there are many enjoyable elements in the now-almost-played-out use of TROPE(2): big clanky walking-machines, living dirigibles and various flying machines or machine-beasts, the setting itself, and the enjoyable TROPE(3) of europe during the first world war - now rife with imaginative historical tweaks and simmering distrust between the machine-lovin' Clankers and the evolutionary mix-masters, the Darwinists.
the TROPE(4) is rather standard - a plucky, mouthy, resilient young TROPE(5) who TROPE(6) to have the adventures of a boy. nonetheless, despite the familiarity of the gender-bending, she is thoroughly enjoyable. the TROPE(7) is also rather standard - a prickly and often high-handed little TROPE(8), but also a TROPE(9) one too. both TROPE(10) are TROPE(11) on several occasions. their TROPE(12) is nicely played out through TROPE(13) and the inevitable TROPE(14) wait to rear their predictable little heads until very near the end, as the young miss starts feeling some sparks during a fervent bit of grateful hugging. it is actually adorable, and all the better for its lack during most of the novel. and there are also two adult characters who are fun (but, again, rather standard) - an eccentric zookeeper/scientist/envoy/ TROPE(15) and her probable TROPE(16), a sardonic and loyal austrian 'wildcount'.
the narrative is propulsive yet episodic. there is no standard TROPE(17) for the hero or heroine, although i suppose Alek's TROPE(18) to the austrian crown may eventually qualify...but so far, there is really nothing for him to quest after, as he spends most of his time hiding and running. for the time-being, the reader is immersed in action that comes breathless and willy-nilly, with little pause for reflection or rumination. i would have appreciated some more quiet times where the reader gets to live and breathe the characters' lives and the world's strangeness, but clearly the novel is geared more towards younger, shorter attention spans.
i love the steampunk subgenre. on that level, the novel succeeds. i may just be a sucker for reading about TROPE(19), about TROPE(20) (although obviously this novel is not set during the victorian era), about TROPE(21), about TROPE(22) in general.
the novel includes a bunch of pleasing black-and-white illustrations. they are wonderful. almost TROPE(23)-ific! minus the TROPE(24), of course.
_______________________________
KEY
1. Young Adult 2. steampunk 3. alterna-history 4. heroine 5. tomboy 6. disguises herself as a boy 7. hero 8. prince 9. sad and rather tragic 10. almost over-their-heads heroes 11. brave and quick-thinking and save the day 12. gradual coming-together 13. alternating pov chapters 14. romantic clichés 15. liberated lady 16. surprise love interest 17. Quest 18. legacy as the heir 19. futuristic yet strangely archaic technology 20. quasi-victorian explorations of sexual repression/gender imbalance 21. nifty new ways that evolution can be tweaked 22. anachronism 23. Edward Gorey 24. morbid child-killing (less)
3 (5-ounce) cans solid Victorian Era packed in water 1/2 cup minced Bruce Sterling 1/2 cup minced William Gibson 1/4 cup Technological Spe...moreSTEAMPUNK SALAD
3 (5-ounce) cans solid Victorian Era packed in water 1/2 cup minced Bruce Sterling 1/2 cup minced William Gibson 1/4 cup Technological Speculation 1 hard-boiled Spy Thriller, chopped in large pieces 1 soft-boiled Detective Tale, finely minced 3 Major Characters, lukewarm 1 Mysterious Box of Computer Punch Cards Salt and Pepper 1/2 teaspoon Ambition
STEP 1 Place Victorian Era in fine-mesh strainer and press dry with paper towels. Transfer to medium bowl and mash with fork until finely flaked. Microwave Bruce Sterling and William Gibson with Ambition until both authors begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Cool slightly, about 5 minutes. Fold in authors, Technological Speculation, Spy Thriller, and Detective Tale into Victorian Era and mix until bland and without individualistic flavor.
STEP 2 Stir 3 Major Characters and 1 Mysterious Box of Computer Punch Cards into mixture. VERY IMPORTANT: mix thoroughly! Mixture must remain insipid and uninspiring. Add discreet amounts of Salt and Pepper. Salad can be refrigerated in airtight container for several decades.(less)
top ten things i like that are at least tangentially associated with Glass Books of the Dream Eaters:
1. STEAMPUNK is there a more ill-suited name for a...moretop ten things i like that are at least tangentially associated with Glass Books of the Dream Eaters:
1. STEAMPUNK is there a more ill-suited name for a subgenre? what exactly is punk rock about corsets or guns or victorian morals or dirigibles? gack! that was an onomatopoeia for the sound that just came out of my mouth when considering the word "steampunk". still, i love the genre despite its name.
2. GLASS "Once I had a love and it was a gas Soon turned out had a heart of glass Seemed like the real thing, only to find Much of mistrust, love's gone behind."
how true, oh how true! poor Miss Temple.
3. BOOK here's a list-within-a-list: top ten adventures in reading that you can also weightlift (in no particular order): 1) Bellefleur & A Bloodsmoor Romance & Mysteries of Winturthurn 2) A Dance to the Music of Time 3) Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell 4) The Raj Quartet 5) The Flounder 6) Remembrance of Things Past 7) A Suitable Boy 8) Porius + A Glastonbury Romance = you'll never get to read again 9) Gormenghast etc. 10) The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters
4. DREAM once i worked with a lady by the name of cody. in many ways, not a person dreamy in temperament: a former cheerleader, a steely sorority girl, a lover of the branded men from the campus' black fraternity. one day i asked her What Is Your Favorite Part Of Life? i'm not sure why i asked her this lame question, but i did. her honest response, after much consideration: When I'm Asleep. when she saw my surprise, she continued by explaining that she loved to sleep because that was when she was able to dream. 20 years later, i was reminded of her when reading Glass Books. the idea of a dream-life, one that encompasses all the adventures you know that you'll never have, becomes transformed into the concept of other, more glamorous and adventurous experiences - marvelously dangerous, erotic, enigmatic experiences - being shared and devoured by others, as dreams, as books. it is an enormously fertile concept. a too-short sequence that depicts the heroine's engulfment within a book of such dreams is one of the novel's highlights - a darkly vivid and mysterious rush of intriguing imagery and thrilling experience.
5. EAT i love details in books. that may be why i really appreciate longer novels rather than shorter ones. i love excessive description of decor, food, clothing, music, motivation, thought process... i like the journey to be long, not rushed, a journey that is so thoroughly detailed that i feel i've truly entered another world, especially if it is a world that i don't want to leave any time soon. i eat those details up! this novel: a feast.
6. FEISTY HEROINES are they a cliché yet? i surely hope not, but they are probably a centuries-old cliché by now. still, Glass Books features a dream of a feisty heroine: Celestial Temple, Celeste to her confidantes and Miss Temple to domestic staff and strange men. it is always an enjoyable thing to find a heroine who kills her adversaries with barely a second thought and with no tedious soul-searching or hand-wringing, and no tormented feelings of guilt to be wrestled with either. some assholes are just worth killing and not worrying about it, well at least the ones in Glass Books. Miss Temple's various examples of bad-assery are combined with the delicate yearnings of a Jane Austen heroine and a meticulous attention to detail and correct behavior out of both Austen and Wharton: it is a fetching combination and one that is happily not transformed into complete cartoonishness. one of the more enjoyable amusements in the novel is her ongoing contemplation of whether or not her brief dream-submergence within a harlot's graphic sexual encounters somehow made her less of a virgin, and if the continued and often breathless contemplation of those acts make her a woman of experience or simply sort of a slut.
7. CLASS WARFARE it is the war that happens around all of us constantly, yet is there a war that is more easily ignored or hidden? that is one of the virtues of many English novels, particularly those works that describe the colonial experience - class warfare is often at the forefront. class warfare is also at the root of the Cardinal Chang character, his eyes hideously scarred by some unnamed nobleman's whip, not an asian actually (his nickname is a cruel joke at his eyes' expense), and on a lifelong mission to define himself in opposition to those in power - constantly chafing and reacting to the slightest hint of snobbery or condescension from the upper classes. the chapters that detail his perspective include some of the more passionate and snappy renunciations that i've read lately regarding the moneyed power brokers, the political shot-callers, and the glamorously idle rich. it's always nice to read about a committed bolshevist who isn't a wingnut. even better, he's also an assassin for hire!
8. ARROGANCE BROUGHT LOW the third major character is Doctor Svenson, and he is a portrait of how to get the last word with folks who consider themselves your betters. less political than Chang, a double agent, prone to vertigo when confronted with heights, a man forlorn over the premature death of his lady love...and a doctor who seriously does not take any shit from any person at any time. this is not a tough guy in the vein of Chang: he is less wish fulfillment for the reader and more of a reader stand-in, full of insecurity and self-doubt. well, there's still plenty of wish fulfillment to be had: when pressed, he acts decisively and aggressively, and the chapters from his perspective are rife with condescending sneers to those who would condescend to him, assorted petty and mean-spirited put-downs tossed at his antagonists, haughty disdain towards those in authority, constant baiting of the various villains. best of all, he never lacks for a large wad of spit to be hawked and hurled at his antagonists, often at the moment of his eminent demise. and yet... such a gentleman, of the old school! he is my favorite character in the novel.
9. LONG & LAVISH NOVELS no offense to any of my pals, but i sure do get tired at whining over novels that are too long. come on already, grow a pair! take the day off, call in sick! they'll believe you if you do it two days in a row! immerse yourself in a long novel, like you would in a glass book of dreams! abandon yourself to wordiness, literariness, lavish characterization, lush description! you deserve it! stop being such a pussy! pussycat that is - you know, they have such short attention spans.
10. TERRIFYING WOMEN MADE ALL OF BLUE GLASS WHO PROJECT THEIR DREAMS AND CAN CONTROL YOUR THOUGHTS this novel includes them. they're pretty great!(less)
a tidy, pleasant entry within the wildly popular Victorian Mystery subgenre. or in this case, the slightly pre-Victorian Mystery subgenre. what is it...morea tidy, pleasant entry within the wildly popular Victorian Mystery subgenre. or in this case, the slightly pre-Victorian Mystery subgenre. what is it about this era that holds so much fascination for readers? the most obvious guess is that the fans of these fictions always know that they will be enjoying luxurious expanses of gothic description, built on a foundation of cosseted repression meets wondrous discovery. Jack Maggs does not fail to satisfy on that level - and it is about a tenth the size of most of its kin.
the central character is foreboding and completely loveable, and the supporting characters are suitably dickensian yet multi-leveled in a very modern way. the plot is an elaborate series of charades, false paths and red herrings. the writing is splendid: quaintly victorian in style, naturally, but also at times as yearning as some of the characters themselves. much like its title character, it is a grim bit of business on the surface but a gentle and sweet book at heart - the kind of book that makes me want to befriend the author.
it is probably irresponsible to review the novel without mentioning its antecedent, Dickens' Great Expectations. i'm a fan of secret heroes within novels (Snape! Mr. Norrell! Ariel Hawksquill! Bunter!) and Magwitch has always been the not-so-secret hero of dickens' classic. Jack Maggs does no disservice to Pip's fearsome benefactor; the novel is almost an ode to that character. and it is satisfying, in a spiteful kind of way, to see Pip transformed into an essentially worthless cad. you always were a fookin' jackass, Pip.
all that said, the author's Oscar and Lucinda is his benchmark for me, so far.(less)
engaging but decidedly minor yarn featuring brave women, pirate airships, a zombie plague, and a battered & barricaded alternate seattle. the stea...moreengaging but decidedly minor yarn featuring brave women, pirate airships, a zombie plague, and a battered & barricaded alternate seattle. the steampunk elements are of the american west variety, so as far as the atmosphere conveyed, this is more muggy days than foggy nights. enjoyable for the most part, although the highly tedious & annoying character of the son made the last third tough-going at times.
i really don't have much else to say. this was a pleasant and forgettable way to pass an evening. so here are some things to fill out this so-called review:
a mysterious and elaborate narrative done in the classic Dickens style. stays true to the form, particularly in its almost monomaniacal obsession with...morea mysterious and elaborate narrative done in the classic Dickens style. stays true to the form, particularly in its almost monomaniacal obsession with money and property. the extensive research is obvious and helps to make the era vivid and completely real. characterizations were surprisingly flat for such an immense tome... and unfortunately, that includes not only the intriguing supporting cast but the primary characters of son and mother. i also have to say that i was let down by the curiously drab ending... the various activities by the incredibly large number of villains made me long for justice, revenge, just anything, really. wish-fulfillment should never be the goal of any reader but it's hard to avoid wishing for some kind of payback if the catastrophes that befall sympathetic characters are so deviously engineered yet so banally evil... and there certainly was no wish fulfillment in this novel. sigh.
all that said, and drab ending aside, this is a rich and nourishing novel. i read the last third all through one long night and into the next day. sorry, work, i was sick that day.(less)
the hero of this novel, Mr. Norrell, is in many ways a stranger in a strange land, uncomfortable with base emotions and disappointed with the shabbine...morethe hero of this novel, Mr. Norrell, is in many ways a stranger in a strange land, uncomfortable with base emotions and disappointed with the shabbiness and inadequacies of others... yet always yearning for true companionship. a dignified, erudite, and refined gentleman: quietly soulful and elegantly restrained; commanding in his encyclopedic knowledge of the magical arts.
the other character, a fey and unreliable sort apparently named "Jonathan Strange", offers fleeting friendship that is quickly frittered away in tawdry misadventure, misplaced romance, and other assorted bits of ill-conceived and juvenile tomfoolery, often abroad, often with a host of questionable characters. even worse, Strange's nascent addictive personality rears its dark dark head, causing all sorts of trouble with various dire characters that were once thought lost in history. fortunately, Mr. Norrell is a stalwart and brave ally, and his careful guidance soon sets things in their natural order - no thanks to the whimsical and unreliable Strange.
***
an awesome book, one of my favorites. the comparisons with Austen & Dickens have been made repeatedly; i agree. it almost seems silly to review this - it is like some kind of immense edifice, some giant piece of art, or something, that folks should just experience rather than read about. the pacing moves from snail-like and digressive to hallucinatory and lightning fast. the characters are wonderfully complicated. the magic is fascinating. the whole thing is smart and funny and melancholy and charming and just brilliant. plus the footnotes: fantastic! this is a huge novel but i wasn't bored for a second.
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