My expectations were erect and fully engorged going into this story. A steampunky Tombstone meets Terminator, complete with android sex machines, magic, zombies, and even a vampire…my inner nerd was swooning.


And then...well...Shit!!

Like getting doused with ice water, my happy quickly shrunk and went limp, which is a tough thing to adknowledge, espcially since Mike Resnick is one of my favorite storytellers. Yet, despite having all of the ingredients for a fun-loaded page turner, the book never really got me going. The promise of the premise quickly petered out and the whole thing stalled somewhere short of likeable.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn't a bad read. Resnick’s prose is very, very readable, and the pacing was brisk enough that I read all 300 pages in a single sitting. That says something good about the story. I’d say it’s between okay and good (hence my 2.5 star rating).

It’s just that my nerdlinger hopes were dashed and I was left disappointed, which probably left me judging the book a bit more harshly than it really deserves.

I can’t help it…I just feel let down.


PLOT SUMMARY:

The novel, book 1 of a proposed series, takes place in an alternative 19th century America, where the United States never expanded beyond the Mississippi River. The westward expansion was halted by tribes of Native Americans. The most power of these tribes are led by Geronimo, whose “medicine men” possess magic formidable enough to create a stale-mate with the U.S. Territories like Tombstone, Arizona, while located within the Native American sphere of influence are pretty much left alone so long as they do not interfere with the tribes.

Well, along comes Thomas Edison and Ned Buntline, whose invention of electricity and electric trains have transformed Tombstone into a thriving city, while the development of brass has provided buildings, trains, and people with protection against the weapons of the Native Americans. Throw in the recently developed “gatling” machine pistol being used by the United States and the Native American’s are growing nervous.

The central plot surrounds Edison’s latest project, an attempt to neutralize the magic of the Native Americans so that expansion of the U.S. can continue to the Pacific Ocean. Several powerful groups are trying to kill Edison before he completes his work, and the Earp brothers (Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan), Doc Holliday, and Bat Masterson, have been hired to protect Edison, while also trying to uncover who’s trying to murder him.

This all leads to an alternate version of the story of the O.K. Corral.

THOUGHTS:

Decent…that’s the best I can do, which is a shame because it could have been something terrific. Instead, it turned out to be the literary equivalent of a bag of potato chips. A decent, diverting read, but nothing you are going to remember when you’re finished.

On a positive note, the end of the novel left me with some hope that future novels may develop several interesting threads involving the ongoing struggle between the U.S. and Native American tribes. That was the most interesting aspect of this book, and if subsequent novels more fully explore this, good things may happen.

As for this one…


Turns out...quite a lot.

2.5 stars.