The man who (somewhat unintentionally) coined the term "steampunk" takes us on a fun ride brimming with grounded absurdity in "Infernal Devices." This 1987 novel clatters along nicely in its Victorian England setting, with souped-up machines, peeks into the future and crazed inventors leading the book's narrator on a romp through gaslit streets, swampy country darkness and Scottish isles.

Jeter sets up his tale in rather ordinary fashion, and its gears have to shake off rust before it picks up steam. The early going is deceptively ordinary (for the genre) and one wonders whether the author will lead us along sufficiently interesting paths. He does, though the tale isn't perfect and doesn't necessarily reach the standards of others who have dabbled in the genre, such as Tim Powers and James P. Blaylock.

The tale opens in the shop of George Dower, who has inherited a clock/watch shop from his mysterious father but doesn't have much of a clue about the business. A strange "Ethiope" leaves with Dower an equally strange device that needs fixing, somebody tries to steal it, and, when the story's gears finally catch, we're off on a tale involving strange folk with fish-like aspects, clockwork automatons that mimic humans, a man and woman using strangely modern speech who may be friend or foe (or both), a wealthy recluse who thinks he has a machine that can vibrate the world into destruction, plus the appearance of a few more gizmos besides. Jeter, through Dower telling the tale after his adventure's end, drops foggy hints from time to time of what has happened to Dower and his aide, Creff; they're fun bits of foreshadowing.

In his freewheeling tale, Jeter's performance sometimes is more delightful in its plot perambulations, twists and flights of considerable imagination than in its in-the-moment execution; sometimes we feel less as if we're absorbed hip-deep in the tale than standing at a window watching the odd happenings. "Infernal Devices" was, for me, a very strong three-star tale until a series of double-whammies near the climax made it pretty much irresistable. Points, too, for the novel's importance in steampunk's development. Jeter, using the narrative voice of a 19th century protagonist, provides a fun example of the steampunk genre, one he apparently never really did much with afterward (this is my first Jeter novel). Those looking for realism (why would you?) will be disappointed, but the tale is not ludicrous; it's just a lot of fun, even if I sometimes wished it were more fearsome.

It's great to have this long-out-of-print book available again under the Angry Robot imprint, but I do have a few bones to pick with the publisher. This incarnation of "Infernal Devices" contains an astonishing number of typographical errors, possibly the most I've ever seen. It's alarming, really, and would be quite unforgivable if the tale weren't such a hoot.