Adventures with a Promethean, by Sylvia Kelso

Adventures with a Promethean by Sylvia Anne Kelso

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


On the front cover (which is beautiful), one can read this: "Not your usual riff on Frankenstein ..." Definitely! Set in the 1820s, this "lovely romance" and "lovely adventure" is narrated by the "earnest and gallant" Anton Zyli, a Swiss banker, and begins when he happens to encounter the Promethean, the Creature in the original, here, known as William. He is as urbane and educated as his inspiration. William leads Anton to Mary, and so the adventures begin. This unlikely pair is in trouble. William's creator is after him, perhaps to eliminate him, perhaps to repeat the science that made him. William has vowed to prevent the latter. Anton must help them.

Complications ensue and Anton helps them to flee far from Geneva, to Brazil. Ten years later, he receives a letter from Mary: help, please come. He loves her, he is a hero. Anton goes across the Atlantic for more adventures, this time down the Amazon.

As Lois McMaster Bujold , author of the Penric and Desdemona series, notes, it is Anton's voice and character that make this novel a "delightful" read. The details of place and time, of culture and language, add to this adventure novel, making it rich and so very engaging. I loved it and found it compelling to the very end. To echo Candas Jane Dorsey, author of The Adventures of Isabel, this novel is a "joy to read."

Recommended.



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