Biographische Denkmale

Castle Falkenstein

by Karl August Varnhagen von Ense

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. This text refers to the Bibliobazaar edition.

Genres: Fantasy, Steampunk, Alternate History, Science Fiction, Gaming

560 pages, Paperback

First published December 22, 1995

About the author

Karl August Ludwig Philipp Varnhagen von Ense was a German biographer, diplomat, and a soldier in the Austrian army.

Reviews

[Derek]

That Tom Olam fell into this fantasy Europe some time ago and is now in the high echelons of the Bavarian secret service does the book credit, respecting the reader more than many do. But then, Olam and the other major characters figure greatly into the fiction and metafiction of the Castle Falkenstein rulebook itself.

The story seemed determined to puncture its own momentum. For one written in such a lighthearted tone, it took a hundred pages to engage on all cylinders, and once it did, Lord Auberon of the Seelie Court popped in twice to save the heroes from certain doom. While this was thematically appropriate--the Seelie and Unseelie manipulate events in some unseen Great Game of this world--it was hard to assign significant value to the actions of the human participants when all was said and done.

The setting resembles something between Terry Pratchett and the Girl Genius comic minus that one's frenetic slapstick and persistent dark tone. Magic is mixed with a steampunkery (sometimes literally) in something that verges on the fairy-tale and doesn't have much depth.

[John]

This is an alternate history genre mashup of steampunk and fantasy based on the RPG Castle Falkenstein. It is the first of two novels set in the Castle Falkenstein setting, but if you start with this novel without first being familiar with the game, then it will feel as if you picked up the second book in a series by mistake. The book assumes the reader is already familiar with the main characters, and several supporting characters, that were introduced in the game.

Like the title, the story itself borrows tropes and plot from James Bond’s adventures. One of the main characters even takes the name “Bond” as an alias at one point, just in case you somehow missed all the previous nods and winks.

Not bad if you like Bond style failing forward in an action adventure novel. The main character is always failing to fully achieve what he sets out to do, but still manages to get closer to an eventual solution to the problem.

[Nis]

I know Castle Falkenstein is over the top Steampunk, but I still feel this book makes it too much of a joke

[Paul]

A 19th century Europe where all the fictional characters you know are real, Sherlock Holmes, Nemo, Fu-Manchu. Magic is real and the various secret societies practice ritual magic, and the Seelie and the Unseelie courts exist. A great swashbuckling adventure through an alternate Europe. The Germans (well the Bavarians, not the Prussians) are the good guys and King Ludwig is not mad. The Prussians are still trying to rule the world and a Bavarian secret agent must stop the Prussian rocket program by kidnapping an Italian fireworks manufacturer.

Very firmly tongue-in-cheek but a great read.