Challenge Complege: Clocks, Cogs, & Mechanisms

R. A. Vucci is hosting the 5th annual Clocks,Cogs, and Mechanisms Reading Challenge this year. When this challenge was first created, the world of steampunk was still fairly unknown, but not new. This is a genre that has been inspired by the works of H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, and H.P. Lovecraft to name a few. For those who have never experienced steampunk, a typical steampunk novel takes place in the Victorian era and involves lots of steam-powered technologies ahead of their time. There are variations and other time periods that fall into this category, but the Victorian era ones are the most common.

There were the levels to this challenge:

Brass Gears: Read 1-3 books
Flight Goggles: Read 4-7 books
Button-up Boots: Read 8-11 books
Clockwork Corset: Read 12+ book

I don't read a lot of steampunk, but I have enjoyed my brief forays into the genre. So I decided to go light and committed to the Brass Gears level. I finished that up on August 2nd (finally got my review done!). Thanks to R. A. Vucci for hosting this one.

1. The Constantine Affliction by T. Aaron Payton (5/23/17)

2. Johannes Cabal the Detective by Jonathan L. Howard (8/2/17)

Johannes Cabal the Detective

Johannes Cabal the Detective (2010) is the second novel in Jonathan L. Howard's series featuring the steampunk necromancer. I picked it up at the Friends of the Library Bookstore last December primarily so I could have a second book for the Clocks, Cogs, & Mechanisms Challenge. It helped that it was advertised as "Steampunk meets the classic Sherlockian mystery in this rip-roaring adventure where anything could happen . . . and does." The premise sounded very intriguing.

Johannes Cabal is (as mentioned) a necromancer--he knows all sorts of arcane methods to bring the dead back to "life," albeit very briefly and often (at least in this particular installment) to what seems to be very little purpose. Even in a world of steampunk, his talents are not, shall we say, fully appreciated by the average man or woman on the street and most governments find his occupation distasteful to say the least. Which would be why our first sight of Johannes in this story is of him being held prisoner by the court of of Mirkarvian Empire for attempting to steal (oh, pardon me, "borrow" indefinitely) a rare and mysterious book, the Principia Necromantica, from a local university. 

The Emperor's personal bodyguard was content to allow Johannes to rot away in prison for the remainder of his days, but then the Emperor dropped dead just as plans were being hatched to rouse the peasants into pledging their support for destroying the enemy (that would be anybody the Emperor and company pointed out to them) and taking over whatever neighboring countries they could. How handy to have a necromancer hanging out in the dungeons who can reanimate the Emperor long enough to proceed on schedule. Of course, it will then be necessary to do away with the pesky necromancer immediately thereafter.

Johannes is brought forth from the dungeon, performs a bit of necromancy hocus-pocus, and in the confusion that follows (sometimes reanimations just don't go quite as the customer plans...especially when payment will be in blood--Johannes's), he manages to out-fence the bodyguard and escape. It helps that the re-animated Emperor has somehow incited the peasants to revolt against the Empire instead of wreaking havoc in the Emperor's name. The necromancer heads to the Aeroport, spies a government official preparing to board the newest Aeroship to fly under the Mirkarvian flag--a ship that looks like a cross between a dirigible and an aircraft carrier. Most fortuitously, the government official bears a striking resemblance to our hero and Johannes puts him out of commission, swipes his travel documents and boards the Princess Hortense as Herr Gerhard Meissner, an agricultural civil servant.

He makes it on board without incident and all seems to be going well until he is recognized by the feisty Leonie Barrow--a woman with good cause to dislike him and every reason in the world to denounce him. But she doesn't. Johannes has to wonder what's up. But before he can worry about that for too long, a fellow passenger is dead. It is an apparent suicide; it looks like the man has thrown himself out the window to his death. But Johannes notices a few details that seem to add up to murder and not suicide. He's even more sure when someone tries to toss him off the aeroship as well. He and Leonie team up to try and get to the bottom of the mystery aboard the Princess Hortense. Johannes Cabal is not the only person on board who is not who he seems to be....

Howard has written an entertaining novel of adventure and intrigue filled with sly and witty humor, intelligence, and a fine sense of the absurd. He makes references to adventure, detective, and horror genres with the greatest of ease. It's true that Johannes Cabal is not a warm and fuzzy kind of protagonist. He really doesn't like his fellow human beings very much, but one can't help but like him and root for him to find the person who tried to toss him overboard and discover what's really going on aboard the Hortense. The grand finale which Johannes handles with all the panache of a Hercule Poirot denouement is terrific and the interactions between Johannes and Leonie are worth the price of admission. Overall, the characters are unique and interestingly handled. ★★★ and 1/2.

[I'm still dreadfully behind on my reviews--this was finished on 8/2/17.]

The Constantine Affliction: Review

The Constantine Affliction (2012) by T. Aaron Payton (Tim Pratt) is a steampunk mystery meets fantasy meets science fiction meets a few literary allusions along the way. You'll find nods to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Mary Shelley, and Virginia Woolf among the clockwork automatons, alchemical science, and bizarre 1950s-B-movie monsters lurking in the Thames River. I particularly enjoyed discovering the real identity of Adams, the man who does autopsies (and other work) when a murder needs investigating. But I get ahead of myself...

The date is 1864 in Queen Victoria's England. Of course, this is a steampunk version of Victorian times, so it's not quite the Victorian England one is familiar with. There are calculating engines, airships, and flying machine that will soon replace the dirigible airships. There are magnetic field manipulators and clockwork ladies of the evening...and those unspeakable monsters which no one has seen but everyone talks about. There is also the titular Constantine Affliction. A strange disease which, when it doesn't kill the afflicted, mysteriously changes the person's gender after a period of high fever and delirium. The disease has been spread through prostitutes (thus the clockwork variety, immune from disease and easily cleansed) and has reached the highest levels of power--claiming the Queen's consort, Prince Albert as one of the highest profile victims.

From this world, we meet Ellie Skyler, an intrepid female reporter who hides her identity behind the byline E. Skye. To her editor's dismay, she refuses assignments to cover the latest in Paris fashion and writes of the monsters in the river, interviews those who have been Afflicted, and plots to enter a clockwork brothel in (gasp!) male attire. Little does she know that her venture into masculine recreation will lead her to a plot to overthrow the Queen. We also meet Lord Pembroke "Pimm" Halliday, younger son of the aristocracy, who to his family's dismay dabbles in detection. He has been blackmailed into investigating the murders of prostitutes--some of the few remaining of the human variety--working for one of the most notorious men in London. Abel Value threatens to ruin the reputation of Pembroke's wife Winifred (who just happened to have been Pimm's best friend Freddy before the Affliction struck him) if he doesn't investigate.  Like a certain Professor Moriarty from another Victorian England, Abel Value is thought to be behind most of the crime in London--but there is never any evidence to connect him to it. 

Working from different angles, Ellie and Pimm find themselves on the same track and join forces to stop the man who lurks in the shadows behind Value--before monsters even worse than those rumored to be in the Thames are let loose on an unsuspecting England. 

This is a rollicking good novel that could definitely be a fine steampunk mystery series if Payton/Pratt decides to continue with the characters. Pimm and Ellie work well together and make an excellent team as well as an interesting couple. Winifred/Freddy is charming as well--stealing every scene she's in and adding color to the detective efforts. She could have her own book--life after the change and where it takes her after she and Pimm & Ellie sort out their relationship/s. The mystery plot isn't the strongest point--not much of a mystery really and those who want clues to discover on their own may be a bit disappointed, but it's well worth it for the overall story and adventure. Most interestingly, the book addresses issues of gender in a fresh and fascinating way. Should those changed by the Affliction be tied to their birth gender? In a world where inheritance so often was tied to oldest sons--what happens when an eldest daughter changes and becomes the eldest male child? If for no other reason, I would like to see Payton/Pratt write a sequel that examines the results of Victorian adjustment to the new order of things in terms of gender and gender equality. ★★★★


[Finished on 5/23/17]

Clocks, Cogs & Mechanisms Challenge

R. A. Vucci is hosting the 5th annual Clocks,Cogs, and Mechanisms Reading Challenge. When this challenge was first created, the world of steampunk was still fairly unknown, but not new. This is a genre that has been inspired by the works of H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, and H.P. Lovecraft to name a few. For those who have never experienced steampunk, a typical steampunk novel takes place in the Victorian era and involves lots of steam-powered technologies ahead of their time. There are variations and other time periods that fall into this category, but the Victorian era ones are the most common.

Here are the levels to this challenge:

Brass Gears: Read 1-3 books
Flight Goggles: Read 4-7 books
Button-up Boots: Read 8-11 books
Clockwork Corset: Read 12+ book

I have picked up a couple of steampunk mysteries over the past couple years, so I'm going to do the entry-level challenge: Brass Gears.

1. The Constantine Affliction by T. Aaron Payton (5/23/17)

2. Johannes Cabal the Detective by Jonathan L. Howard (8/2/17)