Steampunk

[Litany]

My wife read Boneshaker and she seemed to like it.

Boneshaker was ace. Zombies and Zeppelins.

 

[sparkchaser]

Anyone know if there is a steampunk story out there that has steam powered mechs from the North and South battling each other over States' Rights? If not, there should be. That would be badass.

Images related.

 

[scribeswindow]

Well last night I picked up Perdido street station, which is one of the titles on my newly created list of steampunk reading. Only chapter three so far, and boy is it one heavy tome!!!

 

[Litany]

It is pretty dense, but it's worth sticking with. I had some issues visualising the khepri, I still haven't decided in my brain how I best like the beetle head stuck on. I think in that book The Weaver is my favourite character. My favourite book of his is The Scar, there's some overlap in the two stories and considerably more pirates. It's an easier read too. More action and bit less dense.

 

[scribeswindow]

I'm really enjoying it so far, it's very readable. I haven't come across The Weaver as yet. I''ve tried escaping to the bedroom with my coffee for a quick read this morning whilst my youngest was napping and my three year old was colouring. Just not enough hours in the day......

 

[scribeswindow]

You know that you're enjoying a book when you're doing the dishes and you can't stop thinking about it. This is what's happening with Perdido street station. I'm halfway through. I have this irrational, inordinate fear of caterpillars, so there's been some squeamishness happening on my part....... The moths have been set free, so now what??? Will try and steal away this afternoon for more reading.

 

[scribeswindow]

Well I can certainly see why this book is included in the Steampunk genre, but it's also a blend of fantasy and sci-fi. I really liked his characters, although I wanted Motley to get more of a come-uppance at the end by the hands of the Weaver!

Great book, I slowed my reading down at the end to savour it just that much more. On a personal note, my father passed away during this read, so I will probably remember it in that light too.

 

[sparkchaser]

Sorry for your loss, scribeswindow.

Also, you have convinced me to read Perdido Street Station.

 

[scribeswindow]

I'm reading the next steampunk novel on my list, Soulless. It's got a strong romantic element which may not be everyone's cup of tea. I'm only a couple of chapters in and it's the author's first book so the writing sometimes feels a little stilted, or clunky. I know she's written another two, so hopefully the writing will smooth out.

So far I really like it. For those who like it's got vampires and werewolves in it - I never jumped on the Stephanie Meyer bandwagon. I love books set during the victorian era and you can definitely see the author's self-confessed favourite author Jane Austen coming through. The writing also reminds me of Elizabeth Peters when she wrote the Amelia Peabody series, but the subject is completely different, one dealing with 19th century egypt and archeology, and this with the supernatural. But they've both got light mystery and I really enjoy a good cozy.

 

[Litany]

I found Soulless a bit formulaic. The beautiful, talented heroine that thinks she's plain and unwanted only to inspire great lust in the handsome powerful hero. The idea was good, but the execution let it down. It was like if Mills and Boon had a supernatural section. Actually, Mills and Boon may well have a supernatural section.

 

[perzephone]

It's in the YA section, but Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy probably fits into fantasy steampunk. I devoured The Golden Compass when the trailer for the movie came out, (armored warrior bears are right up my alley) & I must say the book was far, far better than the movie.

 

[scribeswindow]

I found Soulless a bit formulaic. The beautiful, talented heroine that thinks she's plain and unwanted only to inspire great lust in the handsome powerful hero. The idea was good, but the execution let it down. It was like if Mills and Boon had a supernatural section. Actually, Mills and Boon may well have a supernatural section.

Yes, I completely agree with that. However sometimes I don't mind a bit of a mindless read. I don't know if that makes sense? I'm glad I read it after Perdido street station. I hope her next one's in the series are better.

 

[scribeswindow]

I read the first Philip Pullman a few years ago and couldn't quite get into the series. I think it was maybe the talking bears?? Recently I recorded The golden compass but I'm yet to sit down and watch it.

 

[Litany]

Yes, I completely agree with that. However sometimes I don't mind a bit of a mindless read. I don't know if that makes sense? I'm glad I read it after Perdido street station. I hope her next one's in the series are better.

I'm not against a mindless read, and the rest of the story was fun. It was just the romance element that grated. I haven't tried the next one, but I'll probably get around to it at some point.

If you want to try something more involved then you might like The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters. It's set in an invented location, but you might as well call it Victorian England. A young lady gets jilted by her fiance and sets out to find out why he dumped her and ends up discovering a massive conspiracy involving some very dodgy characters indeed. It's very action-packed and I thought it was good fun, but it gets a lot of mixed reviews on Amazon. It does have a lot of characters in it and it takes a while to get them all straight in your head but I adored it. The author does waffle about a fair bit, so I can see that grated on people that don't enjoy his style, but I did so I enjoyed his waffling. Maybe find a copy in a book shop and read a couple of pages first to check you don't hate it first. It's a long book and I don't like sending people off to read books that a lot of other people hated.

If you do enjoy it, be warned the sequel is sub par and with hindsight I probably wouldn't bother reading it.

 

[scribeswindow]

I bought Dream Eaters on a whim a couple of years ago and absolutely loved it. I haven't read the sequels though, and they're on my steampunk booklist..... I think I'll still check out the sequels because I loved the first so much. Did you feel that there was sexual tension between the female character and the guy with the scar? I've forgotten their names and my copy is packed away in a box somewhere? I'm hoping this might be explored further?? Don't tell me though!!!!!!

 

[Litany]

Chang and Isobel? Oh yes. But then, after they looked through the glass cards, there was sexual tension between pretty much everyone. When you say sequels, does that mean you bought the version with the first book split in two? If so, then you definitely want to read the second half of the Dream Eaters. In the Dark Volume they spend even more time apart than they did in the Dream Eaters, so there's a lot of thinking about people, but not a lot of resolved issues. And then it ends in a way that suggests there's a third book, but so far there's no third book.

 

[scribeswindow]

I probably need to double check this on Amazon or some other bookshop website. I'm pretty sure that I've read the whole first book (it was pretty thick). I remember when I made my steampunk reading list, seeing two other sequels? Unless one of them was the second half? I know that the book had chapters devoted to each character in the version I read.

 

[scribeswindow]

Okay, have just checked Amazon and you're right, there's only one sequel The dark volume. So I've read the first book. I remember thinking the book was good but could have been three hundred pages shorter.

 

[Will]

Hi, Perdido Street Station is a seriously awesome book - but as earlier posters mentioned can be heavy going at times. The world Mieville creates is so rich, and he puts huge amount of effort into crafting it. I find that there's so much of Dickens hidden away in his descriptions of the metropolis he has created. I read this over Christmas last year and was up until the early hours totally enchanted by his world - that is quite steampunk by the way (to stay relevant to the thread) but it's not really a book easily put into a genre. Definitely weird fiction, but so much else too.

Loved the Weaver too by the way.

 

[Litany]

This is ace. We're building up a little steampunk gang. I say we sneak back at night and replace the forum workings with brass cogs and ether.