Review: A CONSPIRACY OF ALCHEMISTS by Liesel Schwarz

Elle is an aeropilot willing to do a little smuggling on the DL if it means extra cash. When a French guy name Patrice asks her to take a box to England, however, she bites off more than she can chew and becomes embroiled in... can you guess? A CONSPIRACY OF ALCHEMISTS!

I know I swore off steampunk novels the last time I read one (and the time before that, I believe), but I didn't really clue into the fact that A Conspiracy of Alchemists was steampunk until I started it. I thought it was going to be a fantasy about alchemists set in Paris. Alchemy and Paris goes together like hot dogs and mustard (except I don't really like mustard, but anyway--it's a metaphor). Seriously, there's an entire book written about how the statues on Notre Dame are actually modeled after famous alchemists.

That wasn't this book, obviously. HOWEVER, A Conspiracy of Alchemists did start off really strong. I loved Elle and the setting, and the story was really fast-paced and interesting. Even the descriptions of the steampunky objects were less annoying than they usually are. I was thinking this might be the first steampunk novel I actually liked! And then... the romance started.

Anyone who knows me knows I love romantic subplots, but in the case of A Conspiracy of Alchemists, it was like hitting a brick wall in the believability department. It was SO. CHEESY. You see, in addition to the French guy, Patrice, there's an English guy who is 1. an aristocrat with 2. a dark secret, who 3. is kind of a jerk and pushes all the heroine's buttons. Yet she finds herself irresistibly attracted to him! Actually that wouldn't have even bothered me if I hadn't had to put with descriptions of his man musk and affecting stare and smirk, and everything else that I've read so many times I feel I could recite it. It was almost as if Liesel Schwarz wrote a steampunk novel and then took a generic Build Your Own Romance Novel template and just cut and pasted. No thought whatsoever!

In addition, after a while the story started to fall apart and feel really random, like there was too much going on ALL THE TIME. At some point in a book you want the plot to become less important and the characters to engage your interest, and that just didn't happen in A Conspiracy of Alchemists. I think because Elle has to behave so illogically for the "romance" to work that her character lost consistency. In any case, I stopped enjoying it and got really bored.

Alas and alack, yet another steampunk novel I don't get. But thank you to the publisher for giving me a copy to review!


Further Reading:

• Review: ASHER'S DILEMMA by Coleen Kwan
• WWJAD: Smellovision Edition

Discus this post with me on Twitter, FaceBook, or in the comments below.

Review: ASHER'S DILEMMA by Coleen Kwan

Asher Quigley is a scientist who has created a time machine--I'm sorry, "chronometrical conveyance." After he drops something on it, he's accidentally transported back eight months, where he realizes his true love's existence is about to be erased! Can Future Asher convince Past Asher to destroy the chronometrical conveyance and save Minerva's life?

Even though I'm about to complain about it, Asher's Dilemma was okay. Someone who wasn't me might enjoy it more than I did; but then again, maybe Future Me would dislike it more than I did, especially after reading this review. You just never know! In any case, it started off as funny, although I have my doubts the parts I found funny were meant to be so. Then it turned into a slog and I HATED the ending.

The steampunk element was definitely there--not just in the inventions but also in the descriptions and the characters. For example, Mrs. Nemo (there's a subtle reference for you) was described as having "tuberose" perfume and a boneless way of moving. Um, ew. This would be cool if Mrs. Nemo had something else going on for her, but instead she came off as kind of cartoonish.

I was also expecting more wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff. As the Doctor says, time is non-linear and non-subjective, and Asher's Dilemma was too little of both. Plus I found the interactions between Future Asher and Past Asher very unrealistic. If I met myself, I would probably find myself really annoying. I agree with Seinfeld on that one. Instead, Future Asher seemed to almost be crushing on Past Asher, which was SUPER awkward.

As for Minerva--UHG. At first she seemed kind of cool because her job was creating artificial limbs, but as Asher's Dilemma went on, I wondered if the "dilemma" was what do with Minerva, as she was definitely becoming TSTL. And isn't it kind of suspicious both her parents are crazy pants? By the end I didn't care if she was erased from existence or not. Actually I didn't care if ANY of these characters were erased from existence.

Still, I would have been more forgiving of all of this if Asher's Dilemma was a quick read (at less than 100 pages, one would think it would be), but instead it felt like it went on and on and ON. I think the denouement takes up twenty percent of the book; that's what it felt like, anyway. It either needed to be a lot shorter to speed up the pace of the story, or a lot longer to build a more complicated storyline and deeper attachment to the characters.

In any case, as I stated earlier, it was okay. I heard there was a prequel to Asher's Dilemma; maybe if I'd read that I'd have been more invested in the outcome.

Review: BEHEMOTH and GOLIATH by Scott Westerfeld

Despite my problems with Leviathan (review here), I still felt compelled to go to my library and immediately pick up Behemoth and Goliath. What can I say, I really wanted to know how Alek and Deryn's relationship was going to shake out. So basically I read this entire series in under a month, which for me is quite a glomfest.

If you don't know what the Leviathan series is about, it takes place in an alternate WWI, where the Axis powers' technology is machine-based and the Allies use genetically modified animals for their technology. In Behemoth, Alek, a runaway Austrian prince, and Deryn, a girl serving in the British Air Service, are on board the Darwinist airship Leviathan and headed for Constantinople. Alek needs to escape both the Darwinists and the Germans, but Istanbul is under German control, and both he and the Leviathan are in danger. How will they escape? And will Deryn EVER tell Alek she's a girl?

Shortly after starting Behemoth, I had a revelation: this series is kind of like a steampunk version of Battlestar Galactica! Alek is Apollo, Deryn is Starbuck, Count Volger is Adama, and Dr. Barlow is... Six? Okay, maybe it's not really that much like BSG, but in both cases the only thing I care about is the romance between the two main characters. And as long as Deryn and Alek were together, Behemoth was much more interesting than Leviathan. I loved the interactions between Alek and Deryn, and the scene where Alek confesses he loves the Leviathan may be one of my favorite YA scenes ever.

Another thing that made Behemoth more interesting to me than Leviathan was that there were more women in it! Yay Team Vagina! There were two new female characters: a young woman named Lilit, and her grandmother, Nene. Nene is in charge of a group of Istanbul revolutionaries, and Lilit pilots a walker, fights in her family's revolutionary army, and publishes pamphlets about women's rights. There was definitely some subversion of gender stereotypes in this book--at least as far as the stereotypes the characters have, including Alek, who can't believe a girl would be capable of fighting or piloting a walker.

Even beyond that, though, women are just more visible in the street scenes and society of Istanbul than they were in Germany or England. I feel like the setting itself is more feminized than that of Western Europe and that's at least part of the reason. Both Germany and Britain are attempting to court Istanbul, whose Sultan behaves with remarkable passivity. Even the Istanbul technology, a mix of Darwinist aesthetics and Clanker mechanics, seems like a compromising, gentle version of the two extremes.

Although there were scenes that went on a little too long, and the story definitely lagged in the middle while Deryn and Alek were separated, for the most part I think Behemoth is the best book in the entire series. There's tons of action, and the world building Scott Westerfeld set up in Leviathan starts to really pay off.



In Goliath, Alek and Deryn are headed to Japan on board the Leviathan when a message from the kaiser of Russia (the book's terminology, not mine) reaches them asking for help in a rescue mission. The man they pick up, Nikola Tesla, claims his weapon of mass destruction, the Goliath, will stop WWI. Shades of the atomic bomb! Naturally the British want their hands on this weapon, and soon the Leviathan is sailing over America on its way to London, where the only action the characters are in danger of facing is that which is shouted by a director from behind the lens of a motion picture camera.

Honestly, I was a little disappointed in Goliath. This book is different from the previous two in that the Leviathan is largely removed from the European theater and instead spends at least half the novel in America. Tesla wants to use Alek's notoriety as the lost Hapsburg prince to generate publicity and investors for the Goliath, and as a result the only challenges Alek seems to face have to do with newspaper reporters and cameras.

The fact that I just used the words publicity and investors in the same sentence should tell you all you need to know about this book.

As for Deryn, she wasn't given a lot to do in Goliath. She loses a lot of her swagger and literally spends a good portion of the book in her room, whining over how everyone is going to find out she's Team Vagina. I also felt like her autonomy was undermined in this novel--subtly, but it's still there, especially in the use of cameras. The camera has often been connected to the "male gaze," and when Alek first encounters them he's very uncomfortable about being exposed. Yet soon he's watching--along with a bunch of other men--a woman on the screen in Perils of Pauline, and when Deryn is captured on film it presages the fact that she's about to be exposed as a female.

As far as the threat of Tesla's superweapon was concerned, I thought was a little lame. I was never entirely sure how the Goliath worked, what it was supposed to do, or why I should care. It was quite snooze-worthy, and I couldn't help but wish the Leviathan had headed west instead of east.

I do still love the world of this series as a whole, and a part of me even wishes there were more books about the Leviathan to read, but I think the highpoint of the series was definitely Behemoth.

Review: LEVIATHAN by Scott Westerfeld

Look, it's a pretty decent book trailer!

In 1914, Europe teeters on the edge of an all-encompassing war. Alek, a Hapsburg prince, is a "Clanker"--the term for people whose technology is reliant on machines. Deryn, a girl just inducted into the British Air Service, is a Darwinist--those who develop animals into their technology (clearly they're the good guys). Alek and Deryn probably would never meet under normal circumstances, but with a war going on anything can happen.

I normally steer clear of novels with the premise of Leviathan, but when I read Lusty Reader's great review of Goliath, I decided to give it a try, since I know we tend to love the same books. First of all, I have to say that as a physical object Leviathan is gorgeous--great, tactile cover, lovely thick paper, and lots of illustrations (have I ever mentioned I LOVE books with illustrations?). On top of that, it tells an awesome story. Yes, there were some battle scenes that started to feel a bit long-ish, but for the most part this is the type of novel that feels like it's going by really fast. I'm not sure I would say it was unputdownable, but it was pretty engaging.



That being said, I feel like I enjoyed Leviathan despite my better judgment, because it's kind of sexist. I already touched on this a bit in Fun with Gender Stereotypes (post here), but that was really just the tip of the iceberg with this novel. In this entire book there are only two women. TWO WOMEN. IN THE ENTIRE WORLD of this story.

That. Is ridiculous.

Now, one might say that since the book is set during WWI and takes place largely on an airship, this makes sense. But that is such a cop-out response. Firstly, this is a fantasy version of WWI, so Scott Westerfeld could write women into the armed forces if he wanted; other steampunk authors have done so. Secondly, in real life there were thousands of women involved in WWI, so including them would actually be more historically accurate than not. And thirdly, although much of the book does take place in a military setting, there are a few civilian scenes, and there are no women there, either! When Alek visits the German village, all the people he takes note of or interacts with--even just to buy a paper--are men. The same is true when Deryn is in Regent's Park--aside from the lady boffin, the other female character in Leviathan, all the people doing anything worthy of description are men.

So, as far as the reader is concerned, the only two females who are physically present in the world of this book are Deryn and Dr. Barlow (both Deryn's and Alek's mothers are mentioned, in that they have mothers--obvs. But Deryn's mother is mentioned in passing, exists only off-page, and exerts zero influence on the narrative; the same is true for Alek, whose mother is killed before the book even starts. Compare that to both of the main characters' fathers, who exert a very strong influence on their decisions in the story and, while existing off-page, are both more fully realized characters). Once again I have to say: two whole women in the entire continent of Europe, really?! And let's take a look at these women.

First and foremost, we have Deryn, who is pretending to be a boy named Dylan so she can serve in the British Air Service. The BAS doesn't allow women, apparently. While I understand that Westerfeld might have wanted to give her a secret for narrative purposes, it doesn't feel fully realized. Deryn doesn't stew over inequality based solely on gender, has no qualms over how she's going to hide things like her menstrual cycle, or considers alternative where she doesn't have to lie and pretend to be a boy. And while she fits in with the crew with astonishing ease, there are still broad statements about gender that seem pretty sexist. For example, the only thing Deryn dislikes about hanging with boys 24/7 is that they're super-competitive. Really? Because girls aren't competitive? How many women did you spend time with back in Scotland, Deryn?

Thirdly, Deryn's status as a strong female character derives entirely from the fact that she's pretending to be a male. She wouldn't even BE in this book if she wasn't pretending to be a boy. The reason why we think of her as a "strong female" is basically because she looks and acts like a boy. So basically erase every speck of femininity you can and you'll be a strong woman? Nice one.

Secondly, there's Dr. Barlow. While Dr. Barlow makes no secret of the fact that she's a woman, Deryn makes a big deal out of noting how unusual it is for a woman to hold Dr. Barlow's position as a prominent boffin, or scientist. And how did Dr. Barlow come by such a career? Why is she so well-respected? Is it because she's intelligent, has worked her ass off for years and demands people's respect? Is it because she sacrificed a personal life and family for her career? NOPE IT'S BECAUSE SHE'S RELATED TO A FAMOUS MAN. Seriously, that is the only backstory we're given--or apparently need to know--about the only other woman in Leviathan.

The sum being that our two female characters have gotten where they are in life--which is to say, worthy of the notice of a story--by hitching a ride on the penis train: either by being more or less male, or by virtue of their fathers. Nice. Sorry if you have a vagina, kids, better luck next time! Just resign yourselves to a completely powerless existence without any autonomy now and make it easier on yourselves. I suppose technically Leviathan passes the Bechdel Test, because Dr. Barlow and Deryn do discuss beasties and not men on a few occasions; but I'm not sure it counts if, as far as Dr. Barlow is concerned, Deryn's a male.

Obviously I'm not the target audience for this novel--that would be teenage boys, to state the glaringly obvious--but I was a little taken aback by some of the sexiest assumptions running through Leviathan. So even though I did enjoy the story, and want to find out how Deryn and Alek are going to get together, I can't help but feel ambivalent about it.

The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook

Musical Notes: "I Want You So Bad I Can't Breathe," by OK Go



Review:

Steampunk, woe is thee. This is the second steampunk book I've read and the second one that I felt was a let-down, although certainly not in the same way Soulless was. With Soulless, the romance was the only part of the novel I enjoyed; with The Iron Duke, the romance was ridiculous and really spoiled the entire thing for me. Which is a shame, because as an adventure novel, this one was pretty hot, with tons of bigger ideas working their way through the world Brook has created.

Inspector Mina something-or-other is at a ball (whyyyy do these things always start at balls?) when she receives a report that a body has literally dropped out of the sky and landed on the doorstep of England's greatest hero, the Iron Duke. No, it's not the Duke of Wellington--it's Rhys Trahaearn, a former pirate captain who single-handedly tore England out from the grip of the wicked Horde invaders. Rhys becomes obsessed with making Mina "his" almost immediately after meeting her, and meanwhile they have to travel all over the place on air ships to solve the mystery of the dead body.

Neither Mina or Trahaearn are fully realized characters, and their "romance" feels completely inauthentic to the story. If you're looking for the type of book where relationships feel like they develop and progress organically, do not go here. Rhys is consumed with possessing Mina almost from their first meeting, and Mina is equally determined not to let him--as for the why behind either emotion, I have no idea. Rhys becomes completely stalkerish, and yet we're given no insight into his attraction. As for Mina, she was even more annoying--she calls Rhys "immoral," even though there is absolutely no sign of even a hint of immorality about him; she says a relationship between them could not work, but never tells or shows us why; she refuses all sexual contact with him even though she is attracted to him because she had one medium-bad sexual experience with a woman twenty freaking years ago (does she have no sense of curiosity?); and then magically, at exactly the 2/3rds mark, she changes her mind and decides to sleep with him anyway.  And has zero issues.  Except they still can't be together because...? It's like an editor said, "Have them kiss 1/3rd into it, fuck 2/3rds into it, then have x y and z happen, and don't let them get together until the very end because we need to keep people interested."



If the manufactured romance had been taken out of it, this novel would have been much more successful. I like the world Brook created, which is more of a technological steampunk than a literary steampunk (as we saw in Soulless). It's incredibly visual and also very political. The Horde (whose name was obviously inspired by the Mongol Horde) is described as Asian in appearance, although Brook never comes right out and says this. In the press, Horde are visualized with the same stereotypes that Japanese and Chinese people were in America during WWII, and Mina faces a lot of racism because of her Horde appearance (yet never from Trahaearn or his associates, again no explanation given). There's also an undercurrent of political and social commentary that goes beyond the Horde: at one point the characters discuss how cigars are addictive and bad for your health (don't smoke kids!); they discover a weapon with atomic bomb-like capabilities that political figures want to use to wipe buggers, or "non-pure" humans, off the map (don't commit genocide, kids!); and Trahaearn goes into a rant about how politicians who don't do anything to help their constituents piss him off (don't elect republicans, kids!). There's also something about women being allowed to marry, but that was just confusing and kind of pointless.

When the action scenes were happening, the writing was simply great. There are naval battles, fights with zombies, and riots in the street. Those parts were very exciting and riveting. But it's a long walk to get to these gems, a very long walk through bad editing, extremely awkward sex scenes, and characters behaving in a way that makes no sense except as an obvious convenience to whatever plot Brook thinks she's leading us through. 

Basically, I'm just really pissed the romance sucked. It makes me feel like I wasted my time on this novel; not to mention that the more I think about it, the more I can see massive kraken-sized holes in the plot. If you can read this book in one sitting, you'll probably enjoy it, but don't take a break to think through what's actually happening in it.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Soulless

Soulless by Gail Carriger*

Source:  Once again, the library.

Soulless is an urban fantasy novel with a steampunk twist.  And yes, it is as cool as it sounds.

The place is Victorian London, and our noble heroine, Alexia Tarabotti, is settling in at a ball.  However, she's not in the ballroom, she's in the library, where she's ordered tea be brought to her.  She's about to enjoy her lovely repast when a very rude vampire comes into the room and attacks her!  Fortunately for Alexia, she's a preternatural--which means any supernatural creature she touches immediately loses all said powers.  Thus Alexia finds it ridiculously easy to stake the poorly-dressed vampire.

This incident spawns a flurry of activity around Alexia.  Her nemesis, the head of BUR (can't remember what that stands for at the moment, but it's an agency of supernaturals that polices supernaturals), and the Alpha of the London werewolf pack, Lord Maccon, quickly arrives and the two start squabbling.  It's obvious Lord Maccon harbors a deep-seated attraction for Alexia, which Alexia never notices because she believes herself to be completely unattractive and a spinster for life.  Beyond that, there's also the question of the vampire--where did he come from?  New vampires aren't made every day, and when they are they have to be registered with the BUR.  Yet this one wasn't registered.  Also, why was he so poorly dressed and what on earth was the butler thinking to let him into the ball?

As I mentioned earlier, this is a very cool, new twist on urban fantasy.  I absolutely loved the world Gail Carriger created with Soulless, blending legends about vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures with history in a very clever way.  And I love, love, loved the cthulhu shout-out (a secret:  octopuses are my favorite animals).  Yet the book didn't sustain my interest all the way through, mainly due to two things:  Alexia, and the point of view.

Alexia believes herself to be unattractive because her very shallow mother and half-sisters have told her so for as long as she can remember (they are absolutely loathesome characters, btw).  Yet Alexia herself judges people based on their appearance all the freaking time.  Criticizing the vampire for his shirt was just the first in a long line of such correlations drawn between dress and character.  When people are described in this book, there is much attention paid to their attire, whether or not it is appropriate for the time of day and activity, whether it is of good quality, and then the observations move on to their manners and social standing.  I know this is supposed to be Victorian Britain, but give me a break!  I don't know if Alexia ever judges anyone based on behavior rather than appearance--perhaps Professor Lupin Lyall, Maccon's beta (because he's nice to her), and Mr. MacDougall at the very end of the novel, but that's about it.  Plus, I found it incredibly hypocritical of Alexia to call her mother and sisters shallow, when in fact she's just as shallow as they are; she's just more passive-aggressive about it. 

The center of any urban fantasy novel is the kick-ass heroine (or hero, although they tend to be more of the bumbling variety--i.e., Harry Dresden).  Alexia is not kick-ass.  She behaves with decorum and propriety in almost every situation, and expects others to do the same.  The exception is her meetings with Lord Maccon, which take a very unproper turn from the start.  Yet even in these encounters, Alexia seemed fairly passive.  I would have adored it if Alexia finally grew a spine at some point in the book, but character development doth not exist here.  Even after she's been kidnapped and knows she's going to die, she obeys her kidnappers and basically cooperates with them.  It's a good thing Lord Maccon was around, or she'd be soulless toast at the end.

That brings me to the point of view.  Lord Maccon is a great character, but I didn't need to know what he was thinking in this novel--it was obvious enough without it being spelled out for me.  Slowly.  Nor did I need to know what Lyall, Mr. MacDougall, Ivy, or the dozens of other secondary characters in this book were thinking.  Not only was the switch from one character's viewpoint to another's choppy and unclear, it ruined any and all suspense that might have been derived from the story.  We know Maccon is attracted to Alexia, so her not seeing it was simply tiresome.  Similarly, I solved the mystery of the poorly-dressed vampire before half of the book was finished.  Quite frankly, there is nothing in this book that is not absolutely obvious--no hidden agendas, no twists, no secrets.  Even the bad guys are perfectly up-front about what they're doing.  If Carriger took on the Victorian obsession with appearances and politeness, why couldn't she have adopted their literary habit of implying the darkest of things without ever saying them?  Like Alexia herself, this book seemed very shallow.

There were parts of Soulless that I definitely enjoyed (basically all the scenes with Lord Maccon), but there weren't enough of them for me to like the whole book.  I can see why others people liked it--it's definitely likable--but the lack of story telling and characterization beyond clothing put me off, and the hipness quotient wasn't enough to make up for it. 

Will I read the second book it the series?  Maybe.  The world and characters still have potential--but I definitely won't be approaching it with high expectations.



Other opinions:
Babbling About Books, And More!
Monkey Bear Reviews
Book Smugglers (probably the only people who dislike this book as much as I do, aside from Kay at Infinite Shelf)
Booklust
Loves Vampires
Dear Author
E. M. Reads
Angieville
I know a lot of other people have reviewed this book--did I forget to include yours?  If so, please let me know in the comments!

*This is NOT an Amazon Associates link.  It will take you to the author's website, from whence you can find many links to buy the book.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Thursday Tea

It's time for Thursday Tea again!

Thursday Tea is a weekly meme hosted by Anastasia at Birdbrain(ed) Books. To play along, all you need is some tea, a book, and the will to answer some very simple questions: what tea are you drinking (and do you like it)? What book are you reading (and do you like it)? Tell us a little about your tea and your book, and whether or not the two go together.

Tonight I decided to drink Republic of Tea's Wuyi Oolong, probably one of my favorite teas everrrr.  Even though it is righteous expensive (almost $20 for a 1.75 ounce tin), it is so totally worth it.  The tea is smooth, buttery, with a hint of peach.  Mmmm.


Shop Indie Bookstores

Because I was putting together a steampunk-styled theme for my blog, I decided I was in the mood for a futuristic setting and picked up Grimspace by Ann Aguirre.  I'm not even at the twenty page mark, but so far it's full of action.  Me like action.  The main character, Sarantha Jax, is also very intruiging (is it just me or do a lot of characters in these futuristic novels have names like Jax?).  She's a Jumper--not entirely sure what that means yet--who killed her partner.  At the moment, she's being sprung out of jail by a mysterious, be-suited man who has the power to knock people unconscious with his eyes.  Wowsa.

Does my book and my tea go together?  Not at all.  A more appropriate drink for Grimspace would probably be 2-day-old coffee or tang.  I'd say a plain old Lipton tea, if I had to go with a tea choice.

What are you drinking and reading this Thursday?

Powered by ScribeFire.