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xenialuet's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.5
helped me understand what steampunk is, the punk part especially
mmhhbean's review
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
this book is a lovely collection of stories that will keep surprising you with just how odd the next one might be
ipacho's review
5.0
One of the most amazing short story anthology I've ever read, each tale even more fantastic and full of wondrous images. I never thought it was possible to create such diverse array of tales in one so-novel genre. A fantastic inspiration!
halfmanhalfbook's review
3.0
I have never read any Steampunk so this seemed to be a good place to start. There are 26 different short stories in here from stars of the genre like Cherie Priest to others that I have never heard of. As with any short story collection you do get a mixed bag. There were some really good ones that captured the essence of Steampunk perfectly, with the machines, dirigibles and automata making you feel that the time machine that you had just stepped out of had bought you to a very different world. Others didn’t work for me, either because they didn’t have the right Victorian feel, or seem Steampunk enough.
Not bad overall, but not outstanding. It has give me the impetus to explore the genre further though.
Not bad overall, but not outstanding. It has give me the impetus to explore the genre further though.
dee2799d's review
3.0
The last few stories were so-so. All in all I feel like there are more stories here that I didn't really enjoy too much as opposed to the stories that I did love, but I'm going to give this three stars for the latter alone. Jeff VanderMeer and Caitlin R. Kiernan are strong writers, as per usual. And I read a couple of writers here whose work I would defo look out for: N.K. Jemisin, as I already mentioned. Shweta Narayan's 'The Mechanical Aviary of Emperor Jala-ud-din Muhammed Akbar', Margo Lanagan's 'Machine Maid', and Megan Arkenberg's 'The Celebrated Carousel of the Margravine of Blois' are pretty strong stories as well.
Some stories do feature LGBTQ characters (like I've mentioned, and hey, it's in my LGBTQ shelf!), namely:
'The Effluent Engine', N.K. Jemisin. Set in New Orleans, this story is about a female spy from Haiti, who asks help from an inventor (one of the gens de couleur libres) to help her with the building of a machine that would help them produce methane as a by-product of making rum. He wasn't amenable to helping her, but his sister was. I loved this, it was so fun!
'The Armature of Flight', Sharon Mock. Sad little story about a man who met a flashboy (that is not even a proper word, but the only way I can describe him) while out slumming. It's a last chance at love before he had to go back and fulfill his familial duties, very melancholy and sad.
'The Hands that Feed', Matthew Kressel. A story about lying and thieving and what a person must do in order to survive. Sad, as well, but I thought the characters weren't fleshed out too well. And romantic love wasn't even that necessary here. But yes, another non-white lesbian story.
'To Follow the Waves', Amal El-Mohtar. Another favourite, because of the sensual details. A dream-maker sees a woman in a cafe and inadvertently uses the woman as a basis for the dreams she's making for her patrons. But her Muse has other ideas. One review summarises this as 'A dream maker's dream come true', and that's pretty accurate. But at the same time, we don't get the happy ever after. We don't get the perfect dream girl who is nice and pliable. We get a real person, who has a harsh voice, and who doesn't want to be someone's Muse. In short, characters who are surprisingly more fleshed out than the ones in the story above, even though the Muse-character barely made actual appearance.
'The Celebrated Carousel of the Margravine of Blois', Megan Arkenberg. An old woman in a gothic house, an exorcist, and several ghosts. I loved this story to bits. It's about moving on, doomed love affairs, and the magic in creating something.
I can see why some of the stories in this collection felt unfinished or lacked closure (as said in some of the reviews), since there's so much you can do with 7,000 words or so, and some of them would probably work better as a novella. But anyway. It's an ok collection. At least there was some decent lesbian steampunk stories? :P
Some stories do feature LGBTQ characters (like I've mentioned, and hey, it's in my LGBTQ shelf!), namely:
'The Effluent Engine', N.K. Jemisin. Set in New Orleans, this story is about a female spy from Haiti, who asks help from an inventor (one of the gens de couleur libres) to help her with the building of a machine that would help them produce methane as a by-product of making rum. He wasn't amenable to helping her, but his sister was. I loved this, it was so fun!
'The Armature of Flight', Sharon Mock. Sad little story about a man who met a flashboy (that is not even a proper word, but the only way I can describe him) while out slumming. It's a last chance at love before he had to go back and fulfill his familial duties, very melancholy and sad.
'The Hands that Feed', Matthew Kressel. A story about lying and thieving and what a person must do in order to survive. Sad, as well, but I thought the characters weren't fleshed out too well. And romantic love wasn't even that necessary here. But yes, another non-white lesbian story.
'To Follow the Waves', Amal El-Mohtar. Another favourite, because of the sensual details. A dream-maker sees a woman in a cafe and inadvertently uses the woman as a basis for the dreams she's making for her patrons. But her Muse has other ideas. One review summarises this as 'A dream maker's dream come true', and that's pretty accurate. But at the same time, we don't get the happy ever after. We don't get the perfect dream girl who is nice and pliable. We get a real person, who has a harsh voice, and who doesn't want to be someone's Muse. In short, characters who are surprisingly more fleshed out than the ones in the story above, even though the Muse-character barely made actual appearance.
'The Celebrated Carousel of the Margravine of Blois', Megan Arkenberg. An old woman in a gothic house, an exorcist, and several ghosts. I loved this story to bits. It's about moving on, doomed love affairs, and the magic in creating something.
I can see why some of the stories in this collection felt unfinished or lacked closure (as said in some of the reviews), since there's so much you can do with 7,000 words or so, and some of them would probably work better as a novella. But anyway. It's an ok collection. At least there was some decent lesbian steampunk stories? :P
koreenmica's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
daveversace's review
5.0
As the name implies, this is a massive volume showcasing the broad possibilities encompassed by the term 'steampunk'. There are dirigibles as far as the eye can see, certainly, as well as mad inventors, clockwork animals and steam-powered limbs, as you might expect. There are also supernatural horrors, gear-filled monsters, spring-driven thieves and a couple of surprise castrations. There's derring-do, whimsy, and drama; there's alternate history, historical fantasy, provocative science fiction and angry political thrillers. I doubt it would qualify as a particularly accessible introduction to the core conceits of steampunk, but it certainly serves as an excellent overview of a popular subgenre.
Of particular note are N.K. Jemisin's outstanding "The Effluent Engine", about the machinations of a Haitian spy trying to preserve her country's newfound freedom; Aliette de Bodard's "Prayers of Forges and Furnaces", depicting an advanced Aztec empire; Caitlin R. Kiernan's "The Steam Dancer (1896)", a drama concerning a unique performance artist; and Nick Mamatas' "Arbeitskraft", in which a wealthy revolutionary builds an artificial Karl Marx with which to inspire the proletariat. That last one's a bit horrific, by the way.
As with most large anthologies, there are a few stories here which are not to my tastes. But considering the size of it - thirty stories in all - that's an impressive hit rate.
Of particular note are N.K. Jemisin's outstanding "The Effluent Engine", about the machinations of a Haitian spy trying to preserve her country's newfound freedom; Aliette de Bodard's "Prayers of Forges and Furnaces", depicting an advanced Aztec empire; Caitlin R. Kiernan's "The Steam Dancer (1896)", a drama concerning a unique performance artist; and Nick Mamatas' "Arbeitskraft", in which a wealthy revolutionary builds an artificial Karl Marx with which to inspire the proletariat. That last one's a bit horrific, by the way.
As with most large anthologies, there are a few stories here which are not to my tastes. But considering the size of it - thirty stories in all - that's an impressive hit rate.
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