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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
Imagine a world where Queen Victoria wasn't queen for very long, where a geothermal Battersea Power Station dominates the London skyline (when the city isn't engulfed in smog), and where Sir Richard Francis Burton the explorer has become some kind of private investigator with a royal seal of approval. Then chuck in some extra weird sci-fi bits and bobs to go with the oh-so-clever steampunk contraptions and the phantom attacker Spring Heeled Jack who isn't all he seems. Mind = blown.
If I'm honest, the start of the book left me feeling like this was going to be a DNF. It suffers from that sci-fi malady of having to pause the story to explain just how wonderful and clever parts of it's world are. I found myself forcing to skim over all the descriptions of steam powered handsom cabs, litter-picking automatons and the like. It felt pretentious, the need to explain just how clever the author was being taking real part of history and making them "work" with the steampunk technology. But get past that and the lacklustre early introduction of Sir Richard's character (not helped by the hopping to the different perspectives of Isabel and John Speke, of whom we also don't really get much of a handle on), and it's a surprisingly good sci-fi mystery.
Plough through those first 100 pages or so, because after that the twisty-turny, wibbly-wobbly nature of the story is it's greatest strength. It's utterly bizarre, full of Frankenseinesque levels of oddness alongside the steampunk tech that doesn't ever feel just tacked on to fit the genre like so many other steampunk novels. It's integral to the story and the world itself.
It's not a great novel for those looking for strong characters. I didn't get much of an impression from any of the major players. The playing fast and loose with history is the most interesting thing about them.
It's a book that's too clever by half. But once it's gotten over the need to prove just how clever it is, there's a fun and dark story to be told... as long as you have the tolerance for popular sci-fi, the ability to go with the absolute trashing of historical figures, and are very good at suspension of disbelief!
If I'm honest, the start of the book left me feeling like this was going to be a DNF. It suffers from that sci-fi malady of having to pause the story to explain just how wonderful and clever parts of it's world are. I found myself forcing to skim over all the descriptions of steam powered handsom cabs, litter-picking automatons and the like. It felt pretentious, the need to explain just how clever the author was being taking real part of history and making them "work" with the steampunk technology. But get past that and the lacklustre early introduction of Sir Richard's character (not helped by the hopping to the different perspectives of Isabel and John Speke, of whom we also don't really get much of a handle on), and it's a surprisingly good sci-fi mystery.
Plough through those first 100 pages or so, because after that the twisty-turny, wibbly-wobbly
Spoiler
timey-wimeyIt's not a great novel for those looking for strong characters. I didn't get much of an impression from any of the major players. The playing fast and loose with history is the most interesting thing about them.
It's a book that's too clever by half. But once it's gotten over the need to prove just how clever it is, there's a fun and dark story to be told... as long as you have the tolerance for popular sci-fi, the ability to go with the absolute trashing of historical figures, and are very good at suspension of disbelief!
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
An interesting jaunt into alternative history and a bit of steam-punky sci-fi time travel.
The steampunk enthusiast that I am, I had yet to find a steampunk book that I really liked. Sure, I had read some, but they were just not as good as I'd hoped they would be (looking at you, [b:Made Things|44581532|Made Things (Made Things, #1)|Adrian Tchaikovsky|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1557991956l/44581532._SY75_.jpg|69197736], and [b:Boneshaker|1137215|Boneshaker (The Clockwork Century, #1)|Cherie Priest|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1433161048l/1137215._SX50_.jpg|1124460]...).
TSAoSHJ was different. Very different! Starting off, I thought this would be a book with a focus on African expeditions, which I wasn't truly excited about - but then that appeared to be only a background story and the starting point for Burton's involvement in the plot.
I think the thing I was most excited about, were the very vivid descriptions of Victorian London with its dirt, of the degenerates living in the East End and the smoke and fog. Yeah, I can't help it, I just love an elaborate and lively description here and there (much to the dislike of some writer friends of mine, #sorrynotsorry...).
Then there was the crazy and yet logical world building - litter-crabs, really? A year ago I would've DNF-ed and said "this is too crazy for me", but somehow, present-me loved it so much, and not only the litter-crabs; also the kite-tethered swans, cursing parakeets, and messenger-dogs. Even the talking orangutan - yup, I'm not kidding - felt somehow fitting to the whole book and setting.
The plot itself was so elaborately planned and worked out so well in the end - Mark Hodder proved to be an excellent storyteller and for real, I saw none of it all coming, but then in the end it came together so beautifully and I can't stop marvelling about the entire story. Just an excellent job, really. Chapeau. *tips top hat*
And finally - SWINBURNE! Oh my dear lord, are you all right, mate? I don't know what wires have come loose in your head, but I love it. Please don't change throughout the rest of the series (but also, do, because I love a good character arc...? Maybe change a little.).
This book is one of my 2021 favourites; I'll be starting book #2 soon!
TSAoSHJ was different. Very different! Starting off, I thought this would be a book with a focus on African expeditions, which I wasn't truly excited about - but then that appeared to be only a background story and the starting point for Burton's involvement in the plot.
I think the thing I was most excited about, were the very vivid descriptions of Victorian London with its dirt, of the degenerates living in the East End and the smoke and fog. Yeah, I can't help it, I just love an elaborate and lively description here and there (much to the dislike of some writer friends of mine, #sorrynotsorry...).
Then there was the crazy and yet logical world building - litter-crabs, really? A year ago I would've DNF-ed and said "this is too crazy for me", but somehow, present-me loved it so much, and not only the litter-crabs; also the kite-tethered swans, cursing parakeets, and messenger-dogs. Even the talking orangutan - yup, I'm not kidding - felt somehow fitting to the whole book and setting.
The plot itself was so elaborately planned and worked out so well in the end - Mark Hodder proved to be an excellent storyteller and for real, I saw none of it all coming, but then in the end it came together so beautifully and I can't stop marvelling about the entire story. Just an excellent job, really. Chapeau. *tips top hat*
And finally - SWINBURNE! Oh my dear lord, are you all right, mate? I don't know what wires have come loose in your head, but I love it. Please don't change throughout the rest of the series (but also, do, because I love a good character arc...? Maybe change a little.).
This book is one of my 2021 favourites; I'll be starting book #2 soon!
I did not finish this book because two separate people whose opinions I value gave concrete reasons for disliking it that already matched up with what I had felt upon reading the first two chapters. And, honestly, I didn't need to read another book glorifying colonialism and male exceptionalism, as well as treating women like objects at best.
Life's too short.
Life's too short.
Who or what was Spring Heeled Jack?
You don't know Spring Heeled Jack from Jack? Silly bugger. Spring Heeled Jack was a man (or was he?) that terrorized young women of London in the 1880s.
He was, well, a pervert.
He, supposedly, breathed fire and ripped the clothes off of women.
I can't remember if he came before the London Monster (who stabbed women in the buttucks) or after, but he is like that.
Mark Hodder takes the mystery of Spring Heeled Jack and combines it with an alternate universe, where the British empire doesn't turn out extactly like we think it should.
We met Sir Francis Burton in the midst of his debate about the source of Nile, and it is to Burton that it falls to solve the mystery of Spring Heeled Jack as well as the tiny problem of Werewolves taking young boys. Why extactly? Well no one knows.
The world is made real and Hodder seems to have done a good amount of research. If you are familiar with the people and events he is dealing with, you can figure some things out, but at no point does Hodder talk down to his readers. Can't wait to read part 2.
You don't know Spring Heeled Jack from Jack? Silly bugger. Spring Heeled Jack was a man (or was he?) that terrorized young women of London in the 1880s.
He was, well, a pervert.
He, supposedly, breathed fire and ripped the clothes off of women.
I can't remember if he came before the London Monster (who stabbed women in the buttucks) or after, but he is like that.
Mark Hodder takes the mystery of Spring Heeled Jack and combines it with an alternate universe, where the British empire doesn't turn out extactly like we think it should.
We met Sir Francis Burton in the midst of his debate about the source of Nile, and it is to Burton that it falls to solve the mystery of Spring Heeled Jack as well as the tiny problem of Werewolves taking young boys. Why extactly? Well no one knows.
The world is made real and Hodder seems to have done a good amount of research. If you are familiar with the people and events he is dealing with, you can figure some things out, but at no point does Hodder talk down to his readers. Can't wait to read part 2.
Cheesy but very fun. Steampunk + time travel + Sherlock-Holmes-style mystery. Historical figures (Darwin, Florence Nightingale, etc) make very interesting appearances.
Hodder does a great job in twisting historical characters into something different in this alternative-universe, time travel, historical fantasy. It is full of adventure, and certainly full of nice steampunk elements.
But frankly, the writing and overall plot was just sort of messy, and there wasn't enough there to keep the readers attention.
But frankly, the writing and overall plot was just sort of messy, and there wasn't enough there to keep the readers attention.
The debut novel of the Burton & Swinburne series is an interesting science fiction take on what might happen to the world if one small thing was changed. Although I wouldn't necessarily call the death of Queen Victoria a small thing.
I often steer clear of fiction that utilises history as a plot point but in this regard, I enjoyed seeing what was changed and what, in a way, stayed the same despite the alterations.
The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack is a well-done debut novel; I look forward to finding and reading the rest of the series.
I often steer clear of fiction that utilises history as a plot point but in this regard, I enjoyed seeing what was changed and what, in a way, stayed the same despite the alterations.
The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack is a well-done debut novel; I look forward to finding and reading the rest of the series.
‘The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack’ is a madcap movie, basically, and entertaining, but without the inventions this is a three-star read, really. But if you unpack the novel, the entire story is a Rube Goldberg machine. I liked but not loved. I've given four stars because the author Mark Hodder was clever by throwing in real inventions from the mid-1880's and the plot posed some interesting dilemmas which occurred from time traveling. I had the most fun Googling the inventions and studying the drawings.
The oddness of everything draws you into the book and keeps you reading (or maybe it will put you off the book). Nothing is normal, but not too alarming. Everything is a bit off, literally and figuratively. This is an alternative universe story that takes place in 1861 London. It has famous people in history as protagonists, but these people could not have ever been as represented here in this novel. Basic physical features and personalities are vaguely acknowledged, but how they lived in history is completely rearranged into Frankenstein mash ups. Instead of the usual romantic London we have come to expect from Sherlock Holmes movies, this London is similar to the bottom of a mine or Manhatten on 9/11, full of soot, dirt, dust and airborne filth. Admirable qualities of the hero characters are muted, while their darker natures are what make them successful. Women are cosseted in theory while mistreated and disrespected in all the usual ways (the author didn't have to twist anything here, the real world's attitudes are sufficiently twisted 'as is'). Vehicles of Travel of all sorts seems to be an underlying but powerful theme, a lot of them being crackpot inventions that work; however, everyone moves in circles revisiting the same streets or move only in time while jumping up and down in the same spot.
As a reader from 2012, in effect I'm a time travelor in the point-of-view position of the character Spring Heeled Jack. While he finds himself unable to accept his circumstances, I want to explore, examine and make friends with this world. Jack's feelings don't make sense to me. His costume is clownish, and the stilts that he has made necessary to the functioning of his invention is a peculiar way to solve the problem of its functioning. His time travel suit is a Rube Goldberg machine. In addition, his original quest is ridiculous considering the lengths he went to in order to change a long ago and ultimately minor historical note, but I suppose that's the nature of Rube Goldberg crackpots.
The cascade of disrupted history and displaced technology is the fun part of the book. But again, it's off kilter in application to the story. The only part of society that is disrupted is some of the upper class, particularly those who are crackpots in philosophical and science matters.
I think because the heart of the entire book is it's being an elaborate literary Rube Goldberg construction, I can't like it as much as I admire it. The off-kilter crackpot silliness overcomes this reader's ability to connect with anything emotionally. This alt-universe is ugly, too, despite the fact of everyone's either cheery soldiering on or stiff upper lip attitudes. Burton and Swinburne are not heroes, but bored dilettantes looking for something fun to do. They are not exactly haunted, but unhappy and unfulfilled. They both are rich, Burton more respectible and intellectually gifted while Swinburne fits the role of wing man. Burton, the 'hero' , is not a man burning with passion before, during or after events. For an explorer of harsh places, he is strangely unaffected by his discoveries, very one-dimensional. Swinburne is terrifically amusing, the only part of the book that had me laughing, but sadly, he is barely in the book. The werecreatures were appropriately monsterish and gory, so be warned graphic bits included.
Is it worth reading? I think so. Is it likable? Maybe. I loved the broom cats and the message birds with coprolalia.
The oddness of everything draws you into the book and keeps you reading (or maybe it will put you off the book). Nothing is normal, but not too alarming. Everything is a bit off, literally and figuratively. This is an alternative universe story that takes place in 1861 London. It has famous people in history as protagonists, but these people could not have ever been as represented here in this novel. Basic physical features and personalities are vaguely acknowledged, but how they lived in history is completely rearranged into Frankenstein mash ups. Instead of the usual romantic London we have come to expect from Sherlock Holmes movies, this London is similar to the bottom of a mine or Manhatten on 9/11, full of soot, dirt, dust and airborne filth. Admirable qualities of the hero characters are muted, while their darker natures are what make them successful. Women are cosseted in theory while mistreated and disrespected in all the usual ways (the author didn't have to twist anything here, the real world's attitudes are sufficiently twisted 'as is'). Vehicles of Travel of all sorts seems to be an underlying but powerful theme, a lot of them being crackpot inventions that work; however, everyone moves in circles revisiting the same streets or move only in time while jumping up and down in the same spot.
As a reader from 2012, in effect I'm a time travelor in the point-of-view position of the character Spring Heeled Jack. While he finds himself unable to accept his circumstances, I want to explore, examine and make friends with this world. Jack's feelings don't make sense to me. His costume is clownish, and the stilts that he has made necessary to the functioning of his invention is a peculiar way to solve the problem of its functioning. His time travel suit is a Rube Goldberg machine. In addition, his original quest is ridiculous considering the lengths he went to in order to change a long ago and ultimately minor historical note, but I suppose that's the nature of Rube Goldberg crackpots.
The cascade of disrupted history and displaced technology is the fun part of the book. But again, it's off kilter in application to the story. The only part of society that is disrupted is some of the upper class, particularly those who are crackpots in philosophical and science matters.
I think because the heart of the entire book is it's being an elaborate literary Rube Goldberg construction, I can't like it as much as I admire it. The off-kilter crackpot silliness overcomes this reader's ability to connect with anything emotionally. This alt-universe is ugly, too, despite the fact of everyone's either cheery soldiering on or stiff upper lip attitudes. Burton and Swinburne are not heroes, but bored dilettantes looking for something fun to do. They are not exactly haunted, but unhappy and unfulfilled. They both are rich, Burton more respectible and intellectually gifted while Swinburne fits the role of wing man. Burton, the 'hero' , is not a man burning with passion before, during or after events. For an explorer of harsh places, he is strangely unaffected by his discoveries, very one-dimensional. Swinburne is terrifically amusing, the only part of the book that had me laughing, but sadly, he is barely in the book. The werecreatures were appropriately monsterish and gory, so be warned graphic bits included.
Is it worth reading? I think so. Is it likable? Maybe. I loved the broom cats and the message birds with coprolalia.