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alys's review
4.0
This wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be going in, and in many ways it was even better. The worldbuilding was fabulous. I see so many people making comments about not being able to understand Dil's speech, but really I never had any kind of a problem. It seemed pretty obvious to me what most of the cant meant, and most of the more obscure terms were subtly defined, so that wasn't a problem. It was certainly a masterful use of language.
wart's review
5.0
Alexis Hall, I love your brain!
Read this and more reviews at Things I Find While Shelving
[I received a free ARC of this book via NetGalley. This fact has no bearing on my review.]
Mebbe the occasional gutter rat looking up and being able to stag a star or two to teach him how to dream. Prosperity page 210.
Oh. My. GOD.
This book.
This book is amazing.
It’s a steampunky adventure centered around Piccadilly, a card sharp who literally falls into a whole new world when, after being shot by the crime lord with no conscience - Milord - tumbles down and finds himself on the Shadowless - an aethership captained by the genderless Byron Kae. Piccadilly finds himself surrounded by a colorful cast of characters - Miss Grey, the woman haunted by tentacle monsters from beyond time, Ruben the ex-preacher who looks for the good in everyone, and the aforementioned Milord.
Are you a fan of Firefly? Because there’s kind of a Firefly feel to this ragtag group. But as much as I love Firefly, I’d rather see a tv show of this. Seriously. This book is beautiful. Wonderful world building, wonderful characters, just all around a great read.
Read this and more reviews at Things I Find While Shelving
[I received a free ARC of this book via NetGalley. This fact has no bearing on my review.]
Mebbe the occasional gutter rat looking up and being able to stag a star or two to teach him how to dream. Prosperity page 210.
Oh. My. GOD.
This book.
This book is amazing.
It’s a steampunky adventure centered around Piccadilly, a card sharp who literally falls into a whole new world when, after being shot by the crime lord with no conscience - Milord - tumbles down and finds himself on the Shadowless - an aethership captained by the genderless Byron Kae. Piccadilly finds himself surrounded by a colorful cast of characters - Miss Grey, the woman haunted by tentacle monsters from beyond time, Ruben the ex-preacher who looks for the good in everyone, and the aforementioned Milord.
Are you a fan of Firefly? Because there’s kind of a Firefly feel to this ragtag group. But as much as I love Firefly, I’d rather see a tv show of this. Seriously. This book is beautiful. Wonderful world building, wonderful characters, just all around a great read.
hartd's review
5.0
Wow! Reading this book was an amazing experience. It's a fantastic book, with a lot of depth, and I'm sure I'll be rereading it many, many times. I'm so happy that a book like this even exists.
It seems like a lot of the other reviewers here found the language off-putting. I loved the narration style and thought it was a lot of fun, but English is my native language and I've been devouring British historicals lately, which gave me a pretty good handle on things. But I still googled a decent amount of words, and I can definitely see that the style wouldn't be for everyone.
Piccadilly was absolutely lovable, but I enjoyed all the characters, even Milord, but especially Byron Kae. The plot and world-building were both top-notch. The sex scenes were long and extraordinarily hot, yet I wouldn't classify this novel as erotic romance. To me, it's primarily an adventure story.
Finally, while there was a lot of humor in this book, I have to take a moment to recognize this hilarious reference, which made me laugh out loud for a solid ten minutes:
“Many harpoons,” called out Miss Grey. “Handle them.”
Yeah. (video has NSFW language).
It seems like a lot of the other reviewers here found the language off-putting. I loved the narration style and thought it was a lot of fun, but English is my native language and I've been devouring British historicals lately, which gave me a pretty good handle on things. But I still googled a decent amount of words, and I can definitely see that the style wouldn't be for everyone.
Piccadilly was absolutely lovable, but I enjoyed all the characters, even Milord, but especially Byron Kae. The plot and world-building were both top-notch. The sex scenes were long and extraordinarily hot, yet I wouldn't classify this novel as erotic romance. To me, it's primarily an adventure story.
Finally, while there was a lot of humor in this book, I have to take a moment to recognize this hilarious reference, which made me laugh out loud for a solid ten minutes:
“Many harpoons,” called out Miss Grey. “Handle them.”
Yeah. (video has NSFW language).
adelikal's review
4.0
Thank fuck for Prosperity after a weekend of shitty books.
The characters are the bomb. Piccadilly is the most precious son I’ve never had. I love him. He’s full of compassion and kindness and irrepressibility and courage, and in his reflective moments he grabs a good handful of your heartstrings and gives them a good tug. Ruben and Milord were a complex, irritating, heartfelt, complicated tangle of emotions for each other, and they were enjoyable to read about. Even Miss Gray’s opium addiction was understandable, given all the, you know. Monster-seeing. And that spark of something with Bryon Kae was just. Wow.
I am ready to keep reading the rest of the series.
The characters are the bomb. Piccadilly is the most precious son I’ve never had. I love him. He’s full of compassion and kindness and irrepressibility and courage, and in his reflective moments he grabs a good handful of your heartstrings and gives them a good tug. Ruben and Milord were a complex, irritating, heartfelt, complicated tangle of emotions for each other, and they were enjoyable to read about. Even Miss Gray’s opium addiction was understandable, given all the, you know. Monster-seeing. And that spark of something with Bryon Kae was just. Wow.
I am ready to keep reading the rest of the series.
kjcharles's review
5.0
This book is bloody fantastic and you should read it.
Skyships! Victorianish alt worlds! Unfathomably hot antihero! Glorious set up! Linked novellas all over the place! The cover!
Quite seriously, I adore the writing of this, it's doing such interesting things with narrative and the romance form, it's part of a terrific set of fascinating stories. It's playful and serious, it uses the pulp*-iest and funnest of settings and concepts to say real important things. I love everything about the Prosperity world and I can't recommend this and the linked books highly enough.
*Pulp is my highest form of art, just so we're clear.
Disclaimer: I'm friends with the author. I'm friends with a lot of people, and I don't go round rating all of them five stars. Possibly I'm a crap friend. But I rave about a book when I mean it and not otherwise.
Skyships! Victorianish alt worlds! Unfathomably hot antihero! Glorious set up! Linked novellas all over the place! The cover!
Quite seriously, I adore the writing of this, it's doing such interesting things with narrative and the romance form, it's part of a terrific set of fascinating stories. It's playful and serious, it uses the pulp*-iest and funnest of settings and concepts to say real important things. I love everything about the Prosperity world and I can't recommend this and the linked books highly enough.
*Pulp is my highest form of art, just so we're clear.
Disclaimer: I'm friends with the author. I'm friends with a lot of people, and I don't go round rating all of them five stars. Possibly I'm a crap friend. But I rave about a book when I mean it and not otherwise.