Scan barcode
sadiemay7's review against another edition
3.0
Not enough sword fighting or zeppelins. Too many strange terms and not enough explaination.
branch_c's review against another edition
3.0
On the positive side, this book is full of solid, evocative writing and extensive world building. The author has brought together elements of steampunk, SF, and fantasy, into which he's infused fragments of re-imagined European history with a dash of Mesoamerican mythology - so that's a remarkable achievement in itself.
But after a promising start, the resulting story was not as enjoyable as I'd hoped. While several of the main characters are introduced and set up for interesting development, for me they don't live up to their potential, instead becoming pawns to be moved around the board in the larger scheme of the story.
This larger scheme is a historical dystopia of chaotic conflict and squalid politics, and it seems there's an audience for this sort of thing, but it's not something I've ever been wild about. So if you found Gilman's Thunderer, Swanwick's The Dragons of Babel, or Miéville's Iron Council more enjoyable than depressing, this is a fairly well-written variation of that genre, although perhaps a bit more heavy-handed in its delivery than any of those.
But after a promising start, the resulting story was not as enjoyable as I'd hoped. While several of the main characters are introduced and set up for interesting development, for me they don't live up to their potential, instead becoming pawns to be moved around the board in the larger scheme of the story.
This larger scheme is a historical dystopia of chaotic conflict and squalid politics, and it seems there's an audience for this sort of thing, but it's not something I've ever been wild about. So if you found Gilman's Thunderer, Swanwick's The Dragons of Babel, or Miéville's Iron Council more enjoyable than depressing, this is a fairly well-written variation of that genre, although perhaps a bit more heavy-handed in its delivery than any of those.
cactuar_tamer's review against another edition
2.0
Excellent plot, unfortunately wasted on terrible execution. I'd give it 1.5 stars really. It deserves more than one, because it certainly has its moments, but nevertheless it was an ultimately disappointing read.
You may very well find this to be an entertaining and worthwhile read, and it is certainly not without quite a bit of merit, but I was ultimately unable to enjoy it fully because of a number of issues, such as the very ham-handed way in which the political allegory was handled. I also felt that Molly's character was largely squandered. Her storyline had a lot of potential, but the way it was handled, in the end she could have been replaced by some sort of artifact (a literal 'key,' even) without a major change in the story. Because of these points and others, all in all, I feel it was an excellent opportunity for a wonderful reading experience was wasted.
You may very well find this to be an entertaining and worthwhile read, and it is certainly not without quite a bit of merit, but I was ultimately unable to enjoy it fully because of a number of issues, such as the very ham-handed way in which the political allegory was handled. I also felt that Molly's character was largely squandered. Her storyline had a lot of potential, but the way it was handled, in the end she could have been replaced by some sort of artifact (a literal 'key,' even) without a major change in the story. Because of these points and others, all in all, I feel it was an excellent opportunity for a wonderful reading experience was wasted.
bengriffin's review against another edition
2.0
Incredibly flawed and often derivative, but with smatterings of beauty and thrilling action. Maybe as his style and ideas mature he might one day write something amazing, but if you can tolerate the weaknesses and have time to spare, there's enough enjoyment to be had with this one until then.
fxp's review against another edition
3.0
There's a lot happening, and an interesting world is painted, but I couldn't get into the writing style. For me, too many ideas are brought up without explanation, the flow of the story makes too many jumps, and at the end it all gets very... spiritual? Overall, I didn't enjoy it very much.
eacolgan's review against another edition
3.0
steampunk at its best-- this book would make the most badass anime ever. two kids, oliver and molly, end up drawn into a maelstrom of politics, science and black magic, and end up changing the way their world works in the process. this book was fun and wild in a way i love and experience rarely-- joe abercrombie's debut trilogy was a similar romp, an easy read in that i could barely finish a page before turning to the next. the cast of characters is to die for-- a rebel robot with a soul, a sinister assassin count, an eccentric newspaperman and a morose ex-pirate, to name but a few. and there's the perfect atmosphere that (in my opinion) a good steampunk story should have-- the feel of a period drama with the science and magic mixed in perfect complement. gadgets and spells abound; bullets made of glass whose explosion is created by the mixing of two chemicals within, a royal navy of war zeppelins fueled by a special substance worth going to war over, a godlike machine whose coming is foretold by robots who read prophecy in dregs of machine oil, and over everything, the court of the air, who spies on everyone below and tries to pull the strings of the entire world.
shane_tiernan's review against another edition
5.0
I was thinking about giving this book 4 stars but really I said, "Man this book is awesome" way too many times to not give it 5 stars. It's really about action and ideas and a fully realized world. The action is almost constant and it's fun. The characters are badasses (not right away but at some point). People also die so it doesn't feel like a Disney fantasy where everything works out perfect. It's brutal and gritty and political.
All I have to say is voodoo practicing steam men and insane insect gods feeding off the still warm hearts of 1000's of humans, airships dropping dirtgas on protesting socialists and a king with no arms. I think you get.
I actually read the 2nd book in this series first [b:The Kingdom Beyond the Waves|2971026|The Kingdom Beyond the Waves (Jackelian, #2)|Stephen Hunt|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1352218134s/2971026.jpg|3315367] but it didn't make much of a difference. It's not the same characters just the same world. I actually like this one more.
All I have to say is voodoo practicing steam men and insane insect gods feeding off the still warm hearts of 1000's of humans, airships dropping dirtgas on protesting socialists and a king with no arms. I think you get.
I actually read the 2nd book in this series first [b:The Kingdom Beyond the Waves|2971026|The Kingdom Beyond the Waves (Jackelian, #2)|Stephen Hunt|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1352218134s/2971026.jpg|3315367] but it didn't make much of a difference. It's not the same characters just the same world. I actually like this one more.
bekahbea86's review against another edition
2.0
I found it really hard to understand and keep up with until I got about half way through and it got a little easier. I felt like I was jumping into the middle of a story that I didn't know the history of or how this world worked. I had a hard time keeping track of the charecters names and what groups they were part of. The story line was awsome, but it would have been so much better if I knew what everything was!
calamity_mary's review against another edition
3.0
The Court of Air was highly recommended throughout fantasy forums and it has some awesome reviews, so naturally, when I was offered the opportunity to buy a limited edition with an autograph from the author I jumped at it, even though this awesome limited edition was in Portuguese and I seldom read any English book in my native language, mainly because I end up hating the way it’s translated. In my opinion books should be always read in their original language if possible. But I digress.
First let me start by saying that this book left me with a desire to check out other adventures in this world.
However, the fact is, that it’s way too long and could have enjoyed a bit more editing. It makes use of some preposterous terms and most of them, belonging uniquely to the universe created by the writer, are never ever explained to us and we are left wondering, what the hell he meant by that. Animals, food, professions and objects are just put in the book as if the writer assumes that we all live in the universe he created and therefore know instantly what he means. This ended up making my reading experience less enjoyable since I couldn’t imagine half the things in the book. I just assumed their meaning from the overall sense of the scene.
The way the book wanders trough the plot without a feasible point for most part is also a bit annoying and it takes almost 200 pages for the last stand/fight to unfold. Not to mention that what seems a key character over the first part of the book, suddenly disappears without a single explanation, when one of our heroes gains his powers and then pops back up again to help in the final fight. There are whole pages of pointless scenes, like Damson Davenport and “the ghost in the machine” in the Green Room.
And why is it that the main characters are divided between offensive and defensive but I always saw the offensive as defensive until the end and the defensive was always offensive. Because going half the book gun fighting, chasing and killing villains and then calling it defensive just seems weird.
Other than that, it wasn’t bad. Some very interesting characters were introduced (maybe to many and most of them went away too fast) and even though the universe needs a bit more explaining, at least it seems like a very interesting one. Having high hopes these flaws are corrected in the next volumes, I intend to pick up at least one more book in the series whenever my TBR pile gets a bit smaller.
First let me start by saying that this book left me with a desire to check out other adventures in this world.
However, the fact is, that it’s way too long and could have enjoyed a bit more editing. It makes use of some preposterous terms and most of them, belonging uniquely to the universe created by the writer, are never ever explained to us and we are left wondering, what the hell he meant by that. Animals, food, professions and objects are just put in the book as if the writer assumes that we all live in the universe he created and therefore know instantly what he means. This ended up making my reading experience less enjoyable since I couldn’t imagine half the things in the book. I just assumed their meaning from the overall sense of the scene.
The way the book wanders trough the plot without a feasible point for most part is also a bit annoying and it takes almost 200 pages for the last stand/fight to unfold. Not to mention that what seems a key character over the first part of the book, suddenly disappears without a single explanation, when one of our heroes gains his powers and then pops back up again to help in the final fight. There are whole pages of pointless scenes, like Damson Davenport and “the ghost in the machine” in the Green Room.
And why is it that the main characters are divided between offensive and defensive but I always saw the offensive as defensive until the end and the defensive was always offensive. Because going half the book gun fighting, chasing and killing villains and then calling it defensive just seems weird.
Other than that, it wasn’t bad. Some very interesting characters were introduced (maybe to many and most of them went away too fast) and even though the universe needs a bit more explaining, at least it seems like a very interesting one. Having high hopes these flaws are corrected in the next volumes, I intend to pick up at least one more book in the series whenever my TBR pile gets a bit smaller.
not42wallabyway's review against another edition
There was a lot happening, but the direction of the plot was still unclear a fifth of the way into the story. A large cast of characters but their importance was also murky.