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brokenrecord's review
4.0
3.5 stars. This was fun! I loved Josette and Bernie and how their friendship developed, and all their banter was perfect. I shipped them up until the point where so, like, I'd still be into them if it turns out that he didn't, but if he did… idk, that's a big thing to get past. But they're still a lot of fun together, and I liked the crew a lot. My biggest complaint is just all the battle scenes, and this isn't really the book's problem but my own since I have a lot of trouble visualizing battle scenes so they end up being pretty boring for me to read, and a lot of this book ended up being battle scenes that felt like they just went on and on. But the bits of the world that we got to see were interesting, and again, Josette and Bernie's interaction made the read enjoyable overall, so I'd probably end up reading future books in this series.
Spoiler
Bernie may have banged her motherkblincoln's review
4.0
The lands of Garnia and Vinzhlandia are at war in the European style (hussars, cavalry, skirmishers, infantry, and, most pertinent to the story: airships). Captain Josette Dupre is given the Mistral, an airship powered by steam engine with multiple bags of "luftgas" to keep it aloft. She must scout the enemy Vins, and stay alive despite air attacks by various cannons and guns.
She has a loyal crew and an aristocratic fop onboard, put there especially to discredit her.
But the fop, Lord Bernat, is indefatigably jolly, an excellent shot, and has reserves of bravery that make him invaluable to her missions.
Most of the book is aerial battles and descriptions of various guns, cannons, and damage to the Mistral. If I were slightly more interested in airships for the sake of airships, this book would have been seriously bad-ass. There are fires and gutshots and missing limbs and all the gory reality of an aerial war. Bernat and Josette trade quips and banter, but they use the lightness of their banter to break the terrible tension.
As a character-focused reader, it just wasn't my cup of tea. For anyone who glories in action sequences or airships or militaristic steampunkery, this book should go to the top of your list. It seemed scarily realistic to me, but I ended up skimming passages because I just couldn't attend to the non-stop battle action. I enjoyed Beth Cato's The Clockwork Dagger and Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan airships and alternate history airships more.
She has a loyal crew and an aristocratic fop onboard, put there especially to discredit her.
But the fop, Lord Bernat, is indefatigably jolly, an excellent shot, and has reserves of bravery that make him invaluable to her missions.
Most of the book is aerial battles and descriptions of various guns, cannons, and damage to the Mistral. If I were slightly more interested in airships for the sake of airships, this book would have been seriously bad-ass. There are fires and gutshots and missing limbs and all the gory reality of an aerial war. Bernat and Josette trade quips and banter, but they use the lightness of their banter to break the terrible tension.
As a character-focused reader, it just wasn't my cup of tea. For anyone who glories in action sequences or airships or militaristic steampunkery, this book should go to the top of your list. It seemed scarily realistic to me, but I ended up skimming passages because I just couldn't attend to the non-stop battle action. I enjoyed Beth Cato's The Clockwork Dagger and Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan airships and alternate history airships more.
itabar's review against another edition
5.0
This was a fun book. Yes, in a few places it gets a bit bogged down in descriptions, but only a few.
What I liked particularly was the characters. The MC is a hard-ass strong, competent woman with a few flaws. The fop and the man set to spy on her has some absolutely great smart-ass funny lines.
Kate Reading does a fabulous job! I think a large part of my enjoyment of this book was due to her narration.
I am really looking forward to the next in the series.
A snippet from when Josette is given captaincy of an airship by the general:
"The ship's Mistral. It's a new design."
Josette's enthusiasm was momentarily checked for the general had said the two words every airman dreaded, "new design."
Army flight engineers were forever searching for new and more efficient ways to get airmen killed. When they collected enough of them, they put them together in a devious package called a "new design".
But she took heart. At least the general hadn't said "revolutionary new design".
After a sip of tea, the general went on: "My advisors tell me that it's quite revolutionary."
Her heart sank. Like most revolutions, the aerial sort left a lot of dead bodies in its wake and the survivors no better off than before.
My brother's review: "It got to be a little over the top in the end and a little predictable. Still liked it lots."
What I liked particularly was the characters. The MC is a hard-ass strong, competent woman with a few flaws. The fop and the man set to spy on her has some absolutely great smart-ass funny lines.
Kate Reading does a fabulous job! I think a large part of my enjoyment of this book was due to her narration.
I am really looking forward to the next in the series.
A snippet from when Josette is given captaincy of an airship by the general:
"The ship's Mistral. It's a new design."
Josette's enthusiasm was momentarily checked for the general had said the two words every airman dreaded, "new design."
Army flight engineers were forever searching for new and more efficient ways to get airmen killed. When they collected enough of them, they put them together in a devious package called a "new design".
But she took heart. At least the general hadn't said "revolutionary new design".
After a sip of tea, the general went on: "My advisors tell me that it's quite revolutionary."
Her heart sank. Like most revolutions, the aerial sort left a lot of dead bodies in its wake and the survivors no better off than before.
My brother's review: "It got to be a little over the top in the end and a little predictable. Still liked it lots."
itabar's review against another edition
5.0
Wow! The plot went places I did not expect! Love the characters and Kate Reading did a fabulous job reading it. Can't wait for the next book.
malglories's review against another edition
3.0
The Guns Above is a really cool concept, blending a Napoleonic-like war and society with steampunk, narrated by a female captain of an airship and a bratty rich boy sent to spy on her. I liked the way it dealt with the sexism of the society, though it hurt to read at times, and the characters themselves were charming and real.
However, the style just wasn't my fit - it's not that it's written badly, it's just written in such a way that I couldn't connect. I tend to go for books with more elegant language, and this is more brass, more familiar, more funny, even. That's not a bad thing. We just didn't mesh, the prose and I.
Additionally, the technical descriptions of the airship and its parts, which are so important to the plot, were confusing. I couldn't understand where the characters were or what they were doing half the time because none of it is really explained. That also led to my feeling a little alienated.
So, in summation, The Guns Above is a good book, but not a good book for me.
However, the style just wasn't my fit - it's not that it's written badly, it's just written in such a way that I couldn't connect. I tend to go for books with more elegant language, and this is more brass, more familiar, more funny, even. That's not a bad thing. We just didn't mesh, the prose and I.
Additionally, the technical descriptions of the airship and its parts, which are so important to the plot, were confusing. I couldn't understand where the characters were or what they were doing half the time because none of it is really explained. That also led to my feeling a little alienated.
So, in summation, The Guns Above is a good book, but not a good book for me.
greenldydragon's review against another edition
2.0
I WANTED to like this book, but I struggled. The characters were pretty well written but the first half of the book includes a lot of really negative comments about the mc based on her gender. It’s all part of this particular fantasy world’s culture (think Victorian England norms) but I read a lot of books with this style and very few get on my nerves as much as this one.
sylviep's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
bookcraft's review against another edition
4.0
If anything, this one is even better than the first. I love Bennis's sense of humor.
hoperu's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this, especially the realistic portrayal of a woman trying to get respect in a powerful powerful position and her reactions to the sexism in a man's world.