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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
3.5/5, Lots of fun and I immediately picked up the sequel. It's good escapist fun, but it falls into some pacing issues towards the end of the book. Also, I feel like the romantic relationship is rather forced.
Arabella loves her homeland, the red sandy planet of Mars. So she's nearly devastated when, after an incident with a thorny bush, her mother determines that she's growing up like a wildling and must, for the sake of her reputation and marital prospects, return to Earth to be trained as a proper young lady. Life on Earth is not the same as roaming the untamed frontier, and when Arabella finds out unfortunate news from Mars, she knows that she has to go back, at any cost.
FANTASTIC! This is one that will capture any steampunk lover's heart. Arabella is so fun and I love the idea of interplanetary travel by airship. There's action, adventure, romance, and so much more. The pacing and writing were delightful and I'm anxious to get to the second one.
FANTASTIC! This is one that will capture any steampunk lover's heart. Arabella is so fun and I love the idea of interplanetary travel by airship. There's action, adventure, romance, and so much more. The pacing and writing were delightful and I'm anxious to get to the second one.
Reasons why you should definitely not read this book: You are irritated at totally off-the-wall, totally "wrong" plot devices. Like Isaac Newton watching bubbles float and figuring out how to make boats that can sail to other planets. Open boats. Because there is atmosphere and wind in space. And it only takes a couple of months to get to Mars. And there are Mars settlements in the early 1800s that are eerily like what English settlements in India were like at the time. Oh, and there are definitely Martians. Who look like big two-legged bugs. They talk. And you can farm. On Mars.
Reasons why you SHOULD read this book: Somewhere inside of you there is still that ten- or eleven-year-old kid who first read a Jules Verne novel and loved every single adventurous paragraph, even though you knew it was all completely impossible and you didn't care because it was the best thing EVER. Oh, and you like kick-butt heroines who can basically beat up seamen, load cannon, engineer complex devices, stop ship mutinies, defeat privateers, navigate like a beast, and negotiate settlements during wars. All at the age of 17.
So. Don't be the eye-rolling killjoy. Be that ten-year-old kid and read this and have a glorious time.
Reasons why you SHOULD read this book: Somewhere inside of you there is still that ten- or eleven-year-old kid who first read a Jules Verne novel and loved every single adventurous paragraph, even though you knew it was all completely impossible and you didn't care because it was the best thing EVER. Oh, and you like kick-butt heroines who can basically beat up seamen, load cannon, engineer complex devices, stop ship mutinies, defeat privateers, navigate like a beast, and negotiate settlements during wars. All at the age of 17.
So. Don't be the eye-rolling killjoy. Be that ten-year-old kid and read this and have a glorious time.
This was great fun. I don't tend to go in for steampunk stories, and I still probably wouldn't say this is entirely a steampunk book, but a good story is a good story. Arabella Ashby, a girl born and raised on Mars with all the freedom and without the standard young lady in early 19th century England proprieties, then sent back to Earth with her mother and young sisters is an intriguing idea on its own. Did I mention that in this world space travel happens way sooner? And it's with airships?
That's how we lead but when news of a threat on her brother, who still lives on Mars, reaches her. Arabella ends up disguised as a boy and joins the crew of an airship in order to get passage there.
There are plenty of books out there were a girl disguises herself as a boy to get something done but it's the environment and the world, and how she's treated later that makes this one stand out from the crowd a bit. I'm eager to keep reading.
That's how we lead but when news of a threat on her brother, who still lives on Mars, reaches her. Arabella ends up disguised as a boy and joins the crew of an airship in order to get passage there.
There are plenty of books out there were a girl disguises herself as a boy to get something done but it's the environment and the world, and how she's treated later that makes this one stand out from the crowd a bit. I'm eager to keep reading.
Most of the reviews on here seem like over the top praise from publishing houses, book stores, or lit bloggers who were asked to review the title.
I'm going to tell it as it is...This is a bizarre and fun steampunk meets scifi romp. It has sailing ships travelling to Mars, aliens, automaton (robots which work on gears like a clock), and victorian sensibilities. This was all geared up to be better than it actually was. In my opinion, there was too much time spent on board voyaging to Mars, with rigging and the like which really didn't interest me. There wasn't enough time spent on Mars AT ALL. And the ending dropped the rating down a star. I can see this appealing to the YA crowd, but in no way would most adults favour the "romance" of convenience developed at the end, purely because of English law. I hope that was vague enough to remain non-spoilery.
I'm going to tell it as it is...This is a bizarre and fun steampunk meets scifi romp. It has sailing ships travelling to Mars, aliens, automaton (robots which work on gears like a clock), and victorian sensibilities. This was all geared up to be better than it actually was. In my opinion, there was too much time spent on board voyaging to Mars, with rigging and the like which really didn't interest me. There wasn't enough time spent on Mars AT ALL. And the ending dropped the rating down a star. I can see this appealing to the YA crowd, but in no way would most adults favour the "romance" of convenience developed at the end, purely because of English law. I hope that was vague enough to remain non-spoilery.
This review refers to the audiobook version by Barrie Kreinik.
There is much to enjoy in this tale. It has a creative advanced historical setting with sail ships able to travel the aether of space which allows for the odd juxtaposition of early 19th century England with the colonization of Mars and beyond. It has some interesting characters including an indigenous intelligent race on Mars, a dis-inherited Maharaja from India, and an independent and intelligent title character.
I enjoyed the novel thoroughly, although for the 2017 Norton Award I would choose either The Evil Wizard Smallbone or The Girl Who Drank the Moon though Arabella fits well among the finalists.
There is much to enjoy in this tale. It has a creative advanced historical setting with sail ships able to travel the aether of space which allows for the odd juxtaposition of early 19th century England with the colonization of Mars and beyond. It has some interesting characters including an indigenous intelligent race on Mars, a dis-inherited Maharaja from India, and an independent and intelligent title character.
I enjoyed the novel thoroughly, although for the 2017 Norton Award I would choose either The Evil Wizard Smallbone or The Girl Who Drank the Moon though Arabella fits well among the finalists.
Arabella is a wonderful young hero, and the author keeps tossing her into peril which she overcomes with her brain and courage. I adored the Horatio Hornblower books as a teenager, and the Patrick O'Brien books as an adult, and I lapped up the section of adventure and derring-do on the sailing "ship". The alternative-history setting felt real and authentic, and I couldn't put it down.
Imagine that Isaac Newton saw not a falling apple, but a rising bubble of air in his bath and thus conceived not the existence of gravity but the principles of hot-air balloons. And imagine that not only did the planets of the solar system have breathable atmospheres, but so did the space in between them, so that sailing ships could navigate from one to another as they did the continents on Earth.
That's the world -- with some steampunk overlays -- in which David Levine sets his Arabella of Mars romp, giving us the story of Arabella Ashby's journey to save her brother and her family's fortune from a greedy and potentially murderous plotter. Mars is on the frontier of the British Empire's vast holdings, and when Arabella learns of the scheme she has no way to warn anyone except by taking ship for Mars, which she doesn't have the money to do. So disguised as a boy -- because proper young ladies don't crew ships in this early 19th century any more than they do in ours -- she gets hired on a trading ship bound for Mars, hopefully in time to thwart the evil schemer she's chasing.
Some of the details of this alternative world are excellent. For example, Levine posits "trade winds" that sweep between the planets to make journeys of millions of miles possible for sail-driven craft. Some asteroids are forested sources of timber for masts and water for survival. Ships use the principles of hot-air balloons to rise far enough above ground to catch the winds from one planet to another.
But the story itself is pretty pedestrian. Levine pays some lip service to the idea that the inexperienced Arabella needs to learn how to do things on board one of these interplanetary sailing craft but usually has her smarter, faster and better than just about anyone else she's around. There's really very little tension even in the most extreme dangers she faces, because there's really no possibility that she'll fail to conquer everyone and everything set against her. The voyage from Earth to Mars takes up enough of the book that the final act seems rushed.
Levine did an excellent job in dreaming up a work in which technology that's recognizably Regency-Era can make interplanetary travel feasible. Grant him a couple of assumptions, and the rest of things hold together. But not enough of that kind of thought went into plotting out his story arc and giving his characters some genuine depth beyond recognizable tropes. The book is sometimes listed as "Adventures of Arabella Ashby #1," so he may get some more chances.
Original available here.
That's the world -- with some steampunk overlays -- in which David Levine sets his Arabella of Mars romp, giving us the story of Arabella Ashby's journey to save her brother and her family's fortune from a greedy and potentially murderous plotter. Mars is on the frontier of the British Empire's vast holdings, and when Arabella learns of the scheme she has no way to warn anyone except by taking ship for Mars, which she doesn't have the money to do. So disguised as a boy -- because proper young ladies don't crew ships in this early 19th century any more than they do in ours -- she gets hired on a trading ship bound for Mars, hopefully in time to thwart the evil schemer she's chasing.
Some of the details of this alternative world are excellent. For example, Levine posits "trade winds" that sweep between the planets to make journeys of millions of miles possible for sail-driven craft. Some asteroids are forested sources of timber for masts and water for survival. Ships use the principles of hot-air balloons to rise far enough above ground to catch the winds from one planet to another.
But the story itself is pretty pedestrian. Levine pays some lip service to the idea that the inexperienced Arabella needs to learn how to do things on board one of these interplanetary sailing craft but usually has her smarter, faster and better than just about anyone else she's around. There's really very little tension even in the most extreme dangers she faces, because there's really no possibility that she'll fail to conquer everyone and everything set against her. The voyage from Earth to Mars takes up enough of the book that the final act seems rushed.
Levine did an excellent job in dreaming up a work in which technology that's recognizably Regency-Era can make interplanetary travel feasible. Grant him a couple of assumptions, and the rest of things hold together. But not enough of that kind of thought went into plotting out his story arc and giving his characters some genuine depth beyond recognizable tropes. The book is sometimes listed as "Adventures of Arabella Ashby #1," so he may get some more chances.
Original available here.
In order to save her brother on Mars, Arabella disguises herself as a boy and joins the crew of the Diana, impropriety be damned. She'll just need to survive the gruelling work, pirates, and mutiny - all while keeping her true identity a secret. And what's better than high seas adventure? One that takes place in space, of course! Full of clockwork automata, airships, and a Martian uprising, this book is a damned fun read.
Fun steampunky romp with a rather knight-in-shining-armour vibe at the end. I really enjoyed the plucky heroine right up until the end, where she suddenly forgets how badass she is.