Scan barcode
midici's review against another edition
1.0
I wanted to like this book. I was ready to like this book. Tensions between colonizers and Inuit! Secret revolutions! Underground society of Scavangers! Suffragettes! It takes place in a glacial version of Venice! What would not be awesome about this?
Everything, it turns out. I was onboard for the first chapter. Brentford Orsini seemed like a great character: he's sympathetic to the needs of the Inuit, he runs greenhouses, he's concerned about the people - all pluses. Then the book introduces Gabriel and everything goes downhill. Gabriel is: a creepy professor who likes to seduce his students, so horny that when his actions cause a girl to fall into a coma he becomes distracted at the mere sight of another woman and runs off to have sex immediately; is so attached to drugs you have to suffer through practically an entire chapter of how drugs are The Best Thing Ever and The Man who regulates it is just trying to keep the people down, and also likes to have sex with underage teenagers because why not?
As an actual human woman I had to stop reading to go vomit at the sheer stupidity of this line: "he believed that nude girls came from the same realm or regions as dreams, from the same eternal inexhaustible fountain at the spring of time and yet out of time" - in other words, nude girls are not people, just fantasies come to life especially for him.
The grossness doesn't really stop. Sybil is Brentford's fiancee. In this novel, where magic is real and so are powerful mind-altering drugs, it's implied that Sybil is unsuitable for Brentford, partially because she's had previous lovers before but mostly because she is targeted by one of Brentford's enemies, placed under a spell and made to have sex with him. At the end of the book the same man who put the first spell on her makes her fall in love with another man. Apparently you're supposed to be mad at her, not appalled by the sexual assault? Phoebe, the girl in the coma ends up suffering the exact same fate - it's supposed to come across as comical maybe? It doesn't.
Helen who is Brentford's tragically dead first love or whatever is secretly sending help throughout the book - but she doesn't show herself to Brentford because, supposedly, she doesn't want to him to see her looking dead and decomposed. She sends Brentford on a dangerous journey that almost gets him killed. This journey has the side effect of allowing him to meet new allies and discover a secret at the pole that ends up kick starting the revolution. That would be cool but according to the novel she doesn't send him on this journey for any of those reasons. She wanted to get him out of town because she doesn't approve of his new wife...and that was the only reason. And totally a legitimate reason to send someone you care about to almost certain death? What the hell?
By the end of the book the only thing I wanted was for a giant hole in the ice to swallow the city and every character in it. No such luck. Brentford started out interesting but does nothing of his own initiative, Gabriel has no redeeming qualities and the author tries really hard to make every woman either terrible (by some sort of shitty non-reason related solely to who they've had sex with regardless of consent) or a wonderful sexual creature* (ie had sex/ implied they would have sex with one of the main characters).
Everything, it turns out. I was onboard for the first chapter. Brentford Orsini seemed like a great character: he's sympathetic to the needs of the Inuit, he runs greenhouses, he's concerned about the people - all pluses. Then the book introduces Gabriel and everything goes downhill. Gabriel is: a creepy professor who likes to seduce his students, so horny that when his actions cause a girl to fall into a coma he becomes distracted at the mere sight of another woman and runs off to have sex immediately; is so attached to drugs you have to suffer through practically an entire chapter of how drugs are The Best Thing Ever and The Man who regulates it is just trying to keep the people down, and also likes to have sex with underage teenagers because why not?
As an actual human woman I had to stop reading to go vomit at the sheer stupidity of this line: "he believed that nude girls came from the same realm or regions as dreams, from the same eternal inexhaustible fountain at the spring of time and yet out of time" - in other words, nude girls are not people, just fantasies come to life especially for him.
The grossness doesn't really stop. Sybil is Brentford's fiancee. In this novel, where magic is real and so are powerful mind-altering drugs, it's implied that Sybil is unsuitable for Brentford, partially because she's had previous lovers before but mostly because she is targeted by one of Brentford's enemies, placed under a spell and made to have sex with him. At the end of the book the same man who put the first spell on her makes her fall in love with another man. Apparently you're supposed to be mad at her, not appalled by the sexual assault? Phoebe, the girl in the coma ends up suffering the exact same fate - it's supposed to come across as comical maybe? It doesn't.
Helen who is Brentford's tragically dead first love or whatever is secretly sending help throughout the book - but she doesn't show herself to Brentford because, supposedly, she doesn't want to him to see her looking dead and decomposed. She sends Brentford on a dangerous journey that almost gets him killed. This journey has the side effect of allowing him to meet new allies and discover a secret at the pole that ends up kick starting the revolution. That would be cool but according to the novel she doesn't send him on this journey for any of those reasons. She wanted to get him out of town because she doesn't approve of his new wife...and that was the only reason. And totally a legitimate reason to send someone you care about to almost certain death? What the hell?
By the end of the book the only thing I wanted was for a giant hole in the ice to swallow the city and every character in it. No such luck. Brentford started out interesting but does nothing of his own initiative, Gabriel has no redeeming qualities and the author tries really hard to make every woman either terrible (by some sort of shitty non-reason related solely to who they've had sex with regardless of consent) or a wonderful sexual creature* (ie had sex/ implied they would have sex with one of the main characters).
audaciaray's review against another edition
1.0
Really wanted to like this, on recommendation of Jackson McNally, but just couldn't get into it and couldn't keep the characters straight.
nssutton's review against another edition
3.0
A Victiorian science-fiction story set in New Venice, a city in the Arctic, where tensions run high between the Eskimos and citizens, a treatise against the current governmental regime has been released anonymously and a mysterious black airship hovers above region.
The writing is brilliant and cinematic, so clever, but I wasn't nimble enough of a reader to follow pace. I was gripped by a constant fear that perhaps I'd misunderstood and this was a sequel, because the background stories received such a casual treatment, as if we were all familiar with the moment Helen stopped time.
There were elements that I truly loved -- Stella's tattoo, the magic show, Blankbate and the scavengers -- but it took forever to slog through and I alternated between loving and dreading it.
ARC courtesy of NetGalley.
The writing is brilliant and cinematic, so clever, but I wasn't nimble enough of a reader to follow pace. I was gripped by a constant fear that perhaps I'd misunderstood and this was a sequel, because the background stories received such a casual treatment, as if we were all familiar with the moment Helen stopped time.
There were elements that I truly loved -- Stella's tattoo, the magic show, Blankbate and the scavengers -- but it took forever to slog through and I alternated between loving and dreading it.
ARC courtesy of NetGalley.
eososray's review against another edition
4.0
What a fascinating read.
This is not your typical steampunk novel, it is far more complex. The setting is the wonderful frozen world of New Venice where politics is complicated and Gentlemen of the Night keep the peace. Where the garbage men know everything and Brentford Orsini receives a mysterious message from a long-lost love.
I find myself saying this a lot but the atmosphere really made this book great for me. I love the frozen world, the mysterious characters and the slightly bizarre plot.
This is not your typical steampunk novel, it is far more complex. The setting is the wonderful frozen world of New Venice where politics is complicated and Gentlemen of the Night keep the peace. Where the garbage men know everything and Brentford Orsini receives a mysterious message from a long-lost love.
I find myself saying this a lot but the atmosphere really made this book great for me. I love the frozen world, the mysterious characters and the slightly bizarre plot.
ichirofakename's review against another edition
2.0
Needs more steam, less punk. Turns into a fantasy on p.265. Then a revolution? Compelling characters in a silly environment pursuing dog knows what hobbyhorses. Don't read it.
houlette's review against another edition
3.0
Excellently written and quite funny at times, though a bit slow to get moving.
ctiner7's review against another edition
4.0
Turned out to be completely different then I expected. It really through me off a couple of times. It was written a little odd, I mean, at times it was directed at the reader, and other times it was just telling the story. If that makes any sense. I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars for creativity.....but I myself am not a fan, and don't plan on reading it again, or recommending it to family or friends. There are people who will enjoy it. This one is going to be a book that you either love or hate.
I won this book on Goodreads First Reads.
I won this book on Goodreads First Reads.
museful's review against another edition
1.0
I've had to abandon this one - it's fine, but the constant feeling that I'm reading a sequel to something else just became too irritating.
benjfleck's review against another edition
2.0
I really wanted to like this - I really did - but I could not. It had a lot of cool elements: a mysterious air ship, a polar kangaroo, STEAMPUNK overload, etc.
But, alas, with all that cool stuff... characterization and plot were left out. The two protagonists, Brentford Orsini and Gabriel D'Allier, were baseless and underwhelming, while also being almost interchangeable. The main problem was neither had an actual, legitimate, story-moving GOAL. Neither character knew what they wanted or where they were going. And the plot just rambled on like a continuation of some story I had never heard of.
The world created was good, but it felt too info-dumpy, and not real enough. The plot had no buildup or excitement. I didn't care about the revolution and honestly I had no idea what was happening half the time. Really... what the heck was happening? WHAT. WAS. HAPPENING.
The author filled up the book with lots of words and descriptions, but they all added up to nothing. It made me feel nothing inside. AT ALL. This book didn't have any sort of emotional or thought-provoking impact on me. It just was that... a book... that kept going on... about nothing in particular... with two unlikable, wandering characters... doing nothing in particular... in a polar city... for no reason... oh, lets throw in some weird nonsensical words.
We need Plot. We need Character Motivation. We need Character Development. We need an actual STORY. A STORY THAT MOVES. This book had none of that, and it's a shame.
But, alas, with all that cool stuff... characterization and plot were left out. The two protagonists, Brentford Orsini and Gabriel D'Allier, were baseless and underwhelming, while also being almost interchangeable. The main problem was neither had an actual, legitimate, story-moving GOAL. Neither character knew what they wanted or where they were going. And the plot just rambled on like a continuation of some story I had never heard of.
The world created was good, but it felt too info-dumpy, and not real enough. The plot had no buildup or excitement. I didn't care about the revolution and honestly I had no idea what was happening half the time. Really... what the heck was happening? WHAT. WAS. HAPPENING.
The author filled up the book with lots of words and descriptions, but they all added up to nothing. It made me feel nothing inside. AT ALL. This book didn't have any sort of emotional or thought-provoking impact on me. It just was that... a book... that kept going on... about nothing in particular... with two unlikable, wandering characters... doing nothing in particular... in a polar city... for no reason... oh, lets throw in some weird nonsensical words.
We need Plot. We need Character Motivation. We need Character Development. We need an actual STORY. A STORY THAT MOVES. This book had none of that, and it's a shame.