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A review by weirdtea
All Men of Genius by Lev AC Rosen
2.0
This book was too uneven for me to heartily recommend it, but it wasn't bad. There is much to like. I liked the emphasis on struggles of identity, equality, freedom, and acceptance. I appreciated that those conflicts were balanced between public and personal, the romantic and pragmatic. I particularly liked the descriptions of the mechanics, especially from the point of view of characters who love and understand them. The mechanical marvels were an excellent way to bring together themes dealing with beauty and science. Steampunk as a genre is particularly well suited to exploring those ideas and I think the novel creates a solid Steampunk setting.
There are plenty of great little moments and lines throughout the book. The book is often quite clever. So why didn't I love it?
Sometimes I think it was too clever for its own good. I kept thinking "This puts the twee in tweed"--a clear case of pot/kettle. I am not sure that the overt literary connections really contributed much. I suppose it kept me from worrying about the importance of well-rounded characters and plot twists. If you are familiar with the plays you won't be surprised. But, really, when you are reading the originals it isn't about the plot surprises either. I've always been more drawn to their language, ideas, and style. The problem here is that Rosen's prose isn't nearly as dazzling and engaging as its inspirations. It comes off as either a touch pretentious or superfluous too often for comfort. There are some entertaining allusions but even they can feel affected at times.
So for almost every triumph there seems to be a clunker. For example, I was baffled about the treatment of biological sciences in the book. I'm not sure why they seemed to be limited to creating chimeras. I couldn't work out if it was some kind of satire or not. It was especially glaring in comparison to the loving treatment the mechanical side got. It just struck me as off. (Bonus points for the foul mouthed experiment. That surprised a laugh out of me).
There are other complaints to make but I don't want to belabor the point too much more.
It comes down to this: I was charmed and enjoyably immersed through portions of this novel. I was irritated and bored through other portions. I found it easy to put down...but I was drawn back to it again. So--read it or don't. Your call.
There are plenty of great little moments and lines throughout the book. The book is often quite clever. So why didn't I love it?
Sometimes I think it was too clever for its own good. I kept thinking "This puts the twee in tweed"--a clear case of pot/kettle. I am not sure that the overt literary connections really contributed much. I suppose it kept me from worrying about the importance of well-rounded characters and plot twists. If you are familiar with the plays you won't be surprised. But, really, when you are reading the originals it isn't about the plot surprises either. I've always been more drawn to their language, ideas, and style. The problem here is that Rosen's prose isn't nearly as dazzling and engaging as its inspirations. It comes off as either a touch pretentious or superfluous too often for comfort. There are some entertaining allusions but even they can feel affected at times.
So for almost every triumph there seems to be a clunker. For example, I was baffled about the treatment of biological sciences in the book. I'm not sure why they seemed to be limited to creating chimeras. I couldn't work out if it was some kind of satire or not. It was especially glaring in comparison to the loving treatment the mechanical side got. It just struck me as off. (Bonus points for the foul mouthed experiment. That surprised a laugh out of me).
There are other complaints to make but I don't want to belabor the point too much more.
It comes down to this: I was charmed and enjoyably immersed through portions of this novel. I was irritated and bored through other portions. I found it easy to put down...but I was drawn back to it again. So--read it or don't. Your call.