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A review by atris_lauraborealis
Arabella of Mars by David D. Levine
3.0
This is a fun steampunk cross between treasure island and Mulan (weird right? But it totally works).
While it was slow to get started, it had it's fun bits that kept it moving along. It's not a book that will have you glued to the page, desperate to see how it all works out, but it goes from Mars to England and back again with an imaginative alternate reality full of a wealth of opportunity. If anything, I was disappointed we didn't delve deeper into the world and characters. And while I respect the attempt to imitate classic sea-faring novels in tone and language, there were times the storytelling became stilted and we were held at arm's-length from really caring about these characters.
But overall it was a great romp through space with privateers, space storms and Martians!
While it was slow to get started, it had it's fun bits that kept it moving along. It's not a book that will have you glued to the page, desperate to see how it all works out, but it goes from Mars to England and back again with an imaginative alternate reality full of a wealth of opportunity. If anything, I was disappointed we didn't delve deeper into the world and characters. And while I respect the attempt to imitate classic sea-faring novels in tone and language, there were times the storytelling became stilted and we were held at arm's-length from really caring about these characters.
But overall it was a great romp through space with privateers, space storms and Martians!