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A review by mackle13
Ghosts by Gaslight: Stories of Steampunk and Supernatural Suspense by Nick Gevers, Jack Dann
Did not finish book.
I don't know why I keep falling for these anthologies, when I don't tend to have a good track record with them. Usually one or two of the short stories are good, and the rest of just meh or outright boring.
In this case - I didn't even finish them. I just stalled out and couldn't muster the energy or desire to continue. Especially since the "steampunk" elements are barely existent... and completely non-existent in some of the stories. Which, I could be down for a good ghost story now and again, but that's not what I was looking for in a book which promotes itself on the steampunk tailcoats.
Anyway-
The first two stories were lackluster, though 'The Iron Shroud' better than
Music, When Soft Voices Die' which was just boring.
'The Shaddowwes Box' was the best of the ones I read, and gave me hope that I could get through the set.
'The Curious Case of the Moondawn Daffodil Murders' was fun - introducing a more supernaturally inclined cousin to the Holmes brothers. Bit silly, but not bad.
'Why I Was Hanged' was ok, and the 'The Proving of Smollett Standforth' utterly failed to be suspenseful.
'The Jade Woman of the Luminous Star' is where I call it quits, and I never even got through the whole story.
I suppose I could've just skipped it and hopped stories until I found some likely looking ones... but I had got this to read for a suspenseful October book, and since it didn't really work on that account, and since I put it aside for awhile and it's now mid-November, I'm throwing in the towel.
Maybe I'll get it from the library again at some point in the future... but I highly doubt I'll bother.
In this case - I didn't even finish them. I just stalled out and couldn't muster the energy or desire to continue. Especially since the "steampunk" elements are barely existent... and completely non-existent in some of the stories. Which, I could be down for a good ghost story now and again, but that's not what I was looking for in a book which promotes itself on the steampunk tailcoats.
Anyway-
The first two stories were lackluster, though 'The Iron Shroud' better than
Music, When Soft Voices Die' which was just boring.
'The Shaddowwes Box' was the best of the ones I read, and gave me hope that I could get through the set.
'The Curious Case of the Moondawn Daffodil Murders' was fun - introducing a more supernaturally inclined cousin to the Holmes brothers. Bit silly, but not bad.
'Why I Was Hanged' was ok, and the 'The Proving of Smollett Standforth' utterly failed to be suspenseful.
'The Jade Woman of the Luminous Star' is where I call it quits, and I never even got through the whole story.
I suppose I could've just skipped it and hopped stories until I found some likely looking ones... but I had got this to read for a suspenseful October book, and since it didn't really work on that account, and since I put it aside for awhile and it's now mid-November, I'm throwing in the towel.
Maybe I'll get it from the library again at some point in the future... but I highly doubt I'll bother.