A review by whosemuse
Heap House by Edward Carey

3.0

According to Wikipedia, "Steampunk refers to a subgenre of science fiction and sometimes fantasy that incorporates technology and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery." I'm not sure this really falls into the category of steampunk, and in fact I have not read much steampunk (I'm not much of a sci-fi reader generally), but that word kept popping into my head as I plowed through this. It describes a world which is covered by garbage, and in the middle of the garbage-filled world (the Heaps) is a family home, a mansion really, which is occupied by the Iremonger family and its myriad Serving Iremongers (people who are kidnapped or otherwise recruited from among the unfortunate classes, to give up their identities and serve the ruling family). That seems pretty dark, right? Well, it gets even darker, as the truth about the Iremongers and their inanimate "birth objects" becomes clear over the course of the story. The narrative follows Clod Iremonger and Lucy Pennant, an accidental interloper into this weird world. One of the most interesting conceits in this story is the strangeness of the names: Clod, Tummis, Ormily et al, names which are almost familiar but somehow warped, just like the world they inhabit. That Lucy is the only "normal" name should be a clue to the way the story progresses, but I don't usually pick up on those kinds of clues. This is supposed to be a YA book (or even a middle-grade book), but some of the concepts here are very sophisticated, and certainly the world and the story playing out are extremely dark. I suppose a less sophisticated reader could take it for a kind of sci-fi romp, but there is much more to it than that. Weirdly enjoyable though, and given the way it ended (no spoilers here!) I shall add the next installment to my reading list.