A review by cpcabaniss
Guns of the Dawn by Adrian Tchaikovsky

3.0

"Once we have made ourselves into monsters, we shall never again be men."

2.5 stars.

I wanted to love this. My good friend Laura loves it and pitches it as a Pride and Prejudice kind of flintlock fantasy. That sounded fantastic! Sadly, it didn't work for me.

The premise is interesting, but the characters were bland and there was little, or no, character development or development of relationships. There was quite a bit of the narrator telling me that there was development, but not much I could actually see. There was little magic and what was there seemed vague and mostly pointless, just thrown in to appeal to a fantasy crowd.

It does bear resemblance to Jane Austen's novels, but lacks her brilliant characters. The pacing was also very off and it was difficult to believe that Emily had gotten where she had in so little time. Certain aspects I could see, but not what the story was trying to push.

A lot of potential, with little payoff. Sad to say this one was not for me.