Anika Arrington

I was given this book as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy). No that is not true. The title and the cover painting enticed me to request it. The marketing blurb was also exciting. Reminding me of my youthful reads and who does not want to return to the scene of the crime when reading was drought with less depth and complexity...

Whoa... Did I say less depth. Once you dig into this treasure you will find that it is anything but light reading should you want to spend time with it. Not to say that it is heavy, but it has complexities of society, structure and politics that you just might not expect to find, that you don't expect to find, and that shows that Mrs Arrington has spent a great deal of time on her world.

We encounter this world slowly with a piece peeled away at time until you are a third of the book and you think you know all, but there are still more layers that will be revealed. That is the artistry of Mrs Arrington, and worth your indulgence, should you be a fan of fantasy. It presents items in a new way, and also makes us want to know more about the background of our hero...

Yet the one fault perhaps is that there are so many POV characters to tell the tale, we learn about our hero in bits and pieces, and though the continuity of the story seems to flow along because the tellers each advance it a little, we want to delve further into the back story of this person or that, and only seem to get a taste here and then must wait a long time before that character is center stage and learn more about their life and motivation.

Still, despite never satisfying that itch to learn all about our leads, and having so many to be interested in, the tale comes to its conclusion. Will there be more? Can we think of how we would want the next chapter to play out in our mind as the dust settles, surely. Perhaps though we will one day have a prequel or a sequel and see what else happens here.… (plus d'informations)

I have to put this in context since I wrote one of the stories in the anthology. There I said it. I'm biased about this book. But the idea was interesting. Take characters from the classics of Victorian literature (Regency literature) and cast them into the world of Steampunk.

Some of this works, where the steam punkery is part and parcel of the story. Some parts of the anthology not all the stories show that that extra technology that Steampunk brings to its genre is anything but a veneer to the tale.

(Aside from my own which of course is perfect and the best of all) There are notable devices to take a look at in this collection. OG, the Opera Ghost makes an appearance in one of the stories and his use of technology adds to things. It has been sometime since I read Leroux and the original so I do not know if the end game plot device is in line with what we know from the Phantom of the Opera but it is a good read.

Perhaps one of the better is seeing Margaret Dashwood, that youngest of Austen's Dashwood girls having left England for adventure in the Orient on the seas as a Privateer. A world where should you live to not even old age, but just live, you will be weighed by how much metal and other bits and pieces have replaced your organics. Sense and Cyborgs holds to its own logic and though we are far away from Elinor and Marianne's Sense and Sensibility, one feels at home in the gritty Singapore that is presented to us.

Steampunk does not need to be pretty, and having so much of Victorian history and culture, there is a lot of that dark underbelly that we know exists but seldom see up close. Steampunk and these stories showcase that side of things, and it is worth the time and effort to sit down and immerse yourself in them.… (plus d'informations)