Steampunk and the Cuttlefish’s coal engines might be hot, but tepid storytelling sinks this tale.
An overwhelming wealth of precise detail bogs down this steampunk effort from adult-fantasy author Freer.
In a world where synthetic ammonia was not invented in 1898 (per the exhaustive backmatter), two primary facts have remained true: The British Empire holds most of the political power, while coal supplies the actual power. By 1953, when the story is set, global warming has resulted in a political sphere entirely unlike the mid-20th century readers know. Fourteen-year-old Clara’s mother has notes that may lead to synthetic ammonia at last, so the two of them find themselves aboard the submarine Cuttlefish on the run from the Russians, the British and possibly the Americans. Amid a barrage of minutiae (from engine workings to background elements that try but fail to establish worldbuilding), Clara finds herself and true love with the lone black crew member, whose own story plays a role (and includes some commentary on racism). The repetitive plot consists of near misses and tight escapes; overt statements replace character growth (“She hadn’t realized before just how important people who merely made food and hot drinks were”), and the burgeoning romance moves too rapidly from a kiss to “I love you.” Moreover, the image of Clara on the cover is reminiscent of the TV Laura Ingalls Wilder in her preteen years.
Steampunk and the Cuttlefish’s coal engines might be hot, but tepid storytelling sinks this tale. (glossary) (Steampunk. 12-15)Pub Date: July 24, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-61614-625-2
Page Count: 276
Publisher: Pyr/Prometheus Books
Review Posted Online: May 29, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2012
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
Sanderson (Legion, 2018, etc.) plainly had a ball with this nonstop, highflying opener, and readers will too.
Eager to prove herself, the daughter of a flier disgraced for cowardice hurls herself into fighter pilot training to join a losing war against aliens.
Plainly modeled as a cross between Katniss Everdeen and Conan the Barbarian (“I bathed in fires of destruction and reveled in the screams of the defeated. I didn’t get afraid”), Spensa “Spin” Nightshade leaves her previous occupation—spearing rats in the caverns of the colony planet Detritus for her widowed mother’s food stand—to wangle a coveted spot in the Defiant Defense Force’s flight school. Opportunities to exercise wild recklessness and growing skill begin at once, as the class is soon in the air, battling the mysterious Krell raiders who have driven people underground. Spensa, who is assumed white, interacts with reasonably diverse human classmates with varying ethnic markers. M-Bot, a damaged AI of unknown origin, develops into a comical sidekick: “Hello!...You have nearly died, and so I will say something to distract you from the serious, mind-numbing implications of your own mortality! I hate your shoes.” Meanwhile, hints that all is not as it seems, either with the official story about her father or the whole Krell war in general, lead to startling revelations and stakes-raising implications by the end. Stay tuned. Maps and illustrations not seen.
Sanderson (Legion, 2018, etc.) plainly had a ball with this nonstop, highflying opener, and readers will too. (Science fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-399-55577-0
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2018
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