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And it's hard to be a fantasy/sf fan and not at least glance at the back blurb on something that looks this good...
The back blurb was similarly encouraging: "In Victorian London, the Whitechapel section is a mechanized, steam-driven hell, cut off and ruled by two mysterious, mechanical gods-Mama Engine and Grandfather Clock. Some years have passed since the Great Uprising, when humans rose up to fight against the machines, but a few brave veterans of the Uprising have formed their own Resistance-and are gathering for another attack. For now they have a secret weapon that may finally free them-or kill them all... ".
Other positives - paperback, so no serious $ risk. Canadian author, so hey, support my own, and self-contained, so no cliffhanger part one of seven ending.
Totally worth it.
S.M. Peters' Whitechapel is a surreal, steampunk, vertical city as interesting in its way as Mieville's New Crobuzon or Lynch's Camorr. Smoke blocks out the sun, ash covers everything, if the bad air doesn't kill you, the mechanical mutation disease likely will. Assuming the gods allow you to die - they aren't very inclined to. But their servants, Grandfather Clock's Goldcloaks, Mama Engine's Blackcloaks, and the no-longer-human Boilermen, are very happy to try and kill you anyways if you get in their way. Yet amazingly, the people of Whitechapel keep on going, and some of them keep on fighting.
Peters' characters are, for the most part, stalwart everyday people in a situation beyond anything they are equipped to deal with. The author does a good job of showing damaged, weak, uncertain people rising to the challenge without the sort of drowning in self-doubt inner dialogue that can really put a reader off a character. Each of them has a chance to shine (or the opposite of that), and each one's plotline arrives at a satisfying conclusion. His dialogue is fun and flows well, and his interactions always move the story forward.
His gods defy explanation but he offers enough to satisfy the reader without spoon-feeding it. There isn't much expository explanation - the history and setting are explained in bits and pieces throughout the book, and by the end, you don't know everything, but you know enough.
His action scenes are just great.
It's not a perfect book, but the shortcomings are nothing i think i need to dwell on or warn you about - i think it's fully worth the purchase and read, and great fun to discover a totally new author.
- Abyss, enjoyed.
