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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
Couldn't put it down. Very refreshing mix of steampunk feel with new ideas. This was Gail Carriger's book club pick for August '14 and it's another corker!
This is probably my favorite book I've read this year. I read it cover to cover without setting it down once. It was a very pleasant surprise since I hadn't read or heard of Pagliasotti before.
The world building is fantastic. Not only does it feel real, but it feels like a real someplace else. The character building is good. The story is interesting and the pacing is on fleek.
The best thing is I finished the book and had no idea it wasn't a standalone until I came to review it and saw it was part of a (finished!) trilogy. The book is so well executed it works fantastically as a standalone, and hopefully just as well as part of a trilogy (I'll know once I read the others, which I intend to do as soon as I can get my hands on them).
I honestly have nothing negative to say about this book. You should totally read it.
The world building is fantastic. Not only does it feel real, but it feels like a real someplace else. The character building is good. The story is interesting and the pacing is on fleek.
The best thing is I finished the book and had no idea it wasn't a standalone until I came to review it and saw it was part of a (finished!) trilogy. The book is so well executed it works fantastically as a standalone, and hopefully just as well as part of a trilogy (I'll know once I read the others, which I intend to do as soon as I can get my hands on them).
I honestly have nothing negative to say about this book. You should totally read it.
This book hit on two of my favourite things--fantasy and steampunk. I was also intrigued by the cover.
Despite that, I was a little nervous that the whole "fantasy steampunk" think would come off as kitschy and unoriginal. Was I ever wrong! Ms. Pagliassotti's world is utterly creative, and just keeps getting more interesting the further into the book you read. Once I got started, I literally could not put this book down. Thank goodness that it wasn't longer or my family may have started complaining. However, I'm looking forward to reading more books in the series. Which I shall ration myself on in order to prevent calls from Child and Family Services. :-)
Despite that, I was a little nervous that the whole "fantasy steampunk" think would come off as kitschy and unoriginal. Was I ever wrong! Ms. Pagliassotti's world is utterly creative, and just keeps getting more interesting the further into the book you read. Once I got started, I literally could not put this book down. Thank goodness that it wasn't longer or my family may have started complaining. However, I'm looking forward to reading more books in the series. Which I shall ration myself on in order to prevent calls from Child and Family Services. :-)
Definitely a better read than other steampunk novels I've tried to read. This was a nice, easy, uncomplicated adventure. Although there were many many typos. Alas.
Once I got past the fact that the figure on the cover, shirt open to her navel, in no way resembles Taya Icarus (who dresses modestly unless kidnapped by Jayce the rogue straight n’ sassy dressmaker, and who has short, curly hair which makes sense for stuffing under a flight cap), I was able to enjoy the dickens out of this book.
But I’ll admit I’m picky that way.
There’s really so much to like about this book, and it made me wish that English had a word for re-reading a book you tend to think of as pretty good and remembering that it’s awesome. There’s so much stuff to like about it. I love Ondinium’s cobbled streets and that it clings to the side of a mountain so steep it requires airway tram service and icarii to get around. I love the concept of the icarii, the skill set, the outfit and the culture. I love that they live in aeyries together with terrible meddling house-mothers named Gwen.
I find the whole Alistair vs Cristof romantic set-up early in the book to be really technically well executed, mainly in that at no point does Pagliasotti whang us over the head with Taya's infatuation with Cristof. I use that term in more of a "she is fascinated/irritated by him" rather than "she's all swoony", but look lady, if you're out on a date with a guy and all you can think about is his brother, you might want to look into who you'd really like to be with. Seriously. Every time Taya’s with Alistair, she keeps on thinking about Cristof. It made me giggle.
Also it’s interesting that as a couple, Taya and Cristof’s first physical interactions involve fighting: fighting off her Alzanan attackers and then later just whaling away on each other like kindergartners. Awesome.
I love the holistic quality of the metal-related language in the text and how it keeps gently re-tying you back to the theme of the forge: scrap as a swearword, Fireforged as a swearword for exalteds, a slagging pain in the tailset. I don’t know, I just found the whole system elegant.
(The one linguistic thing I didn’t get was Ondinium; is it the name of the city and the country? And why aren’t the citizens called Ondinians?)
Also, holy bananas but Alistair was a giant toolbag. On fire.
Anyway, there's this moment as Taya's sneaking out to fly Cristof up to the Council's palace on the cliffs -- for which they could and possibly will both be arrested and charged with murder -- where Taya writes:
Now, while I was reading Clockwork Heart, I took a break to look up something in Daphne Gottlieb's first collection of poems, Why Things Burn. I forget what it is I went there to look up, but I do know I read the poems "incubus/succubus", "sanctuary" and "convertible" before getting overwhelmed and having to stop.
Don't get me wrong, I love Gottlieb's work. It's unsettling and uncomfortable and frightening and painful -- everything good poetry should be**. I recognize her anger and her weariness both from the anger and the things that cause it, which in her work at least is so often violence against women, both sexualized and other. And those three particular poems, which I read at random just before I read about Taya filing a flight plan in her best friend's purse before running off to help this mysterious jackass by doing something illegal that carries with it the risk that she'll be killed.
And I realized that I was looking at an all-too-infrequent-in-books form of Survival Skills for Ladies**.
Of COURSE she'd let her best friend know where she was going. Even MORE SO because the errand was so risky. And it made me wonder: why don't we see this type of safety planning more often in books? Is it because we don't want to think about danger when we're indulging in escapist reading? Because it's depressing to think about heroines taking risks and NEEDING that type of safety net? But heroines in steampunk and other types of books are often imperiled; kidnapped, stabbed, menaced, dropped from airships, or, as here, investigating a crime in a way that could lead to arrest, blinding and death.
I don't have an answer. I'm hoping y'all will answer in the comments.
And at this point I don't even remember what I was going to look up in Why Things Burn. It'll come back to me eventually.
But this is complicated by the next lines, which read:
Y’all I just. I just. *deep breath* There’s the whole gun/phallus thing, there’s the whole echo of false rape accusations, and the dismissal of the heroine’s agency thing, and, I quite honestly don’t know what to make of that moment. Even if it’s just off-the-cuff, why was it necessary?
Yeah I know I know: sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
One minor complaint and then I guess I should shut up about this book but I did think the Kyle/Lars setup was hella contrived. There’s no other indication about homosexuality in Ondinium, but with such a rigid caste system, I’m not surprised to see it not being explicitly prevalent. But there’s no discussion of what the possible repercussions of that match-up might be. It’s just treated as this juvenile prank by the computer program that conveniently matches up with reality. Very confusing.
*Daphne Gottlieb will always be my first choice for poet laureate. Discuss.
**Which is not at all related to the recent twitter meme #safetytipsforladies. But is related in a snarky, snarky way.
But I’ll admit I’m picky that way.
There’s really so much to like about this book, and it made me wish that English had a word for re-reading a book you tend to think of as pretty good and remembering that it’s awesome. There’s so much stuff to like about it. I love Ondinium’s cobbled streets and that it clings to the side of a mountain so steep it requires airway tram service and icarii to get around. I love the concept of the icarii, the skill set, the outfit and the culture. I love that they live in aeyries together with terrible meddling house-mothers named Gwen.
I find the whole Alistair vs Cristof romantic set-up early in the book to be really technically well executed, mainly in that at no point does Pagliasotti whang us over the head with Taya's infatuation with Cristof. I use that term in more of a "she is fascinated/irritated by him" rather than "she's all swoony", but look lady, if you're out on a date with a guy and all you can think about is his brother, you might want to look into who you'd really like to be with. Seriously. Every time Taya’s with Alistair, she keeps on thinking about Cristof. It made me giggle.
Also it’s interesting that as a couple, Taya and Cristof’s first physical interactions involve fighting: fighting off her Alzanan attackers and then later just whaling away on each other like kindergartners. Awesome.
I love the holistic quality of the metal-related language in the text and how it keeps gently re-tying you back to the theme of the forge: scrap as a swearword, Fireforged as a swearword for exalteds, a slagging pain in the tailset. I don’t know, I just found the whole system elegant.
(The one linguistic thing I didn’t get was Ondinium; is it the name of the city and the country? And why aren’t the citizens called Ondinians?)
Also, holy bananas but Alistair was a giant toolbag. On fire.
Anyway, there's this moment as Taya's sneaking out to fly Cristof up to the Council's palace on the cliffs -- for which they could and possibly will both be arrested and charged with murder -- where Taya writes:
That morning, she'd done what she could to set up her own advantages. She'd left a note in Cassi's purse containing Kyle's letter and describing where she was going and why. She didn't know what Cassi would do when she found it, but no icarus flew without filing a flight plan.
Now, while I was reading Clockwork Heart, I took a break to look up something in Daphne Gottlieb's first collection of poems, Why Things Burn. I forget what it is I went there to look up, but I do know I read the poems "incubus/succubus", "sanctuary" and "convertible" before getting overwhelmed and having to stop.
Don't get me wrong, I love Gottlieb's work. It's unsettling and uncomfortable and frightening and painful -- everything good poetry should be**. I recognize her anger and her weariness both from the anger and the things that cause it, which in her work at least is so often violence against women, both sexualized and other. And those three particular poems, which I read at random just before I read about Taya filing a flight plan in her best friend's purse before running off to help this mysterious jackass by doing something illegal that carries with it the risk that she'll be killed.
And I realized that I was looking at an all-too-infrequent-in-books form of Survival Skills for Ladies**.
Of COURSE she'd let her best friend know where she was going. Even MORE SO because the errand was so risky. And it made me wonder: why don't we see this type of safety planning more often in books? Is it because we don't want to think about danger when we're indulging in escapist reading? Because it's depressing to think about heroines taking risks and NEEDING that type of safety net? But heroines in steampunk and other types of books are often imperiled; kidnapped, stabbed, menaced, dropped from airships, or, as here, investigating a crime in a way that could lead to arrest, blinding and death.
I don't have an answer. I'm hoping y'all will answer in the comments.
And at this point I don't even remember what I was going to look up in Why Things Burn. It'll come back to me eventually.
But this is complicated by the next lines, which read:
”Don’t worry.” Cristoff tapped his bulging coat pocket. “You can always say I forced you at gunpoint.”
Y’all I just. I just. *deep breath* There’s the whole gun/phallus thing, there’s the whole echo of false rape accusations, and the dismissal of the heroine’s agency thing, and, I quite honestly don’t know what to make of that moment. Even if it’s just off-the-cuff, why was it necessary?
Yeah I know I know: sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
One minor complaint and then I guess I should shut up about this book but I did think the Kyle/Lars setup was hella contrived. There’s no other indication about homosexuality in Ondinium, but with such a rigid caste system, I’m not surprised to see it not being explicitly prevalent. But there’s no discussion of what the possible repercussions of that match-up might be. It’s just treated as this juvenile prank by the computer program that conveniently matches up with reality. Very confusing.
*Daphne Gottlieb will always be my first choice for poet laureate. Discuss.
**Which is not at all related to the recent twitter meme #safetytipsforladies. But is related in a snarky, snarky way.
3.5 stars. This was a fun read with lots of, for lack of a better term, fan service, but not very deep. I got the flying descriptions that I wanted, I got the steampunk feels, I got the interesting romance, and I was even surprised by plot a few times. I really struggled between 3 and 4 stars, but in the end its inconsistencies were enough to throw me out of the story several times.
Taya is an icarus, a messenger granted mechanical wings to deliver messages around the city of Ondinium. The city's society is highly segregated into different castes with the Exalted sitting at the top of that hierarchy. In the course of her duties, Taya rescues an Exalted from a crashing wireferry (something like a ski lift) and thus gets drawn in to investigate who caused the crash, and uncovers several conspiracies along the way. She learns a lot about how her city works, meaning we do too, and does a lot of flying and skirting steam jets and jumping off giant gears. Lovely.
Like I said before, the mechanical logistics of the world are great. I got everything I wanted from a steampunk novel. It was the people and society that were inconsistent.
Despite it being a highly segregated society, there appears to be no legal or social consequences to violating those castes. Despite their reputation, all the Exalted in the novel seem to be decent people who like, respect, protect, and want to boink Taya. There's a bit of snark when the programmers, icarii, exalted, and lictors all end up in a pub together, but otherwise nothing. How does a segregated society maintain itself if all the castes are permitted to freely intermingle? Taya is terrified at the beginning of the novel to even touch an exalted but we don't see any consequences for that whatsoever at any point in the narrative.
Taya seems to be able to take off from work basically whenever she wants. I get that she has a lot of freedom but really? In addition, the consequences of murder are very clearly spelled out, but apparently that doesn't matter if someone else takes the fall for you. Characters very clearly break rules (like) with no consequences.
The plot was also a bit scattered, and the real perpetrators weren't woven very well into the main "Alister" story. After that main story was over, there was a sputtering and the characters clearly had to sit together and remind each other that there was still another, different plot, one that didn't have much to do with the main characters and was kind of a drawn out tying up of loose ends instead of the climactic battle it was intended to be.
As a writer, I would have suggested switching up the two plots so that the more meaningful "Alister" storyline was the main climax, but I'm not a published author so what do I know?
All in all, fun as long as you don't think about it too hard. 3.5/5.
Taya is an icarus, a messenger granted mechanical wings to deliver messages around the city of Ondinium. The city's society is highly segregated into different castes with the Exalted sitting at the top of that hierarchy. In the course of her duties, Taya rescues an Exalted from a crashing wireferry (something like a ski lift) and thus gets drawn in to investigate who caused the crash, and uncovers several conspiracies along the way. She learns a lot about how her city works, meaning we do too, and does a lot of flying and skirting steam jets and jumping off giant gears. Lovely.
Like I said before, the mechanical logistics of the world are great. I got everything I wanted from a steampunk novel. It was the people and society that were inconsistent.
Despite it being a highly segregated society, there appears to be no legal or social consequences to violating those castes. Despite their reputation, all the Exalted in the novel seem to be decent people who like, respect, protect, and want to boink Taya. There's a bit of snark when the programmers, icarii, exalted, and lictors all end up in a pub together, but otherwise nothing. How does a segregated society maintain itself if all the castes are permitted to freely intermingle? Taya is terrified at the beginning of the novel to even touch an exalted but we don't see any consequences for that whatsoever at any point in the narrative.
Taya seems to be able to take off from work basically whenever she wants. I get that she has a lot of freedom but really? In addition, the consequences of murder are very clearly spelled out, but apparently that doesn't matter if someone else takes the fall for you. Characters very clearly break rules (like
Spoiler
Cris running around investigating things without his papers, or Taya taking off without filing a flight plan, or stealing the set of wings that Cris used, or her ditching two counterwights of ondinum (two years salary!)The plot was also a bit scattered, and the real perpetrators weren't woven very well into the main "Alister" story. After that main story was over, there was a sputtering and the characters clearly had to sit together and remind each other that there was still another, different plot, one that didn't have much to do with the main characters and was kind of a drawn out tying up of loose ends instead of the climactic battle it was intended to be.
As a writer, I would have suggested switching up the two plots so that the more meaningful "Alister" storyline was the main climax, but I'm not a published author so what do I know?
All in all, fun as long as you don't think about it too hard. 3.5/5.
4.5, went from decent to awesome at a very specific point and stayed there. Also: a great example of complex worldbuilding executed unobtrusively and with minimum confusion.
One of the reviewers of this (who liked it less than me) said this was as if the UPS man was trying to solve a mystery and that's when I realized I've read way too many cozy mysteries as that idea didn't seem weird to me at all. And there is some truth in it. In this steampunk fantasy world, the city of Ondinium (a light weight metal of great worth) functions by a very strict caste system with the exalted at the top. Taya is an icarus (a named that bothered me as it's the only truly Earth/Greek Myth word in the book). The icarii wear metal wings and ondinium (and are small jockey-sized people) and fly around the city as messengers. They're one of the few who can go to all levels of the city and the castes.
Taya wants to be in the diplomat corps and visit other countries. What she gets is an accidental chance to be a hero when the wireferry (I'm thinking something like a furnicular train or gondola aerial tramways) is bombed and she saves Veira and her son from falling to their deaths, both of whom are exalted (believed to be reborn as the more pure human souls, closest to getting to go on to heaven/nirvana/whatever). In doing so, Veira befriends her and through her Taya meets Exalted brothers, Alister (now part of their ruling political system) and Cristof.
Cristof has thrown off the strictures of being Exalted (always being masked, wearing heavy garments to slow their movements to prove they don't NEED to go fast, do work etc) and all his wealth to work as a clockwright. he enjoys the work. Alister is a programer for the Great Engine (the thing that runs the town, how, we're never really told).
Naturally because of the romance subplot the brothers both want Taya's attention, the charming handsome Alister and the crabby, sarcastic Cristof (and this will go just as you imagine it would). All three of them are caught up in the terrorism gripping the city and Taya and Cristof especially are trying to get to the bottom of it (especially since the latter works with the lictors, the police caste).
I thought it was engaging and I liked the characters including the villain. I was less impressed with the two punishments favored in this place (death penalty or blinding/exile) and caste systems in general give me hives. You can almost sympathize with the idea of getting rid of the system (part of the point of the terrorists) until you realize that the villain's big plan is immigration control/blaming them for everything and eugenics (especially in today's atmosphere).
The support cast was interesting too. While this is a complete story in and of itself I know there are two more in the series so I'll be curious to see them.
Taya wants to be in the diplomat corps and visit other countries. What she gets is an accidental chance to be a hero when the wireferry (I'm thinking something like a furnicular train or gondola aerial tramways) is bombed and she saves Veira and her son from falling to their deaths, both of whom are exalted (believed to be reborn as the more pure human souls, closest to getting to go on to heaven/nirvana/whatever). In doing so, Veira befriends her and through her Taya meets Exalted brothers, Alister (now part of their ruling political system) and Cristof.
Cristof has thrown off the strictures of being Exalted (always being masked, wearing heavy garments to slow their movements to prove they don't NEED to go fast, do work etc) and all his wealth to work as a clockwright. he enjoys the work. Alister is a programer for the Great Engine (the thing that runs the town, how, we're never really told).
Naturally because of the romance subplot the brothers both want Taya's attention, the charming handsome Alister and the crabby, sarcastic Cristof (and this will go just as you imagine it would). All three of them are caught up in the terrorism gripping the city and Taya and Cristof especially are trying to get to the bottom of it (especially since the latter works with the lictors, the police caste).
I thought it was engaging and I liked the characters including the villain. I was less impressed with the two punishments favored in this place (death penalty or blinding/exile) and caste systems in general give me hives. You can almost sympathize with the idea of getting rid of the system (part of the point of the terrorists) until you realize that the villain's big plan is immigration control/blaming them for everything and eugenics (especially in today's atmosphere).
The support cast was interesting too. While this is a complete story in and of itself I know there are two more in the series so I'll be curious to see them.
I know it sounds stupid but I abandoned this book 60 pages from the end. Why? Because there was no reason to finish. The way to kill the plot is to give the readers what they want before the actual end has arrived. The bad guy was caught and the two people who acted as romantic partners for each other had already kissed. Everything after that dragged on and on. I'm sure something else dramatic must happen in the final pages but honestly, after the 'climax' of the book had been reached, which, honestly was only partially entertaining because I saw it coming from the moment the 'bad' character came on the scene, I was just bored to tears. I thought that it was mildly entertaining before that. I like the idea of icarii and of the caste system but the plot just wasn't interesting enough or even believable enough to make me stick with it. I mean, honestly...a program to help people choose an appropriate life partner? Ugh. It is just so stupid. I'm sorry but imagine something like that going to a real congress hearing or something? It's like Match.com saying that they wanted to bring a bill up. Lame. Anyway, I don't really recommend this book unless you want to be disappointed by an unfortunate loss of ending. Has anyone gotten through the whole book and honestly believed that the final 'suspense' of whatever happens after I stopped really worth it? I won't go back to it but it'll be nice to hear if anyone disagrees with me.
I very much enjoyed the pacing and the writing in this book. I feel like it took the entire book to understand the caste system, so the world building wasn't as complete as I was hoping for. That being said, I totally loved the book and was able to follow along. I still have questions about the Great Engine, but there are two more books!