Kin S. Law

I received a copy of the Future That Never Was by Kin S. Law from LibraryThing. I’m a fan of steampunk and this book definitely delivered that! It also includes elements of Doug Adams, a hint of Lovecraft, and a nod to Mark Twain. It was a convoluted story that kept the reader guessing the whole time but ended satisfactorily for a book with a sequel upcoming. I especially enjoyed the fact that women and POC played key roles in the story, usually that of the good guys who saved the world show more from a megalomaniac. While there are a plethora of characters, it is easy to distinguish them all, as the author has created vivid quirky individuals. I would recommend the book to anyone who enjoys a new take on the steampunk genre. show less

I received this as a Library Thing Early Reviewer with no pressure to promote the book. This is my first experience of Steampunk apart from some art and a few cosplay costumes I have seen although coincidentally within 24 hrs of finishing the book, I saw the Disenchanted Episode "Electric Princess" which is exactly Steampunk - go figure.
Therefore, I came into this blind and it was a pleasant but hilly learning curve. For those who are also new to Steampunk Google Steampunk Words Dictionary show more and you will find several small dictionaries which will help you to understand the nitty-gritty of the genre. I believe there is an earlier book, with many of the same characters, but I did not have too much trouble following who was who and why they were in the storyline.
Each chapter is labelled with a Station title - an airship or dirigible or Zeppelin require refueling at way stations hence each stop is a new chapter on the journey. The infernal almost certainly refers to the hellish abomination our heroes and heroines are chasing/being chased by. The ear is the time of Queen Victoria the Third, The main character is Vanessa Hargreaves a spy/ detective sent by the Queen to the USA to ensure a box she carries the Cook Box is disposed of for eternity. As far as Hargreaves knows the box contains a plague which must be contained. - More coincidence with the times. She loses it, finds it,loses part of its contents, finds a secret it was hiding, and all this amongst mayhem being created by powerful secret corporations or perhaps powerful corporations with dastardly plans - and the word dastard is used frequently.
The components of the story travel over the USA, from New York to San Francisco either wrecking mayhem upon the populous or trying to prevent mayhem being wrecked, and learning what the enemy is capable of. It turns out the enemy is an attempt to evolve mankind past the simple body and to merge him completely with machine. After a long and quite easy to follow fight scene where the enemy nearly destroys San Francisco, does our heroine and her comrade in arms win? Maybe it is a moot point - what after all is winning when so much has been lost and caution will need to be maintained for years to come. I enjoyed this book, and will actively seek out other steampunk novels and movies/TV. show less

Look I like steam punk and i meant to like this one. But partially because this is the second book in a series there seems to be a little sophmore slump.

And a LOT of explaining things that people who read the first book in the series would have already learned, perhaps in a more entertaining way.

But the story is clunky and slow and take forever to get up and running and there are too many characters introduced and then left to fend for themselves.

Best thing to do is read the first book of show more the series and make up your mind if you want to ride this train. Me i'm taking a second class return trip back to Paddington Statiion show less

A book strangely placed in a time that never was, about a future, that never came to pass. This is book 2 in a series, where I haven’t read book 1. It was very complicated and confusing to start in this book, and in this case, I highly recommend reading the first book, first.

This story is about a lady inspector who is working directly for the Queen of England, tracking down criminals who are using automata (steam-powered equipment capable of amazing agility and strength), to do some show more unknown evil. The book follows Vanessa Hargreaves in her search for answers, fighting against unknown assailants, challenging current trains of thought in a way only she can.

The author has a brilliant command of the English language, and brings incredible description and attention to detail, such that each and every sentence is riveting and also challenging to understand. This is a thinking persons story that not only has many twists and turns, but requires an extraordinary vocabulary and imagination to roll through the gears of the machine called the story.

Unfortunately I found the story veered off course many times into areas that did not add value to the overall story, descriptions of physical intimate encounters, whole sections that did nothing to improve or amplify the overall substance. I am not sure what genre to fit this book into, but I don’t believe I am the target audience, so it was not as enjoyable as I had hoped it would be. show less