Elizabeth Bear

This was super fun. A steampunk historical Western with shades of Jack the Ripper and the Lone Ranger with more diversity than you can shake a parasol at. This takes place Rapid City, a frontier town somewhere in the Pacific Northwest - north of San Francisco, south of Alaska. Possibly Seattle-area? The narrator is Karen Memery, a prostitute in a high-end bordello. She finds herself embroiled in a political scheme that involves kidnapped (Asian) Indian girls, a black US marshal and his show more American Indian partner, a mayoral candidate with a mind-control device, and murdered prostitutes.

There is a lot going on in this book, not least of which that we get to know each of the many and varied cast of characters reasonably well, and come to like them. They are a motley group, but they are resourceful, loyal, and fiercely protective. Bear doesn't flinch at tackling the sexist, racist, and bigoted mindsets of the time, and Karen's voice is both progressively enlightened and yet still colored with some of the conceptions of the post-Civil War era. Several of the characters are former slaves, Karen's love interest is one of the kidnapped Indian girls forced into sexual slavery, and one of the women at the House is a transexual. Societal prejudices are laid out in a matter-of-fact way, but are then moved past. Yes, this is the time the story takes place in, but we just make the best of it.

And just as much as I loved all the characters, I also loved the plot. There's a Russian scheme to take back Alaska! And a kraken-submarine! And, one of the pivotal scenes of the book involves Karen using a Singer sewing machine as a mech suit. I mean, really, could it get any better? show less

When someone says steampunk, it immediately brings to mind London and Queen Victoria. Even if there are some stories set in the States, it is rare and usually concentrated in the big cities of the East. Well - it was time for a story that is steampunk but is set in the Indian Territories - in the area which is destined to become Seattle (or at least somewhere there) - but for now, in the novel - welcome to Rapid City - the closest port to Anchorage and the golden fever of Alaska - a city of show more sailors, mad scientists and seamstresses (they even possess a few sewing machines - after all this is what the city licenses them as - it will be shameful for those citizens to call them whores, right?).

Meet our gracious host on this journey - Karen Memery (like memory but with "e" as she is quick to explain to her readers). She works on Madam Damnable's bordello (even if noone calls it this way because of all this virtue and what's not so important to everyone - especially when they visit the young ladies working there). And she has a good life there - it is easier job than a manual one; she makes enough money to be able to dream of the life after and the house is one of the best - with the madam not being a bad person or forcing anyone about anything. Until one day, an Indian (as in from India) girl is saved from her crib where she had been forced to work as a whore and in the process the rescuer get shot and needs help and ends up at Madam Damnable's door. And the life as they all know it is gone forever.

The girls in the house are very young - the kind of young that would send Social Services to their doors today if they decide to practice the oldest profession - a 16 years old is considered one of the older girls. Such are the times - and the novel does not sugarcoat the realities of 12 years old girls that are forced to sell themselves - it is not a commentary on the practice; it is just part of life. And in a lot of cases when someone did something, I had to remind myself that these are girls, that no matter what they had been doing, they are still children, some of them still growing their bodies and height.

But back to the story - where the Indian girl (Priya) finds her home in Madam Damnable's house (as a domestic help after she refuses to work as a whore) and things start getting back to normal. Except for the fact that Priya belonged to the worst possible man - a sadistic and unscrupulous man that would go to whatever lengths needed to have her back - and destroy the madam in the process. Which does not sit very well with the girls; not to mention the US Marshal Bass Reeves that had travelled after a murderer that kills whores and leaves their ruined bodies to be found (whoever did not think of Jack the Ripper had not been paying attention - and no, the guy did not come from London and this is not a Jack the Ripper story but the types of crimes are matching for a reason - the timing is right after all).

A house fire, mind control, submarine, airships, explosions, a Comanche, young love (our narrator Karen really falls for Priya and the tentative budding romance is handled nicely), daring escapes and chases - the novel has it all. And somehow it pulls it off - from the descriptions of a city in the middle of being elevated so it does not get flooded to the descriptions of the submersible and air ships - everything fits, everything makes sense. Of course there is enough automatons (it is steampunk after all) and a lot of them get used in such creative ways that you cannot stop from smiling. And there is death and setbacks and battles that good people cannot win. But there is also this young enthusiasm that only teenagers have - regardless if what time they had been born in or if we still call them children at that point of their life.

And of course there is a lot bigger plot than the stolen Priya - Peter Bantle does not practically start a war simply because one of his whores was taken away. And when it is revealed, I laughed. Not because it is impossible or funny or even unexpected if you think about it but because I did not expect it - not in the middle of a novel rooted into the Wild Wild West - this is the last place where you expect to read about the Russians plotting to get Alaska back. It fits the story, it fits the clues and some of the things happening - but it is sounds so ridiculously out of place when you see for the first time. And then it does not - and I love it when an author manages to pull one of those off and to surprise me (and you are planning to read the novel, don't read the spoiler thingie above.

This novel was so much fun -- highly recommended if you read steampunk and if you do not throw away a book when love is not defined as love between a man and a woman - not that there is anything that would bother even a child - a kiss is the most that anyone does on the pages (well - besides the actual work of course but no descriptions). Not to mention just how funny Karen is (because the book is told entirely in her voice and you understand why at the end of the book) - even if she is uneducated so her tenses don't always match and her word choices can be weird but that's part of the charm. show less

That's a book that just flew under my radar - I skipped it intentionally when it was published (did not sound interesting enough - no idea why) and I bought it at the last days of December 2008 while searching a 4th book for one of these 4 for 3 books deals in Amazon. And I am so happy that I got it. It's what Science Fiction should be - a lot of ideas, great execution and believable setting.

The novel takes place some 500 years in the future (it's mentioned almost in passing somewhere in the show more book as being 2500 years after Christ or something like this) but the world has nothing to do with the world that we know. A few waves of assessments had wiped out most of the races on Earth (not just people but whole races - it looks like anyone that is not from the African Diaspora had been wiped out) and the surviving ones keep getting assessed. Which is a nice term for being killed by the ruling machines. Somewhere between all the assessments, a lot of people managed to get off the planet and created colonies... which the coalition that formed on Earth now try to get back into its grasp. So far nothing special - a coalition/empire/foundation and a few states that try to remain independent. It's as old setting as you can imagine one but somehow the novel sounds fresh.

Michelangelo Osiris Leary Kusanagi-Jones and Vincent Katherinessen are two spies/diplomats for the coalition (and the history of those names is just one of the fascinating moments in the book). Additionally they are partners (both in work and romantically) and they had been separated for way too many years. In a way, the novel can be considered their love story. But it is much more than this. Because the world they are sent to this time is New Amazonia - a place where the women and men had switched roles in an attempt to make it a better place. Except that it had not worked - the roles are changed but that's about it. The world is the same - the men behave and are treated as the women in the old world and the women behave as men. It is as believable as possible - that's just the way the human race behave. Add to this some aliens and the picture starts getting complicated.

Most of the book deals with the complicated world they all live into - showing how New Amazonia works and revealing the truth about assessments, what had happened and why things happened. A grim future shown in sparse words and with masterful imagination. But it is also a character-driven story because all that happens can happen only with these people and at this time.

A story of love, future, aliens, AI and something more. One of the most beautiful stories I had read lately. And even though this future is as grim as possible, it also has a hope... through the whole novel, all the way to the last sentence. I just wish Bear had decided to write a prequel/sequel to it - I want more from this world.

A small warning though: if you have any issues with same sex relationship, you might not enjoy the book as much - it relies heavily on such and even has sex scenes between the main characters.

5 stars out of 5. And I suppose I am on the hunt for other novels by Bear. :)

Note: review from 2010 show less

While I was listening to this book on audio, I kept thinking "This is like beautiful poetry. This is like a 5 course dinner". I don't even LIKE poetry and am not sure that a formal cruise ship dinner rates as any 5-course, but it was the only way my brain could interpret and define how beautifully Ms Bear put her words and this story together.

This story is about as far from fast-paced as you can get, but it builds and builds and builds while you realize what it's all about. Women and show more (in)equality of power, prejudice, religion, gender identity, life, love....and magic.

All of that sounds like an exhausting list, but is done so subtly that you don't get hit over the head with anything. Much like the exquisite unwinding of her language, the plot slowly unwinds as well. Right up to the bang at the end.

I cannot express how eager I am to get my hands on the rest of the series. This book was VERY well done. Hm....re-reading my review. Perhaps I used the wrong analogy; some of you lucky souls will get what I mean. :) show less