Catherine Webb (1) (1986–)

I'm not sure there are words for how much I love this book, and indeed the whole series.
- Webb's style of writing is something great, few books have such a strong sense of setting that you can almost feel it in places, but this does.
- The characters, in part, are the usual fare, but they're built on well, becoming something a bit more- Lyle is possibly my favourite character from anything- and the dialogue is just great.
- It took me a couple of times reading through for me to fully show more appreciate it- the narrative can be quite thick in places; I still find myself having to read certain paragraphs a couple of times, but stick with it, read it again, because it just gets better. show less

First of all, I need to get this out of the way: OMG WTF KIND OF AN ENDING IS THAT?! I AM NOT READY TO SAY GOODBYE YET! It tied it up too nicely, in a way where everything is happy for all of the good guys, and we know they’ll all survive life happy and I DON’T WANT IT TO END!!!

Okay. Better now.

I don’t know why this series isn’t more adored by the reading public. ESPECIALLY with how big steampunk is right now – this series is one of the best written in the steampunk genre. It makes show more me want to shake any steampunk fan and make them run out and get the first book in this series asap. And let me tell you, if you want to read it, you’d better do just that. (I had a hard time getting this one – no physical stores had it in stock, most online stores didn’t have it in stock, and those online stores that did only had a couple of copies left. As it was, it took Chapters almost two months to get the book to me because they had to ship it in or sommat.)

So, as I’ve raved before, Webb was only 19 when she wrote the first one, and her writing blew me away at that point. Every subsequent book in the series has shown her writing improving, and in this one the story is just as enjoyable as the actual physical act of reading the words that she’s used. I looove how just the choice of words, of phrases, conveys the urgency of what is happening without her actually saying something along the lines of “this part is super important so pay attention!” (Not that books usually say that, but you can tell when someone is not being as subtle with it.) And how she chooses the way to describe how things are happening, that make you realize just seconds before it happens, just how badly things are really going to become. Like in this phrase (that completely made me giggle like a mad person):

…if something was too good to be true, then it wasn’t just false, it was probably dancing the polka with a bottle of nitro-glycerine shoved down its left boot.

Yeah, as if things couldn’t possibly get worse than a big explosion. And that happens a lot in the Horatio Lyle books. And that actually also is a really good example of the type of humour that Webb has in her books. It seems random, but then you’re like, “Oh, yeah, they use nitro-glycerine to blow things up!” and so it makes you think while it is being humourous at the same time. But then every once in a while you get the totally random “hey! This actually IS totally random and hilarious at the same time!” bits, like when Lin interrupts someone explaining the boringness of the life of a banker:

‘I love it when people go “but” in telling a story,’ exclaimed Lin brightly, ‘please tell me that the next few sentences you are going to utter involve white floppy shirts and fencing.’

Which actually may just be funnier because it makes me think of that scene in the BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries where Colin Firth is wearing a billowing white shirt and fencing. You know. That scene right before the awesome pond scene. Oh, le sigh. (And speaking of this book reminding me of stuff, whenever I’m reading anything Horatio says, it’s always in Ten‘s voice.)

Other good things about this book: the characters! Tess what is convinced she needs to take care of Horatio and her bigwig! Tate, the faithful companion dog! Lin Zi the mysterious Tsequin who should be everything that Horatio doesn’t understand and even partially doesn’t like, but who he is in love with! THOMAS, who tries to act all responsible and grown up! And the love that all of these characters have for each other! Oh oh oh! Have turned into a squealing fangirlish mess!

So really, it really is wonderful, and even though it’s tied up just a little too nicely for my liking (as it means that it’s probably over and done with, as Webb has to focus on her Matthew Swift books (which, although I’ve only read the first one, are also very very good, though no replacement for Horatio Lyle)) it is still a wonderful addition to a wonderful series! And everyone should go read them! NOW.

The Bottom Line
Wonderful! Love! Horatio! I only wish your cover matched the other covers in this series! And I wish that you didn’t tie yourself up so nicely! And I love you! Le sigh! show less

Being a modern young adult fantasy novel about a Victorian scientist (my favorite thing!), this book should have been great. It wasn't. The plot was a muddle-- I never figured out what the "villains" were actually going to do if they succeeded-- and the main characters were all poorly motivated and one-dimensional, ranging from a stereotypically absent-minded scientist, to a gutsy girl thief, to a prim and proper young lord. The characters' attitudes feel obnoxious on occasion, and they show more often fail to notice the most obvious things; there's a sequence where Horatio Lyle is told by a women that she was hypnotized to attack him, and then he's surprised when she attacks him! I wasn't interested in the storyline or the characters, meaning that by the end it was dull-dull-dull.

Stylistically, it was also aggravating. The book switches into the present tense for random scenes, but what is worse is Webb's tendency to write long passages with nothing but lines of dialogue: no actions, no descriptors, no nothing. This is only exacerbated by one of my least favorite "mysterious" techniques, scenes of dialogue where none of the speakers are identified. I find them boring and obnoxious attempts to generate suspense where none exists.

And then there's a scene where one of the characters inspires Thomas Hardy to write Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Despite being nothing like Tess. I groaned. Loudly. show less

Ah yes, this is indeed another astounding adventure of the wonderful and magnificent Horatio Lyle.

There are so many things about Horatio, as a character, that I love. He writes notes of apology to those he renders unconscious. He carries things that explode in all the pockets of his reversible coat. He fanboys when he meets Michael Faraday. If anyone even thinks about harming the children, he will find a way for all that persons plans to go horribly wrong. And he has such a pervading sense show more of right and wrong, which comes into play a whole heck of a lot in this installment.

In The Doomsday Machine, Horatio is found, surprisingly, fighting for the Tseiqin, those creatures he’s been fighting against in the past two books. It’s one thing to foil their plans to kill all the human race, but it’s a completely different thing for a select group of humans to want to kill each and every one of the Tseiqin off. Where is the justice in killing them all when you don’t know that every single one is as evil as all of the ones you had previously had brushes of near-death from?

So, Horatio is encouraged to set off on another adventure with his faithful companions (lock-pick extraordinaire Tess, bigwig Thomas, and Tate – the dog), in which he discovers The Machine, the purpose of The Machine, how to finish The Machine, and how to prevent The Machine from completing the purpose it was created for – namely creating a magnetic wave that is so strong that it kills every single Tseiqin instantaneously.

This was, as expected, another brilliant installment from Catherine Webb. Have I ever mentioned how brilliant I think Webb is? Okay, I know I have numerous times, but it deserves to be repeated again. This girl is brilliant. And the Horatio Lyle books… oh, they are fabulous; they are complete page turners, and get you so involved in the stories and in the lives of the characters. Plus they contain such subtle humour that you have to reread certain passages a few times in order to thoroughly appreciate it and start giggling about it.

Horatio Lyle liked back doors. They encouraged the secret part of him that wanted to be a rebel; they made him feel reckless and dangerous. He also liked people who answered back doors more than those who answered the front, since they usually had other things on their mind and couldn’t be bothered to ask him relevant and embarrassing questions such as, ‘Who are you, what is that child doing, is that your dog, are you carrying any explosive substances, do you have any identification, is there any danger associated with talking to you?’ and so on.

Ever since Rachel and I have had numerous conversations about how Horatio Lyle is pretty much Doctor Who, I can’t picture anyone but the wonderfully talented and charming and dashing David Tennant every time I think of Horatio. And for that reason solely, I think every fan of Doctor Who ought to read these books. Well, that fact and the fact that these books are brilliant anyway. And since they are still not available in the USA, you can order them online from numerous Canadian or British websites. And you should. Now. show less