Breath of Earth

In general, I'm a fan of Beth Cato, although she walks the line of too much stuff going on to the detriment of the story. However, I definitely feel like her writing just keeps getting better and better, so this is an exciting new world from her.

Very original, very interesting weaving of San Francisco history with a magical influences and I like the pointed exaggeration of the brutal havoc caused by colonialism in India and China, and the oppression of Chinese immigrants to the US-- not that her world exaggerates the reality all that much, but that the alternative history is set up to focus on it in a way that most history books do not.

I appreciate the diversity of the characters (asian, hawaiian, unknown, trans) the strong heroine, show more the interesting the magics (geomancers!) and the airships (yay). I like both the compassion displayed and the thorny-ness of the problems they face. Also, btw, kick-ass adventure. I can't wait to see where this goes next. show less

I really loved Cato’s Clockwork Dagger duology and was very excited to see a new book by her. I absolutely loved this book and was amazed at the depth and creativity in the world created here. This is very much a steampunk alternate history and it was just incredibly engaging and well written. Cato came and commented on my blog and ends up this is the first book in a series, not a standalone. The second book will be titled Call of Fire and is scheduled to be release next summer (2017).

I loved the alternate history here, it was very creative and incredibly well put together. Cato wrote the book in such a way that you really get a sense of the broader world and the issues the world is dealing with.

The characters were amazing. Ingrid is show more a female geomancer (unheard of until now) and she tries to make her way through life without causing too much upset to those around her; although this frustrates her at times. She is a wonderfully strong female but strong more in spirit and intelligence than action-hero-like strong. I really enjoyed her a lot and loved some of the revelations about her geomancy powers.

The plot is somewhat investigative and somewhat political with many delightful steampunk devices and of course geomancy throughout, there is a lot of action and even some romance as well. I really enjoyed the blend of genres in here. The way geomancy was described and explored was fascinating.

There is a very nice Afterward that explains the real history of this era and how Cato blended that into this new world. I enjoyed reading this and am glad it was included.

Overall I adored this book. This is a beautifully written story that is exciting, creative, and engaging. I loved the characters, the world, and the plot. I would highly recommend to both fantasy and steampunk fans out there. I also really enjoyed Cato’s Clockwork Dagger Duology; however this book was a step up from that in complexity and creativity. I am incredibly excited to see what the second book, Call of Fire, holds for us! show less

I did finish this book, and it didn't feel like I was dragging myself through every word. The setting is interesting -- steampunk-ish San Francisco in 1906 with interesting magic -- and the characters are engaging and relatively fun to read about. A lot of people are going to bounce off this in the first chapters because they're pretty rough and absolutely filled with infodumps, but the writing gets much better after that point, and it becomes a thoroughly readable book.

The plot is painfully predictable, which isn't always a problem, but it is here. When you figure out at the very beginning who the bad guy is -- it is literally cued in the *first chapter*, so strongly that it's impossible to miss, and then, just in case you weren't show more sure, you get offered a ton more evidence -- and the main character doesn't until the very end of the book, it's hard to buy said main character as, you know, bright and thoughtful and observant. I cannot believe that the identity of the villain was actually intended to be a revelation by the end of the book, given how obvious it is, but it's written like a twist reveal, which is. A choice. (The other major twist reveal is sliiiiightly more of a surprise, but still fully predictable.) Additional bonus: this is very much a "done to, not doing" plot for Ingrid, the main character, for most of the book.

The romance is very "here's a man and a woman, you do the math," with the added bonus that Ingrid decides she is in love with Cy, the dude, after knowing him for, you know, almost two full days, in which she's experienced multiple massive traumas and has spent most of her time trying to avert disaster, and they've had ... well, like two personal conversations, anyway. It was, uh. Not really possible to take the romance seriously, or enjoy it at all.

All of this maybe makes it sound like the book is fairly light and frothy. And in places, it is. But there's also SO MUCH horrible stuff in this book. Like, one of the main plots and a key element of the setting is the genocide of the Chinese. I don't know about anyone else, but "surprise genocide" is really not what I want in my escapist fantasy worldbuilding. The genocide is off-screen, but the effects of it -- including on the Chinese people in San Francisco -- are sure not, so you get to spend a lot of time thinking about the brutal deaths of approximately 400 million people. As a bonus, there's just a TON of animal harm and death in this book, including healing via the slaughter of animals and a fun scene where Ingrid kills an entire herd of stampeding cattle and ends up literally covered in their blood and entrails. The description is, I might add, really graphic.

Also, I finished the book two days before writing this review, and it's already fading from my memory. So this isn't a book that will necessarily leave a big impression on you, or, really, any impression at all.

Basically, this book is readable, but not recommended. show less

I wasn't swept away by any excellence, but I was caught and read the thing in just two sittings. I suppose it was the appealing characters that caught me. The plot itself is weak, and there is much hyperbolic action and several loose threads not tucked in nicely. What a coincidence that such important hidden people found each other on such a critical day. Hmmm. But I enjoyed the company of the group, and the romantic attraction made sense.

Overall I enjoyed this first entry and found it to be mostly engaging.

Some of my problems lay in the fact so very much happens with so many different pieces. They would overlap and caused some confusion for me as I couldn't quite keep a grasp of who was working with who while betraying who else.

I also wasn't keen on how many guys SQUEALED. Lee was big on this and it got annoying.

I loved Fenris and tolerated Cy. He sometimes was a bit milquetoast for me and the section with his past catching up to him at the theatre dragged done the pacing.

Ingrid, a young woman with unrecognized geomancer talent is engulfed in a plot to detroy San Francisco. She learns she must run while discovering the extent of her exceptional talent. She falls in with a strange group of friends who work together to thwart the scheme, but end up having to flee for their lives.

DNF p.200. This just failed.