Arabella and the Battle of Venus

Arabella is at it again when she hires a privateer to take her to Venus where her fiance is being held by the French, headed by Napoleon. She continues to flaunt social norms but ends up saving the day several time due to her mechanical aptitude and out-of-the-box thinking. Love the ending.

This review and others posted over at my blog.

Arabella is back and just as headstrong as ever. But in her quest to save her fiancé, she’s finding it difficult to get her way. Before she can escape Mars on any kind of ship, her brother forces a chaperone on her. Lady Corey prevents Arabella from donning her old uniform (a lady of quality does not scamper around in men’s clothing, how scandalous!) and instead forces her into a dress, which we learn is a huge pain in the ass when traveling in zero gravity. She struggles with reconciling her past experience as a crew member with being a mere passenger and as a sort of compromise, finds herself trying to out-navigate the captain of the ship.

Daniel Fox is a typical dashing rogue, and he show more does his best to charm Arabella, but we know our girl is too smart to fall for him…..right? Lady Corey starts out as a nuisance to Arabella (and me as a reader) but proves to be more stalwart and daring than she initially seems. Captain Singh doesn’t make an appearance until the latter half of the book and comes off very stiff until you find out his motives. I was sad that Aadim didn’t play more of a role in this book, or clockwork in general, because I friggen love clockwork stuff. Given Arabella’s amateur talent for clockworkery (yep!) and her father’s skill, I really thought we’d get more of that in this book and I was disappointed that didn’t pan out.

I had a hard time picturing a lot of the nautical –er– aerial battles, but that’s because my brain has no interest in absorbing information related to ships and I can’t fathom where anything is or what the directions mean. Hi, yes, I know I could learn these things, but I don’t wanna! The action is still fun and I still love that there are wooden ships that fly through space!

We also get more alien life in this book. Arabella grew up with Martians and doesn’t find their physical and cultural differences appalling as some do (cough-ladycorey-cough), so she adjusted well to the Venusians. Her acceptance of other cultures is a skill that pays off later in the book and I like that she’s an advocate for equality among different races, both alien and human (given that her fiancé is from India.)

I can’t wait to see what planet Arabella explores next and what events in history she moves through. If you enjoyed the first book, I’m pretty certain you’ll enjoy the sequel. If you’re looking for the start of a series that’s quasi-historical fiction with a swash-buckling Regency babe who travels on wooden airships through outer space, then you should be picking up the Arabella books.

I received this book for free from Tor in exchange for an honest review. show less

When her fiance is captured by the French and held on Venus, Arabella decides, contrary to instructions, to rescue him. Can she outwit the French, their Venusian allies, and Napoleon himself?

Understandably darker given the author's circumstances, but this rip roaring yarn is still great fun.

This was a slightly disappointing sequel in that the middle is heavy and slow. It doesn't flow quite as well as the first book, and the attempt at a love triangle was awkward and unnecessary. Still, the last portion is filled with cracking good action. Reading the acknowledgments, I saw that Levine lost his wife and it made me feel immense compassion and colored some of my perception of the book. 3.5 stars.

Excellent adventure of the steampunk-alt-history-regency variety!

I *think* I'd get more if I knew more *real* history, but still, this is a great swashbuckler! In a universe with wooden spaceships and Napoleon in exile on the Moon (till his escape), there is no limit to the action as Arabella fights to travel from Mars to Venus to rescue her fiance from a French prison camp. Lots of twists and turns in a terrific adventure!

She's already saved Mars, but in Arabella and the Battle of VenusArabella now has to rescue Captain Singh from Napoleon's prison on Venus. Still very willful, she is willing to do whatever it takes to break him out of prison. But Venus turns out to be very different from Mars. It will take all of her allies and all that she has to figure things out. Not to mention survive a visit from Napoleon himself. A nice second installment. I can't wait for book three. Highly recommended for fans of historical fantasy, but you'll want to start with the first book to fully understand what is going on here.

When Arabella hears that her beloved Capt Singh has been taken as a prisoner of war by the French and held on Venus, she finds a pirate captain willing to take her there. After a difficult journey, the ship is captured by the French and Arabella finds herself also a prisoner and her captain much changed. Espionage, Napoleonic wars, Fulton, escape, and battles ensue.