The Kingdom Beyond the Waves

Excuse me while I go kick myself for not picking this one a lot earlier. Unlike the previous entry in the series, this is a lot more streamlined in terms of plot, and I had a lot more fun reading it. (Not saying that I don’t love the first book, but this is a lot better with the writing.)

Unlike Court of the Air, the plot of Kingdom Beyond the Waves is a lot more straightforward. There’s still a lot of jumping back and forth between the protagonists, but seeing as their interests lie with the same man, Abraham Quest, it’s a lot easier to follow and guess at what his ultimate plans are. It’s a little jarring to go from high adventure to mystery steampunk noir, but not to the point of keeping detailed charts like the first book. show more And I also like the fact that this is really more of an adventure tale in the tradition of H. Rider Haggard.

Seeing as Amelia Harsh was one of my favorite characters from Court of the Air (all two and half pages she showed up on), I was really excited to find out that she’s the main character here. Like with Molly and Oliver, she’s another character type that comes straight out of the pulps—the obsessive professor dedicated to her father’s dying dream. She does play it a little straighter than the earlier characters, but I like that she’s willing to save Jared’s crew, even if it means giving up her dream. Cornelius Fortune is a bit more intriguing, as he’s putting on a double-life as a ne’er-do-well count and as Furnance-Breath Nick. I liked his scenes a little more, as he brought more intrigue to the plot.

I do think the real stars are the supporting casts. Commodore Black was a fantastic character in book one, and to see him in full force with his crew was fabulous. I’m hoping that they get their own book to star in. I even liked the crew that Quest brings on, even though their purposes are a lot more muddled, there’s still a loyalty built between both crews. AND I LOVE IRONFLANKS. You know the crusty old guide who’s only in it for booze money and knows all the dangers of the jungle river and would probably make a heroic sacrifice? Now make him a steampunk robot. It really shouldn’t work, but it does, and I love him for it. (Oh, and his white whale is multi-eyed Tyrannosaurus rex queen that learned how to swear. Seriously, this series runs on so much Rule of Cool and it works and I love it.) Not sure how much I like Septimoth, although I do love his interactions with Damson Beeton. Oh, and Damson Beeton is PURE WIN FOREVER. (I seal-clapped when her first big revelation moment came.) And the villain has a more defined goal in this book, as opposed to overreaching political philosophy.

As with the first book, what really works in this series is the world building. I liked the move to the jungles and exploring the cultures that arose there and even the exploration of an ancient society. The real world parallels are little more obvious in this book (to the point where I’m hoping that the end isn’t going to be “Oh, this was our world the whole time.” Because that would suck.) And going with the steampunk element, I like that it’s taking the idea out of gaslit cities and really exploring this world. We have submarines now; the steammen society in the jungle are equipped with multiple machetes. And I like that there’s less mysticism in this book—there’s still elements of magic and sorcery, but we’re also seeing how normal people cope in this world.

There are some downsides to this, though. The lashlites are cool—flying lizards!—but I have no idea what their larger role in the plot had to do with anything. If Hunt had just left in Septimoth, it would be better, but I really didn’t get what adding the whole of the lashlites to the final battle does for anything. I’m not a fan of the full explanation of why Amelia is so obsessed with Camlantis, it feels like too much speculation on the antagonist’s part. And I was really disappointed with the Daggish, mostly because they were set up as a terrifying threat—hive-mind race of trees that enslave unsuspecting travelers and mind-wiping them—and we only get to see the once and they don’t even do anything.

However, I did have a lot of fun reading this. I’d actually recommend starting with Kingdom Beyond the Waves rather than Court of the Air, as it’s much more streamlined plot-wise and while there’s a few elements from the former book that are carried over, they’re explained without dragging the plot down. It’s a really fun book, with some really interesting ideas. show less

I was going to start off this review saying that Hunt was a poor man's China Mieville but he's actually much more like a rich nobleman's China Mieville (if you have China in the position of king or demi-god this makes more sense right?) Obviously I gave the book 4.5 stars so he couldn't have been that poor. This story is a lot like China's [book:Perdido Street Station|68494]. Filled with a mix of non-fantasy-standard races and some very cool ideas about magic, steampunk and voodoo. It's action packed, like an Indiana Jones movie. Characters are continuously finding themselves in desperate situations and then escaping (or sometimes not escaping) by the hair of their teeth.

Lots of fun and a cool world, seamlessly fleshed out so you feel show more like it really exists/ed. This is actually the 2nd book in this world but I was assured by the friend that recommended it that there was no need to read them in order.

Looking forward to -The Court of the Air-. show less

Review by Lachlan Huddy:
As a reviewer I strive against shopworn catch-phrases like "This book has it all". But what else to say about The Kingdom Beyond the Waves? Herein lie a magically-muscled archaeologist, a shapeshifting assassin, cannabilistic avian lizardfolk, two races of steam-driven robots, lobster people, an aerial secret police force, four-eyed thunderlizards, clockwork supercomputers, an army of drug-enhanced warrior babes, a submarine crewed by treacherous slavers and a quest to find an ancient utopia in the sky named Camlantis (by looking beneath a lake in a sentient jungle). There's little new here (Camlantis? Uh-huh), but this novel's less about building original parts than fusing time-tested ones. Hunt's world, a show more vibrant congolmeration of fantasy, steampunk, Verne-esque science fiction and 50s adventure serial, seems overstuffed initially, sure to split, but is held together by a host of intriguing characters. The pace (dizzying) is of great benefit mostly, but not always; some thrilling scenes defused prematurely in Hunt's mad dash to the finish. Still, it's hard not to fall for a story like this: unabashedly old-school, alive with the thrill of discovery, and peppered with enough big ideas to keep the mind engaged. show less

I happen to like steampunk very much. I even read this one knowing it was the second book in a series, but reviewers liked it so much better than the first, I thought: why not? I give author Stephen Hunt kudos for some interesting characters, strange races and machine inventions, but found the book awfully long. Good battles, but the main character professor Amelia Harsh keeps waking up after oft-unexplained trauma. Other things that bothered me were that many of the main characters had prior lives and names they were hiding. Also, some explanatory background from the first book is needed. The basic plot is a commissioned search for a lost city (Camlantis = Camelot Atlantis?), where peace reigned for a millennium, with secrets buried in show more a dangerous jungle with hive-driven inhabitants. 3.5 stars. show less

I seemed to remember liking the first book in this series enough to put the sequel on my wishlist. But, upon reading this, I realized that I hardly remembered any details of the previous book (Court of the Air), and I really didn't particularly like this book.
It's action-packed... but rather than being exciting and emotional, events rush by so quickly that they're barely described, and they don't have time to make an impression, let alone an impact. Neither the characters or the settings came to life for me, and the plot elements were so sketchily outlined that they were sometimes confusing. (Well, except that some of them were lifted from 'Heart of Darkness.')
I liked a lot of the steampunk-y concepts and gadgetry - too bad most of them show more were cadged from China Mieville's Bas-Lag novels. (I mean, seriously, there're lobster-people, bird-people, and cactus-people, as well as sentient robots. Sound familiar?) A few digs at Mieville's politics are thrown in there too, for good measure.
On top of it, it ends up with my Least Favorite Trope of Fantasy: the super-powerful Thing which could confer Mystic Knowledge must be destroyed/gotten rid of, because Humanity Isn't Ready, and it's Too Dangerous. Blah to all that.
If I had been more entertained, I wouldn't mind, but I ended up reading as fast as I could, just to get to the end. It's too bad, because I feel like this ought to be the sort of book I would like. show less

Having picked this up as a kind of, "Ahh, what the heck, $2.00 is worth it," buy in a used bookshop, with some reservations having read the first in the series a couple of years back, I found I liked this book quite a bit. I'd forgotten some of the details of the world, but that is fine. It almost makes me want to revisit the first book since my main complaint there was that it was too long, too convoluted, too everything-and-the-kitchen-sink... maybe I'd be more into it now than I was then.

4 stars, though really I think the (current) average of ~3.75 is closer to it. I'd probably rate this a 3.5 if I could, and 3 seems like underrating more than 4 is overrating.

Enjoyable and inventive, sits firmly in the "steampunk" category but is not constrained by it. There are some machinations between political factions that were not particularly interesting to me - I tend to get bored with them after a while and remember only enough so that I don't get confused. However, that's a personal thing; many people consider that a plus ("Dune" fans, I'm looking at you.)
The world is well-drawn, though I did want more backstory and/or development of the main character (Amelia). Possibly reading the earlier book of his ("Court of the Air") would have helped.