![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Title:The Glass Sealing
Author: Andrew Leon Hudson
Genre: Steampunk
Thingummies: 3
Synopsis: A businesswoman tycoon builds a glass roof over a city to keep the poisonous fumes from the rich's towers; a thwarted inventor stirs up unrest from the workers below.
Thoughts: Disclosure: I was sent a review copy of this book.
As a genre, steampunk is dedicated to setting, and it's on the basis of setting that a steampunk novel will fly or fail. That's not to say that plot and character are unimportant; but it's the setting that sets the book apart.
The Glass Sealing has magnificent descriptions, some of them breathtaking. The image of a gyrocopter plunging through a corrosive cloud, delicate towers glittering in the sunset, a woman walking along an arc of glass so reflective she seems to be standing on sky--Hudson can set a scene very effectively.
But it's the whys of the world that never quite clicked for me. The Dark Cloud, for example; I seem to have missed its origins. It's established that others have tried to remove the poison. But where it came from is important. Is it naturally occurring? If so, why do the inhabitants of the city stay here? Why not move the city? Is it manmade? Does that mean it's going to get worse, or is it the terrible ramifications of a one time event? (Again, why not move the city?) It's the driving force of the novel, but the lack of clarity on the Macguffin makes the plot and motivations of the characters murky.
More problematic is the sudden introduction, two thirds of the way through, of the supernatural. Perhaps a few hints were dropped, but certainly not enough. The first chunk of the book presents itself as alternate science, but then abruptly we're introduced to magic. Again, the lack of clarity makes the motivations of the characters rather opaque. Singleton encounters the magic and is essentially erased as a protagonist, becoming more of a plot device than anything else. What exactly his goals are and what the limitations of his powers might be are never made clear.
Finally, there are the intelligent automatons. It's a bit of a wasted opportunity--when first introduced, they are fascinating. But then they disappear completely and only return, somewhat unexpectedly, in the climax. The problem is that most of the book's conflict revolves around the Industrial Revolution (and modern day) dilemma of automation versus human effort. For most of the book, we pit dumb but efficient machines against flexible, feeling, mistake-making humans. The existence of self-aware automatons undermines this argument and turns it into something else entirely. But the automatons seem to exist only to add drama, with no explanation of why more of them could not be built to remove the workers completely.
There's a lot to like here--shadowy conspiracies, a hyper-competent female protagonist, airship pirates. But the conspiracies never really accomplish anything, the protagonist is undermined without really learning anything, and the airship pirates disappear almost immediately after their introduction. There are a lot of fun puzzle pieces, but they never quite seem to fit together.
Author: Andrew Leon Hudson
Genre: Steampunk
Thingummies: 3
Synopsis: A businesswoman tycoon builds a glass roof over a city to keep the poisonous fumes from the rich's towers; a thwarted inventor stirs up unrest from the workers below.
Thoughts: Disclosure: I was sent a review copy of this book.
As a genre, steampunk is dedicated to setting, and it's on the basis of setting that a steampunk novel will fly or fail. That's not to say that plot and character are unimportant; but it's the setting that sets the book apart.
The Glass Sealing has magnificent descriptions, some of them breathtaking. The image of a gyrocopter plunging through a corrosive cloud, delicate towers glittering in the sunset, a woman walking along an arc of glass so reflective she seems to be standing on sky--Hudson can set a scene very effectively.
But it's the whys of the world that never quite clicked for me. The Dark Cloud, for example; I seem to have missed its origins. It's established that others have tried to remove the poison. But where it came from is important. Is it naturally occurring? If so, why do the inhabitants of the city stay here? Why not move the city? Is it manmade? Does that mean it's going to get worse, or is it the terrible ramifications of a one time event? (Again, why not move the city?) It's the driving force of the novel, but the lack of clarity on the Macguffin makes the plot and motivations of the characters murky.
More problematic is the sudden introduction, two thirds of the way through, of the supernatural. Perhaps a few hints were dropped, but certainly not enough. The first chunk of the book presents itself as alternate science, but then abruptly we're introduced to magic. Again, the lack of clarity makes the motivations of the characters rather opaque. Singleton encounters the magic and is essentially erased as a protagonist, becoming more of a plot device than anything else. What exactly his goals are and what the limitations of his powers might be are never made clear.
Finally, there are the intelligent automatons. It's a bit of a wasted opportunity--when first introduced, they are fascinating. But then they disappear completely and only return, somewhat unexpectedly, in the climax. The problem is that most of the book's conflict revolves around the Industrial Revolution (and modern day) dilemma of automation versus human effort. For most of the book, we pit dumb but efficient machines against flexible, feeling, mistake-making humans. The existence of self-aware automatons undermines this argument and turns it into something else entirely. But the automatons seem to exist only to add drama, with no explanation of why more of them could not be built to remove the workers completely.
There's a lot to like here--shadowy conspiracies, a hyper-competent female protagonist, airship pirates. But the conspiracies never really accomplish anything, the protagonist is undermined without really learning anything, and the airship pirates disappear almost immediately after their introduction. There are a lot of fun puzzle pieces, but they never quite seem to fit together.
