Phoenix Rising by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris
I picked Phoenix Rising
up with the hunch that it was going to be spectacularly awful. I'm talking about the kind of bad that is done with tongue firmly planted in cheek with the expectation that the cheese-tastic awfulnesses will eventually come full circle to hilarity.
How did I come to this first impression? Two words on the back cover teaser: Bulletproof corset. And the front cover seemed silly to boot.
So Agent Eliza Braun, pyro and badass, gets into trouble with her boss at the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences (found across the street from the Ministry of Silly Walks. Or at least it should be.) and is thus reassigned to the Archives under the care and guidance of the archivist Wellington Books, librarian and tea enthusiast. Miss Braun gets a hold of an old unsolved case and (to use terminology better suited to the steampunk subgenre) the game is afoot.
First off, I will get the worst of my gripes out of the way. I did not like a particular sudden change in Books's capabilities. While within the realm of possibility, I felt it rather contrived and lacking in the complimentary strengths between Books and Braun that had proliferated through the vast majority of the book. I'm afraid I can't be too more specific without getting into spoilers. Suffice to say, I was not pleased with the development as I felt it undermining to the partner dynamic. In addition I can't help but think that it came about as a means of reassuring a reader that of course Books has some awesome hidden talent to save the day... totally ignoring that being intelligent and knowing how to use it is an awesome hidden talent already. I was really enjoying the ludicrousness of the book up till the climax. Then I felt cheated of having a set of characters with complimentary strengths.
I did like the trope of taking two vastly different characters who don't really like each other at all and lumping them into a room together. The two introductions that Agents Books and Braun have were both funny and managed to illustrate exactly how badly that each one functioned in the other's domain. I enjoyed their mutual horror a great deal when they were informed by their boss that they would be working together for their foreseeable future.
In addition, I appreciated the nod to how disturbingly classist English Victorian society was, although I was somewhat disappointed in the handling thereof. Of course the librarian is upper class and the pyro is from one of the colonies. And of course the plot of the bad guys revolves around class as well. It does get a bit tiresome for me when I start to get the feeling I can call the action before I get there.
Most of the comedy is pretty obvious: Braun shocking Books and Books constantly having to readjust his views about the people around him. I liked a a great deal of it, but I couldn't suppress a groan with an accompanying faceplam anytime a shocker involving Braun's corset came up. Boobs were mostly okay. Legs were the truly scandalous bits. All I can do is shake my head at all the missed opportunities to unhinge everyone around Braun by having her wear trousers.
At the end of the day it manages to fall quite solidly into every indicator of “steampunk novel” I can think of in an over-the-top sort of way. For the most part it succeeds in coming full circle to humor until it fell on its face at the end.
up with the hunch that it was going to be spectacularly awful. I'm talking about the kind of bad that is done with tongue firmly planted in cheek with the expectation that the cheese-tastic awfulnesses will eventually come full circle to hilarity.
How did I come to this first impression? Two words on the back cover teaser: Bulletproof corset. And the front cover seemed silly to boot.
So Agent Eliza Braun, pyro and badass, gets into trouble with her boss at the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences (found across the street from the Ministry of Silly Walks. Or at least it should be.) and is thus reassigned to the Archives under the care and guidance of the archivist Wellington Books, librarian and tea enthusiast. Miss Braun gets a hold of an old unsolved case and (to use terminology better suited to the steampunk subgenre) the game is afoot.
First off, I will get the worst of my gripes out of the way. I did not like a particular sudden change in Books's capabilities. While within the realm of possibility, I felt it rather contrived and lacking in the complimentary strengths between Books and Braun that had proliferated through the vast majority of the book. I'm afraid I can't be too more specific without getting into spoilers. Suffice to say, I was not pleased with the development as I felt it undermining to the partner dynamic. In addition I can't help but think that it came about as a means of reassuring a reader that of course Books has some awesome hidden talent to save the day... totally ignoring that being intelligent and knowing how to use it is an awesome hidden talent already. I was really enjoying the ludicrousness of the book up till the climax. Then I felt cheated of having a set of characters with complimentary strengths.
I did like the trope of taking two vastly different characters who don't really like each other at all and lumping them into a room together. The two introductions that Agents Books and Braun have were both funny and managed to illustrate exactly how badly that each one functioned in the other's domain. I enjoyed their mutual horror a great deal when they were informed by their boss that they would be working together for their foreseeable future.
In addition, I appreciated the nod to how disturbingly classist English Victorian society was, although I was somewhat disappointed in the handling thereof. Of course the librarian is upper class and the pyro is from one of the colonies. And of course the plot of the bad guys revolves around class as well. It does get a bit tiresome for me when I start to get the feeling I can call the action before I get there.
Most of the comedy is pretty obvious: Braun shocking Books and Books constantly having to readjust his views about the people around him. I liked a a great deal of it, but I couldn't suppress a groan with an accompanying faceplam anytime a shocker involving Braun's corset came up. Boobs were mostly okay. Legs were the truly scandalous bits. All I can do is shake my head at all the missed opportunities to unhinge everyone around Braun by having her wear trousers.
At the end of the day it manages to fall quite solidly into every indicator of “steampunk novel” I can think of in an over-the-top sort of way. For the most part it succeeds in coming full circle to humor until it fell on its face at the end.