YA/MG steampunk is my current comfort read. I recently read Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan—and then promptly ordered it again, thinking I was getting the sequel *headdesk*.Westerfeld’s alternative WWI world is divided between the Darwinists–who rely on bio-engineered lifeforms–and the Clankers, who prefer machines instead. The POV alternates between Prince Aleksandar, son of the assassinated Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, on the run from his own people, and middy Deryn Sharp, a girl disguised as a boy so she can serve as an air”man” aboard the bioengineered airship Leviathan.
Right now, I’m reading Starclimber, last book of Kenneth Oppel’s Matt Cruse trilogy (fun with airships, pirates, treasure, airborn fauna, and space!). The love interest annoys me, but I like Matt a lot and I’m fascinated by the alternative aeronautical technology of his world.
I’m also recently finished up Bujold’s Diplomatic Immunity and Cryoburn, so I’m caught up with the Miles Vorkosigan saga. How long till the next book is out?
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In other book news, Amazon sent me a pleasant little surprise–Cold Fire by Kate Elliot, sequel to the engrossing Cold Magic (I love the pre-order button; the pre-order button is costing me a lot of money, oh yes). The world of Cold Magic and Cold Fire is hard to describe, so I’ll just let the author do it:
…an Afro-Celtic post-Roman icepunk Regency fantasy adventure with airships, Phoenician spies, the intelligent descendents of troodons, and a dash of steampunk whose gas lamps can be easily doused by the touch of a powerful cold mage.
Exactly. What she said. And it’s a darn good coming-of-age story, too, with a strong likable heroine and a dash of romance.
There are a lot of good books coming out this fall and winter that I’m looking forward to. In no particular order:
- Debris by Jo Anderton (looking forward to reading it in actual BOOK form!)
- The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson (I read some early-draft chapters of this way back when on a critting workshop and have always wanted to know what happened next)
- The Daemon Prism by Carol Berg (last book of a trilogy, narrated by the complicated, fascinating Dante–eek)
- Incarnate by Jodi Meadows (in world where everyone is reincarnated over and over again, Ana is the only new soul–why? And what happened to the soul she replaced?)
Yep, that pre-order button is definitely going to get a workout.
Any book releases you’re looking forward to?
Insurgent by Veronica Roth! I just saw the cover for it and am drooling. I do highly recommend the first book of the trilogy: Divergent. I like Tris for being the first totally realistic non-kick-butt, non-girly-girl, scared but awesome at doing it anyway heroine I’ve read in a while. She isn’t a tomboy, but she can play with the boys. I love the Dauntless and the technology and the feel and the characters and I want to know about a gazillion things more than the book includes, but yeah…
There’s the primary one for me.
And I’ve recently read Starwalker by Melanie Edmonds, an awesome jaunt into…space opera? Either way, it has a living AI ship who didn’t even realize at first that’s what she was and an intense story about the efforts to control her and the experimental star-stepping technology she carries. Book 1 is done and Book 2 is being updated weekly on Wednesdays.
Then there’s Black Blossom by MCA Hogarth, updated irregularly, but awesome, awesome, awesome. Some intensely beautiful and alien worldbuilding, yet a novel of manners. I adore this story.
Happy reading!
Oh, I’ve had my eye on Divergent for a while, but I’ve never been quite in the right mood to read it. I’m a little fatigued of that sort of premise.
I’ll check out those others!
Understandable. I read so little dystopia that when I DO get a good one, it still feels fresh for me.