strange and random happenstance

Manor of Secrets by Katherine Longshore
ARC Provided by the Publisher
Published by: Point
Publication Date: January 28th, 2014
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

The garden party is stifling and Lady Charlotte would give anything to break free of the watchful eye of her mother, Lady Diane. She spies a servant sneaking off into the woods and daringly she follows. Janie is nothing more than a kitchen maid but as Charlotte watches her servant reveling in the shallows of the lake she wishes for such freedom. Charlotte has so many dreams and ambitions that are unacceptable for lady. She wishes for nothing more then to write and marry for love. But fantasizing about the footman is one thing, actually acting on those impulses are another, though kissing a servant might not be as alien to Charlotte's mother as Charlotte thinks. With the arrival of Charlotte's Aunt Beatrice hours before the shooting party The Manor has been turned on it's head. Yet Charlotte can not understand why the return of a relative she never knew of is causing such chaos. She needs information and everyone knows that servants know everything. Turning to Janie Charlotte breaches the rigid divide between upstairs and down. The two forge a tenuous friendship confined by societal expectations, but even trying to work within these strictures they are both jeopardizing more than they know. Can Charlotte find a way to live within her world and find love where she least expects it? Can Janie hold onto her position and her home with Charlotte undermining her? And what does a secret pregnancy from the past hold in store for these two girls divided by more then a baize door?

Manor of Secrets is an odd little book because it comes across that it doesn't quite know what it wants to be when it grows up. Much like the upstairs heroine Charlotte this book is in the midst of an identity crisis. The main issue I take is I don't know who the audience for this book is. It claims to be YA yet it feels Middle Grade. The simplistic writing, the laughable "secret," the overly large font used to bump up the page count, if there was a category somewhere between YA and Middle Grade, it might just fit there, but towards the Middle Grade end of the spectrum. While as a reader categorization doesn't matter to me so much as a good story, I will read anything, but knowing the intended audience sometimes helps you with your expectations. Especially if the story isn't catching you perhaps it's because of the author "writing down" to her audience, which in my mind is never acceptable, but alas, happens quite frequently. While I have bemoaned another "secrets" series I can't help feeling that for how much I disliked that series the characters actually had a little more depth, and that is a sentence I never thought I'd write.

The simplistic writing causes merry havoc with the story, dragging it down to a flat and superficial level. The lack of depth and detail is astounding considering that this book runs to over three hundred pages, see previous mention of font size. The great manor house that everyone lives in is literally called "The Manor." Um, could you think of a more generic and bland name oh author? I mean seriously, you couldn't come up with, oh, I don't know, anything more original than using the word that actually describes what kind of house it is? Heck, your last name "Longshore" could have been a better name than "The Manor." This lack of originality actually shines light onto the stupidity of Charlotte and her inability to see beneath the surface of someone. This "teaching moment" that smacks of moralizing Middle Grade reads isn't hard to understand when you look at the bigger picture. Charlotte lives in a simplistic two-dimensional world, it makes sense that she wouldn't be able to grasp three-dimensionality, it's beyond her ken. She doesn't get that people have depth and that you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover because in her world depth doesn't exist!

Continuing on to the upstairs/downstairs dynamic, the simplicity remains and makes this dynamic off. You have the "good" servants and the "bad" servants and no one can reside in a grey area. I SAY NO ONE! And the upstairs and downstairs people must be completely ignorant of each other because never the twain shall meet! Yet within their realms everything is just peachy and keen because everyone knows their place. Yes, they natter on about this radical concept of "change" but does anyone actually change? Oh no, that would be too radical and too multidimensional! When you look at what is really going on, the love affairs, the relationship dynamics, you should have a drama on the scale of Gosford Park with someone meeting the pointy end of a knife! Instead you get snide comments, from the bad, reassurances, from the good, and everything working out. Seriously? I really kept dwelling on Gosford Park and how the upstairs/downstairs dynamic when concerning a pregnancy shows the class iniquities and the abuse of power but here that isn't even addressed. With the world apparently changing, or so the rumors go, shouldn't this stop the culture of silence that is pervasive in this class system?

But then again, the truth of Charlotte's parentage isn't even viewed in a negative light except by those "bad" people. This is what, 1910 or so, the Titanic is under construction, and yet the heroine is all, "Hey everything is awesome, I have a sister." Once again pointing out how dim her world view is. She would be ostracized from society, she would be ruined, and instead she gets everything she wants! Perhaps living in a two-dimensional world has it's benefits, like being to totally ignore the reality of a situation? Yet there's something distinctly off in my mind about what the friendship between Lanie and Charlotte really says. Yes they are friends, but it only seems to be condoned because it turns out they are half-sisters. Would this class and rank defying friendship been accepted if they were just friends? If they had no blood ties at all? While the book would like you to think so, I don't think that's the actual truth. I think this is the one aspect where the book is right and is hiding a darker secret in plain sight. Their relationship is unconventional, yet somehow allowable because of this familial bond. While the "bad" people might still frown upon it, it is not as shocking as it could be and therefore fine.

In the end what everything boils down to is Beatrice. She is the catalyst for change. She represents the force of the future. Yet it is ironic that a person who went to such lengths to hide their sin would then be the one trying to destroy the system she bowed down to... but perhaps that's why she's doing it? One would hope, but again, two-dimensional shallows are being waded in here so that might be asking too much. Plus it's not like anyone likes her until the last ten pages. Throughout the book there's the theme of the world changing, but it's all talk and no action until the very end when Beatrice is like, I'm a suffragette, let's go be the change we want to see in the world. All while everyone is like, yeah, we're not sure about you and this whole actually standing for something thing. And then there's her household run completely by women. This makes you think two things, one she's removed temptation and therefore can't get pregnant again or two that she's a lesbian now. The whole women's suffrage doesn't even get on the radar until they're half-way out the door and on the way to Italy. Plus, just a question, the whole idea of woman's suffrage is equality. They want to be equal to men so shouldn't her household be staffed by the best no matter their gender? Equality NOT segregation. But that would require the book to actually look into causes and motivations and there is nothing here but surface.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Downton Denial, Downton Denial Denouement, Downtonesque, Gosford Park, Katherine Longshore, Manor of Secrets, Middle Grade, Secrets of the Manor, Shallow, Suffrage, Suffragettes, Titanic, Upstairs Downstairs, YA

Eden Falls by Jane Sanderson
Published by: Sphere
Publication Date: September 12th, 2013
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

Eve's brother Silas is trying to make a go of his luxury hotel in Jamaica. He even has his nephew Seth working for him as his second in command. But things aren't going well. The staff is surly, the customers are fleeing, and Silas is desperate. He thinks that perhaps his sister Eve could help him, but it's not like he's going to ask her, that would be demeaning. Instead Silas writes a letter for Seth to send to his mother, pulling on her heartstrings, and she inevitably agrees to come, despite her husband pointing out the fact that the letter was obviously penned by her own brother and not her son. Yet Eve goes to Seth and tries to fix Silas's problems... though she will fix them in her way not his, which causes yet more strife.

While back in England Eve's family misses her so much it hurts. Even her dear friends miss her. Anna and Amos are at loggerheads. He, as an elected MP for Labour, doesn't view it right that his wife should not only befriend, but work for the upper classes. Their honeymoon is certainly over. While the Earl of Netherwood, Tobias, and his faithless wife Thea are actually coming back together, having a second honeymoon. But the one person making the most news is Lady Henrietta Hoyland, Tobias's elder sister, who is making headlines for her work with the suffrage movement, and for her attack on Downing Street that has lead to her imprisonment. This is just what the youngest Hoyland, Isabella, didn't need when she's coming out; her family in tatters. Yet through the tribulation and strife, the things that really matter, family, love, will be all that remains at the end of the day.

What I have loved most about this series is the minutiae, the day to day details of these characters lives and how from the lowliest pit ponies to the Countess herself, they all flitted in and out of each others lives in Netherwood. This book is completely different from the two proceeding volumes, instead painting the lives we have come to love in broad strokes with the result being that rich, deep characters, have become one note caricatures. Whereas before we were treated to the insights of the Dowager Countess's maid, Flytton, she gets one measly mention in this installment. I'm not sure if this tone shift is because Jane wants to take the books in a different direction, perhaps to lure in more readers, or if she has reached the point wherein she has so many characters that she is unable to successfully juggle them. My money is on the later, mainly because for this volume we were given four pages of dramatis personae, poor Flytton is even excluded there. But I will not discount the "new readers" because there seemed to be a bit too much explaining of people and situations that readers of the series would easily remember.

The narrative has always been linked by a common location, Netherwood, so that people flowed in and out of each others stories easily. By pushing them so far apart distance wise, it seems like when they do show up it's not natural but fate forced to make the story still work as before but within this new rickety framework. The narrative style needs to change if the characters are going to continue to be so geographically dispersed. Maybe the answer is individual books for certain characters. Or being willing to let some characters go or take a backseat for a book or two. Because the lack of detail, the willingness to gloss over things and speed ahead, made this a messy book that left me dissatisfied and wanting more. Plus, if we are to follow every character and then Eliza's journey to France is just mentioned in a sentence or two... well, either you stick to your new style completely, or just abandon it as the failed experiment it obviously is.

One thing that was really missing from this novel was the food. In the previous volumes Jane has lavished attention on the food, making my mouth water and making me wish I had a cook to bake those ambitious recipes in the back of the book for me, or at least Eve's shop around the corner to visit. Gone even are the recipes, and gone is the heart and soul of this book. While food is still important, much like many of the characters, it's just mentioned quickly and pushed aside. This I think is symbolic of what has really happened with this series. As Eve says, you have to put love into your cooking. The ritual of making the humblest pie to the most elaborate feast all comes down to the love put in. I felt like the love was gone, in some cases, like Amos and Anna's bickering, literally gone. 

But what ripped out my heart and jumped on it was that I still love these characters, and all the new ones as well. To see them so briefly and in such circumstances hurt me more then if I hadn't seen them at all. Unlikeable characters ran riot, with Silas becoming so horrid it was almost unreadable. And likable characters like Amos who were complex and many sided became one dimensional and mean. Plus Seth! What the hell! There was such progress with Seth at the end of Ravenscliffe and then it's not just two steps back but who the hell is this evil little Silas wannabe, he's a shit. Everything was cookie cutter without the joy of making the cookies. The plot was predictable, Henrietta's being literally an episode of Upstairs, Downstairs, while Silas and his Jamaicans... that wasn't obvious... not in the least (rolls eyes and sighs). I'm just exasperated. A book that I had so looked forward to picking up has basically broken my heart.

I also wonder, at the end of the day, if Jane was trying to thrust some "morality play" into this mess. With the very vehement hatred of the government from the likes of Amos and Henry, to the dissatisfaction with the monarchy, and then the brouhaha with the Tsar, all on top of which men like Silas, who embody all that is wrong with the empire... was Jane being heavy handed with the war is inevitable to fix this broken world? That revolt is not just coming but inevitable? With our foreknowledge of what is in store, the upheaval and insurrection, she is lending all events portents of doom. I kind of hate this in books. Yes, we know where all this leads, but you know what, people at the time didn't know exactly where it was going. To be basically giving them prophetic abilities seems too much to take in. Plus, if the next book is anything like this one, well, I don't know if the series can even make it to the outbreak of war if it continues this rabid downward trajectory... unless Jane does another time jump...   

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Downton Abbey, Downton Denial, Eden Falls, Eve Williams, Jamaica, Jane Sanderson, Meat Pies, MP, Netherwood, Ravenscliffe, Suffrage, Suffragettes, Upstairs Downstairs, WWI, Yorkshire

Ravenscliffe by Jane Sanderson
Published by: Sphere
Publication Date: September 30th, 2012
Format: Paperback, 534 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (different edition then one reviewed)

Eve Williams can hardly credit that she is living the life she is. Mere months before she was on her way to destitution as a widow with three children, but now she's engaged to be married to Daniel MacLeod, the head gardener at Netherwood, has a thriving business, and is moving into the substantially larger Ravenscliffe house on Netherwood Common. Much of these successes are thanks to the indomitable Anna, her best friend and co-conspirator. Though not every life is perfect. Eve's son Seth is rebelling against all the changes that he feels are disrespecting the memory of his father. To Eve's horror, after his twelfth birthday Seth signs on at the colliery that his father Arthur loved, but which killed him nonetheless. She wants Seth to realize that their new station in life has opened up vast opportunities for him as well. He doesn't have to live the life his father lived. Arthur would want a better life for his son, but Anna counsels Eve that Seth has to learn this for himself.

Though the biggest change in Eve's life is the return of her little brother Silas. She hasn't seen him since her wedding to Arthur when he was a scraggly youth and left saying that one day he would send Eve bananas. One day the bananas arrive and a few days later so does Silas. Silas has made an astounding success of his life as a shipping magnate specializing in the importing of bananas to England. He plans on expanding his shipping line out of Bristol and is working on making a luxury hotel in Kingston, Jamaica, and is looking to acquire a coal mine near Netherwood. Silas, unaware of the upheaval in Eve's life, is overly zealous at the success she too has made of her life and starts to encourage her to think bigger, to expand, to grab at every opportunity she is given. Much of these opportunities are connected with the family at Netherwood. After she helps them out of a tight spot when the King comes to visit, Lord Netherwood, following a reassessment of his life, is inclined to give Eve her company outright as a wedding present, relinquishing his share. Yet Lord Netherwood dies before he can commit this to paper. Silas's desire to force the Hoylands hand and get Eve what she deserves creates conflict in Netherwood, with Silas on one side, Anna and Amos on the other, and Eve stuck in the middle. Eve's life might be better, but it is far from perfect.

When the first book in a series is wonderful and perfect I can only imagine the pressure this puts on the author. Jane Sanderson had less time and more expectations with her followup to Netherwood. Thankfully Ravenscliffe exceeded all my expectations. With the expanding of this little microcosm of Edwardian England with new characters and new situations, Jane was able to stay true to the gritty and glamorous world of her first novel, yet infuse it with even more humor and humanity. Throwing us headlong into the upheaval at the great hall with the remodelling and redecorating for the King's arrival made me fall right into this book and not want to leave. The cook dropping dead hours before the first big dinner and having Eve step in was a situation of such absurdity combined with the feeling of her walking a tightrope, led to such suspense I didn't want to go to sleep. In that moment I had such a connection with Eve, I had so much invested, I felt that I was there with her. Jane just has this knack of creating characters that you connect with on so many levels, that you become invested in their lives and just need to know what happens next. Yet, Ravenscliffe isn't just a character piece with historical figures popping up, there are real and relevant issue that ring true to this day, giving the book a depth that most literature today lacks.

In the first book, Netherwood, we see Eve make a huge success out of the ruin of her life. Eve's restaurant becomes not only a place that locals visit, but a destination in Yorkshire for a day out. Her pies are even a hit with the King, who loves food reminiscent of his days in the nursery. Well maybe we should just say he loves food period, and he really loves Eve's puddings and pies. Yet with the arrival of Silas we see someone who has made a real success of his life. He is quite literally a millionaire. Eve and him had the same life, the same start in the world. On that day she married Arthur, Silas set out to make something of himself, and boy did he ever. When compared side by side, Eve's "huge" success in the first book is a pittance when compared to what her brother has achieved. This is the crux of what is a politically charged issue. The situation here is an interesting take on the dynamic of a woman's place in society. The little success Eve has carved out for herself is lauded because she is a woman and any success is amazing in this male dominated society. Yet what could Eve have done if she was male? Would Eve have been as or even more successful then her brother? I think she would have!

Lady Henrietta is the more vocal proponent of women's equality and suffrage in Ravenscliffe. Not only does she run the estate after her father's passing, but she institutes reforms in the collieries that will save lives, as well as becoming political and taking up the banner with the likes of Mrs. Pankhurst! The book shows quite clearly the injustices, but then it shows us that forward thinking women can help effect change. They are just as, if not more capable then the men in their lives, this is especially true of Henry and her inept brother Tobias. This time in history was the true beginning of women demanding the equality they deserved. While it would be another fourteen years from the events of this book till some women got the vote and a further ten years till it was more universal, it was a time of change and this book shows us, more then a dry history textbook, why it was needed and how the change was effected. Is equality for women such a hard concept to grasp even in this day and age? It is a basic human right.

Having the characters that we have known and loved as our friends incorporated into real history and real struggles makes not just their own stories come alive, but makes history come alive. Also, what did I say about historical figures popping up? Well, of course they do, but they aren't what the book is about, they are woven into the plot making it relevant to the story, not just a cameo. The introduction of Mrs. Pankhurst, Churchill, Keir Hardie, and the King, forward the story but also place it in the bigger picture. Jane Sanderson's story coupled with living breathing history makes her plea of suffrage and women's rights more urgent, more real. The only thing I would ask is that she drop the cliche of suffragists all having lesbian leanings... it's ok if it's character driven, just not ok if it's politically driven. Suffragists are all spectrums of women, don't pigeon hole them after writing a book that embraces the trail blazers and the pioneers of equality.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Downton Denial, Downtonesque, Equality, Eve Williams, Jamaica, Jane Sanderson, King Edward, Meat Pies, Mining, Mrs. Pankhurst, Netherwood, Pudding, Ravenscliffe, Suffrage, Suffragettes, Winston Churchill, Yorkshire

Last April I received an email from my book dealer (basically my drug dealer, because books are my crack), John, recommending a new series that everyone was raving about. John has very rarely been wrong so he sent me the first book in the new Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Series, Phoenix Rising. Needless to say I adored the first book as you probably noticed because it received one of my rare five stars... or at least, they seem rare to me these days. Instantly I had to read all the short stories and the second book and was very happy to read in my email that "we're hard at work on book three". When I was devising Steampunk Summer, Philipa (Pip) Ballantine and her husband, Tee Morris, where up there at the very top of a short list of dream authors I hoped would participate.

Thanks to their combined love of pioneering media, podcasts, blogs, epubs, I was lucky enough to friend them through goodreads and lure them into participating in my summer event. They also love cats, but that's a whole other level of awesome. Not only that, but two lucky winners have a chance to win signed and personalized copies of one of their two books! It goes without saying I'm more than a little jealous of my followers who have the chance to not only have these awesome books, but signed ones at that! So make sure you go and enter to win, and then come right back and read what Pip had to say to some of my silly questions! Or better yet, read and then go enter!

Question: What is the definitive Steampunk book for you?

Answer: Even though they weren't called steampunk, and don't actually involve steam, I would always go with Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. It has the sense of wonder and amazement that I feel is inherent in the genre.

Question: What drew you to this genre?

Answer: The style. The history. The people. The gadgets. There are so many wonderful things going on in steampunk, but if I had to pick one alone, it would be the history. I've always liked messing about with the past, and steampunk lets me wander far and wide. In the Janus Affair for example I take one of New Zealand's prominent suffragette and give her a steampunk make-over.

Question: How do you take your tea?

Answer: Milk and sugar- especially if it is Earl Grey. If not then as it comes.

Question: Must have sartorial accessory?

Answer: So hard to choose one! Personally I love to have a quirky, shiny, pretty necklace. No matter if you are wearing an evening gown or an engineer's overalls, a necklace makes a statement.

Question: Sartorial leaning: Street Urchin, Tinker, Explorer or Aesthete?

Answer: I tend to lean towards the Explorer. I love a good pith helmet, bandoleer, and ray-gun.

Question: Top hat or bowler hat?

Answer: I am definitely a bowler hat chick—when not wearing previously mentioned pith helmet.

Question: Subgenre you most identify with: Boilerpunk, Clockpunk, Dieselpunk, Gaslight Romance, Mannerspunk, Raygun Gothic or Stitchpunk?

Answer: It like to skip lightly over sub-genre. I just love adventure, exploration, and interesting characters to travel with me there.

Question: If there was one thing that could truly exist from the world of Steampunk what would it be?

Answer: I would love to have an automaton manservant. I hate housework, but realize it is important (with five cats, if we did not do it, we'd be buried in fur in mere weeks). The idea of someone else doing it and casting no judgement on my housekeeping skills is bliss!

Question: If there was one element in the Steampunk genre you could remove forever what would it be?

Answer: I don't think anything should be removed. Everyone has something to say about different aspects. Some folk like to explore the dark side (sexism, colonialism, and racism) while others like the adventure. I think there is plenty of room for everyone in the genre.

Question: Favorite movie or television series with Steampunk elements?

Answer: The Prestige. David Bowie as Tesla. I don't think I need to say more.*

*No she doesn't!

Question: Preferred mode of transport: celestial, aether, terra firma or aquatic?

Answer: Actually I am rather partial to train travel, but unfortunately transport by steam train is not as easy to come by these days...

Question: Favorite Queen to have had a diamond jubilee, Victoria or Elizabeth?

Answer: Victoria! No, insult to Elizabeth II. Mum is quite nice, but Victoria has so many interesting blips in her personality and reign.

Question: Victorian or Wild West?

Answer: Arghhhh....can't pick. In The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences we have done both—or are planning to.

Question: Would you like an automaton butler or ladies maid, considering that it might be the first step in the robotic apocalypse?

Answer: As I mentioned above, yes I want one. I would trade in the chance on the apocalypse for someone to scoop the kitty litter...

Question: If The Doctor showed up at your door, where would you go?

Answer: So many places! But I think I would pop in on some of my favourite writers and poets. I would love to meet Byron, Keats and Shelley. They'd probably freak me out, but it would be awesome and worth it!

*Ok, so technically, this picture is of Shelley, Byron, and Coleridge, but, I'll take every chance I get to showcase this picture from one of my favorite episodes of Blackadder!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 4 comments  

Labels: Blackadder, Cats, David Bowie, Earl Grey, Jules Verne, Ministry of Peculiar Occurances, Phoenix Rising, Pip Ballantine, Queen Victoria, Suffragettes, Tee Morris, Tesla, The Janus Affair, The Prestige

The Janus Affair by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris
Published by: Harper Voyager
Publication Date: May 29th, 2012
Format: Paperback, 432 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Eliza and Wellington have been behaving themselves... mostly. Since the to-do with the Phoenix Society, Eliza's desire for field work has been mildly slacked. But even Welly MUST admit that when a case just falls into their lap it can't be ignored. Even if it wasn't so much the case fell as a lady disappeared in front of them on a hypersteam train from Scotland to London. Eliza had just met the lady in question at a Suffrage meeting and now she's all screaming and lightning and gone. Yet their boss Dr. Sound doesn't follow the logic of Braun. She's too close to the case and therefore shouldn't investigate. But for Eliza this is exactly the reason why she must investigate, that and the knowledge that their fellow agent assigned to the case, Bruce Campbell, will do nothing. A promise he lives up to when he quickly sends the case down to the archives as closed... but not solved.

Eliza might have been convinced by Welly to back down if they didn't see it happen again. They are wandering around the park and head over to Speaker's Corner. There is a large Suffrage rally in progress and a large shock in store for Eliza. Kate Sheppard is there. Eliza hasn't seen Kate since the incident that made Eliza an outcast, no longer welcome in New Zealand. Kate is looking pretty good with her half metal face, she's not one to back down when the going got tough! Then all of a sudden the same metallic tang fills the air and Eliza knows Kate is going to be snatched. Jumping to the podium, Eliza once again saves Kate, but the other girl wasn't so lucky.

Now that there are two cases, Eliza combs the archives and finds even more. Key women to the Suffrage movement snatched out of thin air. But why? And why bury the cases? Are they being killed, kidnapped, ransomed? Or is this all just to undermine the movement? Because not knowing what is happening is sewing more fear than a direct attack would. Yet Kate is ready for a fight if Eliza is! Too bad Kate brought her son Douglas along... Eliza's first true love. No matter who is behind this or why, Eliza will solve this, job and life be damned. Yet, with the forces of darkness aligning themselves against the agents and their ministry, could it really be the end for Books and Braun?

First, make sure you've read the first book, second, make sure you've read the short story The Evil that Befell Sampson, which really should be required reading to get this book, ok, done? Now we can discuss. I adore Books and Braun. Their chemistry and their combined talents are such a perfect match. Yet, with just the two of them, you'd have a decent book. It is all the perfectly formed peripheral characters that make this book so much more. From Eliza's Ministry Seven, her answer to the Baker Street Irregulars, to her kick ass half steam maid, to their fellow agents whom you not only fall in love with but mourn. Even the baddies fascinate me! Usually the adversary is some mysterious, convoluted, not very well plotted big bad, yet here, we have Sophia and Lord Sussex and the conflicted Bruce. You are almost cheering them on as much as the protagonists. I want to know more about them, I want to know more about the mysterious Maestro. I want to know exactly what is happening to Sussex, because right now I have fifty million theories, and most point to a Jekyll and Hyde scenario. I never have cared much for villains in the past, maybe a passing interest in a roguish cad... but actual villains? Nope.

The world of this novel makes me want to curl up in it and never leave, which is why I'm so excited they put out so many short stories, because how else would I survive till the next book comes out? Still, there where a few things in this book that made it click a little less for me. What I loved most of all was that the arrival of Douglas threw Eliza and Wellington's feelings for each other into relief. We also had the closure of the Douglas chapter of Eliza's life. There could be no romantic entanglement between the two of them till at least the most obvious of the obstacles where removed, ie, Eliza's former partner, her former love. That isn't to say that there aren't tons of other problems, psychological and ideological that could get in their way... but now the real hurdles have been passed.

The Suffrage movement, personally, I could take it or leave it, but that's probably because I have grown up in a world that has never banned me from voting. I love this historical aspect and the little things, like the distinction of calling the women Suffragists not Suffragettes. Also, the fact that Kate Sheppard was a real hell cat for New Zealand, minus the bionic makeover, makes this ever more real. Yet, the fact that this struggle is somehow the final straw that broke our villain's back and had the world heading for... I'll be good, no spoilers... well, something really bad, I didn't really buy.

What I didn't like? I missed the archives! Which, because of this book's ending, I fear I will continue to miss. I liked the idea of them having a base of operations within this larger organization. I loved them thwarting their boss and trying to cover up what they where up to with elaborate shadow play and excuses. I missed the research in that dank little cellar! The archives are a character all it's own and I missed it! Plus, the archives has so much to offer, and really, it is their job! I found it not that feasible that they where not missed at all for the entire duration of the book. They maybe stopped by once or twice and no one commented on their absence? Really!?!

Though the thing that bothered me the most was a lack of copy editing. Hell, I would personally copy edit these books for free to avoid the grammatical errors and the occasional missing words which would make a sentence not make sense unless your brain filled in the gaps, which my brain is quite used to. Though, I think a continuity editor would be even better because of one niggling thing that drove me bonkers. The added elevator. In the first book, Phoenix Rising, there is a scene when Welly has to take the drunken Eliza home. He has to carry her comatose body up flights and flights of stairs. It was a struggle because that little pepper pot (a word starting to get overused in the chapter headings) was wearing her reinforced corset... yet in the second book, after Douglas shows up at Eliza's when Welly is there, Welly and Douglas leave together and glare at each other while riding the elevator to the ground floor. Say what!?! If there was the option of an elevator when Welly was lugging around a drunk Eliza, I think he would have taken it! Also, not much time has passed since the first book, so I find it highly unlikely that an elevator was installed. So, magically appearing elevator... yeah, no thanks. Yet, even these detractions can't take away my love of this series and the fact that I am desperate for the next volume... which probably won't be out to next year... sigh, sob and wail.

Moste Importante Steampunkery:
Sophia de Morte's Lococycle. It's basically Batman's Batcycle but cooler! Especially so once Wellington finishes adding some of his touches, sure to be far more effective than that lame crotch rocket Christian Bale was riding in The Dark Knight Rises! Though I think Sophia would approve of Catwoman having her own. Meow! This "infernal contraption" might be inelegant to the eyes of some, Sussex cough cough, the "two wheels, one in front of the other like a bicycle" added with pistons and valves makes this the fastest mode of transport for delivering messages to your dark master or rescuing your partner. It also scares the hell out of horses.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Batman, Bruce Campbell, Catwoman, Christian Bale, Eliza Braun, Kate Sheppard, Ministry of Peculiar Occurances, Phoenix Rising, Suffragettes, The Dark Knigt Rises, The Janus Affair, Wellington Books

The Marvelous Land of Oz (Oz Book 2) by L. Frank Baum
Published by: Everyman's Library
Publication Date: 1904
Format: Paperback, 624 Pages
Rating: ★
To Buy

Tip lives with the wicked witch Mombi. Though she's not technically allowed to call herself a witch, she is truly wicked. Tip has been with her as long as he remembers. Basically a glorified slave or indentured servant, Tip takes every opportunity to get one over on Mombi. So one day when she heads over to a neighboring warlock's house to swap secrets, Tip laboriously creates Jack Pumpkinhead. Jack is a tall scarecrow like creation with a face carved out of a pumpkin with a maniacal grin. Tip even gives Jack working joints. Tip places Jack where he's sure he will startle Mombi on her return. Mombi is a hard one to scare, so instead she sees in Jack the perfect experiment. She has just gotten some "Powder of Life" and decides to test one of her precious three doses on Jack. It works marvelously. Jack is brought to life. What's more, Jack will be a far better servant than Tip, who has to eat and sleep, so Tip is thrown out. As revenge Tip steals the "Powder of Life" and Jack and heads south in order to find a new life in the Emerald City of Oz.

Soon it become apparent that Jack isn't as well made as Tip thought he was. He might rot or his joints might break from all the walking. Tip decides that Jack needs a stead, and makes a saw horse come to life as a real horse. The three continue on their way to the Emerald City but are soon separated and set upon by an approaching army. General Jinjur and her comely all-girl army of revolt are on their way to the Emerald City to depose the Scarecrow and claim the city and all it's jewels for themselves, armed only with their indignation that they have to do all the household work and knitting needles. Jinjer is successful in becoming queen, but she soon looses her Scarecrow captive who, with the help of Tip and his unlikely allies, rescues the Scarecrow and heads off to the Tin Man's Empire, where dear old Nick Chopper is a benevolent leader to the Winkie's, unlike the Wicked Witch before him. Soon the motley crew is planning on reclaiming the thrown, but things never go to plan... and it soon falls to Glinda to straighten things out and bring back the rightful ruler of Oz, Ozma, who has been missing these many years.

This book sets out to establish more of a history to Oz, with it's hidden princess and the evils the Wizard of Oz wrought, some with Mombi's assistance. The fault though lies in the fact there is no Dorothy. Dorothy was our access into the world, because she, like us, is an outsider. We have no literary conduit, instead we have a rag-tag group of self centered and self impressed asses. Each character spends almost the entire time saying how they are better that the others. The Scarecrow has the best brains, but Nick assures him, that without a great heart like his, he's nothing. How are these people friends? They never converse, they only shout monologues out into the air and occasionally they offend someone and use their superiority as an excuse. They grate on the readers nerves. But the egocentric character flaws are nothing compared to General Jinjer.

General Jinjer and her very attractive army are my problem! They are all "very attractive" and no longer want to do "women's work" so with a symbol of their imprisonment they march on the Emerald City, knitting needles in hand. Why do they really want the throne? For the jewels of course! For Baum, who was supposedly a big supporter of the Suffragettes, his depiction of these soldiers is rather sexist. They just want to be lazy and pretty, but are easily defeated the first time because some mice scare them. Talk about stereotype! Also, the women of Oz gladly taking back their chores at the end of the book because their husbands where useless, seems... stupid. It says to anyone reading this book that girls are only good for domesticity. Which is odd considering that the power base of Glinda is based on girl power as well... but a far more dangerous sword wielding kind. But Glinda's army is an army to maintain the status quo. But the status is not quo. This book implies that women should stay home and only take up arms if that status is upset. EXCUSE ME! Fight for your right for household chores? Mr. Baum, I think you really need to look to yourself. I think you're a hypocrite and I think this might be the worst Oz novel, if I remember correctly from my previous readings.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Glinda, Jack Pumpkinhead, L. Frank Baum, Mombi, Nick Chopper, Ozma, Suffragettes, The Emerald City of Oz, The Marvelous Land of Oz, The Wizard of Oz, Tin Woodman