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Not Less Than Gods (2000)

by Kage Baker(Favorite Author)

3.48 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1596062835 (ISBN13: 9781596062832)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Subterranean Press

review 1: Not Less Than GodsBy Kage BakerPublisher: Tor / Tom Doherty and AssocPublished In: New York City, NY, USADate: 2010Pgs: 319REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERSSummary:Edward Alton Bell-Fairfax, the issue of a secret society’s meddling in genetics, is raised a bastard in an absent adopted family situation. The society takes care of his needs and forces him along the paths that they want him to follow: schooling, Navy, etc. On his return from the Navy, the society initiates him in full, training him for the missions that they are going to need his mighty skills for.Clockwork opponents and steam-powered vehicles as a Victorian world prepares for war, Bell-Fairfax finds himself a cog in a machine playing a game of centuries and power.They’ve created the most dangerous man alive...a... morend he’s an idealist. Control may be an issue.Genre:fiction, alternate world, time travel, alternate historyWhy this book:The blurb on the cover.This Story is About:duty, honor, and the doing of bad things in the service of good causesFavorite Character:Favorite has to be Bell-Fairfax. He is the central, main character. He is the hero, after a fashion. Least Favorite Character: Hobson the drunk. How he hid his shortcomings from those who trained him isn’t explained, but he had to have already been when he joined the Society.Character I Most Identified With:Ludbridge. He does his job. He does it well. He doesn’t suffer fools lightly.The Feel:The story feels a bit like standing on top of a tinderbox about to burst into flame must be. It’s Stephen King level anxiety, but that’s the kind of feeling I got. I would compare the feel behind this story to the feeling I got when reading The Stand. Not that horror lurked around every corner, but that these characters travel through a world on the verge of a shattering war.Favorite Scene:When, while on patrol, Bell-Fairfax finds a willing partner for an afternoon delight in a Greek bazaar shop.Settings:London; Beirut; Jerusalem; Africa; the Gentlemen’s Speculative Society HQ; Istambul; Sebastopol; a deep Earth railroad; Aalbourg, Denmark; St. PetersburgPacing:The pacing is awesome.Plot Holes/Out of Character:N/ALast Page Sound:Definitely need to read more of these.Author Assessment:Really liked the story. Will be checking out more by this author.Editorial Assessment:Well edited.Did the Book Cover Reflect the Story:Very steampunk. Nicely done.Hmm Moments:The sum feels greater than its parts. None of the scene leapt at me, but in total, they hang together very nicely.Knee Jerk Reaction:really good bookDisposition of Book:Irving Public Library, Irving, TXWhy isn’t there a screenplay?It would make an excellent movie. But I doubt it would be made since it trolls the waters that the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen explored and it will be difficult getting a studio to invest in a movie of that type again.Casting call:I could see Patrick Stewart as Ludbridge.Ewan McGregor would have been incredible as Bell-Fairfax.Oliver Platt could have been Hobson.And though it would be a small part, Ian McKellen as Richardson, the butler who took care of Bell-Fairfax in his youth when his adopted parents promptly disappeared after his coming to live with them. Small, but important part.Would recommend to:genre fans
review 2: Edward Bell-Fairfax, a young man with unique abilities, joins a secret society focused on advancing technology, then travels around Europe getting information and meeting other branches of his group.This is my first time reading Kage Baker. I enjoyed the overall style of the book and thought the world was really interesting, but I had some issues with the plot and characterization.The pace was odd and repetitive. Things started off well enough, with Bell-Fairfax's backstory and training. He's likeable but a little flat, possibly because he's just so damn good at everything. The man's only real challenges are internal, he struggles a little bit with his differences and a little more thoroughly with the ethics of his behavior and work. But I don't know if those personal quibbles are enough to balance out that he's big and strong and fast and perceptive and attractive and smart and thoughtful and kind. The other main characters are largely filler. One is there to train him, because as a young operative he can't be the leader. The other two have specialized jobs, but as characters they provide an average society member and a sloppy one to contrast Bell-Fairfax with.The story had some great moments of tension and intrigue, but it followed such a constant pattern that it became predictable. Our morally-questionable heroes arrive at an exotic locale, do a little light spying, encounter members of the local branch of their society, and get introduced to a big, steampunkish machine. The only real variation was the occasional appearance of the bad guys, who were talked up into more of a threat than they turned out to be. The pace isn't helped by the fact that it's so exposition-heavy, these folks spend a lot of time sitting around and talking.I know the focus of the secret society is technology, but it got tiring in terms of the story. Every time the gang faced a problem, someone would pull out a brand new trinket to deal with it. Their secret tech made them automatically better than any of their opponents, and what the tech couldn't accomplish, Bell-Fairfax could. Fun gadgets in a steampunk setting are supposed to be exciting, but at some point I started seeing the new toys as more of a drag on the story's momentum than anything else. As with any alternate history, the events and locations of the book relate to real-world events. This book could have done a much better job at explaining the significance of the team's actions. The plot will still be understandable, but readers without some knowledge of European history (specifically the Crimean War) will miss quite a few references and may even end up muddy on the reasons for the orders that the group is given. There are times when I like subtle little nods at history, but they're best used sparingly. I guess you could make the argument that readers who don't know the references will be on the same occasionally-confused ground as the characters, it's just less satisfying that way, though.I'm still rating this one three stars, because for all its faults, I enjoyed the world-building, the introduction of the group, and their early scenes on the journey. I also appreciated that the author was trying to work with some deeper themes through Bell-Fairfax's character, though I don't think the book was entirely successful in that respect.I won this one from the Goodreads giveaway program. less

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