review by Aimee
This is such a unique read. Gideon Smith is forced into a world of adventure, mummies and monsters after the death of his father.
I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did but I really shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. It has a similar feel to Tintin, with a hint of steampunk. I’m quite interested in how steampunk is represented in literature, and I feel like this one did a much better job than The Contrary Tale of the Butterfly Girl. Where that one was trying to mimic Alice in Wonderland-turned psycho, Gideon Smith incorporates steampunk in a much better narrative.
The story focuses around a collective search in Egypt for ancient relics. Lucian Trigger is searching for his lost love, Gideon Smith is searching for revenge for the death of his father, and Maria, the mechanical girl, is searching for why she is a mechanical girl.
The best part about this book is that it uses characters we already know and love. Bram Stoker becomes part of the adventurers, whilst he is looking for his first great story, which later becomes Dracula. Albert Einstein’s father is also a key character, as he discovers the purpose of the relics. There was also a brief reference to Sherlock Holmes, which I absolutely loved. I’ve always been a fan of Arthur Conan Doyle, and love the era that his stories are written in. (Look forward to a Sherlock novel being reviewed soon!)
I think this book cleverly incorporated elements of fantasy, such as the vampires and frog-like mummified creatures, with the Victorian setting, and it keeps a good pace throughout. It’s one of those good filler books; it’s not too heavy, its exciting, and it makes a good break between the much darker books I’ve been reading lately.
Publisher: Snowbooks
Date Published: 11 September 2013
RRP: £7.99
ISBN: 9781907777974
Synopsis: Taken from Amazon
Nineteenth century London is the centre of a vast British Empire. Airships ply the skies and Queen Victoria presides over three-quarters of the known world – including the East Coast of America, following the failed revolution of 1775. London might as well be a world away from Sandsend, a tiny village on the Yorkshire coast. Gideon Smith dreams of the adventure promised him by the lurid tales of Captain Lucian Trigger, the Hero of the Empire, told in Gideon’s favourite “penny dreadful.” When Gideon’s father is lost at sea in highly mysterious circumstances Gideon is convinced that supernatural forces are at work. Deciding only Captain Lucian Trigger himself can aid him, Gideon sets off for London. On the way he rescues the mysterious mechanical girl Maria from a tumbledown house of shadows and iniquities. Together they make for London, where Gideon finally meets Captain Trigger. But Trigger is little more than an ageing fraud, providing cover for the covert activities of his lover, Dr. John Reed, a privateer and sometime agent of the British Crown. Looking for heroes but finding only frauds and crooks, it falls to Gideon to step up to the plate and attempt to save the day …but can a humble fisherman really become the true Hero of the Empire?
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