Review: "While I can't give the book an unequivocal recommendation as either romance or speculative fiction, I applaud its ingenuity"
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 22, 2012
Time is not on Emily Fenwick's side. In fact, it may just be out to get her. One minute she's a cop with the NYPD, the next she's sucked from the present day and thrust into the midst of the Punks, a rag-tag band of time travelers who've carved out a territory they call Steamside in 1890 New York.Only it's not 1890 as it should be... not with the Hindenburg making cameo appearances over Central Park. Something's gone wrong with history and it seems to be up to the Punks of Steamside and their leader, Jack Pettigrew, to set it right.Jack Pettigrew, aka the Man, is a natural leader-brave, intelligent, practical, proud, and completely gorgeous. Everyone is in love with him, men and women alike. It's all very frustrating, but not half as frustrating as the knowledge that if they can't fix the past, there may not be a future to get back to-and where would that leave Emily?Steamside Chronicles is part of the steampunk genre-a type of speculative fiction, usually expressed as a kind of "alternate history" where Jules Verne-type science fiction is made factual. Ciar Cullen takes a slightly different approach. Her steampunk has more of a MacGyver quality as the Punks use 1890s technology to create a world more familiar to their modern sensibilities.I enjoyed the Neverland feel of Steamside. The Punks are delightful as reinvented Lost Boys, choosing names and roles for themselves, scrounging for flotsam and calling it treasure, and building their own patchwork paradise.I didn't feel every aspect of Steamside Chronicles was as successful. With elements of fantasy, time travel, romance, mystery and adventure all jockeying for attention, there's a lot going on here and it doesn't all gel completely. Sometimes it feels as if the story wants to go in several directions at once.The mystery and adventure are fascinating, but don't really take off until very late in the game, and the romance is charming, but sometimes feels like its competing with the plot. The publisher gives the book a "Heat Level" rating of 2 out of a possible 5. I think that's about right.While I can't give the book an unequivocal recommendation as either romance or speculative fiction, I applaud its ingenuity and imagination. If you're a fan of steampunk, or if you want to like steampunk and haven't yet found the right expression of it, I'd say Steamside Chronicles is definitely worth a try. It may just be the past you've been searching for.ValReviewed for Joyfully Reviewed