Review: Early Steam Punk
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 11 5, 2012
A Novella farce set in 1903 England.  The principle characters are Mr. Worcester, the Gentleman's consulting detective, his man Reeves (an steam powered automaton subject to Babbages laws), Worcester's fiancee Miss Emmeline (a suffragette and protester at the gates of the Westminister's Palace), Snuggles a reanimator (one who revived Guy Fawkes and Sir Roger Mortimer - reanimated known as Prometheans who were orange from use of a French salve called ReVitaCorpse that kept old corpses from turning to dust).  Their principal means of transportation was a Stanley Steamer which with the steam powered automaton, Reeves, lends to the description "Steam Punk" as a category for this book.  The characters were very loosely modeled after Sherlock Holmes (Worcester) and Dr. Watson (Reeves) and use what Worcester terms logic to attempt to thwart another attempt to blow up the House of Parliament on the morning of the Queen's visit (the original crime that Guy Fawkes was hung, drawn and quartered for).  This is a real tongue in the cheek corruption of history as well as Sherlock Holmes character as originally conceived but, the far ranging plot and ever suffering Man Reeves is amusing as they jump between obscure and mistaken conclusions as well as just plain funny situations and reactions.  An enjoyable quick read to find out if the Prometheans and their modern coconspirators can succeed where their predecessors failed.