Review: Solid writing, slow pace
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 24, 2013
I was quite excited to read The Wake of the Dragon, as I've recently gotten into steampunk and I've always loved adventure stories, especially historical ones.  The book starts off with a bang--air pirates conducting a drug heist. Between the fun plot and the quality of the writing--which is quite good--I began the tale with enthusiasm.I must confess, however, that I lost that enthusiasm along the way. The content is interesting and the writing is error-free (more or less), often even lyrical and witty, which is why I've given the book 4 stars. It is, technically speaking, a good novel. But for a number of reasons I found it difficult to really enjoy.My biggest complaint is that the story telling is so reliant on exposition and internal monologue. The characters are ever thinking about all of their options, weighing and measuring, and internally stating things which are already evident. If you were to break this book down between "showing" and "telling" (a distinction that I'm not always in favor of, and shouldn't be viewed as a hard and fast rule, but, in this case, I believe is valid) you would find almost nothing but telling. All of this exposition and thinking serves to drastically slow down the pace of the book and gave it an overall feeling of being bloated and poorly balanced, in my opinion.Despite the fact that we spend so much time in the heads of the characters, I didn't feel terribly attached to any of them. My biggest problem was with the treatment of the single female character, whose only characteristic seems to be a disturbing level of sexual promiscuity.**DON'T READ THE NEXT SECTION IF YOU ARE OPPOSED TO SOME MILD SPOILERS**That character, Ann, is initially presented as a feisty trouble maker. We then get the rather troubling detail that she'd made passes at her own father. Our lead treats her rather abominably at first, and I was hoping that she would show that she was either stronger, more interesting, or more dynamic as the tale went on. Instead, she commits what I can only describe as rape and her tendencies are never really addressed or developed. As the only female character, I was left feeling a bit uncomfortable by all of this. I suppose I've come to expect better treatment of female characters in modern genre fiction.**So, while I can't say I loved this book, I also can't deny that it has elements which will appeal to many readers: a fun concept and strong writing. If you are expecting a fast paced swashbuckler, I don't think this book will be exactly your cup of tea. If you like a slower paced story with a lot of focus on character feeling and choices, this will likely be right up your ally.