Review: Good book once it gets going....
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 17, 2012
The world has suffered a second great war that decimated Germany and forced them to take a much smaller portion of land than that country previously occupied. In the novel, one of the characters refers to his mother having been part of a death march forced on the Germans by Great Britain. The topography and climate seems to have changed as well.I must admit. I groaned through about the first 5% of this book when Jenson and Bea are escaping the British ship. I thought to myself, "This is going to be one of these balls to the wall, uncompromising, emotionally immature, horribly scarred, females. More Terminator than real person." Bea was all of those things but as I got to know the reasons behind her being as tough as she was and as emotionally immature she was but how willing she was to sacrifice herself for people she saw as innocent, she grew on me. I got invested in this character and as the character developed, so did the storyline.This is a heavily action packed storyline. I learned, in my research, that Morlocks are a common character in steampunk fiction. One of my favorite novels is The Time Machine by H.G. Wells which features Morlocks as brutal slavemasters who treat the surface dwelling, Eloi, like cattle. McIntyre's Morlocks are more evolved and more human than ape but they maintain the cruel spirit of their namesakes.There were times when I wanted more information about characters but recognized that if they were to open themselves up and spill out their souls, they woudn't be as interesting through the rest of the story. We get enough information about everyone to titillate and involve us but we know there's more to the story.Another challenge a reader faces is that this novel is not set in a world we know. We may feel that we know the ground over which these characters are traveling but times have changed and I found, as a reader, that sense a little off putting at times.If you like sci-fi, tough characters and constant, edge of your seat, action, An Airship Named Desire is the novel for you.