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A Kindle Book Review of The Steam and Steel Chronicles, Book 1 << Prev Next >>
Author Emilie P. Bush reviews another indy author in Book 1 of the Steam and Steel Chronicles...
By EBush on May 17 2011 Category:SpC,Media,Literature  Aboard the Unstoppable Aerostat Fenris (The Steam and Steel Chronicles) by Cameron Chapman. Untine Press. Available for Amazon Kindle. $0.99.
I’m a fan of Indy Publishers. As I am one, I feel obligated to find and review other independent authors in Steampunk. Cameron Chapman’s story – Aboard the Unstoppable Aerostat Fenris – has caught my attention, but I’m still not sure how to score this one.
I hope you noticed that I didn’t call it a Steampunk novel, because it’s not. It’s more like the first quarter of a great Steampunk epic, both in length and in quality. The story follows Isabelle, an older teen street urchin who has been orphaned in Eastern Europe. She fends for herself fairly well, but longs to head back to London, the last known location of her older brother, where she hoped to find a better life. Isabelle escapes her life in the East when she joins company with an “I’m flying solo and I like it that way” type of airship captain – Stig Rayner. They pick up a shady cargo heading for Iceland (the hope being that Isabelle can be dropped off on the way in London).
At this point, I’m seeing some pretty conventional tropes bubbling to the surface: ship in a storm, sky pirates, May-December onboard romance, etc. But Cameron Chapman throws in a few really tasty and novel ideas as well: lusty sirens, and a bizarre creature that has a seemingly telepathic link with Isabelle being my favorites.
Sadly, like a toddler dropping the toy in hand when a new toy is presented, these interesting threads are dropped as quickly as they are found, which is really disappointing. In the end – and I was surprised it was the end of “book one”, ‘cause it was just getting good, I felt a little cheated. And I mean this in the best possible way. There needed to be more. I wanted more. And it seems that Ms. Chapman provides more with “book” number two (almost equally short in word count), released just a month after Aboard the Unstoppable Aerostat Fenris. Will I read part two? Sure. She hooked me.
I have some high hopes for this second installment – The Great Healion Race. I am hoping her writing has had a chance to mature just a bit. For now, I am willing to look past some of the modern turns of phrase in her “Steampunk Edwardian age”, as I am interested in watching Cameron Chapman’s stories grow and evolve.
Author of Chenda and the Airship Brofman and NEW in 2011 The Gospel According to Verdu. | |
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