This is the real thing — a mad inventor, curious coins, murky London alleys and windblown Scottish Isles… A wild and extravagant plot that turns up new mysteries with each succeeding page. Must read… Pure joy. I could easily have been reading a novel written in His Victorian London is dark, menacing, and compelling. Absolute must-read! I guarantee you will enjoy it. It is that rare book that is both literary and cinematic.
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If you see a Google Drive link instead of source url, means that the file witch you will get after approval is just a summary of original book or the file has been already removed. And hey, did you know that Jeter coined that term? Remember when those fantastic adventure tales whose main goal was to tell a fast-paced story with some interesting ideas used to clock in under pages and could be enjoyed in one long afternoon?
And didn't have sequels? Probably not and I'm probably dating myself. It is nice to be reminded that such things were once fairly common. Maybe authors these days are afraid of being seen as somehow disposable or too lightweight.
And w Steampunk, ahoy! And what's wrong with being lightweight? Infernal Devices is a great example of swiftly-paced, lightweight entertainment. It is a retro-chic thriller full of tricky clockwork mechanisms, cobblestones and foggy nights, demented aristocrats and dodgy lower class types, inhuman creatures from the sea and their barely human half-breed spawn, creepy flights into darkness and sudden escapes, and two brassy mercenaries who are strangely familiar with 20th century slang.
Best of all, there is also an automaton who comes equipped with all of the wit, intelligence, and sexual drive that his original human model - our strangely bland hero - appears to lack.
Two peas in a pod, except one pea is infinitely more tasty. Imagine a clockwork version of this: Note the eyes! The writing is luscious and rather gleefully sardonic. It winks at you while delivering its narrative thrills in a delightfully vivid, semi-archaic purple prose package.
And it almost feels like Jeter is even sending up his own traditionally enigmatic heroes. The answers to many of the questions swirling around the oddly placid protagonist lie within his very stolidity; his unimaginative blankness and prim limitations are actually the key to Infernal Devices' central conundrums and contraptions. And the climax is a literal climax. Also featuring The End of the World! View all 4 comments. May 18, Cass rated it did not like it Shelves: reviewed , speculative-and-fantastic.
Things I learned from K. Jeter in this book: 1 ALL women are only thinking about one thing. If they are Sexy, then they are sex-crazed animals who will rip off a man's clothes as soon as look at him this is Logic no matter how loudly he protests the indignity and begs her to control herself, madam! Either Things I learned from K. Either that, or kidnapping young virgins--a la Missus Meers--and selling them to satisfy the depraved desires of a corrupt elite class. Or view spoiler [ both.
It doesn't matter how often they are referred to, how central they are to the plot; it is more than enough to have a single scene in which their enraged fathers and brothers try to beat the stuffing out of one of the corrupt elite, to truly convey the horror of the situation.
After all, the men-folks are the ones who actually matter. You don't even need to rescue the girls; gaining a personally satisfying moral victory over their pimps is just as good. I'm sure there must be good 'Steampunk' somewhere View all 10 comments. Jan 04, Ryan rated it it was ok.
The Good : There were some cool ideas here, and the Victorian setting is a firm favourite of mine. The first person voice — an extremely proper English gentleman — is very well done.
The Bad : Some of the ideas are a bit childish and stupid. Plus the characters are just unbelievably one dimensional, and their dialogue is bad. The only two women in the story are two different kinds of nymphomaniac; one is the street smart, gung-ho nympho while the other is the rich, nasty type.
I guess that makes them The Good : There were some cool ideas here, and the Victorian setting is a firm favourite of mine. I guess that makes them two dimensional. He is like Ross, only without the vast sexual experience. View all 5 comments. Aug 12, colleen the convivial curmudgeon rated it did not like it Shelves: steampunk , science-fantasy. My dilemma is that while I didn't really like it, per se, I didn't actively dislike it, which is what I usually use 1-stars for, but I didn't like it, either.
I guess, for the most part, it was "ok", and I was going to give it a 2-stars for most of the book, but the ending left me feeling kinda "wtf?
But it did hav 1. But it did have some things going for it What I mean about being in the right frame of mind is that, for one of my status messages, I'd said that it would be better having been written as a comedy because of the absurdity of the situations the bumbling Dower kept getting himself in, and it crosses that threshold of believability after one thing after another after another after another keeps getting piled on top of the idiot.
The 'feeling bad' part comes in because, reading the afterword, is mentions the humor and the absurdity as being purposeful, as a sort of homage to the over-the-top Victorian adventure stories. So I'm thinking that, maybe, if I'd read it in that light, maybe I would've found it more enjoyable and less annoying? Though I can't say my expectations were skewed going in 'cause, honestly, I didn't really know what to expect, and I usually try and let the style of writing and the seeming mood of the book come across in the writing.
So I'm not going to take blame, or anything, if I wasn't in the right frame of mind because I would say the writing, in the beginning, lead me to believe it was going for a more serious tone - so if it's meant to be more humorous in an absurd kind of way, then I would say the author failed to convey that intention via the tone.
So there. Anyway - That's a whole lot of semi-ranting without touching that much on the book, yet, aside from the fact that it seemed like it wanted to be serious, but ended up being absurd, which I found more stupid and irritating than amusing or endearing. So a bit about the book and some of the good things: This book first came onto my radar when I was involved in a sort of genre debate about steampunk, and I discovered that Jeter coined the term.
Being a fan of the genre - or, at least, the idea of the genre - I wanted to read some of the proto- works and this seemed like an interesting place to start. Of course, while I've often argued that steampunk is a form of sci-fi, generally, Jeter, himself, coined it in reference to "Victorian fantasies", and the science in this is very, well, fantastical. With few exceptions, there doesn't seem to be any attempt to stick within the confines of possible, or even plausible, science, what with the fishmen type things interbreeding with humans, and clockwork automaton working on principles of a metaphysical sort of resonance But, really, my biggest complaints were as I said before - Dower is one of those protagonists who is never pro-active, who constantly gets buffeted this way and that, and never really comes into his own at any point, and the sheer level of stuff that gets thrown at him from every angle is just beyond the pale.
I never really connected with any of the characters - though I did enjoy Creff and Abel - and the various twists and surprise reveals at the end were just So - 1 or 2 stars? I still can't decide ETA: I forgot to mention all the type-setting issues. There were quite a few of them and they were pretty distracting at times. What I mean is things like missing quotation marks, missing periods at ends of sentences, and random periods in the middle of sentences. Since things like punctuation can alter the meaning of sentences, or how you read them, I often had to go back and reread bits 'cause I was thrown by their random placement.
Oct 06, Pam marked it as dnf Shelves: fantasy , confusing , bizarre , steampunk. I marked this as did not finish a few nights ago, and then I looked at how many books I had marked "DNF. I should have listened to my gut. For most of my life, even if I hated a book, I would read it. The whole goshdurned thing.
Strangely enough, when I started working in a library, I started abandoning book I marked this as did not finish a few nights ago, and then I looked at how many books I had marked "DNF. Strangely enough, when I started working in a library, I started abandoning books with abandon! Originally, it was almost a moral issue for me, i. I couldn't possibly read all of those books, and even if I tried, I wouldn't like many of them.
Then, I went to library school, where we learned a bit of theory yes, Virginia, there is Library Theory for us library folk. We learned S. Ranganathan's 5 Laws of Library Science: 1. Books are for use. Every reader his [or her] book.
Every book its reader. Save the time of the reader. The library is a growing organism. So, basically told me that I didn't have to like everything, because I wouldn't use what I didn't like, and I would be wasting time, because I was not the reader for the book, nor was the book for me.
What's all this drivel got to do with Infernal Devices? Well, for one thing, you've just experienced the basic plot device of the novel, which generally consists of: What plot? Oh, that thing over there? Um, hey, look, it's a fish person! Secondly, it's my personal justification for not finishing this. As we all know by now, Jeter coined the term "steampunk.
Give the man a cigar! Elements that we've come to identify with steampunk--icons, if you will--are either absent or only very slightly present. For example, steampunk goggles are popular for various activities riding in airships being the most practical use , and indeed one character I encountered as far as I read did have distinctive eyewear, but they were blue-tinted glasses.
This is really more of a trippy quasi-Victorian mashup of detective story and Lovecraft. I mean, seriously, the inhabitants of Wetwick Wetwickians???
Things just happen to him, man! Like strange women from the future attempting the sexytimes! Like getting thrown into a river but somehow reviving! His name is George! There were, I admit, some amusing parts. The whole scandal with the church although I didn't read far enough to get the whole story , was pretty funny in a slapstick sort of way.
Um, I think that was actually the only funny part. George is pretty hopeless at everything. For example, his first client, who has dark brown skin, becomes Brown Leather Man. What are you, like, two? Also: racism. Also, as noted in another review, the BLM speaks in anastrophe i. Yoda-speak which is not cool unless it's Yoda! George must repair a clockwork mechanism of his father's, but he has no skills in this area I'm cutting to the chase, here , receives a strange coin from Brown Leather Man, is subsequently approached and then robbed by two ne'er-do-wells who are well versed in American slang, one of whom is a woman with a BOSOM as women are wont to have and who is determined to have the sexytimes with the main character.
Kind of. Go over there to read if you want to see what I mean. Okay, back to the "story. I love it a lot. Bertie and Jeeves, anything by Jasper Fforde, screwball comedies of the s and s--those are all awesome! However, they also have plots and consistent humor. NOTE: I felt guilty. So I went back to the book and skipped to the end. I have no words. I also now have no regrets about not finishing the whole thing. This is a case where the reputation of the book first steampunk, etc.
For a much better steampunk, try the book of the same name Infernal Devices by Phillip Reeve. It's very mature and dark. View all 6 comments. Mar 30, Kathryn rated it really liked it Shelves: fantasy , steampunk , netgalley-or-first-reads , artificial-intelligence. Infernal Devices as a steampunk novel is not nearly as famous as its author is for coining the phrase steampunk.
I think Jeter may have simply said the first thing he thought of, not realizing that the term would stick. This new edition of the novel attempts to capitalize on the recent popularity of steampunk fiction and well it should in my opinion. The novel is a prime example of a genre I love but tend to nitpick over, so do not let my rating discourage interest.
I continue to float between 3 Infernal Devices as a steampunk novel is not nearly as famous as its author is for coining the phrase steampunk. I continue to float between 3 and 4 stars and will probably settle upon 4 stars if only to not risk dissuasion. As Jeff VanderMeer points out in the epilogue of this new edition, Jeter is not a writer of steampunk fiction. He is a writer of dark science fiction who happened to write something now considered steampunk.
I have no experience with Jeter's other works but I hope to change that. Essentially, the issues I had with this book had nothing to do with the steampunk characteristics. At the top of my list, I felt zero connection to the main character. I could not have cared less what happened to him. He sounded so put out through most of the story.
I also felt buried in the wordiness of the book. I could have skipped whole paragraphs and my knowledge of the story would not have been lessened. I am also not a fan of the story within a story technique used more than once in this book. I have often been indifferent to this but it felt as simple information-dump and lacked finesse. What I did love were the majority of the secondary characters. They were all quite crazy and unique.
My favorite was Scape. I loved how Jeter managed to convincingly portray a character in Victorian times who spoke American vernacular. And the image of Scape and his flying machine will stick with me.
The Brown Leather Man, well, I can not say anything about him without providing spoilers. Suffice it say that I tally his character in the plus column as well. This is a must read for anyone who enjoys steampunk fiction, whether as a first foray into the genre or for avid fans. This novel deserves greater recognition and the reissue.
Aug 03, Nicky rated it really liked it Shelves: historical-fiction-alternatehistory , speculative-fiction , steampunk , robots.
I've had this book vaguely on my mental list of books that might be interesting for a long time, but I picked it up on pure whim. I'm interested in how many low reviews it has: I think the problem is that people expect something great and marvelously written from the book that inaugurated such a huge cultural phenomenon as steampunk.
It's not that. It's fun, silly, often ridiculous, and in no way intended to be taken too seriously, I think. It's a juxtaposition of ideas, written very much in the I've had this book vaguely on my mental list of books that might be interesting for a long time, but I picked it up on pure whim.
It's a juxtaposition of ideas, written very much in the tradition of Jules Verne and H. Wells and with a protagonist that reminds me very much of the common mental image of bumbling, unintelligent John Watson. Which usually ignores that he is a doctor, an army man, and capable of handling fire arms, not to mention trusted by Holmes who is obviously no idiot. He has a certain lack of imagination, yes, but he's not as stupid as the stereotype would have you believe -- and certainly not as stupid as the protagonist of this novel.
I thought it was fun, and actually pretty absorbing. Not convincing as anything serious, but fun. I'm glad Angry Robot republished it, it's been a nice diversion from waiting for the slow wheels of the NHS to turn.
Oct 22, Sarah rated it really liked it Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy-challenge This was a fun early steampunk book. The character seemed to just reel from disaster to disaster with no time to adjust. It was fun. View 2 comments. Jun 21, Amy Sturgis rated it it was ok Shelves: 20th-century , science-fiction-contemporary , steampunk. This is one of the pioneering works of steampunk, and I'm glad I read it.
It has many of the staples of the subgenre, from the Victorian setting to clockwork men, from time travel to not-so-mythical creatures in this case, selkies. There are several well-crafted moments of ironic social commentary.
It's easy to see how this wry and imaginative tale helped to set precedents for what followed. That said, I didn't really enjoy this as a reading experience, despite Jeter's always-elegant prose. The This is one of the pioneering works of steampunk, and I'm glad I read it.
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