Book Review - Whitechapel Gods
May. 13th, 2009 12:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akaihyoWith minor spoilers,
Whitechapel Gods by S. M. Peters is fantasy hiding behind a steampunk facade. Set in Whitechapel in the Victorian-era, but a Whitechapel that have been overrun by two alien ‘gods’ Mama Engine and Grandfather Clock, who control the area within which are massive towers and factories. The English government fought a war, and lost, to destroy the ‘gods’ when they first appeared and now have walled off Whitechapel and guard it day and night.
This story is, in fact, an intrusion fantasy that played out over years in the past of the story and ends in the ‘now’ of the book. The man in the story known as Count Hume, an architect, became the conduit for the gods to enter into our world bringing with them a ‘disease’ that caused those infected to become partly mechanical, with iron bones and copper nerves among other changes, many of those infected end up as quasi-religious devotees of the gods. Five years ago a rebellion against the gods was brutally put down by these agents and Hume's personal guard, the neigh unkillable boiler men.
The story is of the second, unplanned, rebellion against the gods and those who cause and lead it. The story focuses on those involved with the rebellion and a villain. The characters are fairly interesting but uneven and, for me, unsympathetic for all that they are trying to save the world. The Victorian elements are touched upon in styles of dress and manners but they are simply backdrop for the conflict between human and gods, steampunk themes are nothing more than window dressing to a story that, really, could have been set almost anywhere at anytime due to the nature of the gods.
The ending is classic intrusion fantasy and follows in the wake of improbable coincidences and some very (ironically?) deus ex machina pieces to allow the heroes to emerge victorious and all to be set right with the world. Ultimately, not a satisfying read for a variety of reasons, but mostly that it was an implied steampunk setting when such was only the stages upon which an intrusion fantasy was played out. Many, many things are left unexplained and are, perhaps, unexplanable which is allowed in fantasy but not so much in alternate history (which steampunk is) or seculative fiction (which alternate history is a sub-genre). My grade: C-
Whitechapel Gods by S. M. Peters is fantasy hiding behind a steampunk facade. Set in Whitechapel in the Victorian-era, but a Whitechapel that have been overrun by two alien ‘gods’ Mama Engine and Grandfather Clock, who control the area within which are massive towers and factories. The English government fought a war, and lost, to destroy the ‘gods’ when they first appeared and now have walled off Whitechapel and guard it day and night.
This story is, in fact, an intrusion fantasy that played out over years in the past of the story and ends in the ‘now’ of the book. The man in the story known as Count Hume, an architect, became the conduit for the gods to enter into our world bringing with them a ‘disease’ that caused those infected to become partly mechanical, with iron bones and copper nerves among other changes, many of those infected end up as quasi-religious devotees of the gods. Five years ago a rebellion against the gods was brutally put down by these agents and Hume's personal guard, the neigh unkillable boiler men.
The story is of the second, unplanned, rebellion against the gods and those who cause and lead it. The story focuses on those involved with the rebellion and a villain. The characters are fairly interesting but uneven and, for me, unsympathetic for all that they are trying to save the world. The Victorian elements are touched upon in styles of dress and manners but they are simply backdrop for the conflict between human and gods, steampunk themes are nothing more than window dressing to a story that, really, could have been set almost anywhere at anytime due to the nature of the gods.
The ending is classic intrusion fantasy and follows in the wake of improbable coincidences and some very (ironically?) deus ex machina pieces to allow the heroes to emerge victorious and all to be set right with the world. Ultimately, not a satisfying read for a variety of reasons, but mostly that it was an implied steampunk setting when such was only the stages upon which an intrusion fantasy was played out. Many, many things are left unexplained and are, perhaps, unexplanable which is allowed in fantasy but not so much in alternate history (which steampunk is) or seculative fiction (which alternate history is a sub-genre). My grade: C-