Fangs For The Fantasy

At which point Nico, his apprentice arrives saying Leonardo’s late for something that Leo doesn’t care about – especially since Nico’s late for Leo’s experiment. Nico’s a little transfixed by the half clothed model, Vanessa (newly “liberated” from a convent) though Leo points out “they’re called breasts Nico, all women have them”. He’s testing a flying machine and, using the ribbons in Vanessa’s hair as a windsock, he then flies is apprentice like a kite – straps him to a giant kite tied to a cart, the horses run and the apprentice flies. Leo loves it, Nico is not very happy about the situation. Silly boy, apprenticing to a Mad Scientist then protesting about some minor experimentation – just be thankful genetics hasn’t been discovered.

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Asians are highly underrepresented in the media and speculative fiction is no different. This in part is why I was pleased to see the Asian male characters Magnus Bane and Jem Carstairs in Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series and Infernal Devices Series. The importance of this should not be minimised, though fans of the series have expressed shock that Magnus is Asian and Clare has had to be steadfast about declaring his race. I must give her kudos for her insistence because it certainly would have been easier and perhaps even more expedient to allow the whitewashing to continue unabated.

We have always said that representation isn’t enough and that for a portrayal to really work, the characters must be real and have an active part in the story. One of the things that I really liked was Jem speaking Mandarin throughout Clockwork Princess. This left the reader no ability to deny that Jem is indeed a character of colour and gave him a sense of culture, which worked to separate him from the White characters that surrounded him. Can we really say that this is enough to declare Clare’s representation of Asian men in her story as good inclusion? We already know that Asian women have to be dressed in sarees during battle to merit even a brief mention.

Let’s consider for a moment that both Jem and Magnus are biracial. When it comes to characters of colour in speculative fiction, it has become rare to find one who isn’t biracial (think Anita Blake, Mercy Thompson, Ivy from Kim Harrison’s Hollows Series ) The fact that this happens at such an alarming rate simply cannot be an accident. No, rather I suggest to you that even as it serves as inclusion for many White writers, it represents a historical tendency to uplift those who are seen as closer to Whiteness. This is not to say that biracial people do not constitute people of colour but that speculative fiction has come to use biracial people as representative and in the process purposefully disconnects them from their cultures of colour. At least as far as Jem, this is something Clare has avoided by having a clear connection with Jem’s Chinese culture. The same, however, cannot be said about Magnus. Yes, Clare included obvious references to Magnus’ identity as a biracial man but it only extended to his appearance, and quite honestly, it is highly problematic to make an Asian man’s alien feature his “cat eyes.”

It is rather telling that both Jem and Magnus fit the submissive stereotype that is often associated with Asian males. We keep hearing that Magnus is a super powerful warlock, who doesn’t just give away his services and yet in both series in which he has been featured, he inevitably ends up in a servile position juxtaposed to the White characters.

    “Simon rolled his eyes. “It’s a good thing we know the person who’s dating Magnus Bane,” he said. “Otherwise, I get the feeling we’d all just lie around all the time wondering what the hell to do next. Or trying to raise the money to hire him by selling lemonade or something.”
    Alec looked merely irritated by this comment. “The only way you could raise enough money to hire Magnus by selling lemonade is if you put meth in it.”

Cassandra Clare, City of Lost Souls

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Tess is still agonising over her choice to marry Jem – while deeply in love with him, she cannot forget Will, nor can Will who is torn between his love for Tessa and his great loyalty for his friend, brother and companion.

And Mortmain isn’t going to leave them alone to deal with their angst – his plan to horde all of London’s supply of yin fen the only drug that can keep Jem alive has finally hit them, especially since Jem has been taking extra, shortening his life so he can be more fully around and active for Tessa. His life span is measured in weeks, no longer in years.

And then there’s Mortmain’s attempts to claim Tessa and his final revelation of his grand master plan against the Shadow Hunters once and for all. A plan that is only harder to thwart with the head of the Clave gunning for Charlotte, stooping to any means he can to find sufficient excuse to remove her as head of the London Institute and deny her any help in facing this threat.

The main problem I have with this book is the same problem I have with the whole series – it’s slow. The actual plot of this book doesn’t kick in until we’re 30% in; before that we’re mired in love triangle angst that basically runs round and round in circles as Will, Jem and Tessa circle each other with their angst and love and worry. We have Jem’s shortage of yin fen but no-one really does anything about it accept continue to circle round and round and worry and angst and worry some more.

The story does pick up at 30% but it’s still less of a plot and more of a desperate flail, which always frustrates me, especially since it’s a theme in this series and leaves me having problem rooting for characters that, ultimately, flail their way to a solution. They knew yin fen was being bought up, but only now considered it an issue. Will goes riding off to Wales without any real plan, Charlotte and co follow with no real plan, Tessa hangs around being helpless and desperate with no real plan (which is past annoying now –she’s supposed to be training how to fight so can she actually do that occasionally – and not insist on attending emergencies in her wedding dress!), everyone kind of flails around, hoping their mere presence will somehow fix everything. I know, to a degree we’re looking at people in situations where they have few options, but this turn up and hope approach to a story doesn’t engage me – especially when the situation is resolved almost by Tessa pulling out a new super-power.

There are a number of side plots or tangential plots in this book – and one I really like; Charlotte and the Consul. It’s nicely done, it’s directly connected to the main plot line it adds considerable characterisation, world building and wider explanation of both Shadowhunter society as well as what is actually happening in the plot and support from the wider Shadowhunter forces as well as having an excellent portrayal of both sexism and having it challenged.

There’s the good one. Then we have the Lightwoods because… because… I have no damn clue. Why are these characters even here? Why am I supposed to care? Why did we have a completely unnecessary diversion to kill their wormy father when it added nothing to the book? Why did I have to spend so much time in the head of Gabriel Lightwood a character I managed to care even less about than I do will and Tessa – and I was on the side of the WORM when it had a chance to eat Will and Tessa. Why is this character even here? And Gideon? Oh Gideon, how little I care about your mountains of scones and flailing attempt to court Sophie. Then there’s Cicely. Dear gods, I can’t believe there’s a single person in the entire world who cares about Cicely. Why is she there?! She’s even less pointful than the unnecessarily returning Jessamine who shows up because we simply do not have enough pointlessness in this book! And not only there, but why am I wasting time not only reading about Cecily, but being stuck in her head so we can see fragments of a pointless relationship between 2 pointless side characters? To give us a pointless PSA about choice and autonomy vs having a future chosen for you? And what does that have to do with the price of tea in China? A nice message but pretty irrelevant to the central themes of the book and certainly not needing a passel of pointless characters bloating the cast for the purpose.

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One of the genres we are always quick to jump to read is Steampunk. It’s an excellent and relatively recent addition to the popular speculative fiction genres and it’s a lot of fun. The aesthetic of it is amazing, with it’s brass and cogs, steam and corsets, pageantry and frock coats. It has a cadence of language to it that is musical and open to a great deal of amazing humour, with the elaborate, formal speech and the careful protocols of etiquette. And it’s a time that is, in is many ways, so different from our own that it adds a level of the alien fantasy to the setting that goes far beyond simple Urban Fantasy, while still being grounded in our world, preventing it from being too alien.

Yet we often seem to forget that the Victorian Era was a real time, and Victorian England (where most of these stories are set) was a real place. And it wasn’t pretty. While the rich could indulge in their protocol, elaborate ritual, scientific progress and social tapdancing of high society; the poor lived in abject squalor. Disease was rife, exploitation by the rich - including child prostitution (indeed, it was during the Victorian period the age of consent in the UK was raised from 13 to 16 and only then after a reporter exposed how easy it was for a man of means to buy a child virgin - much in demand because of the high rates of STDs),. The poor lived in the most crammed slums imaginable, often working horrendously long hours in obscenely dangerous factories for little pay, again, including the children. It was bleak, it was harsh, it was horrific and far too many of those with wealth and power considered the poor to be fully deserving of their fates: desperate, starving thieves, even children (indeed the urchins of the streets were not considered children to be pitied by many, but a menace or pest to be removed) could and did face long prison sentences and even transportation.

The wealth of the time was, of course, based on Britain’s sprawling empire. An empire based on severe exploitation and oppression of colonialism, with POC across the globe being persecuted and controlled to further enrich the coffers. Slavery was only banned across the empire a scant 4 years before Victoria’s reign began.

In terms of sexuality, being gay remained a capital offence until 1861 (and one that was enforced in the 19th century - and men were hanged for it), after which it was replaced by “mere” imprisonment and hard labour.

Steampunk romanticises this genre in that it creates an alternate world simply through ignoring historical fact. Most writers seem willing to deal with suffrage but this is probably because many of the protagonist themselves are women. Beyond equality for women, however, few seem to want to acknowledge that despite the gadgets and the pageantry, Victorian England was not necessarily a pleasant time for many people. Part of the impetus for this erasure is based in the fact that privileged people have the ability of nostalgia that marginalised people will simply do not. Those who are gay, of colour, disabled or poor certainly have no reason to celebrate this time period.

Of course the easiest way to do this is to put on the blinkers and simply pretend it never happened.

Most of the protagonists in Steampunk are at the very least middle class. They almost all have servants and have been educated and, for many, the poor simply do not make a meaningful appearance in the books: A Conspiracy of Alchemists, Pilgrim of the Sky, Infernal Devices (Tessa is almost instantly taken in by the wealthy Clave)

When the poor do appear, they seem to exist solely to be saved from the wretchedness of their poor lives through the charity of the rich. An example of this is Steam & Sorcery by Cindy Spencer Pape, Sir Merrick Hadrian ends up adopting several homeless children and then covering up their backgrounds. His title and long history of wealth certainly play a role in the continued impoverishment of the lower classes but the reader is not expected to acknowledge this in order to focus on his act of generosity. Or Shelly Adina’s massively fun Lady of Devices Series which, again, sees a select group of the poor benefit from the generous instruction of their social betters (which is rather exacerbated by the ease with which she overcomes the bonds of poverty). Or we get the poor who don’t need to be saved, like Ivy Tunstill from the Parasol Protectorate series who aren’t really that suffering the privations of real poverty, they simply aren’t as well off as the rich characters.

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Though society would much prefer that Eleanor Chance to remain docile, akin to all women of good breeding, Eleanor refuses to live such a confined life.  Having turned her back on a making a good match at her debut, Eleanor now supports herself as a dirigible pilot transferring freight. Things were going well for Eleanor until Patrice, an acquaintance, arranged for Eleanor to fly a small package from France to England, much to the distress of Mr. Hugh Marsh.  From the moment Hugh and Eleanor meet there is clear tension between them, largely due to Marsh’s sexist beliefs.

It isn’t long before Eleanor is drawn into a world of vampire, alchemists, fairies and warlocks.  None of this is at all in alignment with her faith in science and everything rational.  To make matters worse, her father has been kidnapped and Eleanor learns that despite all of her faith in science, she has been bestowed with a birthright which makes her the balance between light and shadow in the world.  Can Eleanor put a stop the coming clash and make sense of the legacy bequeathed to her by her mother?

A Conspiracy of Alchemists falls into the genre of historical steampunk.  Like all steampunk, science and wonderful steam creations are central items in the story.  Schwarz does a wonderful job with the setting and elements like a trip on The Orient Express add a great level of authenticity to the story.  Throughout A Conspiracy of Alchemists, there is a consistent feeling of a world on the cusp of great advancement, as the rules surrounding gender and convention begin to shift.  It makes it quite easy to see Eleanor Chance as a precursor to Amelia Earhart.

Eleanor is a very strong protagonist and is quick to defend herself when needed.  She does not see herself as a damsel in distress and seeks to be adequately prepared for situations as they happen. This is buoyed by the fact that on several occasions, she actually saves Hugh’s life and in the end, is able to stop the plot engaged in by the alchemists. Eleanor never succumbs to rushing off ridiculously but instead attempts to take the most logical approach each time. It is further gratifying that in this world brimming with male privilege that it is Eleanor who holds the real power.

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In this fourth book in the series, we return to the Hadrian clan, whom we first met in Steam & Sorcery. The Hadrian brood is all grown up and now the children are finishing their education, or engaged in work for the order.  In Moonlight & Mechanicals, the protagonist is Winifred Hadrian (Wink), the engineer of the group. From the moment she was saved by Constable Liam McCullough, Wink fell hopelessly in love with the werewolf.  Though Liam McCullough holds Wink in high regard, his troubled past has led him to believe that he is simply not husband material.  Liam is determined to play Cyrano de Bergerac to Wink’s suitor Connor.  Liam’s firm belief is that if he can get Wink safely married off to a man he knows will not mistreat her, that she will be safe from him always.  Like all good plans of mice and men, things don’t work out the way that Liam plans.  People and animals are going missing in Wapping, the area where Wink ran the streets as young street urchin and in order to solve the mystery, Liam must work closely with the entire Hadrian brood, thus drawing him closer to Wink than Liam feels comfortable. Against a backdrop of intrigue and even threats the Queen Victoria herself, Liam must deal with the ghosts of his past, as Wink presses him to believe in the pure goodness of his nature.

As a protagonist, I quite liked Wink. She is not the fainting type and actually prefers to have good solid clothing which she can move freely in and work in.  Having been given the freedom to pursue her interests, Wink works for The Order as an engineer and is fully capable of supporting herself. Wink has no patience with being treated as though she is delicate and therefore rightfully bristles when she left out of part of the investigation, and when Liam suggests she should retire from danger. When Liam is resistant to a relationship, she initiates sex, with no shame or discomfort. Wink has a strong personality, with a mind of her own.

Though Moonlight & Mechanicals is most certainly a steampunk romance,  the romance did not overwhelm the plot. Pape did a great job of creating an interesting mystery to build the relationship between Liam and Wink around. The mystery never felt ancillary to the romance and this equal weight kept the plot intriguing, even though as a reader I knew that Moonlight & Mechanicals, would end with a declaration of love, as romance novels typically do.

We once again had the inclusion of Aunt Dorothy, who is a lesbian.  We are told that she has been in a loving committed relationship for years with Miss Julian but that it is simply not acknowledged in polite society.  I would have been happier to actually see Miss Julian in this novel, rather than simply a reminder that Aunt Dorothy is a lesbian.

    “Look at Aunt Dorothy. She and Miss Julian have been an item for decades and no one says a word.”

    “Partly because their relationship is not just socially ruinous, but also flatly illegal.” Liam had no problem with Dorothy’s lifestyle, but it wasn’t without risks.  “While it may be stupid for the law to prohibit two women from being in love, saying anything in public could result in their arrests. (page 140)

Having a character defend the idea that two people of the same sex should have the right to be together without the interference of the law is most certainly a good thing, the fact that it was referred to as a “lifestyle” is problematic.  Gay people do not have a lifestyle, they have a life.  Having a character use homophobic language to fight homophobia is not progressive. Perhaps most importantly, at no time British history has it ever been illegal for women to be lesbians.

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This time, the Gaslight Chronicles moves to the highlands.  A young Lord, Magnus, Baron Findlay, washes up from the sea nearly dead after fighting a kraken.  Dr. Geneva MacKay is dispatched by the order to see to his care.  Though she is not pleased to once again leave her practice behind even briefly after struggling to establish herself as one of the few female physicians in Edinburgh, she assents to her father’s wish. Geneva does what she can for Magnus but fears that it won’t be enough and decides to help fulfill his dying wish  to return home.  Once in Torkholm, much to her surprise, the magic of the island quickly heals Magnus.  Though his health has returned, they must still deal with the fact that krakens continue to leave the deep to attack the tiny island.  Can Magnus and Geneva discover the source of the attacks? How will the two deal with their deepening attraction, when Magnus cannot leave the island?

Kilts & Kraken is an exceedingly quick read coming in at one hundred and eleven pages.  I actually found the mystery itself quite interesting and which that it had been expanded.  In many ways, the mystery of the kraken attacks was too often displaced to center the romance between Magnus and Geneva. We did get some of the legend that has been customary from this series with Magnus clearly being a descendant of the vikings and the name Torkholm being derived from Thor. The people of Torkholm are still very suspicious and there is a strong belief that the Gods are angry about the modernization of the island as the cause of attacks, making Kilts & Kraken and age old story of superstition and old religion versus progress.

In some ways the character of Geneva is progressive.  She becomes one of the first female doctors and is not shy about being sarcastic when there is a suggestion that her gender disqualifies her from being a good doctor. While Magnus is brandishing weapons to fight the kraken, it is Geneva who uses her intelligence to get to the root of the mystery.  Many of the weapon in Kilts and Kraken are employed in some way and are not waiting on a man to make their life complete.  Geneva in fact makes it clear that her practice is her life. 

Sexually, though Geneva has not had intercourse, she does have some experience.  Magnus however views himself as having taken her innocence, because Geneva’s hymen was intact.  This of course privileges intercourse as the only kind of sex that matters and is problematic given that once again, there are not GLBT characters in this series. Geneva even admits to masturbating but is too embarrassed to admit it to Magnus though he has no problem acknowledging that he self pleasures during his time of abstinence.  This casts a veneer of shame and over Geneva’ desires. The following passage was further troubling:

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Lady Claire is back with her horde of children, defending her patch of London with lightening and bombs, if necessary. But far more fraught than keeping her squad of gamblers safe on the mean streets of London is negotiating the pitfalls of marriage.

Because her erstwhile employer and frequent foe, Lord Selwyn has proposed to her. And it seemed like such a good idea at the time that she found herself saying yes. Unfortunately, it’s never that simple – especially since she still holds on to the desperate ambition of attending university and becoming and engineer, something that becomes all the more ideal after the help she gives Andrew in his device for improving coal.

Despite her unorthodox successes in the lab, she is denied the kudos due to her because she is a woman – and it’s clear that both her mother and Lord Selwyn will see her dragged down the aisle sooner rather than later. And once married not only will her future as an engineer be lost – but so too will her connection with the children she has promised to protect.

Like the first book in this series, this book was just fun. Fluffy? Yes. A little silly? Certainly. Not hugely deep? Perhaps so. But it was immense fun. It was a book you could happily lay back with and read cover to cover with a big smile on your face. It was fun, it was funny, it was light, it was interesting, it was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

And the protagonist is excellent. Of course, part of that is for the social justice issues she fights and faces around class and sexism and her wilful battle against the forces that oppress her. But ultimately, she’s excellent because she’s fun as well. She’s one of those protagonists you can really get behind. From the very first page you’re rooting for her, you’re on her side and cheering for her to succeed. When someone angers or offends her, you’re angry and offended on her behalf. When she wins you celebrate her victory. She carries you into the story which is the number one priority of any protagonist.

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Photographs & Phantoms is only sixty-six pages long and therefore is more of a novella than a book. Though we do get to briefly see the Hadrian family, whom we met in Steam & Sorcery, this novella involves a brand new relationship.  In the interest of fairness to Cindy Spencer Pape, I feel it’s once again necessary to disclose that I am not a fan of romance novels, so please keep that in mind as you read this review.

Photographs & Phantoms once again begins with a confirmed bachelor. Kendall Marquess Lake, is a member of the Order of the Round Table and he is sent from London by dirigible to Brighton, to investigate a case involving the niece of Lord Drood.  Kendall is not the least bit excited by this case, though it is the first chance he has had to engage in fieldwork for awhile.

Amy is a professional photographer.  Though she has enough money to do without employment, she is compelled to work because of the love of her art. Having had one season out in society, Amy decided that she was not suitable for that sort of life and instead chose to focus on her passion. For Amy, this would mean a life of spinsterhood, but one she was willing to accept for the freedom that being an artist gave her. Unfortunately for Amy,  it seems that when someone sits down to have their photo taken, shortly afterwards they die. Could this be a manifestation of precognition because is after all a direct descendant of Merlin, or is something about her art killing her customers?

One of the things I detest about romance novels is how quickly love is declared.  In the case of Photographs & Phantoms, it rises to the level of absolute ridiculousness.  After knowing each other for forty-eight hours, Amy and Kendall fall hopelessly in love.  Kendall goes from claiming discomfort about his childhood friend “getting leg shackled”, to proposing to Amy based on the strength of his physical attraction to her.  At one point, he even admits that he has gone to long without getting laid, yet somehow, his lust magically turns to love when he saves Amy from a man determined to control her. Of course, Amy is equally smitten but this is okay because apparently, this ridiculous love at first sight thing runs in the family.

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Sir Merrick Hadrian is A Knight of the Order of the Round Table. His job is to use magic and steam technology to hunt down evil, whether it be human or supernatural.  One night on the trail of a vampire he is actually saved by a group of street urchins.  He is moved to take them on as wards, when the oldest boy shows signs that he has the skills to become a trained knight.  Suddenly Merrick moves from being a confirmed bachelor to a man with a house full of children he can scarcely control. 

His aunt recommends that he hire Miss Caroline Bristol to become a governess for the children.  After finding out that Merrick is a confirmed bachelor, Caroline is determined to down the job, having been accosted repeatedly by previous employers.  It is only because the children are so endearing that Caroline decides to accept the job.  What she does not realise is that this acceptance will lead to a discovery about her true origins, place her in mortal danger and introduce her to all of the supernatural elements that polite society simply cannot bear to acknowledge.

Essentially, Steam & Sorcery is a romance based steampunk novel, with elements of fantasy like vampires, werewolves and fae.  I am going to say upfront that I am not a lover of the romance genre; however, the elements of this story made it interesting.  Caroline, the female love interest is very much her own person and an independent thinker.  She refuses to be left behind while Merrick investigates cases.  She actively listens for clues to help him and when the time comes, is not afraid to pick up an umbrella or a gun for that matter to defend herself and those she cares for.  She absolutely refuses to be bullied into playing the frail woman.

I didn’t expect to see a single character of colour or a GLBT character in this novel as they are often erased.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was wrong.  We are told that Nell is a little girl of colour, and Merrick believes that her father was Indian.  Nell herself is unsure where her family actually hails from because when they were together they traveled a lot. She is a sensitive and speaks to ghosts.  Caroline makes it clear that even with the advantages of being Merricks ward that English society is not going to be easy on her because of the colour of her skin. 

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