The Affinity Bridge by George Mann
Read: For Book Eaters Book Club (formerly the FBC Book Club)
Finished: 6/21/11
Rating: 7 out of 10
Publisher: Tor Books
Pages: 336
Published: 2008
Synopsis (from the product description): Sir Maurice Newbury and his delectable assistant Miss Veronica Hobbes do battle with enemies of the crown, physical and supernatural. This time Newbury and Hobbes are called to investigate the wreckage of a crashed airship and its missing automaton pilot, while attempting to solve a string of strangulations attributed to a mysterious glowing policeman, and dealing with a zombie plague that is ravaging the slums of the capital.
Overall Impression: Way late to the Steampunk-ness, but I finally arrived. I blame it on my slow dirigible.
Despite being a little rough around the edges, I enjoyed the Affinity Bridge. This steampunk world of automatons, steam-powered machines, blimps and, oddly, zombies, was a place I’d never encountered before. And it worked for me, especially in regard to the plot. I liked how Mann brought the several different plot threads together (well, most of them at least) and tied them up at the end, while leaving a lot of space for the next books in this series. The characterization could have been stronger (Newbury spent a lot of time written like the poor man’s Sherlock Holmes) and the writing a little tighter, but overall I got a kick out of my foray into foggy, zombie-ridden 1850s London. I put the next in the series on my TBR list.
Positives: Such a different world than anything I’d read before. Definitely adding more steampunk to my list!
Negatives: Once Mann got a word he liked, he wouldn’t let go. The whole book was peppered with “whilst” and “in situ” and “quarry.” My redundancy alarm was clanging like crazy!
Other books I’ve read by George Mann: none
Other blogger opinions:
Brittney at Hardkover: “Unfortunately, that was what he did best in this novel - mesh together the automaton and zombie plots in a rather clever way. The actual writing style and character development suffered so much that I struggled to get to the rewarding climax of the book.”
The Book Smugglers: “There’s plenty of room for growth – and with George Mann’s skill as a storyteller in this well-realized steampunk setting, I have no doubts the series will keep getting better.”
Booktionary: “The Affinity Bridge is very much an homage to Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes style while still very approachable for modern tastes.
Interesting review, Cori! I like the cover of the book. I loved your comment – “Once Mann got a word he liked, he wouldn’t let go.” It made me smile :)
I forgot to mention one more thing. Congratulations on reading fifty books this year, Cori! I hope you go on to cross a hundred by the end of the year :)
I don’t know if I’m disappointed or not that I missed this one. One of the cool things about book club is getting a chance to read books I wouldn’t normally read. Maybe if I get through some of these other books on my tbr list, I’ll check it out. Definitely sounds interesting!
Thanks Vishy!
Hannah — I’d at least try something from the genre, if not this one. Steampunk is such an interesting world!
I think the movie “sky captain and the world of tomorrow” might fall under this category. Have you seen it? If it is, I would probably like steampunk.
I haven’t seen it…the title sounds vaguely familiar. Was it any good?
It was fairly light in the plot, but enjoyable.
I thought I was the only one had a repetition alarms :P Sounds like an honest review, think I’ll add this one to my list!
I’m an editor! A repetition alarm is mandatory. ;)
Check out “The Difference Engine.” Pretty much started the genre.
I’ll put that on my list too!