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Babylon Steel [Kindle Edition]

Gaie Sebold (Author)

4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

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Length: 543 pages
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Product Description

Babylon Steel, ex-sword-for-hire, ex...other things, runs The Red Lantern, the best brothel in the city. She’s got elves using sex magic upstairs, S&M in the basement and a large green troll cooking breakfast in the kitchen, and she’d love you to visit, except...
She’s not having a good week. The Vessels of Purity are protesting against brothels, girls are disappearing, and if she can’t pay her taxes, Babylon’s going to lose the Lantern. She’d given up the mercenary life, but when the mysterious Darask Fain pays her to find a missing heiress, she has to take the job. And then her past starts to catch up with her in other, more dangerous ways. Witty and fresh, Sebold delivers the most exciting fantasy debut in years.

About the Author

Gaie Sebold is based in London works for a charity, reads obsessively, gardens amateurishly, and sometimes runs around in woods hitting people with latex weapons. She has won awards for her poetry and has published short stories. This is her debut novel.

Product details

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 757 KB
Print Length: 544 pages
Publisher: Solaris; 1 edition (23 Dec 2011)
Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.� r.l.
Language: English
ASIN: B006PKV4Q8
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

X-Ray: Not Enabled

Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #82,244 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A great new heroine, and a really enjoyable debut novel 5 Feb 2012

By Stefan VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

I had no idea what to expect from Babylon Steel. I'd read the synopsis and thought the premise sounded interesting. What I found was a novel that has a strong central character, and a fun and well-constructed plot, which was a blend of fantasy and thriller with a dash of humour. There's also some pretty good social commentary. This is a very good debut, and I really hope we see more of Babylon Steel, and certainly more from Gaie Sebold.

Babylon Steel is an interesting novel. There are three distinct acts, but also an additional, `historical' thread of chapters that alternate with the main story set in the `present'. It's a little difficult to go into too much detail, but the search for the missing girl is only part of the overall story, as Babylon and her companions (also her employees) find themselves mixed up in some local politics, and Babylon's own past catches up with her.

The setting is an interesting one. In Sebold's reality, there are multiple "planes", connected by various portals (some stable, some not), and Babylon's home is on a plane situated on an intersection between a number of them. As a result, the place is populated by a large number of intelligent and morphologically different species. I'm not sure if this would technically make the novel Sci-Fi or still fantasy... I suppose both? The technology levels remain low - for example, people still fight with swords and not guns.

Usually, I find the alternating-time-periods structural device frustrating, but the way Sebold has written the novel, I found myself getting invested in both threads equally.... The importance of events in the historical chapters becomes clear relatively early on (not explicitly, but it's easy to figure out where the story's probably going), and informs the final act of the novel.

The historical chapters also gave Sebold the space to add layers and complexity to Babylon, to explain her evolution from orphan to tough-as-nails warrior-madam. The young Babylon (not yet going by that name) was selected to join a religious order by an Avatar of one of her plane's gods. She is one of a few chosen, and through her eyes and the other initiates' experiences, we get an examination of the predatory, manipulative nature of relationships between the "low-born" and members of an elite. Sebold gives voice to teenage frustrations, confusion and emotions very well, in a way that I think anyone can relate to: it's written from a female character's perspective, but I imagine only the most confident and arrogant teen male has never had similar insecurities. I thought it was handled very well, without any pretension or gloss. Babylon of this time is so tragically na�ve. Ultimately, I really liked the way the two threads wove together, allowing us to get to know Babylon on a deeper level. It offers a great contrast between the older and younger heroine.

Sebold's writing is very good, with fluid prose and a steady pace to the story. Her sense of humour lacks the frenetic "look, I'm being funny!" feel that some debut authors seem to suffer (even Terry Pratchett's first few novels were a bit much), and instead Sebold deploys it when necessary and to maximum effect. It's calm and observational, more than quippy (though there are some good quips, too). The levity peters out about a third of the way into the novel, as the story takes on a more serious tone to match events. The humour in Babylon Steel is more likely to make you chuckle or smirk than laugh out loud, but I thought that was perfect, and therefore liked it a hell of a lot. Also, given my rather more conservative tastes when it comes to sex scenes in fiction, I was glad that Sebold keeps them short and restrained, never descending into over-description or exaggeration.

Along with her superb writing style, Sebold has a gift for characterisation. For example, each of the employees at Babylon's brothel - be they entertainers, security or the cook - is colourful, realistic and often good fun. They have quirky names (the bondage twins, for example, are called Cruel and Unusual; one of the guards is called Previous; and the cook is called Flower, because he's big and green). More minor characters are equally well-conceived and realised on the page.

Babylon Steel ends on a relatively upbeat note, which suggests there may be more adventures to come for the eponymous heroine. Given how much I enjoyed this, I really hope there are more novels.

Highly recommended, Babylon Steel is a fun novel, from a very talented debut author.

For Fans of: Amanda Downum, Gail Z. Martin, Kate Elliot, Karen Miller, Terry Pratchett (sort of), Will King, Michael Sullivan, Anne Lyle, Scott Lynch, Juliet McKenna Read more ›

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A fine rollicking adventure tale 7 Jan 2012

By 3rd spearman

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Babylon Steel is an ex sword-for-hire who runs the Red Lantern, a high class brothel in Scalentine, city of many portals. When she has a few problems balancing the accounts and having enough ready cash to pay her taxes she takes on a missing person case from the mysterious Darask Fain against her better judgment. Along the way she runs into trouble from the prudish Vessels of Purity religion and the past she's tried to leave behind finally catches up with her. Its a fine rollicking adventure tale with an interesting female lead and a collection of colourful characters as Scalentine, having many portals, is a melting pot of people from many planes. There is a good dollop of mystery, some magic (its a multiverse where you can hop from world to world using portals and there are some "glamour" style spells but no-one throwing fireballs) and an interesting world(s). It was a very enjoyable debut and I look forward to seeing what Sebold does next. Recommended to all lovers of fantasy.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Epic fantasy revolving around a strong, sexually confident female character 18 Jan 2012

By I Read, Therefore I Blog TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Babylon Steel, former sword-for-hire and prostitute, runs a brothel called The Red Lantern in Scalentine, a hub city containing portals to different lands. Unfortunately, business hasn't been great and with a massive tax bill looming, Babylon needs money fast. Salvation comes from Darask Fain in the Diplomatic Section, who commissions her to find a missing Guidain heiress who's presumed to have been kidnapped just before her important political betrothal to another Gudain family.

But this is a bad time for an investigation. The approaching Two-Moon (when both of Scalentine's moons are full), means there's a lot of craziness about. A religious order called the Vessels of Purity are campaigning against prostitution and threatening the Lantern and someone's brutally beating up prostitutes. Worse is the arrival of a group of people from Babylon's past, a past that she thought she'd escaped for good, and which threatens to destroy everything she's worked so hard for ...

Gaie Sebold's debut novel is an epic fantasy featuring a strong, sexually confident woman who controls her own destiny.

Babylon's chatty, first-person voice carries you through the various plot strands. It's refreshing to read fantasy with a female character who knows what she wants and what she likes and while Babylon might not be great at asking for help, she understands when she's outgunned and is competent at what she does. I enjoyed her relationship with her brothel's crew, particularly with Previous, an ex-mercenary who works as a guard, and Precious, the huge, scaly cook. I also liked the way Sebold mixes in Babylon's backstory, as an abandoned orphan on Tiresana, a dying land under the control of ruthless Avatars.... Read more ›

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fast, sexy sword and sorcery romp 22 April 2012

By H. Callaghan VINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a fantasy romp featuring the titular Babylon Steel, a brothel madam/swordmistress who lives on the chaotic and varied Scalentine, a tiny plane which is fed by a number of magical portals disgorging numerous strange refugees and other travellers. Babylon herself has been one such refugees, but having settled down in Scalentine she will find that she and her crew at the Red Lantern will be drawn into the search for a missing girl which will culminate in a confrontation between her and the mysterious past she's left behind.

The writing is great - Gaie has a light, lucid prose style and the city shows a fantastic and playful inventiveness. Babylon is a tough but likeable heroine ably supported by a well-drawn supporting cast, and all in all, it's a wonderful fun read. Highly recommended.

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› See all 13 customer reviews (newest first) on Amazon.co.uk

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterful debut

This is a pacey romp (in both senses of the word), with twists and turns to keep even the most seasoned plot-guesser interested until the end. Read more

Published 10 months ago by Kevralyn

4.0 out of 5 stars Very enjoyable

A good story, with interesting characters and settings. I had half expected the old, familiar tropes, but these came out as fresh and new. Read more

Published 11 months ago by RikGG

4.0 out of 5 stars Top notch

This was a real pleasure and a great debut. Set in a world that has portals to other worlds and places we have a city with an eclectic mix of species and culture. Read more

Published 12 months ago by N. Brett

4.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful beginning to what could be an amazing series!

When you've been reading within the fantasy genre for a while, you tend to familiarise yourself with the tropes and even find yourself looking for them as you read through a new... Read more

Published 14 months ago by M. J. Aplin

4.0 out of 5 stars A fun and original read

This one is right on the cusp of fantasy and sci-fi - a city filled with alien races, surrounded by portals to other planes which come and go mysteriously, and are not understood... Read more

Published 14 months ago by Mrs. Pauline M. Ross

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome

I'm always sceptical when I hear people raving about a book, but in this case the raving was more than deserved. Babylon Steel is several different kinds of awesome. Read more

Published 16 months ago by schizoagain

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful

Beautifully constructed first person adventure story with lovingly detailed characters and a very strong voice. Read more

Published 16 months ago by Martin Owton

4.0 out of 5 stars Fantasy featuring a strong female protagonist

If I don't read fantasy because of its lack of strong female characters, this is a book to disabuse me of that notion. Read more

Published 17 months ago by Sara-Jayne Townsend

4.0 out of 5 stars Fantasy with a modern twist

OK, so you've gone through a truck load of fantasy, you've slaughtered thousands with Conan, defended your homeland from invading armies and stood up against the oppressor. Read more

Published 17 months ago by Gareth Wilson - Falcata Times Blog

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