- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Angry Robot (30 Sep 2010)
- ISBN-10: 0007365756
- ISBN-13: 978-0007365753
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 5,798,428 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Infernal Devices
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Like many firsts, "Infernal Devices" is not at all typical of the steampunk genre. But it's a fun read, written with sly humor.
K. W. Jeter coined the term "steampunk" to describe his and his friends' postmodern neo-Victoriana writings. "Infernal Devices" is a convoluted mystery with wickedly subtle humor narrated by George Dower, a hapless and rather unlikeable heir to the workshop and clientele of his genius watchmaker father, who taught him nothing and abandoned him at an early age.
Dower is dragged from his quiet, impoverished life into schemes involving absurd secret societies, his father's leftover devices, a plot to destroy the world, a clockwork double, and a hidden race of London-dwelling fish-men. There are outrageous coincidences and a recurrent theme of deceptive appearances.
There are a couple of con artists whose language is so distinctly modern I expected them to be time travelers. But no, in actuality it's weirder and more interesting than that.
Frankly, the motto of this book should be "in actuality it's weirder and more interesting than that," as absurdity piles on top of absurdity and people, events, and devices are shown to be not what they seemed.
A few aspects nagged at me. None of the characters rise above stereotypes, most glaringly the women. The whole book has a winking feel of farce, although the narrator's earnest Victorian voice keeps it amusingly deadpan. It's amusing, but a little distanced.
Also, Angry Robot did a terrible job copy-editing this edition. There are little typographical errors all through the book. If that does not bother you, then this is an amusing read from the dawn of steampunk.
K. W. Jeter coined the term "steampunk" to describe his and his friends' postmodern neo-Victoriana writings. "Infernal Devices" is a convoluted mystery with wickedly subtle humor narrated by George Dower, a hapless and rather unlikeable heir to the workshop and clientele of his genius watchmaker father, who taught him nothing and abandoned him at an early age.
Dower is dragged from his quiet, impoverished life into schemes involving absurd secret societies, his father's leftover devices, a plot to destroy the world, a clockwork double, and a hidden race of London-dwelling fish-men. There are outrageous coincidences and a recurrent theme of deceptive appearances.
There are a couple of con artists whose language is so distinctly modern I expected them to be time travelers. But no, in actuality it's weirder and more interesting than that.
Frankly, the motto of this book should be "in actuality it's weirder and more interesting than that," as absurdity piles on top of absurdity and people, events, and devices are shown to be not what they seemed.
A few aspects nagged at me. None of the characters rise above stereotypes, most glaringly the women. The whole book has a winking feel of farce, although the narrator's earnest Victorian voice keeps it amusingly deadpan. It's amusing, but a little distanced.
Also, Angry Robot did a terrible job copy-editing this edition. There are little typographical errors all through the book. If that does not bother you, then this is an amusing read from the dawn of steampunk.
Format:Paperback
Pro sides:
interesting book, easy reading, gripping at times. I liked the story, full of twists and turns, some good ideas with always something happening leaving you wondering and thinking it over when you stop reading.
the story is articulated and each character always have something new to add to the stroy. very interesting ideas about the device to see the future and Americanization of the brits, the existance of a amphibious life form, double or triple identitees. very well written you never get lost wandering "who is this?" or "why this is happening now?" that at times happens in too articulated stories.
Down sides:
as you read the story many questions pop up, some are the same as the main character's has, others are due to the fantasy of the story. unfortunately only some are exaustively explained, others are only briethly, as maybe thought not to be central to the story. in that case why put them in in the first place??
also the "brown leader man" hystory is only just introduced at the end of the book, just before he disappears.. his motives are quite clear by then, though I would have spend few more pages in further exploring the idea, which is very interesting.
I found other concepts, or events, of characters that where used but briethly explained or developped.
Furthermore by the end most open points are closed or dismissed with one or two line of text. they sudennly self-resolved without the interaction of the any of the characters..
the last part of the story (last 3rd of the book) things progress very quikly and with less attention to dettails as if in a rush to conclude.
Overall:
is a good book to read, I enjoyed it very much and in fact read it in 3 days! I liked the writing style and the period and setting of the story, from which you can certanly remark a good dose of inspiration form the authors of early 1900, e.g. Wells.
Last time I was in london don't recall a wetwick district.. will ask a cab to take me there next time :).
interesting book, easy reading, gripping at times. I liked the story, full of twists and turns, some good ideas with always something happening leaving you wondering and thinking it over when you stop reading.
the story is articulated and each character always have something new to add to the stroy. very interesting ideas about the device to see the future and Americanization of the brits, the existance of a amphibious life form, double or triple identitees. very well written you never get lost wandering "who is this?" or "why this is happening now?" that at times happens in too articulated stories.
Down sides:
as you read the story many questions pop up, some are the same as the main character's has, others are due to the fantasy of the story. unfortunately only some are exaustively explained, others are only briethly, as maybe thought not to be central to the story. in that case why put them in in the first place??
also the "brown leader man" hystory is only just introduced at the end of the book, just before he disappears.. his motives are quite clear by then, though I would have spend few more pages in further exploring the idea, which is very interesting.
I found other concepts, or events, of characters that where used but briethly explained or developped.
Furthermore by the end most open points are closed or dismissed with one or two line of text. they sudennly self-resolved without the interaction of the any of the characters..
the last part of the story (last 3rd of the book) things progress very quikly and with less attention to dettails as if in a rush to conclude.
Overall:
is a good book to read, I enjoyed it very much and in fact read it in 3 days! I liked the writing style and the period and setting of the story, from which you can certanly remark a good dose of inspiration form the authors of early 1900, e.g. Wells.
Last time I was in london don't recall a wetwick district.. will ask a cab to take me there next time :).
Format:Paperback
Jeter sets the Victorian scene here so skilfully, it's absolutely perfect. I could easily have been reading a novel written in 1840. He's impressively deft and accurate in his language of the time, making the novel completely believable, and yet he still writes in a style that is effortlessly readable. His Victorian London is dark, menacing, and compelling. We follow Dower through a City of gloomy drinking dens hidden down dark alleyways, sinister secret societies, and a menacing and mysterious criminal underbelly. Dower himself is a hugely likeable character, stoic and affable on his journey through a non-stop maze of plot twists and turns. There's not the slightest chance of having time to even think of getting bored while you're reading this one. The story gets madder and madder as you go along, until right towards the end Jeter ties everything together masterfully.
A colleague at work today asked me what Infernal Devices "is about". I told him it's a story about clockwork, time machines and fish-people. Even with all the obvious craziness therein I was so powerfully drawn into Dower's story that I didn't once stop to question anything, I was having way too much fun.
A colleague at work today asked me what Infernal Devices "is about". I told him it's a story about clockwork, time machines and fish-people. Even with all the obvious craziness therein I was so powerfully drawn into Dower's story that I didn't once stop to question anything, I was having way too much fun.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Empty of character
Someone could probably take the ingredients of this book and make something good/ great from them.
Sadly until then this book remains. Read more
Sadly until then this book remains. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Niolc Tiddler
Steampunk at its best
If you want a title for the Steampunk world then you really have to try KW Jeter. Not only thought of by some as the father of the genre but one who takes a hell of a lot to beat... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Gareth Wilson - Falcata Times Blog
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