eilonwyhan

From the man who coined the term "steampunk", an early example of the genre.

Young Mr. Dower inherits his father's watch shop. Unfortunately, the Dowers never had much contact, and Young Mr. Dower has no idea how to repair the watches people bring to him. His shop is on the brink of collapse when an adventure comes his way: several parties are interested in a mysterious, and very complicated, device that his father has built. Dower's path leads him from the seediest section of London to a country manor to being stranded on the outermost island of the Hebrides. Just when things look darkest, Dower manages to escape by the skin of his teeth.

While it was a fun read, Dower's stiff Victorian narration made it a bit of a slog in places. Also, Miss McThane could have been so much more interesting, but all she did was lust after Dower and rip her clothes off a lot. I am glad that more current examples of steampunk give women and girls a lot more to do with their brains. I loved Adrienne Kress's The Friday Society and Libba Bray's short story "The Last Ride of the Glory Girls". This was just fun enough that I would like to check out some of K.W. Jeter's science fiction at some point down the line.