The Dark Deeps - Arthur Slade

   2018; 288 pages.  Book 2 (out of 4) in the “Mission Clockwork” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Steampunk; Young Adult & Teen; Action-Intrigue.  Overall Rating : 8½*/10.

 

    Matthew Wyle is a covert British intelligence agent based in New York City during the Victorian Era.  He’s been monitoring French agents there, and he’s just stumbled onto something strange.  Unfortunately, it’s in code.

 

VSVYWBT KEUW 6035236.  Grand Poisson 6035236.

 

    Hmm.  Those numbers and uppercase letters could mean anything, but “grand poisson” is French for “big fish”.  Something about a whale maybe?  But that seems a bit far-fetched.

 

    Well, he’d better let his London-based boss, Mr. Socrates, know of his discovery.  Maybe he can crack the code.

 

    Alas, two strong hands have just closed tightly around his throat and a voice out of nowhere says, “Ah, that is the information I’ve been trying to decode.  What do the numbers mean?  Tell me!”

 

    Those are the last words Matthew Wyle will hear in his life.

 

What’s To Like...

    The Dark Deeps is book 2 in Arthur Slade’s Mission Clockwork series.  I’ve read the first book, Mission Clockwork; it is reviewed here.  The hunchback Modo has now completed his training to be an agent for Mr. Socrates, even though he is still a teenager.  His shape-shifting skills will be put to the test on this current assignment, as he’ll be posing as part of a young married couple alongside his fellow teenaged agent, Octavia Milkweed.  At least they get to go on a cruise.

 

    I liked the inclusion of foreign language phrases in the text.  There were snippets of French, Latin, and what I presume was Catalan.  The mention of penny dreadfuls made me chuckle.  And being a chemist by trade, I loved the inclusion of the Oxygen-creating reaction involving Manganese Dioxide and Potassium Chlorate.  Does that sound nerdish?  Well, it enables humans to breathe underwater.

 

    The storyline has a very “Jules Verne” feel to it; the book’s title and cover image confirm this.  It is not a spoiler to say that both our protagonists will be spending a lot of time beneath the sea.  Add to our two protagonists a ship’s captain who’s both idealistic and fatalistic, a French spy who’s both shapely and pragmatic, and a dude named Griff who nobody is real sure about; and you end up with an extremely fascinating tale.

 

    The ending manages to be both death-defyingly exciting and predictably logical at the same time, which is not a criticism.  Both the good guys and the baddies get their just desserts, and since this is a teen-YA book, it’s mostly done without any gore.  All the plotlines are tied up, and although there’s room for a sequel (how can you be certain someone is truly dead if no bodies are recovered?), I’m predicting that Book 3 will be a completely new setting for Modo and Octavia.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Dummacker (n.) : a knowing or acute person. (British slang)

Others: Dulse (n.);

 

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.4*/5, based on 77 ratings and 29 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.84*/5, based on 1,111 ratings and 137 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

   “Now, where exactly are we supposed to go?”  She sat at the mahogany table, and looked down at the carved map.

    “Assuming this is accurately carved, it’s right here!”  He tapped on a point about an inch below Iceland.

    “Sounds dreary and cold; good thing we get paid such riches to do this job.”

    “You get paid?”

    “Mr. Socrates said he is setting aside a fund for my retirement.  I assume he has done the same for you.”

    “I didn’t know we could retire.”  (pg. 62)

 

    “Ah, Mademoiselle Brunet.” Captain Monturiol said.  “Good morning.”  She sounded pleasant enough, but Colette would not give her the benefit of a smile.  “Comrade Girona and I will help you into your aquasuit.” The two women removed a suit from hooks and shelves along the wall.  Then the captain stopped to study Colette’s face.  “You have a mind like an oyster, did you know that?”

    “What do you mean?” Colette replied.

    “It is closed.  But I know there are pearls inside.  I eagerly await the opening of your mind today.”  (pg. 120)

 

Kindle Details…

    The Dark Deeps sells for $2.99 right now at Amazon.  The other three books in the series cost either $2.99 or $3.99.  Arthur Slade has several other series for your Kindle.  The e-books in those are generally in the $0.99-$4.99 price range.

 

“I don’t cough,” she said.  “I expel air daintily.”  (pg. 57)

    Finding things to quibble about was difficult.  As was true for the first book, there is zero cussing in The Dark Deeps.  Ditto for adult situations, although I wouldn’t be surprised if some affection eventually develops between Modo and Octavia.

 

    The book is written in “Canadian”, which means us Yankee readers will occasionally run into some odd spellings, such as marvellous, tonnes, centred, and defence.  Interestingly, both centimetres and meters were encountered, which seemed inconsistent.  The editing is topnotch; I only spotted one typo—a capitalized “Stopped” that should have been the lowercase “stopped”.  I'll blame the printer for that.

 

    But enough of the quibbling.  The Dark Deeps was a page-turner for me, despite it being in labeled a “Teen and Young Adult” book.  Yes, it is clean enough for kids.  Yes, it’s fast-paced, and filled with lots of action-intrigue, a YA requirement.  But adults will enjoy it just as much, because skilled authors are capable of accomplishing that.

 

    8½ Stars.  One last thing.  The Latin phrase in The Dark Deeps was “Plus Intra Plus Extra”, which Modo translates as “The Deeper The Better”.  Really?!  My Latin skills suck.

Mission Clockwork - Arthur Slade

   2018; 251 pages.  Book 1 (out of 4) in the “Mission Clockwork” series.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres : Steampunk; Young Adult & Teen; England; Historical Fiction.  Overall Rating : 8½*/10.

 

    Modo hasn’t had an easy life so far.  Very few hunchbacks do.  Especially when they have a hideous face to go along with the grotesquely bent spinal column.

 

    Modo is presently doing what most hunchbacks do: he’s in a cage in a traveling freak show called “Merveilles et Mort”.  This is in 19^th century England, when there’s no such thing as child labor laws.  Modo is one year old.

 

    Right now, there’s a gentleman right outside Modo’s cage, staring at him, and offering good money to buy Modo from the show’s proprietor.   How odd.  But there’s method to the gentleman’s madness.  He’s heard that the boy-hunchback has a secret talent.

 

    He’s been told that Modo is a shape-shifter.

 

What’s To Like...

    Mission Clockwork is set in Victorian-era London, primarily in the poorer, darker neighborhoods, and both aboveground, including the rooftops, and underground, especially the sewers.  One of my recent reads, Terry Pratchett’s Dodger, was set in the same time and place, and it was fun to revisit it.

 

    It’s not a spoiler to reveal why Modo’s new owner, Mr. Socrates, bought him.  Socrates runs a British intelligence agency, and sees a huge potential in anyone who can self-rearrange his facial and body characteristics.  Modo is content; he has a personal combat trainer named Tharpa, and a kindly caretaker, Mrs. Finchley, both at Mr. Socrates' expense.  It’s a much better life than being locked in a cage with people gawking at you.

 

    The first task assigned by Socrates to Modo is to infiltrate a secret group of terrorists that is rumored to be plotting some sort of spectacular destruction in London in the near future.  Efforts to infiltrate the group thus far have been fruitless, but perhaps a shape-shifter can succeed.  Now, after years of training and upbringing, the teenaged Modo is ready to go out and do some official reconnaissance work.  There is, of course, some risk to his life, but hey, such sacrifices are occasionally necessary for Queen and Country.

 

    I liked that Modo’s special talent, while unique, also has limitations.  Yes, he can transform himself into someone else just by studying them for a bit.  And yes, it feels good to not have that ugly face and uncomfortably large growth on his back for a change.  But the transformation wears off after a short while, usually in a matter of hours, so Modo is always under a time constraint when using it.

 

    The ending is both spectacular and exciting.  It's a bit over-the-top, but that's standard fare in a “YA-ish” tale.  The main storyline is resolved, evil plans are thwarted, and Modo experiences his finest hour.  Mission Clockwork is both a standalone novel, and the first book in a series.  There is an short excerpt from Book 2, Mission Clockwork: The Dark Deeps, to close things out.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Knacker (n.) : someone who buys up old horses, then kills them for their meat, bones, and/or leather.

Others: Costermongers (n., plural).

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.2/5 based on 269 ratings and 84 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.63/5 based on 3,574 ratings and 459 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    When Octavia had been a child in the orphanage, she had often dreamed a man would come to rescue her.  He would say, “I‘m your father and my ship was wrecked.  That is why you are here in the orphanage.  Now I can take you home.”  Or he would be a rich uncle.  As she grew older, she hoped it would be a young prince, and she pictured him so frequently that she could actually see his face.  In the end no one came, so one day she left on her own and began her life as a pickpocket.  (loc. 988)

 

    “I can read.”

    “Well, congratulations, Modo.”  She floated over and grabbed the book from his hands.  “Ah, Hamlet.  He’s too much of a gabber, that boy.  Wouldn’t survive a second in our world.”

    “It’s Shakespeare!”  He raised a hand as though on the stage.  “‘O, that this too too solid flesh would melt/Thaw and resolve itself into a dew!’  See!  It’s marvellous!”

    “Marvellously boring.  Though there is a good sword fight at the end.”  (loc. 1983)

 

Kindle Details…

    Mission Clockwork is usually priced at $2.99 at Amazon, although today and for a very limited time it is free!  The other three books in the series normally go for $2.99 (Book 2), or $3.99 (Books 3 and 4), and right now they too are discounted to $0.99 apiece, so I snapped them up.  This appears to be a completed series, but the author also has a more-recent 5-book YA fantasy series for you in e-book format titled the Dragon Assassin.

 

“I nodded off and fell into a story.”  (loc. 195)

    The nitpicking about Mission Clockwork is minor.  This is a “Teen and Young Adult” book, so I didn’t note any cusswords or adult situations cropping up.  You’d think that would make it a boring read for me, since I’m much older than the target audience, but that wasn’t the case at all.

 

    The book is written in Canadian, which is logical since the author grew up in Saskatchewan.  Therefore you occasionally run into weird spellings such as favourite, and greying, but at least worlds like judgments and recognized are spelled in “Yankee” fashion.  I spotted a couple of typos, such as Her/He, and wolf like/wolflike, plus one uncapitalized first word in a sentence: humour.  Overall though, I thought the editing was done well.

 

    Consistent with its target audience being Teen-&-Young-Adult, the storyline contains lots of action, with very little blood and gore, despite a couple of fatalities occurring along the way.  Yet it still entertained me from beginning to end, and I'm way out of the target age bracket.

    So if you’re looking for a kewl Steampunk adventure, set in a fascinating historical time period, loaded with thrills, intrigue, and having a hunchback shape-shifter for a protagonist, Mission Clockwork will be a perfect match for you.  Regardless of your age.

 

    8½ Stars.  We should not neglect to mention the story’s costar, young Octavia Milkweed, who is also one of Mr. Socrates’ agents.  She and Modo start off on the wrong foot, then spend a lot of time learning to work together, and more importantly, trust one another.  It all works out, of course, and I'm fairly certain  (is that an oxymoron?) that Octavia is going to become a recurring character.  But will she also be the catalyst for this series developing a Coming-of-Age plotline?  Who knows, but stay tuned.