Starfall - Jamie Sedgwick

   2018; 279 pages.  Book 5 (out of 5) in the “Aboard the Great Iron Horse” series; Book 8 (out of 8) in the “Age of Steam” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Steampunk Fantasy; Teen & Young Adult Steampunk.  Overall Rating : 8*/10.

 

    Steampunk Armageddon is approaching!  The forces of Evil, aka the “Clockwork Legion”, have amassed an army of incredible size and are advancing steadily on the few remaining human-controlled cities.

 

    For the moment, their defenses hold strong, although even that is disheartening.  The Clockwork Legion is being reinforced daily by hordes of ghouls and other undead creatures, and all the humans can do is watch from high atop the ramparts of their cities' walls and wonder if any friendly armies are on their way to help break the siege.

 

    Meanwhile, Socrates and his band of heroes – Micah, Thane, Morgane, River, Kale, Tinker, and Breeze – are scattered throughout the lands, and word has it that Socrates’ steam-powered locomotive, The Iron Horse, is wrecked beyond repair.

 

    It’s just a matter of time before the Clockwork Legion has the overwhelming numbers to successfully scale the walls and slaughter all the humans.

 

    And turn them into – guess what – more ghouls!

 

What’s To Like...

    Starfall is the final installment in Jamie Sedgwick’s Age of Steam series, which is a combination of his Aboard The Iron Horse and Tinkerer’s Daughter series.  Its primary aim appears to be to bring the storylines of the various main characters (is that an oxymoron?) to conclusion, and in that regard, it succeeds admirably.

 

    There are scene-shifts aplenty, since our band of heroes are spread out far and wide.  I didn’t find this confusing, although I think it definitely helps if you read these stories in proper order.  I was impressed with the way the fate of my favorite protagonist, a mechanical ape named Socrates, was resolved.

 

    There’s lots of fighting throughout the tale, both on land and in the air.  Our heroes are on the move, and so are the myriad hordes of bad guys; so it is not surprising that Starfall contains plenty of fighting .  But there is also room for several budding romances, the biggest one of which involves the warrior Kale’s impending marriage to Queen Aileen.

 

    Those who like dragons in their fantasy stories will not be disappointed.  I also liked Socrates’ encounters with the inhabitants of Ironhold.  I intend to stay away from the addictive drug kavi-oil, but I’d love to take a ride on one of the steamscout cars.

 

    Everything builds to a climactic mega-battle between Good and Evil.  The battle sways to and fro several times as various plot twists impact its outcome.  Things close with a heartwarming Epilogue which details the futures of several main characters as well as the fate of the “starfallen” world at large.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.6/5 based on 135 ratings and 20 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.51/5 based on 59 ratings and 3 reviews.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

    Balusters (n., pl.) : short pillars or columns, typically decorative in design, in a series supporting a rail or coping.  (Google-Image it.)

 

Excerpts...

    The dragon came lurching towards him.

    Micah brandished the knife in front of him, ready to strike.  The dragon, somehow sensing his distress, lowered its head.  Micah stared at it, uncertain what to do.  Cautiously, the creature stretched its neck out and sniffed his hand.

    “Micah,” Morgane said in a whisper.  “I think it likes you.”

    As if in response, the dragon nudged him, touching the top of its snout to his hand.  Micah shook his head in disbelief.  At Morgane’s urging, he reached out to stroke the dragon’s chin.  The beast closed its eyes and a loud, rhythmic purring sound rumbled out of its chest.  (loc. 1675)

 

    Suddenly, the ghoul’s eyes went wide.  The creature shot a horrified look down at its feet, and then released its grip on the knife.  It turned and ran.  Confused, Tinker glanced down and saw Breeze’s open hand.

    “What happened?  Did you do something?”

    “I’m not sure.  Ghouls don’t work quite the way humans do.”

    Tinker’s eyebrows shot up.  You used your healing skills on him?”

    “Not healing,” she grinned.  “Un-healing.”

    “Oh . . . I didn’t know you could do that.”

    “It was worth a try.”  (loc. 2723)

 

Kindle Details…

    Starfall is priced at $3.99 at Amazon right now.  The other seven books in the “Age of Steam” series range in price from free (Book 1), to $0.99, (Books 2-6), to $2.99 (Book 7).  J.G. Sedgwick, aka Jamie Sedgwick, aka Jeramy Gates, has two other fantasy series for your Kindle, the “Shadow Born” trilogy and the “Hank Mossberg, Private Ogre” series.  The e-books in those are all in the free-to-$3.99 price range.

 

“What would I learn from watching people who are perfect?”  (loc. 230)

    I didn’t notice any profanity in Starfall, which makes sense since it’s marketed as being a “Teen & Young Adult” story.  When the occasion calls for cussing, the author uses the phrase “what the devils”, which I thought was quite clever.

 

    The page-numbering system was wonky on both of my Kindles; whatever page a chapter started on remained that number until the next chapter started.  I suspect this was a conversion glitch, and since the “percent read” worked fine, so this is merely nit to pick.

 

    The biggest issue is the usual one: an abundance of typos.  The main infraction involved the use of em-dashes.  It looks like the author used hyphens for this function, and the conversion program seemingly went haywire.  Besides this there were a few of the standard miscues, such as compliment/complement, leeching/leaching, impassible/impassable, and one instance of a misnamed Shayla/Morgane.

 

    These gaffes didn’t prevent me from enjoying the story.  I suspect it’s no easy task to write the final book in a series, gather all the major characters, tie up all the plotlines, allow Good to vanquish Evil, at least for the short term, and still be interesting and fast-paced enough to keep the reader turning the pages.  Starfall did that for me.

 

    8 Stars.  I assume this is a completed series.  But the Socrates plotline does leave the door open for further adventures.  Even though a “Book 9” has not arose betwixt the publication of Starfall (2018) and the present (2024), I personally hope Jamie Sedgwick is working on one.

Clockwork Legion - Jamie (J.G.) Sedgwick

 2016; 342 pages.  Book 4 (out of 5) in the series “Aboard the Great Iron Horse”.  New Author? : No.  Genre : Steampunk Fantasy.  Overall Rating : 7*/10.

 

    All aboard the Great Iron Horse!  Socrates and his crew have departed Dragonwall in order to continue their mission of searching for remnants of civilization in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

 

    They are short a couple of crewmembers, but that can’t be helped.  Kale has remained at Dragonwall to take on the role of "First Knight" for Queen Aileen.  And Shayla has chosen to stay there with Kale as well.  Methinks some romantic possibilities may be a factor.

 

    Shayla’s staying behind quickly becomes a timely event.  Queen Aileen's city has been plagued by a series of poisonings lately.  She wants Kale to investigate.  But she’s also just received a letter from the mayor of Ravenwood, a town well to the south of Dragonwall, begging the queen to dispatch troops there immediately due to some unspecified threat.  Queen Aileen wants Kale to lead a squad of knights down there.

 

    Well, Kale can’t be in two places at once, so perhaps Shayla can look into the poisonings while he travels to see what’s endangering Ravenwood.  Best of luck to both of you, Kale and Shayla!

 

    You’re going to need it.

 

What’s To Like...

    Clockwork Legion is the fourth installment in the five-book “Aboard the Great Iron Horse” series, although see below for the recent reorganization of this.  There are three main plotlines to follow, involving Socrates, Shayla, and Kale, as briefly described above.  The common thread in all of them is a magical substance called starfall, which serves as a “super-fuel” for Socrates’s steampunk locomotive, but has a very unhealthy effect when inhaled or ingested by creatures, whether they be living or already dead.   

 

    As with any Jamie Sedgwick novel, there's plenty of action and intrigue.  If undead baddies are your shtick, you’ll like this book, and if dinosaurs make you tick, you’ll enjoy it too.  Even better, if undead dinosaurs appeal to your literary tastes, you’re going to love Clockwork Legion.

 

    Being a chemist by trade, I liked the bits of chemistry woven into the book.  Ozone from lightning lays a small role in the storyline, so does powdered iron.  I also thought the timepiece called a chronoforge was a nice detail.  The title reference comes at 84% Kindle, and it was great to see two main characters from a related series make cameo appearances in the Epilogue.  Here’s hoping they play a bigger part in next book.

 

    The story ends at a logical spot, but it needs to be said that zero plot threads are resolved.  Queen Aileen and Kale make some important plans, but will those come to pass?  Socrates and the Iron Horse are out in the boondocks, so how will they impact the impending invasion of the baddies?  Shayla’s life is undergoing some changes, but will this be for the better or for the worse?

 

    Presumably, all these plotlines will be tied up in the next, fifth, and final book in the series: Starfall.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.5/5 based on 206 ratings and 36 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.50/5 based on 109 ratings and 5 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “How do I make them respect me?”

    “I can’t tell you that, but I can tell you how Dane did it.”

    “How?”

    “He threatened to kill ‘em, or worse.  And they knew he meant it.  But that only worked because they knew Dane had the guts to do what he said, and he knew they didn’t have the guts to stab him in his sleep.”

    “And you think that’s what I should do?”

    “Absolutely not!  These men wouldn’t hesitate to kill you in your sleep.”  (loc. 262)

 

    Shayla had a refined, elegant beauty about her that was a natural advantage.  She also had years of training to supplement that beauty.  As a child, Shayla had been trained in every manner of espionage and survival.  The soldiers knew they might not always be there to protect her, and she might need the ability to defend herself or to blend in with other people and cultures.  One of the most useful skills was one that had always come natural: flirtation.  (loc. 1497)

 

Kindle Details…

    Clockwork Legion is priced at $3.99 at Amazon right now.  The other four books in the series range in price from free to $4.99, with the cost increasing as the series progresses.  Jamie Sedgwick (aka: “J.G. Sedgwick”) has several other fantasy series for your reading enjoyment, and in the same price range.

 

“Great plan. (...) When the horde of undead warriors gets here, we’ll just ignore them to death.”  (loc. 1896)

    Incredibly, I didn’t note any cussing in Clockwork Legion.  Either I’m falling down on the job, or there was none.  I also don’t recall any “adult situations”.  When an author/can keep the story interesting without R-rated material who—and this book does that—I am deeply impressed.

 

    There were only a couple of typos, such as: tired/tire, phased/fazed, and leech/leach.  The insertion of dashes somehow resulted in them all being off-center and incorrect spacing.  But I suspect this occurred during the reformatting-for-Kindle stage, and was therefore beyond the author's control.     

 

    My copy of Clockwork Legion had a big problem with the chapter tabs.  There were none.  After the usual opening sections there’s  a “Table of Contents heading, but all it links to is the cover image.  After that, there is nothing else in the Table.  UPDATE: in looking at the current Amazon “Read Sample” blurb, that seems to have been corrected in later versions.

 

    The main quibble is the fact that none of the storylines get tied up.  That means this is not a standalone novel.  Therefore, if you’re not reading this series in order, you’ll probably be really disappointed in the storytelling in Clockwork Legion.

 

    So take my advice and read the earlier books before this one.  In the proper order.  Then you’ll find Clockwork Legion to be a light, fast-paced, enjoyable read whose purpose appears to be to get all the major characters properly positioned for the final episode.  We shall see about that.

 

    7 Stars.  I’ve had Clockwork Legion on my Kindle for quite some time.  Meanwhile the author has altered his name for this series from Jamie Sedgwick to J.G. Sedgwick, both of which are actually pen names for Jeramy Gates.  To boot, the author’s 5-book Aboard the Great Iron Horse series and the 3-book Tinkerer’s Daughter series are now combined into an 8-book Age of Steam series.  The other books and series penned by this author remain credited to "Jamie Sedgwick".

    I’m sure this has to do with some sort of revised marketing strategy, but frankly I fail to see the logic of it.

Blood and Steam - Jamie Sedgwick

   2012; 291 pages.  Book 3 (out of three) of the Tinkerer’s Daughter series.   New Author? : No.  Genre : Steampunk; Fantasy.  Overall Rating : 8*/10.

    The war is over.  The Vangars have won.  They’ve defeated all the other kingdoms, including Astatia, one of the human realms.  To resist the Vangars and their cyborg-like warriors (the Sentinels), is to die.  To not resist means doing forced labor for the conquerors, and in the case of the city of Avenston, that means working in the nearby mines until you perish from exhaustion.

    Yet a fledgling resistance movement exists in Avenston.  They call themselves the “sleepwalkers”, because they only dare to meet at late at night night, under the cover of darkness.  Breck the butcher is a member; so is Tasha the tailor, plus the husband/wife team of Hatch and Shel Woodcarver.

    The most noteworthy member of the sleepwalkers is a girl named River.  She's the daughter of Breeze, the half-breed, who was a formidable rebel leader in her own time.  She's friends with Kale, another veteran rebel.  Hey, maybe this sleepwalker movement has a chance to succeed.

    Nope, not a chance.  When their secret meeting place is busted by the sentinels, everyone flees for their life.  Worse, sentinels move faster than humans, and killing a heavily-armored machine is next to impossible.  So there are really only two equally undesirable choices at that point.

    Stand and fight the sentinels, and die quickly.  Or flee into the frozen wastelands beyond the city walls and succumb to starvation and the elements.

What’s To Like...

    Blood and Steam is the final book in the Tinkerer’s Daughter trilogy, although, to be pedantic, in this one the protagonist switches from Breeze to her daughter, River.  So I guess we could call it The Tinkerer’s Granddaughter.

    This is a typical Jamie Sedgwick novel.  The action is fast and furious, starts right away, and doesn’t let up until the final page.  The genre is overwhelmingly Steampunk, with steam engines powering ground vehicles and dirigibles ruling the skies.  River’s "adopted" father, Tinker, devised a steam-powered motorcycle-ish vehicle that he calls a “boneshaker”, but it’s still an only-one-of-its-kind invention.  There is a wondrous new source of energy, starfall, which comes from the remains of a giants meteorite that hit the world sometime in the past, but everyone’s still learning how to make use of it.  

    The story is told in the first-person POV, River’s.  The book’s structure is a little weird.  There are 14 chapters plus a prologue, and the book averages about 15 pages per chapter.  But at the end of chapter 12, a “brief interlude” is inserted, which catches you up on what Breeze was doing while River was having her adventure.  Jamie Sedgwick has an odd definition of "brief", it is 60 pages long, which equals 20% of the book.  For continuity, it’s a necessary addition, but still, it felt weird.

    I liked the brief reference to the “winter solstice tree”; it really is more historically accurate than its this-world counterpart.  The critters are pretty much the same as in the first two books in the series, but I smiled when Socrates made his appearance; he’s the main protagonist in Jamie Sedgwick's next series and he's far and away my favorite Jamie Sedgwick character..

    The ending can best be described as “functional”.  It smoothly segues into the follow-up series, “The Iron Horse”, which I'm guessing was probably the main raison d’etre for Blood and Steam.  I’ve already read the first three book in that series, so some of the plot-thread resolutions were easy to predict here.  But if you haven’t read any of the books from the Iron Horse, you will probably find this ending to be quite good.

Excerpts...

    “It’s not your battle anymore,” Analyn said.  “The others have gone into the mountains.  We can only hope they make it to Sanctuary, according to our plan.  The sentinels might catch them or they might not.  There’s nothing you can do about it, either way.”

    “Yes there is,” I said.  I walked up to the fireplace and snatched her rifle off the mantle.  I blew the layer of dust away and examined it.  “Where’s your ammo kit?”

    “Sometimes you’re just like your mother,” Analyn said without looking up.

    “Then you know you can’t stop me.”

    She snorted, shaking her head.  “Check the drawer by the table.”  (loc. 1993)

    The creatures – whatever they were – seemed to be moving in my direction.  I subconsciously reached out to the tree with my mind, preparing to leap up into the branches.  It had been my experience that trees help the Tal’mar.  They bend their branches down to catch us, and move them around before us to create a path as we run.  I didn’t get such a response from this tree.  Instead, I got the cold irritated sense that the tree wanted me to get off its roots.  (loc. 2390)

Kindle Details...

    Blood and Steam is priced at $3.99 at Amazon right now.  The initial book in the series, The Tinkerer’s Daughter, is free, and the second book, Tinker’s War, goes for $2.99.  Jamie Sedgwick offers another 17 e-books for your reading pleasure. They are all in the free-to-$3.99 price range, mostly in the lower half of that.

“You think too much like a human.”  (loc. 2703)

    There’s not much to quibble about in Blood and Steam.  If you’re looking for things like depth of character or romance, you might be disappointed; this is pure action-packed storytelling.  Some of the thrills, such as River and Crow’s escape from Juntavar are a bit over the top, but hey, I can say that about any Indiana Jones movie as well. 

    I wouldn’t call this a standalone novel.  You are well advised to read the other two first.  But since the first book in the series, The Tinkerer’s Daughter, is a freebie, hey, there’s really no excuse for not starting with that one.

    Bottom line: Blood and Steam fully was a delightful read for me – nonstop thrills and spills, and a satisfying storyline.  You can call it a “beach read” or an “airplane read”; I call it “literary entertainment”. 

    8 Stars.  I’ve adjusted my expectations for Jamie Sedgwick novels.  I’ve griped in the past about the individual plotlines not contributing to an overall series-spanning storyline.  I now think that it’s better to consider each book an “episode”, kinda like a weekly Star Trek show.  It might not contribute to an overarching storyline (Star Trek’s "five-year mission" never figures into the series at all), but it probably was never intended to.  And if each episode here keeps you turning the pages, I suspect Jamie Sedgwick will feel he’s accomplished his goal.

Tinker's War - Jamie Sedgwick

   2012; 345 pages.  Book 2 (out of three) of the Tinkerer’s Daughter series.   New Author? : No.  Genre : Steampunk Fantasy.  Overall Rating : 7½*/10.

    The Vangars.  They came, in their dragon ships of death.

    They saw.  The lands of the humans, the Elvish Tal’mar, and even the giant Kanters.  All of whom were squabbling amongst themselves.  All of whom failed to realize the danger came from without, not within.

    They conquered.  They focused on the palaces of the reigning kings and queens, dropping bombs of unimaginable size and deadliness, and killing the rulers of each empire.  Then they swept into all the major cities in their, in their dragon ships, protected by gyroplanes, capturing and enslaving most of the civilians before they had a chance to flee.

    Yet a few made it out and went into hiding in the mountains.  Including Breeze.  The half-breed.  The tinker’s daughter.  The pilot.  The healer.  But she’s just one fighter.  What can she do against the overwhelming Vangar invasion force?

What’s To Like...

    Tinker’s War is the second book in a series about a half-elf/half-human girl named Breeze growing up in a bleak, futuristic world that reminds me of China Miéville’s Railsea setting.  This is vintage Jamie Sedgwick - the action starts right away with the Vangars attacking everyone all at once, and doesn't let up until the very end.

    Yet there is more to Tinker’s War than just thrills and spills.  Our half-breed heroine has a pair of suitors vying for her hand – one human, the other elf.  Neither one will take “no” for an answer, and both are jealous of each other.  But be of good cheer, male readers.  While this thread runs throughout the book, the romance never gets in the way of the excitement and fighting.

    I’m also thinking Jamie Sedgwick must be a mechanical engineer in real life, because we get some keen insight (usually courtesy of Tinker) into various mechanisms – the steamwagons, the dragon ships, the gyroplanes with their spring engines, piston motors, spring-loaded revolvers, and the strangest of all, at least to our heroes, the electric light bulb.

    The genre style is much more steampunk than fantasy.  Outside of the elves, it seems the only other magic is the gift of healing.  There is a hint of trolls, though.  And dragons abound in other books set in this world.

    The story is told from a first-person POV, Breeze’s, of course.  There are 32 chapters for 327 pages, plus an 18-page preview of the next book in the series.  Overall, Tinker’s War is a quick and easy read, which was exactly what I was looking for.

    The ending is so-so.  Nothing is resolved, the Tal’mar still are in firm control of their newly-conquered territory.  But there’s a nice tie-in to the conjunctive series Aboard The Great Iron Horse, and the Vangars are a dominant force in that setting.  So their sustained success here is consistent with the overall storyline.

Excerpts...

    “This is no life you have, Breeze.  You’re not living, you’re hiding.”

    I pulled my hands away from him and placed them on my lap.  “I’m doing exactly what I want to do, Robie.  Look at me.  Look at my face, my ears.  Do you think I’m one of your farm girls?  Do you envision me standing at a cook stove all day, my belly swollen with child, our house full of chaos and noise?  Is that what you want?”

    A mystified look swept across his face.  “Cook stove?  I don’t know… you do cook, don’t you?”  (loc. 87)

    I had long since learned that few people possess the kind of fortitude it takes to question their leaders.  Humans and Tal’mar are no different when it comes to this.  The individual is always more worried about calculating his or her personal outcome in a situation than making that situation a success.  Regrettably, I had come to learn that many people would choose to loose (sic) the war if it meant they could be the head slave, rather than win the war and be equal with everyone else.  (loc. 2454)

Kindle Details...

    Tinker’s War is priced at $0.99 at Amazon.  The first book in the series, The Tinkerer’s Daughter is free, and the final book, Blood And Steam, sells for $2.99.  Jamie Sedgwick has a slew of others e-books and series available at Amazon, ranging in price from free to $3.99.  Those are great prices for books of this caliber.

 “The hair in my nose keeps growing back no matter how much I trim it, but lose an arm or leg, or even a finger, and it’s gone forever.”  (loc. 290)

    There are a couple quibbles, none all that serious.

    First, there is little or no backstory, and it’s been two years since I read the first book in this series.  This isn’t all that critical, though, because of the episodic nature of the book.  More on this in a bit.

    Second, while getting into occupied cities is understandably a cinch, I found it curious how easily our plucky heroes could get out of them as well, even when there were a bunch of noisy humans in the group.  It was also odd that the Tal’mar Queen’s name is never mentioned.  I couldn’t recall it.  Maybe Jamie couldn’t either.

    Finally, given that the dragon ships make use of giant balloons containing flammable gas to keep them aloft, the good guys take an incredibly long time to wonder if that might be a weak spot in those airships’ defenses.  

     7½ Stars.  I’m beginning to gain a better insight into Jamie Sedgwick’s intent when writing a story, and more importantly, when he’s writing a series.  It doesn't seem like he's too concerned about furthering the overall plotline in the series.  Here, the main thread is the Vangars kicking butt all over the place, and the author doesn’t appear to feel any obligation to resolve that anytime soon.

    Instead, this book, and others written by him, have a feel of simply being “episodes” in his excellently-constructed post-apocalyptic world.  It’s kinda like watching any of the TV series of, say, Star Trek.  You know you’re in for a fascinating hour-long story.  But if you ask yourself how it furthers the five-year mission to boldly seek out and explore new worlds, well, frankly, it doesn’t.

    If Gene Roddenberry can get away with this, I suppose Jamie Sedgwick should be allowed to as well.

The Dragon's Breath - Jamie Sedgwick

   2013; 327 pages.  Book 3 (out of 4) in the Aboard The Great Iron Horse series.  New Author? : No.  Genre : Steampunk Fantasy.  Overall Rating : 6*/10.

    It’s desperation time for Socrates and the crew of their locomotive, The Great Iron Horse.  They are out of their vital fuel, Starfall, and thus reduced to scrounging for their fallback energy sources, wood and coal.  These are not readily available, due both to the surrounding landscape and the fact that their train is a half mile long.

    So their hopes are lifted when late one afternoon they pull into a quaint town called Stormwatch, with an overlooking castle, Dragonwall, and find an indication that there may be some Starfall nearby.  The townsfolk don’t seem hostile, which is a welcome relief.  They do have a rather odd parting phrase though.  “Beware the dragon’s breath!”

    Ah, but I don’t see any dragons around; do you?  And if one does appear, and has a bad case of halitosis, well so what?  We have a good fighting crew, and we can always pop a breath mint in the reptile’s mouth.

    But hey, the sun’s about to set, the locals are scurrying to their houses, and time’s a-wasting.  So let’s get scouting for Starfall without further ado.

What’s To Like...

    The Dragon’s Breath is the third book in a series set in a wonderful post-apocalyptic steampunk world.  Socrates is a mechanical ape, and the head of a band of train-riding explorers tasked by their far-distant home base of Sanctuary with finding the indispensable, life-saving Starfall.

    This book is similar in style to the first two in the series.  The action starts immediately, and doesn’t let up.  There’s lots of bloodshed and violence, and there are simply are no slow spots.  The writing is not spectacular, but it’s sufficient for making you keep turning the pages.  If you like your stories with lots of mechanical details (if you fancy Tom Clancy), this book’s for you.  And if sand worms are your favorite beastie (if you’re a Dune loon), you’ll not not be disappointed.  Finally, if your tail’s a-waggin’ for dragons, you’re in for a treat.

    The backstory of this world is given at 54%, and I always appreciate that.  As with the previous book (reviewed here), the plotline, while exciting, is not very twisty.  Jamie Sedgwick mixes in enough wit and humor to keep you entertained; I found Kale’s attempt to ride a mechanical horse (18%) to be hilarious.  A holdover thread from the previous book (Burk) is resolved here.  

    Everything builds to a properly tense ending.  This borders on being a standalone novel, despite being part of a series.  The target audience seems to be adventure-reading YA boys, except that there’s an attempted rape (again) at one point.  So I’m not sure.  There are also a number of annoying typos.  I don’t normally mention these unless they are excessive, but at one point here, Sir Elbereth temporarily becomes Sir Elberone.  That’s kinda unforgivable.  The proofreaders should be shot.

Excerpts...

    “What are you working on?”

    “It’s a portable submersible oxygenation apparatus.”

    “A what?”

    “After our trip through the Forgotten Sea, I thought it might be useful to create some sort of portable breathing system, in case we’re ever trapped underwater again.”

    “So it’s an air mask?” Micah said.

    River looked at him.  “No, it’s a portable submersible oxygenation apparatus.”  (loc. 58)

    At last, Dane sat up and said, “Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter.  I can’t spend my nights worrying about rocks falling from the sky when I have very real dragons in my own backyard.  Believe me, there’s nothing worse than waking up face to face with a dragon.”

    “I know the feeling,” said Kale.

   Dane looked at him.  “Is that so?”  (loc. 1916)

Kindle Details...

    The Dragon’s Breath sells for $2.99 at Amazon.  As is usual for most of Jamie Sedgwick’s series (and he has a bunch of them), the first book, The Clockwork God, is free, and the second book, Killing The Machine, is $0.99.  I find this to be a most effective marketing device.  There is now a fourth book in this series, Clockwork Legion, and it sells for $3.99.

“She’ll be fine as soon as she remembers she’s not a rooster.”  (loc. 1019)

    There are weaknesses.  The dragons may be mean and nasty, but they’re not very resourceful.  This allows the strategy for Socrates and his cohorts to basically be: “I came, I plotted, I conquered”.  It’s a bit boring when the baddies can’t come up with anything surprising.  Similarly, the titular “dragon’s breath” is easily avoided.  And after Burk gets sprung, it was immediately obvious, who done it.  So why did it take Socrates so long to figure things out?

    More serious were the storytelling WTF’s.  The townspeople give our heroes the sage admonition “Beware the dragon’s breath!” but then fail to provide any details about what exactly  that danger is.  WTF?  And when River tries to deal with an undetonated artillery shell, she ties a noose around it and drags it along behind her speeding vehicle.  Holy explosive situation, Batman!  WTF?

    Last but not least, is the epilogue.  A goodly supply of the vital Starfall is recovered.  Yet somehow, after three books of harrowing adventures traveling aboard the Great Iron Horse, including a trip underneath an ocean, the precious cargo is dispatched back to Sanctuary, with nary a detail about just how this was accomplished.  WTF?  I wonder if they shipped it by USPS (United SteamPunk Service)?  That tale could’ve been a great addition to this series.

    6 Stars.  Overall, this felt like a “let’s crank another one out” effort.  All the requisites for a steampunk thriller are here, but without much of a creative spark.  This is probably as far as I’ll go with this series.

The Tinkerer's Daughter - Jamie Sedgwick

   2011; 290 pages.  Book 1 (out of three) of the Tinkerer’s Daughter series.   New Author? : Yes.  Genre : Steampunk Fantasy.  Overall Rating : 7½*/10.

    They call her Breeze.  Her mother’s dead and her father, a soldier, has just been called back into the army of Astatia.  What’s to be done about the child?

    Fortunately, the dad knows of a tinkerman that lives alone, high up in the hills.  It takes a bit of coaxing, but the tinker finally agrees to care for Breeze until the dad can return from the war.  Which is a good thing, because the father really had no other option, despite the presence of a town nearby.

    Because these are dangerous times, and there’s a different word the townsfolk would call Breeze if she had to stay among them.

    Halfbreed.

What’s To Like...

    The Tinkerer’s Daughter is the eponymous first book in a trilogy set in the same world as a pair of books I read a couple months ago, reviewed here and here.  Those books seemed to assume the reader was already familiar with setting, and I wasn’t, and I later learned that The Tinkerer’s Daughter trilogy set the stage and built the world for these tales.

    The genre is post-apocalyptic steampunk, and that will always catch my eye.  The tinker is true to his moniker – always tinkering with something.  Breeze is bored by the books in his library – they’re too “sciency”, but she soon joins him as they first build/reinvent a working steam engine, and follow it up by making a self-propelled airplane.  The technical geek in me was thrilled.

    It takes a while for the action to start.  Jamie Sedgwick spends a lot of time detailing the setting, particularly how Breeze and the Tinker develop their father/daughter relationship.  It was refreshing to read of a foster parent who doesn’t molest or abuse his ward.  Along the way, we her about wargs and trolls, take a ride in a steamsleigh, and celebrate the Sowen Holiday, the “week of the dead”.

    The storytelling is good enough to where you’re not bored with the dearth of thrills and spills.  And once the action begins (around 41%), it doesn’t let up until the last page.  Also, beneath all the excitement, Jamie Sedgwick examines two serious themes – the wastefulness of war, and the utter evilness of racism  Or, to be more accurate, speciesism.

    I think The Tinkerer’s Daughter was written for a YA audience, but as an adult, I liked it too.  There is some bloodshed and other distasteful subjects, but war is ugly, and Sedgwick keeps the lurid details to a minimum.

Excerpts...

    There really wasn’t much to do, other than reading from Tinker’s collection of old books and journals.  Unfortunately, these were almost all nonfiction sciency type stuff.  The books were filled with words I didn’t know, about things I didn’t understand.  Needless to say, none of it was very interesting.  (loc. 370.  As a scientist, I feel like I was just slightly insulted.)

    I panicked and began to hyperventilate.  Locked.  Alone.  I couldn’t understand a world like that.  I couldn’t reach out, couldn’t touch or sense anything.  Was this what it was like to be human?  Was this what it meant to have no bond with the world, other than one’s outward senses?  To touch, smell, and hear, but to never really feel anything?  It was awful.  Sickeningly awful.  (loc. 1860)

Kindle Details...

    The Tinkerer’s Daughter is free at Amazon right now.  The other two books in the series, Tinker’s War and Blood And Steam, sell for $0.99 and $2.99 respectively.  As noted in the previous reviews of Jamie Sedgwick’s books, this is his general pricing strategy, and I think it is a most effective one.

 It seems men can always find a reason to kill one another.  (loc. 341)

    I’m not sure why this book is called The Tinkerer’s Daughter, since the foster parent is called “Tinker” or “The Tinker” throughout the book.  Perhaps it’s because there already is a book at Amazon called The Tinker’s Daughter, and another one titled Mad Tinker’s Daughter.

    The ending was good, albeit somewhat straightforward, and easy to predict.  But it has a twist or two, and maybe YA readers will find it sufficiently satisfying.  The writing didn’t “suck me in”, but it kept my interest the whole way, and I will probably end up reading at least Book 2 in this trilogy, due to the author’s clever pricing scheme.

    7½ Stars.  A solid effort, but then again I’ve yet to be disappointed by a Jamie Sedgwick book.

Killing The Machine - Jamie Sedgwick

   2015; 292 pages.  Book 2 (out of 3) in the Aboard The Great Iron Horse series.  New Author? : No.  Genre : Steampunk Fantasy.  Overall Rating : 7½*/10.

    Someone stole the entire supply of Starfall from Socrates, and the locomotive he is the engineer of, The Iron Horse.  Which leaves him in dire straits, since the train is a half-mile long, and things like wood and coal are scarce in a post-apocalyptic, Ice Age world.

    The thieves were brazen, deftly lifting the entire container off the train with via a way-kewl flying device.  And their leader’s identity is well-known, since Burk had been one of Socrates’ crew.

    It’s time to get the Starfall back, or, failing that, find some more of it.  And both of those approaches can be worked on in the city of New Boston.

   It’s a pity Socrates and his crew have never been there before.  And that there’s an ocean between them and their destination.

What’s To Like...

    Killing The Machine is the second book in Jamie Sedgwick’s steampunk “Iron Horse” series, which takes place in a quasi-fantasy, quasi-futuristic earthly setting.  Socrates is a mechanical ape, and although humans predominate (at least so far), there are lots of other species, some living, some undead, to keep your interest.

    The story, and the series, is written in “storytelling” style.  That is, the action starts immediately, and doesn’t let up until the last page.  The characters are all likable, but not particularly complex.  The emphasis is on a quick-moving tale, not stopping for anything in-depth.

    There are a couple info dumps – one on welding, another on airship mechanics – but these are short enough to where you won’t catch yourself yawning.  There are less strange critters and beasties than in the first book, The Clockwork God (reviewed here), but this is balanced by the settings being fleshed out in much greater detail.  The question of sentience arises.  H. Beam Piper did it in more depth, but Jamie Sedgwick does it wittier.

    I wouldn’t call this a standalone novel.  You can probably still enjoy it without first reading The Clockwork God, but since that e-book is free, why not read these in order?  I don’t recall encountering anything R-rated.  And AFAIK, this is a trilogy.  I like series that don’t go on forever and ever, with the author expecting you to fund his retirement.

Excerpts...

    Micah pressed his lips together.  I knew it! He thought.  I knew something like this would happen.

    He heard the commander of the police force shout an order for everyone to leave the train.  He heard Kale’s response, telling the commander to do something with his horse that didn’t sound very comfortable or safe.

    The commander’s response was to count backwards, from ten to one.  Micah wasn’t sure what was supposed to happen after that, because nothing did.  The commander shouted out “One!” and then they all sort of sat there on their horses, waiting quietly for something to happen.  (loc. 2492)

    “That’s all wrong,” said Loren.  “Not even Kale would scorn a woman as fine as Rowena.  Fine for a human, I mean.  I prefer my women thinner, and with pointed ears, but Rowena… A woman like that might change my mind.”

    “Fat chance,” said Vann.  “She only had eyes for our friend here, not that I understand why.  He may be tall and good looking, and strong as any six men, but what’s he got beyond that?”  (loc. 3013)

Kindle Details...

    I bought Killing The Machine for $0.99 at Amazon.  As is usual for most of Jamie Sedgwick’s trilogies, the first book, The Clockwork God, is free, and the third book, The Dragon’s Breath, is $2.99.  I find this to be a most effective marketing device.

“Think of the future. (…) I won’t have a city where snowshovels and steamcarriages are considered human beings!”  (loc. 3201)

    My quibbles with Killing The Machine are similar to those I had with the first book.  While the thrills and spills are non-stop, there’s nothing epic about the storyline.  The starfall and the train change hands a couple times, we hang out in a couple new cities, and the question of sentience is again considered and has its usual outcome.

    But the series’ overall plotline doesn’t really advance much.  The bad guys get away, presumably so we can have a book 3, and I have my doubts as to whether anything earth-changing will have occurred at the close of the trilogy.  This may be okay in a Louis L’Amour western, or a Romance, but it doesn’t cut it in a Fantasy series.

    There are also a couple WTF’s.  In a world of steampunk technology, a submersible locomotive train, hauling a line of railcars a half-mile long, is apparently considered NBD.  And when the baddies surprise and capture most (but not quite all) of our plucky band of heroes, they inexplicably merely pen them up and leave them alive, to be rescued later on, and to fight another day.  I don’t think I would’ve been so accommodating.

    Still, all’s well that ends well, and as long as you’re content with action and adventure for their own sake, you’ll enjoy both this book and this series.

    7½ Stars.  Subtract ½ star if you didn’t read The Clockwork God first.