This is a brief mini-review of a very silly book called The Iron Duke, by Meljean Brook.
Really?
Ok, first of all, the cover. A guy with half a face, half-naked, and not in a good way. I’m sorry. Please ignore the cover. I don’t know what happened there.
BUT! Inside: steampunkery. There’s a guy who is a (supposedly) reformed pirate. Some pirate ships. Armored sharks!!!! Airships. Automata, mechanical hearts, nanites. Clockwork flesh. A kraken from the deep, which must be daringly harpooned by the ass-kicking heroine (oops, minor spoiler). This thing is so over the top; I loved that part. Robot cats that breed. Treason and treachery and a doomsday weapon! Difficult race relations in a postcolonial, somewhat post-apocalyptic setting. High society. Oh, and also zombies. I’m not even kidding.
#2 would definitely not like how sex is handled in this book. I’m not sure I like it either. There is some confusion going on and I think it could’ve been handled differently.
I would give it a high 3.5 stars out of 5. I would like to give it 4 stars for fun, but it’s not quite there. Still, a good way to pass the time.
January 19, 2011 at 4:01 am
That’s hysterical. I’m amazed so many genres could be stuffed into one book.
January 19, 2011 at 5:45 pm
I know; I couldn’t believe it. At some point I realized that the book had jumped the armored shark and I was enjoying the ride.
January 19, 2011 at 5:17 am
First Gen is right, that is a lot of genres!
There was a mom at our school that wrote sci-fi porn type books that were quite unusual. I didn’t actually read one, but I laughed my head off when I read the synopsi (?) on Amazon. There is a market for everything out there, I am convinced.
January 19, 2011 at 5:45 pm
Rule 34 agrees with you.
http://xkcd.com/305/
January 19, 2011 at 6:07 am
Steampunk, post-apocalypse and robot cats. What’s not to like? Amazon wish list – done.
January 19, 2011 at 5:45 pm
Awesome!
January 21, 2011 at 7:41 am
Submitted a request throught he library which apparently doesn’t own any yet but they better jump on it, I’m the sixth person to request it! I’m intrigued by Robot Sharks and Robot Cats. Sex handled awkwardly is always interesting to me. Like in Asimov’s The Gods Themselves where those energy things have sex. It’s SO WEIRD. But interesting.
January 21, 2011 at 11:07 am
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