Adventures in the Mouse House

5. The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series.

Having said that, I was a bit dubious about the premise here so I waited till the library let me have a copy.

It's Very Steampunk. I couldn't bring myself to care about the airships or the massive tower structures the inhabitants of his world live in. The battles (on both land and air) go on for far too long.

However, it's Butcher so the dialogue is fun and the characters are likeable. Except the cat. The cat is an asshole.

I'll read the sequel, but I think I'll continue to wait for library copies.

2. Airship Shape and Bristol Fashion edited by Roz Clarke and Joanne Hall

Disclaimer: I know the editors and practically all the contributors.

Like the previous anthologies put out by the lovely folks from BristolCon, this punches well above its weight for your local sci-fi group's collection. (In fact, I gave my spare copy to my brother[1] and he didn't entirely believe that it was a load of stories written by people I go to the pub with regularly).

The theme for this one is steampunk tales set in Bristol. But they went for stories with a point and social commentary rather than a bunch of posh blokes crashing around the empire in airships. Because thankfully the editors have as little tolerance for that sort of thing as I do.

Like all short story collections, I liked some more than the others, and not surprisingly to anyone who's ever met me my favourite was the Lovecraftian one.

I enjoyed the three at the end less but can't swear to whether that's because they were less good, or because I read the whole thing at once (we're doing it in book club tomorrow) rather than over time and may have been cogged-out towards the end.

Recommended, and I'm not just saying that because they're my mates. I am privileged to know such talented people and humbled that they put up with me.

[1] Two launch events, they didn't have the hardcover from the press yet at the first...

43. Infernal Devices by Philip Reeve

Part 3 of the Mortal Engines quartet. I think this is my favourite book of the series so far. It takes place 16 years after the end of Predator's Gold and focuses on the adventures of Wren, the daughter of Tom and Hester (the main characters from the first two books) - Tom and Hester had grown up by the end of the second book, and in a series aimed at young adults, I suppose having a young protagonist is a necessity.

Wren runs away (or gets kidnapped - difficult call) from the static settlement that her parents founded, and joins the Lost Boys, a gang of thieves who travel in underwater "limpets", attach themselves to the moving cities and steal everything they can get their hands on. They are led and brainwashed by "Uncle", who keeps them under surveillance at all times. There's a war on, and the Anti-Traction League have legions of undead Stalkers fighting for them. The action all ends up on a floating city called Brighton, which is a hilarious pastiche of the real Brighton.

For both previous books I'd commented that the body count is high but the content is far less dark than, say, Philip Pullman, but this volume gets pretty dark. The Lost Boys are in the second book as well, but the level of control that "Uncle" has over them, which is really creepy, is more obvious here.