Book Review: Larklight

Phillip Reeve has done it again, folks! Another steampunk series has begun! I read the first books of his other series, The Mortal Engines and Fever Crumb, enjoyed the clever world building and general steampunkness, but never really felt invested enough to finish with a desperate desire for more. When I saw his name on the cover of Larklight, I wondered if this would be the one to get me hooked on his writing...

The Plot: In the 1850's Art Mumby and his sister Myrtle live drifting through the solar system in a house called Larklight--until a giant man-eating spider in a bowler hat crashes into their house and captures and/or eats their father. Shenanigans ensue. 

The Good Stuff: The overall mood of this book is delightfully whimsical in a way that's hard to put one's finger on. In a way, it really seems to remind me of a lot of classic kid's books like The Borrowers or Dr. Dolittle. One can easily tell that Mr. Reeve is not only well-acquainted with the Victorian mindset, but he's also quite capable of putting it seamlessly into the setting of outer space, giving this book a rather unique and fun feel. Likewise, David Wyatt's illustrations are very Victorian-looking, not to mention just lovely in general. As with Reeve's other works, Larklight is filled with clever little details about it's world--space pirates, flying pigs that do housework, etc.--and whimsical moments that on occasion made me laugh awkwardly out loud when I should have been paying attention in class.

The Bad Stuff: To be honest, I actually put this book down for several weeks about halfway through. Not because of anything in particular that I didn't like; I just put it down and entirely forgot that I was reading it, which really says a lot.
It definitely did have plenty of cliche going on. A reptilian character who speaks with an exaggerated lisp, evil giant spiders--although one of the spiders wears a bowler hat, which is pretty awesome.
I didn't really engage in the characters either. I really wanted to like them, but the only ones I actually found myself caring about were all fairly minor. Art makes for a rather dull hero, as he did so little throughout the course of the book that he might as well have just been a narrator describing everybody else's stories in third person.
As for his sister, Myrtle... Well, excuse me while I Caps Lock for a moment.
WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THAT GIRL! I DON'T THINK THERE WAS A PAGE OF THIS BOOK WHERE I DIDN'T WANT TO SLAP HER PERSONALITY-LESS FACE! Seriously, though, I normally have problems with Mary-Sues, that is, "perfect characters," but I didn't realize that it was possible to go the opposite direction and create a character who's such a dim-witted, ugly, and downright useless loser that it actually makes her unrealistic.Sure, there are moments that imply that by the end of the series, she just might improve, but it's gonna be a long, tedious process at the rate she's gone in the first book. I understand how the twelve-year-old narrator might have a low opinion of his sister, in a teasing, brother-sister way, but the author clearly doesn't like her either. Or maybe--or probably, in fact--she's supposed to be a satire of "Victorian values" and gender roles, but that's really no excuse to make such a whiny, helpless brat a main character. Maybe I've been spoiled by the likes of Katniss Everdeen and her bad-ass-girl brethren, but Myrtle quite nearly ruined this book for me.

The Verdict: Larklight is fun once you get past its flaws. I'm not urging you to run out and buy this right away, but there really were quite a few cool moments, and, for all its bumps in the middle, it really did leave me in a good mood. All in all, this was a pretty good read, but I have to admit that I'm glad I bought it used for a buck at Goodwill.

Victorian Pharmacy

With exams this week, I've done plenty of wandering about the aetherwebs looking for ways to squander my precious time--I mean, no, really, Mom, I've been studying like a boss--so, like any teenager, I've spent my spare time watching BBC history documentaries! ...Okay, maybe I'm weird and nerdy, but that's beside the point.

My latest time wasting intellectual endeavor is this little fun fest of Victorian weirdness: Victorian Pharmacy, a four-episode recreation of how a pharmacy would have functioned a century and a half ago. Historical medicines, from herbal infusions to placebo scams, are tested out on modern volunteers--within reason, of course.  While not overtly steampunk, it keeps in tune with the steamy concepts of exploring both the revolutionary and the just plain strange science and technology of the industrial revolution. You can watch it for free here. 

Newsprint Nail Art Tutorial

I've always wanted to do those fancy nail polish designs, but, clumsy as I  am, I normally just ended up with giant blobs on my fingernails. And then I found this tutorial. It's easy, requires little skill and few supplies, and actually turns out looking pretty good. It's a bit more time consuming than a solid color polish, but maybe I'm just impatient.

Video Game Review: Nancy Drew: The Deadly Device

During school breaks, my sister and I have a tradition of playing games from Her Interactive's Nancy Drew series, and therefore, I've been a fan of it since childhood. So when I saw the cover of The Deadly Device, I just about died of excitement.

Further examination reveals a plot dripping with steampunkness, and, to my great joy, lots of references to Nikola Tesla. The plot begins with a modern-day scientific genius being murdered in the midst of an experiment based on Tesla's theories. A police investigation reveals nothing, so the owner of the lab takes the obvious next step: hiring a teenager, of course! (Suspension of disbelief, people. Use it.) And that's where you, playing as girl detective Nancy Drew, come in.

To begin with, I won't be able to review this without comparing it to it's many predecessors. The occasionally tedious point-and-click puzzle formula remains unchanged throughout the series, but the plot lines, remarkably, have grown less predictable in the later games. Whereas the early Nancy Drew games almost always put the most friendly and non-suspicious character in the role of perpetrator, The Deadly Device kept me guessing all the way through, and with all the suspicious characters and misleading clues, it really did feel like walking into a mystery novel.

Those who play this series for the scare factor will be disappointed. Her Interactive has indeed been flirting with the horror genre quite a bit as of late, but not once throughout the Deadly Device was I genuinely scared. This wasn't really a problem, per-se, as the mystery aspects and epic steampunk scenery were more than enough to keep me engaged, I can't help but wonder if a good scare or two might have made it more memorable.

As a side note, I originally meant to do a let's-play of this, which failed due to some technical issues. But, if at some point in the distant future, I actually find a decent screen capture program, I might go through with it. If I do, I'll put a link on this page, so feel free to check every now and then if you're interested.

Book Review: Who Could That Be at This Hour?

When I was a young cog-ling, I had a borderline-creepy-obsessive love for Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. In fact, it was in withdrawal after the end of the series that I found steampunk as a whole--looking for something similar to read. Even as I outgrew the books, some repressed part of my mind has always wished that Mr. Snicket/Daniel Handler would write something for my own age group.

Why We Broke Up came out around a year ago, and I eagerly devoured the elegant, poetry-like writing, only to turn the final page with a sense of disappointment  Sure, it was a very good work of ultra-realism, but I couldn't help but wonder a few things: Where are the mysterious fires? Where are the secret organisations? Where's the freaking plot? Isn't there supposed to be something more interesting than an egotistical jock cheating on his girlfriend? And for that matter, what are hippies doing in the twenty-first century?

 Thus, when I first saw Who Could That be at This Hour? I actually passed it by, figuring I'd just wait for it to come out in libraries. Sure, it looked like it had a plot, but it also looked like a book to childish for I, a self-conscious teenager, to be purchasing in public. If not for the generosity of a friend's Christmas gifts, I wouldn't have discovered this little pile of awesomeness. I warn you now that this review will be very much biased, as I read it in a joyous state of nostalgia.

The Plot:
Lemony Snicket, a twelve year old boy in training for a rather mysterious organisation, is dispatched to a small seaside town to investigate the apparent theft of a small statue, which, by the way, is described as resembling a rather vicious seahorse. But, he soon comes to wonder, is it really a theft? If not, why would such an incident be faked, and who, in such a secretive little town, can be trusted? *cue dramatic music*

The Good Stuff:
Not only did it turn out to be a book by my favorite childhood author, but an actually prequel to my favorite childhood book series. The quirky writing and glorious historical anachronisms are indeed left in place, with the overall mood being changed to more of a film-noir-esque mystery. One will discover such small details as gramophones, typewriters, and emo librarians all in one book.

For those who where left wondering at the end of ASOUE, some of the dangling questions left over from that do seem to be moving towards answers. Even so, just about every page left me guessing about some new mystery or another. By no means was this plot even remotely predictable.

The Bad Stuff:
There wasn't really anything I found unbearably annoying about this book, but, once again, I'm most definitely biased.

The readers of this book will be required to create their own suspension of disbelief--it isn't really science fiction or fantasy, but there are plenty of outrageous and silly details that could detract from the realism, and may, to readers who are uncreative and/or not raised on Snicket's work may find them distracting.

If I may nit-pick, I will say that I would have liked to see more of the characters from A Series of Unfortunate Events. The book will stand just fine on its own, but as an avid reader of its companion series, I kept wishing more more of the old characters I know and love to come popping up, only to find, for the most part, passing mentions of a few familiar names.

On a bigger note, the ending was just plain strange. The plot built up tremendously, but, after looking forward to an epic confrontation with the mysterious villain, I found myself finishing the book without really encountering anything that seemed like a marked climax. Maybe there was one and I just didn't notice--which is entirely possible, knowing myself--but I felt a little cheated at its absence.

The Verdict:
Yes, it did, in fact, turn out to be a kids' book--but a damn good one. Reading it brought back plenty of good memories for me, but even if you haven't read ASOUE, I think it's worthwhile to give it a read, since, on the whole, it's a fun and exciting mystery story. There is, of course, a chance that the latter books of this series will eventually jump the shark into the zombie-like state of repetition that seems to happen when authors do the same thing for too long.  As of right now, however, it doesn't seem to be heading in that direction, and I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for the sequel.

DIY Necklace!

I've liked making jewelry for quite some time, but I have a confession to make: all I really do is buy pendants and put them on chains. Until now, that is.

That's right, I made this. It may be a little rough and derpy-looking, for lack of a better description, but I've got to start somewhere, and this is the first time when, in a metalworking class I'm taking, I've had the materials and knowledge to make something like this.

The eye in the center is fused glass, a process which took a great deal of cutting glass with an annoyingly dull knife and sending little shards everywhere. The pendant itself is from cut sheets of steel and copper. I cheated and used a manufactured chain and gears.

A Very Steampunk Menu

I must apologize for the long period of time since my last post; my computational engine has been rather stubborn as of late. Therefore, this new year, I resolve to stop using stupid excuses like that to slack off. More posts are coming, I swear!

On the subject of the new year's festival--food and feasting! I present to you this Victorian-inspired compilation of recipes for your next celebration, dinner party, or whenever you're feeling bored and want to cook something interesting.

Beverages--Lavender Lemonade
Appetizer--Salmagundy
Main Course--Beef Wellington
Dessert--Pudding (this link provides a choice of recipes)