Friday 25 January 2013

STEAMPUNK REVIEW: The Aylesford Skull - James P Blaylock

Release Date: 25/01/13

SYNOPSIS:

Professor Langdon St. Ives brilliant but eccentric scientist and explorer is at home in Aylesford with his family. Not far away a steam launch is taken by pirates, the crew murdered, and a grave is possibly robbed of the skull. The suspected grave robber, the infamous Dr. Ignacio Narbondo, is an old nemesis of St. Ives. When Narbondo kidnaps his son Eddie, St. Ives races into London in pursuit.


REVIEW:

OK, I’m coming at this as a newbie to the writing of James P Blaylock, and whilst I know he’s been established as a Steampunk author for many years, I was a little apprehensive to pick up this book as I wasn’t sure what to expect. Yes I expected a mystery, some cracking twists which when blended with the Victoriana would take me on one hell of a journey but when an author hasn’t released for so many years, you have to wonder how well he knows the current audience and if his writing will translate as well as it did originally.

What I received within this book was a highly imaginative story, some cracking fully fledged characters and a tale that really delivered what I was hoping for, yet for all that I have to say that for me, I found it quite hard to get into as the writing style felt a little outdated for my own personal tastes.

Don’t get me wrong it’s definitely a strong book, the twists will more than satisfy and if you love Steampunk its going to more than hit the spot, but when you get a writing style that is hard to follow until you get used to the way the authors prose comes across, it’s going to be a story that is going to take some time to get behind. All round, a cracking title but please remember to stick with it as otherwise you’ll be missing something special.



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