Release Date: 05/11/15
Publisher: Del Rey
SYNOPSIS:
Burton and Swinburne return for their final thrilling adventure!
Sir Richard Francis Burton’s expedition has returned from the future, bringing with it knowledge of technologies which must remain secret for history to follow its natural course.
Betrayed by one of their own, Burton and Swinburne watch in horror as the Empire’s elite use this knowledge to secure their positions for all eternity, branding any who oppose them as enemies of the State.
Can their band of hunted revolutionaries overthrow the ultimate automated autocrat – their King?.
Betrayed by one of their own,Burton and Swinburne watch in horror as the Empire’s elite use this knowledge to secure their positions for all eternity, branding any who oppose them asenemies of the State. Can their band of hunted revolutionaries overthrow the ultimate automated autocrat – their King?
REVIEW:
There are times when a series really has to end and whilst some will carry it on to its death to make the most bang for their buck, it takes an author with experience to allow their characters to go out with a bang on one thrilling adventure, plus when you know it’s the last tale, all bets are off as to who lives or dies.
Whilst I’ve not always been enamoured of this series, I do enjoy a chance to explore Steampunk concepts in an Urban Fantasy setting as each brings something strangely delightful to the mix. It has a genteel feel to it as well as the ability to bring high octane Victoriana adventure to the fore.
As with Mark’s other books in the series, it has a solid plot and of course an intrepid duo to lead the way, but after the disappointment of the last book with its lacklustre story, I think the author made the right choice to let these guys rest. All round it is an OK book, however the fact that Mark has addressed issues I had with the previous made me a lot happier and made it a better tale to go out with. I’m just pleased that he gave them one more adventure.
Release Date: 07/08/14
Publisher: Del Rey
SYNOPSIS:
Burton and Swinburne return in a new wildly imaginative steampunk adventure, and this time they're facing their greatest foe...Leicester Square, London. Blood red snow falls from the sky and a strange creature, disorientated and apparently insane, materialises out of thin air. Spring Heeled Jack has returned, and he is intent on one thing: hunting Sir Richard Francis Burton. Burton is experiencing one hallucination after another; visions of parallel realities and future history plague his every thought. These send him, and his companions, on an unimaginable expedition - a voyage through time itself...
REVIEW:
As a huge fan of Steampunk, this has been one of the series that I’ve been keeping a close eye on as the preinciople characters within this work are people that I love to spend time with. I like their roundedness, the way that they step of the page and also the way that Mark brings cracking dialogue to this extraordinary world.
Yet for all that, this book felt a little lacklustre compared to others in the series (and on a side note you do have to read the others to get the fuller picture here.) With the pages, it felt almost rushed with confusion taking the reader somewhere different to the norm. All round, it was a fun plot to spend time around and whilst for me the pace was off key and the prose not as quite as sharp as they have been it was a book that gave me a wonderful escape from the real world.
Release Date: 08/08/13
Publisher: Del Rey
SYNOPSIS:
Having successfully discovered the source of the Nile, Captain Richard Francis Burton returns to London expecting to marry his fiance, Isabel Arundell, and be awarded the consulship of Damascus. However, when he's unexpectedly knighted by King George V, his plans go awry. The monarch requires an agent to investigate a sequence of disappearances, and Burton, whether he likes it or not, is the man for the job. Engineering and medical luminaries - such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Florence Nightingale - are among the missing, but the most significant absence is that of Abdu El Yezdi, an inhabitant of the Afterlife who, in the two decades since the assassination of Queen Victoria, has been Prime Minister Disraeli's most trusted advisor. The search for the missing ghost soon becomes the least of the explorer's concerns, for it quickly becomes apparent that he himself is at the centre of increasingly bizarre and interconnected events, and that someone - or something - is intent not only on meddling with history, but also on harming the people Burton values the most.
REVIEW:
Welcome to the Urban World of Yesteryear in this fourth exciting outing for Burton and Swinburne. As with the other titles in the series it brings together a whole host of elements There’s a whole host of twists and turns, has some thrilling action sequences and when added to characters that will twist your comprehension of not only time but personality quirks all round makes this a book that is a joy to sit back with.
Add to the mix a cracking overall arc, some top notch dialogue which when backed with the authors own identifiable writing style all round makes this a book that will give you a wonderful time between the pages. Great stuff.
Release Date: 17/01/13
SYNOPSIS:
A man without faith. A woman without hope. My name is Aiden Fleischer. I was forced from my home, moved among the victims of Jack the Ripper, was tortured by a witch doctor, and awoke on another planet. Throughout it all, my assistant, Clarissa Stark, remained at my side. On Ptallaya, we were welcomed by the Yatsill. The creatures transformed their society into a bizarre version of our own, and we found a new home beneath the world's twin suns. But there was darkness in my soul, and as the two yellow globes set, I was forced to confront it, for on Ptallaya...A RED SUN ALSO RISES...and with it comes an evil more horrifying than any on Earth.
REVIEW:
To call this a Science Fiction book is to do it a disservice, to call it a Steampunk book doesn’t bring it over to the full majesty of what the reader is about to get, it’s one of those modern amalgams that really hits the spot with a mimic of the old Victorian Penny Dreadful echoing along within.
It’s definitely unusual, the principle characters outcasts amongst our own, yet among the Yatsill they’re welcomed. Add to this some solid pace, great prose alongside a cracking plot line and of course two characters that I just wanted to spend time around and for me, this hit the nail bang on the head as one of the debut releases for Del Rey UK.
