Yzabel / February 1, 2015

Gears of Brass: A Steampunk Anthology by Jordan Elizabeth

My rating: [rating=2]

Summary:

A world like ours, but filled with gears of brass, where the beating heart is fueled by steam and the simplest creation is a complex clockwork device.

Within this tome, you’ll find steampunk fairy tale re-tellings, as well as original stories that will send your gears turning.

Welcome to the steampunk realm, with eleven authors guiding your path.

GEARS OF BRASS is a steampunk anthology published through Curiosity Quills. Within the pages, you’ll come across clockwork inventions and steampunk-ified fairy tale retellings. Eleven authors will guide you through worlds filled with airships, top hats, and corsets.

Review:

(I got a copy from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.)

2.5 stars, as on average the stories ranged from “it’s OK” to “I like it” for me, but not more—which is too bad, because, well, steampunk? How come I didn’t like this more!

My problems with this anthology were some cases of bad editing (spelling mistakes), but mainly the fact that most stories left me with a strong feeling of unfulfilled expectations. As soon as I’d get into a plot, and get excited about it and how it might pan out, the story ended, somewhat unresolved. As if the authors had so much more to say, but were constricted by imposed length, and had had to find in a hurry a “witty” punchline to give to their tales.

(Speaking of tales, quite a few stories were retellings of fairy tales, so if you like those, you’re going to be happy. Same if you like plots where human nature is denounced as dark, twisted, and not so close to redemption.)

On the bright side, the authors featured here all seem to have a vivid imagination, and plenty of good ideas in store for novellas or even novels. I could easily see half these short stories expanded, especially Zeus’ Fire, Time Spun Souls and The Key Girl (the latter had excellent bases, but went much too quickly to my liking).

My favourite ones:
* A Clockwork Dollhouse – in my opinion, the best wrapped and fulfilling of all.
* Zeus’ Fire – Greek mythology and steampunk (although it didn’t feel “British”, owing to the language).
* Clockwork Wolf – Little Red Riding Hood revisited.
* Lana’s End – selfish protagonists are selfish!

In other words, I was disappointed in the anthology itself, but I definitely wouldn’t mind checking some of the authors’ longer works, as I believe they can do good things when given longer formats to develop their ideas, worlds and characters.