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LASR_Reviews
Posted February 2, 2011
I'd just been asking myself recently why there isn't more M/M steampunk - and look, here we are! While the genre often sacrifices dramatic elements for atmosphere and tech, this most certainly was not the case here. The straightforward plot proceeds at an excellent pace, breathtaking flight and aerial battle scenes alternating with more personal drama, and the characterization does not suffer as a result of technical description.
Mr. Kennedy makes a bold choice in narrators here. Rather than the more traditional alternating POV between the two principles in the romance, he has us alternating between our often-harried hero, Ezra, and his business partner and friend, Jazz. Jazz and her lover, Lady Bart, play the supporting roles here, though their part of the story is told with sympathy and a loving eye for detail. The reader is kept at a distance from Icarus this way, but Jazz's view of the world is unique and her mix of idealism and pragmatism helps us see both Ezra and Icarus through other eyes. Ezra himself is utterly charming; a man whose stubbornness and pride drive him to do things that makes his heart cringe. He wants to be hard, to be as tough as anyone out there, but his own innate sense of justice keeps scuttling his best laid plans.
The first chapter does have some issues with passages that skirt dangerously close to being an information dump. There is a forced feeling to some of the sentences, as if trying too hard for better sounding words, and a somewhat forced feel to the initial bantering dialogue, as if Ezra and Jazz know we're listening. But keep going, gentle readers. Once Mr. Kennedy hits his stride, the tone and flow of the writing slide into a marvelous rhythm, with more believable, often biting, often funny dialogue, and scene description that will have you feeling, sometimes painfully, the locale.
Some readers may feel a bit of convenience in the ending. For me, though, this was such a character-driven piece, that any bit of luck our heroes had in the end was a profound relief. There is a sense of childlike wonder in Ezra, a sense of adventure and discovery under the carefully displayed cynicism, that the reader can't help but hope things turn out well for him. It's often a heart stopping ride, but this is a flight well worth taking.
Originally posted at Whipped Cream Reviews
Overview