The Guns Above Is a Gritty, Rollicking Reinvention of Steampunk

Robyn Bennis’ debut novel arrives covered in accolades from some of the best steampunk and sci-fi writers out there, and earns every single one of them. It’s a tightly written, action-packed story about the crew of the airship Mistral, an experimental vessel commanded by the first female captain in the whole Garnian army.
Josette Dupre is our stalwart captain, the first woman assigned her own airship. The story leans heavily on this fact as it sets up its world. Dupre butts heads with generals and commanders who look at her askance due to her gender, and refuses to be held back by anyone. She’s an awesome character—intelligent, stubborn, and well suited for her new position, courageous, and with a keen eye for tactics. Your basic total badass. Which is a good thing for her, because there’s a spy on her airship.
Sort of.
Lord Bernat is an aristocrat and an utter bastard. Slightly dim and rather frivolous, he’s onboard to spy on Josette for his uncle, an army general keen to stop the integration of the armed forces. Bernat agrees to do the deed because he needs money and would prefer not to join the infantry; he honestly could not care less about women in the military himself. Bernat writes terribly offensive things about Josette, making her out to be a hysterical harridan of a woman, even as, despite himself, he starts to become a real part of the crew. His character recalls Bertie Wooster, a charmingly charismatic and rather useless aristocrat also often hurled into situations completely beyond his capabilities.
Lord Bernat is a fop, plucked from a safe, rather silly life and thrown into the middle of a war zone, and he adds much needed levity to a story as gritty and bloody as any military science fiction.cBennis does not shy away from graphic depictions of war. Crew members die in horrific ways, armies are felled by cannons and fire, and it feels so real and authentic.The book is set amid a war between rival nations and, the side the crew of the Mistral is on seems to be losing.
This is late steampunk. It’s not Victorian—there aren’t lots of gears and goggles. It’s got shades of the Napoleonic, but it feels most like World War I. There’s an airship that runs on steam, but the war is fought with cannons, and rifles, and trenches, and cavalry. The battles are visceral affairs, and Bennis puts on on the front lines. Every time the Mistral went into battle, the tension rachets up, and there’s a very real risk your favorite character could bite it at any time.
Worldbuilding often takes a back seat to artifice in steampunk, but this setting feels organic and lived in. The anatomy of the ship becomes a major plot point, as the crew is constantly repairing the damage it sustains in battle. There are two lovely, incredibly helpful illustrations of the craft at the beginning of the book, and I referred back to them often.
I’m was pleased Bennis didn’t cram in a love story between Josette and Lord Bernat; not to slight those who like romance in their sci-fi, but this is war, after all. It’s the story of two very different people who develop a grudging respect and friendship without tumbling into to bed at the end of it. I didn’t mind a bit.
The Guns Above is a gritty, bloody, and oddly funny novel that will delight fans of everything from Gail Carriger style hijinks to realistic military sci-fi. It’s heartfelt even as it looks the ugly face of battle straight in the eye. It maintain its wit and a sense of humor even as bullets whiz past. It’s a steam-powered blast into a genre that often trades too heavily in tropes, and I am head over heels for it.
The Guns Above is available now.