I stumbled across a new review of Pax Britannia: Unnatural History the other day, over at The Penny Dreadful Review. Here's just an overview:Every great cliché you can think of is here, including the mustached/scar faced villain, the fantastic names (almost approaching James Bond Moonraker cheesiness, and I mean that in a great way), the ever loyal Alfred Pennyworth-esque chauffeur/partner in crime, the color by numbers plot twists, etc etc. I loved it all.
Here's the best part, though: Unnatural History is completely self-aware. Its author, Jonathan Green, intentionally dips as deeply as possible into the bottomless well of pulpy deliciousness. There are a few passages here that were perfect, good enough to make me laugh out loud in my room by myself...
Yes, author Jonathan Green is well aware that he's writing pure pulp, and finally someone is proud of it. All of Abaddon books is aware of it and proud of it. This is a marvelous genre worthy of authors who enjoy the world, the language, and the tools it takes to put together a good old thrilling yarn. Think it's easy? Watch Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull for a nice cinder block to the head reminder that it's really not...
It's just fun, and you can tell the author is having a great time writing it, as well...
It's steampunk with scallywags, dinosaurs, dirigibles, neanderthals, automatons, femme fatales, spidey-sense, and self-aware jokes. So really, what are you waiting for? Perhaps the best news of the day is that Ulysses Quicksilver himself is the central reoccurring character in Abaddon's Pax Britannia series.
Let's hope he's around for a while.
Here's the best part, though: Unnatural History is completely self-aware. Its author, Jonathan Green, intentionally dips as deeply as possible into the bottomless well of pulpy deliciousness. There are a few passages here that were perfect, good enough to make me laugh out loud in my room by myself...
Yes, author Jonathan Green is well aware that he's writing pure pulp, and finally someone is proud of it. All of Abaddon books is aware of it and proud of it. This is a marvelous genre worthy of authors who enjoy the world, the language, and the tools it takes to put together a good old thrilling yarn. Think it's easy? Watch Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull for a nice cinder block to the head reminder that it's really not...
It's just fun, and you can tell the author is having a great time writing it, as well...
It's steampunk with scallywags, dinosaurs, dirigibles, neanderthals, automatons, femme fatales, spidey-sense, and self-aware jokes. So really, what are you waiting for? Perhaps the best news of the day is that Ulysses Quicksilver himself is the central reoccurring character in Abaddon's Pax Britannia series.
Let's hope he's around for a while.
So thanks are due to Eric the Well-Read. You can read the whole review for yourself here.
It's so satisfying to read a review where the reviewer really gets what I've been trying to do with the series. And it's great to see Unnatural History holding its own four years on, when the series as a whole has progressed in so many ways.
Whilst putting together the latest Abaddon Books/Solaris Books catalogue, one of my editors said that whilst looking for reviews of the Pax Britannia series he discovered that people either got what I'm doing - and so loved the books - or didn't get it at all, and so hated them. I guess that's better than a 'Meh!' reaction to your work.
No comments:
Post a Comment