The Sunken by S.C. Green
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Sunken is Book #1 in The Gauge Wars series of SteamPunk books. The setting is Industrial London in the 1800’s, but set in an alternative reality. King George III is on the throne, but dubbed a mad man and “The Vampire King”. There is great steam invention rivalry between Robert Stephenson and Isambard Brunel.
Christian Religion has been replaced by engineering sects, with followers of as many different leaders as world religion has today. The highest position held by the Messiah of the Church of the Great Conductor and people are encouraged to attend worship in the style of engineering lectures.
A Royal Society exists to police the engineers and hand out punishment where needed. A work force of “Stokers” fuel the city, treated as “dirty folk” they were lured away from their swamp lands by the need for engine stokers.
School friends, Isambard, James Holman and Nicholas Thorne, meet once more and become embroiled in the King’s new scheme to protect London from the marauding Swamp Dragons, however they soon learn of a more sinister reason behind the King’s urgency to build such a structure.
This is a big book at over 500 pages long, but it is split into three very readable parts. Part two cleverly gives all the background to the current situation and part three builds the tension to a compelling read and leads the way to book 2# in the series. I would recommend this to fans of Steampunk, and those who like the industrial era of England who are open minded to an alternative fantasy underlined story arc.
Find a copy here from Amazon US or Amazon UK
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Now, you know I don’t do fanrtasy….. but I really fancy this!!! I love alternative history. Not sure about the dragons bit, but… hmmm! Tempted 🙂
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I mean fantasy, not fanrtasy …. :0
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The dragons aren’t a big part, but they have an underlying theme which I think will play out some more in the next book.
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Well, you’ve done your job, anyway… written a great review for a book you loved, that’s made me want to read it. Job done for the day!!! 😀
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I love steampunk and alternative history, so this sounds great!
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Reblogged this on Judith Barrow.
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Oooh, I love the sound of this one – also quite interested in Terry’s new fanrtasy genre lol 😉
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Sounds quite different, although I’m not pulled toward books with alternative fantasies. Great review! 🙂
@dino0726 from
FictionZeal – Impartial, Straightforward Fiction Book Reviews
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Thanks Diane, I do agree, probably not quite your thing.
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I like the sound of this one.
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Pinned & shared.:)
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Thank you.
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I’ve never read anything steampunk, but this looks like a good place to start. Who knows? Maybe I’ll like it!
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Maybe you would Noelle, after all we are getting you branching out with your reading.
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