Scott E. Tarbet

The Steampunk genre is not set inane particular order. No set rule where all must be English, of Victorian heritage, though in this case we have that as guides with Victoria's Diamond Jubilee as a backdrop for us to add color.

Further we find that the tale of Shakespeare, with our players within the play putting on Pyramus and Thisbe as we found in the Shakespeare title that this story derives from quickly encompassing us. This is a clever device and we meet several of our heroes immediately and quickly integrate the Steampunk flavor of our Victorian world.

I don't want to give away the plot, though it parallels that of the original play, as well as its unique and creative spin of its own. So much so that those of the Steampunk Genre will I believe like it very much. That Tarbet has used a device that I first thought of the old Six Million Dollar Man, carried to extremes, bit not in the way that there was only one Steve Austen, but several and not superheroes. And then further had a very difficult time visualizing how these meldings of man and machine truly worked, I put behind me to enjoy the story. When one of Histories greatest Personalities came and became integral to the adventure it fit right in and enhanced the story. So that all became very enjoyable.

The only improvement I would ever see to suggest is that the ending of the novel came long after the ending of the story. Victoria makes her appearance which i equate to an old ball I used to attend to recreate the same period of Victoria's reign. A person dressed as Victoria came, long after all the fun had been had. We see the famous play of Pyramus and Thisbe in the end, but we have seen our heroes rewarded already and all has been resolved. In some genres we might expect this, and less so complete in Steampunk. But in the world of Tarbet, there are still adventures that can brew, and mysteries that will need to be solved. All, a very satisfactory tale with enough detail to entrance.… (meer)