Aldicus Vescard is a student of the science of forensic alchemy, as any great detective magus in the steampunk city called Clockwork. Readers of steampunk fiction will definitely enjoy Vescard's cases if they are aware that the seeming slow, dense pace of the first stories prove to be the propellant for the accelerating drive of the later ones. Many coined word (eldren, aetheric) and a Victorian language style can be an acquired taste, but worth it for Mark Willian Chase's clever plans.

The apparent stand-alone mysteries, cases turned over to Vescard because of their unusual and dangerous elements, accrue intriguing minor characters who often reappear in subsequent cases and who are significant to the last cases which fuse together as a final battle against Shadow Man.

These are Vescard's types of cases because he too has a magical power (a blessing and a curse), a furious fiend within of “elemental chaos.” Along with his apprentice Keldon Veldanor (the names throughout this book have hints of Earth science terminology, it seems), they form a Holmes-Watson type team, though there isn't as much piecing together of clues as there is facing down villains with magical powers. This makes for the fast-paced, thriller type of storyline and explosive ending.

I received an e-copy of this book from LibraryThing. This is an honest review. ( )

A solid supernatural, steampunk, thriller with a bit of mystery. Follow detective Aldicus Vescard adventure and mystery as he encounters one dangerous scenario after another. Those who love Jim Butcher’s books will enjoy this too. ( )

I thank the author for a free copy of this book. This is my honest review.

I was a little hesitant to start this book because of its size, since I tend not to have sticking power for lengthy novels. However, the episodic presentation made the read seem not quite so daunting.

Although Aldicus Vescard is a detective, there seemed to be more emphasis on action adventure (explosions, fires, chases, weird eldritch beings to combat, you get the idea) rather than deductions, red herrings and clues. It was definitely the "action" parts that had most page time, and we didn't always see how Vescard arrived at some deduction and then form a plan of action.

The book is told in first person PoV, although a rather distant one. There are chunks where it feels Vescard is reporting on events rather than personally involved. The prose was generally tidy although I noticed several odd word choices and homonyms, and some distracting alliterations. There was extensive use of participial and absolute phrases - having 3-4 per paragraph for several paragraphs in a row made me quite twitchy. The descriptive details went well with the old-fashioned steampunk vibe, although for my tastes I found it excessive. With alchemical terms liberally scattered through as well, I sometimes lost track of what was going on, and wasn't sure whether I was supposed to understand some clue, or whether the terminology was simply for flavour.

There's a sizeable cast of characters, who all played their roles in a straightforward way. As mentioned above, the story is an adventure rather than eg an exploration of contrasting moral values and social tensions. Vescard himself wasn't particularly reflective. No difficult choices or moral ambiguity for him.

Overall, an entertaining adventure in a highly detailed steampunk world.