This is the fourth book in Hodder’s steampunk series, Burton & Swinburne. Those who read my review of the third book may remember that I was annoyed by an illogical twist near the end that soured me on a series I had mostly been enjoying. This book builds on that illogical twist and adds some additional illogic of its own.

It’s still a fun series in many ways. I really like the characters, and the books make me laugh out loud quite often. This book’s story is fairly straight-forward, more than some of the others in the series anyway. The reader already knows the “secret” of Abdu El-Yezdi from the moment he’s first mentioned and can predict where many things are going based on that knowledge and other information provided beforehand. I did like many aspects of where this story went, aside from my complaints about the illogical events.

I debated with myself about whether to continue on and read the last two books in the series. I’m enjoying them but I’m also frustrated by them at times, and the premise is starting to lose some of its appeal. I’ve decided to stop here. I’ll miss the characters and I feel slightly bad about abandoning my fictional friends, but I’m ready to move on to other things. I’m also reasonably happy with where things were at the end of this book, and I’m not confident that I would be able to say the same by the end of the series.

A couple spoilers with a little bit more detail about some of my complaints…
So to briefly recap, my objection at the end of book 3 was that Burton goes back in time and essentially causes the trouble that leads to him going back in time. This book builds on that with Burton-from-the-future stuck in the past and manipulating events to improve upon the things that went wrong in the timeline he traveled from.

Burton’s manipulation causes the “Great Amnesia”, where nobody can remember what happened in the previous 3 years because his actions have prevented Spring-Heeled Jack from going back in time 3 years and interfering with the timeline as he originally had. This goes against the entire premise the author has been repeating, that each instance of time travel creates an alternate branch of events. Now suddenly he’s proposing that, this one time, it all happened in the same branch. Plus it just doesn’t make sense to me that people wouldn’t remember events that happened as they happened just because they might have happened differently this time.

I know time travel stories always have their issues, but this series is developing more internal inconsistencies than I can tolerate. One of the characters himself points out another paradox created. Crowley interfered with the current branch of time because it was the only one where he didn’t exist, he didn’t know why, and by doing so he caused the death of his parents which was what prevented him from existing. Since Burton points this out, we know that the author is aware of the paradoxes and hasn’t confused himself about his own story. This is one reason I’ve decided to stop with the series, because I know I can likely expect more of them, and it’s just getting a bit too convoluted and illogical for me. The implication that time is deteriorating due to all the people messing around with time seems like an attempt to create a catch-all explanation, but it isn’t one that works for me. ( )

Had no idea how Hodder could bring the characters back after the initial trilogy, but he managed it beautifully with The Secret of Abdu El-Yezdi. Fun read and a joy to be back with the series characters...in whatever incarnation. ;-) ( )

The Secret of Abdu el Yezdi: a Burton and Swinburne Adventure
By Mark Hodder
Pyr/Prometheus
Reviewed by Karl Wolff

It's no surprise that the steampunk genre has become a legitimate, I daresay, mainstream fiction genre. When genres get legitimized, they fall under the threat of homogenization. The edges get shaved off and it turns into a oatmeal-colored mass of middlebrow inoffensiveness. Historically speaking, steampunk is almost as old as its counterpart cyberpunk. (Both entered the scene in the Eighties.) Steampunk's greatest threat is that it would become boring. It's not like readers have a lack of choices on bookshelves these days. Thus it is easy for voracious genre readers, con-goers, and Victorian history buffs to get jaded. Victorian hipsters ... I'm throwing that out there. "I liked airships and blunderbusses before they were cool."

Luckily there is fiction impresario Mark Hodder and his gonzo brilliant Burton & Swinburne Adventures. For those new to the genre and this series specifically, here's a thumbnail dual biography: Sir Richard Francis Burton was a polymath, adventurer, translator, and diplomat. He was the first non-Muslim to visit Mecca. He translated The Kama Sutra and The Arabian Nights. Suffice to say, he wasn't your normal ordinary Victorian gentleman. Algernon Charles Swinburne was a Decadent poet, Hellenist, and flagellation aficionado. (Hodder, brilliantly, weaves Swinburne's penchant for flagellation into a pivotal plot point. It's a nice breath of fresh air to see the BDSM lifestyle portrayed with gentle humor, not painting Swinburne as some maladjusted freak.) Both were close friends in real life and both couldn't abide or adjust to the strictures of Victorian court life and organized religion. Nothing spices up a narrative like using two intellectual, arrogant, idiosyncratic oddballs as the hero figures.

Now, to the plot! Burton is returning from Africa to receive a knightship when he witnesses a strange pagan ritual on an airship, the end result being murder. The setting is an alternate England in 1859. Queen Victoria was assassinated in 1840, placing the Teutonic royal George V on the throne. Prince Albert acts as an advisor to the King. As is typical of the genre, steam power has accelerated the development of transportation. Hence, airships, motorized horses pulling carriages, and clockwork butlers. (My only minor pique with this novel is the issue involving technological development and its potential for creating mass unemployment. What do former butlers think? Unemployed horse grooms? Let's see something about this roiling underbelly of class resentment.)

But labor relations aside, Hodder brings the goods to the genre. Upon arrival in London, Burton is advised by King George V and tasked with the cause of investigating the mysterious disappearances of notable scientists and researchers. There are also nefarious diplomatic moves with Great Britain making overtures to the Greater German Confederation. This becomes critical because both Prince Albert and Ernest Augustus I (later George V in the novel) come from German aristocratic families. (Although in our history, Germany didn't become modern Germany until Otto von Bismarck completed his wars of unification ending in 1870. In Hodder's timeline, Bismarck is shunted off as a diplomat to the Russian court.)

We meet Swinburne later in the novel as Burton forms a Steampunk Scooby Gang with French occultist Eliphas Levi to solve the mystery of these abductions. We also meet Richard Burton's brother Edward, an overweight notable in the royal court, much to Richard's chagrin. The sibling rivalry between Richard and Edward reminds me of the Holmes brothers in the BBC reboot of Sherlock. Hodder, like the writers of Sherlock, brings the same expert crafting of narrative, creating a delicate balance between adventure, mystery, humor, and menace. But Hodder ups the ante and throws in a mindscrew or two along the way. Things get wobbly and scary like a chessboard in a Lewis Carroll novel. (Carroll also shows up, part of Swinburne's entourage of literati.)

Full disclosure: I have not read the previous three Burton & Swinburne novels, but after reading this, they sure look a lot more tempting. I met Pyr's editor Lou Anders at CONvergence last weekend and he categorized this novel as a "reboot" of the Burton & Swinburne series a la the 2009 Star Trek. If this aids in your reading the book, that's great. I enjoyed the book thoroughly before knowing such things about the series. I'm also giving it a high score because it was really fun to read and has great crossover potential. Those new to steampunk, wondering what all the goggles and airships are about, or steampunk superfans, make sure to read this. Or those simply looking for a fun read with solid characters, rip roaring plot, and explorations of Victorian occultism, check this book out.

Out of 10/9.5

http://www.cclapcenter.com/2013/07/book_review_the_secret_of_abdu.html

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http://driftlessareareview.com/2013/07/12/cclap-fridays-the-secret-of-abdu-el-ye... ( )