I was hooked on Newbury & Hobbes after consuming this book. A definite page turner with lots of intrigue. I love how the occult is such an important part in Newbury's role as an agent for the queen. The characters are all very well developed and easy to get attached to. I always try to recommend this series of books to folks who are into Sherlock Holmes style mysteries and seem to have an appreciation for fantasy as well (or are at least willing to explore that genre a bit). A must read for any steampunk! ( )

I read a novella featuring Newbury and Hobbes and I enjoyed the story but found the main characters very compelling. This is my first full novel featuring these characters and I was not disappointed. Newbury is assisting his friend, Chief Inspector Bainbridge of Scotland Yard, with an investigation into a series of strangulations by a "glowing" police constable. Is it a ghost or is there a more physical solution? But Newbury is redirected by the Crown to investigate the crash of a Dirigible under mysterious cirucumstances. But could the two cases be connected? With his assistant Hobbes, they work on the two cases seeking answers before more murders occur and before another potential air ship disaster. But can they solve the cases? Are they connected? The story is well done and Mann's writing had me turning pages in anticipation. But it is really Maurice Newbury and Veronica Hobbes that make these stories. There are echoes of Holmes and Watson in these tales with a steampunk twist that adds spice to Victorian England. ( )

Some good ideas here, but I can;t help feeling there was a bit more that could be done to make this a really good read. While I can happily suspend my belief at the overall plot (it is fantasy after all) the feats and inabilities of the protagonists seems quite absurd at times. So, I will probably read a second book, because there were enough interesting threads that I want to see resolved. ( )

The Affinity Bridge brainstorming session #19

Author enters and finds himself on one of two adjacent stages. The only furnishings on his stage are two chairs. In one of the chairs sits O'Bare, a large, hairy man. Author goes and sits on the free chair.
Author: Uh, hello.
O'Bare: Hello there! I'm O'Bare.
Author: That's a peculiar name.
O'Bare: Meh, it's needed for a pun at the end of this sketch.
Author: Oh, okay. Why are there two stages here?
O'Bare: Well that one over there is Stage Right.
Author: And this is Stage Wrong? That's not a very auspicious place to brainstorm my new novel.
O'Bare: Desist your fretting; this isn't Stage Wrong, it's Stage Left. Now, speaking of your new novel, what have you got so far?
Author: I'm planning on writing a new Sherlock Holmes novel set at the beginning of the twentieth century.
O'Bare: Okay, but it'll need something to make it unique, there are umpteen Holmes novels out there. What else have you got?
Author: Alright, how about I throw in some zombies? Sure Holmes has dealt with plenty of dead bodies, but no undead bodies, amiright?
O'Bare: Clearly you've not heard of Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula.
Author: Aha… wait, you're not joking?
O'Bare: …
Author: Okay, okay. Steampunk! If the story's set around 1900 then let's toss in some honking great airships and maybe a steam-powered car or two.
O'Bare: No, no. Steampunk fans are a discerning bunch. You can't just glue some gears on it and call it steampunk. Apparently.
Author: Fine, we'll go all out: clockwork automata wandering around London, high-tech steam powered medical devices, and Queen Victoria will be Queen mecha-Victoria, like Kenneth Branagh in Wild Wild West.
O'Bare: I don't know, I still feel like we need more.
Author: How about a gently explored romantic subplot between Holmes and Watson?
O'Bare: You want to write paranormal steampunk Sherlock Holmes slash fiction?
Author: Yes!
O'Bare: Done to death.
Author: Fine, let's forget Sherlock Holmes. What if we replaced Sherlock with an agent of the Queen, à la Mycroft but without the social hang ups? And made him more accepting of the paranormal. But kept the opium habit. And let's change Watson into a plucky female heroine, more keen on social reform for her sex than in the technological reforms going on around her.
O'Bare: You might be on to something there. But with all these genres stacked willy-nilly atop one another, can you really write a decent novel?
Author: Well I may be fond of the occasional jarring simile, and there may be one or two occasions when I commit some fairly heinous acts of telling, not showing. But overall I'd say I'm a capable writer, able to pull a good story out from under the pileup of genres. And the plot itself will be a neat who-dunnit, managing to knit together the paranormal and steampunk aspects of the story quite tidily rather than simply having zombies running around an anachronistic city for no reason other than the hell of it. Overall I'd say it'll be a solid first book in an ongoing series.
O'Bare: …
Author: What?
O'Bare: Was that an attempt to insert an actual book review into this piece of high theatre?
Author: …maybe.
O'Bare: You scoundrel! Come here!
Author: Agh!
Author exits Stage Left, pursued by O'Bare. ( )

The Affinity Bridge brainstorming session #19

Author enters and finds himself on one of two adjacent stages. The only furnishings on his stage are two chairs. In one of the chairs sits O'Bare, a large, hairy man. Author goes and sits on the free chair.
Author: Uh, hello.
O'Bare: Hello there! I'm O'Bare.
Author: That's a peculiar name.
O'Bare: Meh, it's needed for a pun at the end of this sketch.
Author: Oh, okay. Why are there two stages here?
O'Bare: Well that one over there is Stage Right.
Author: And this is Stage Wrong? That's not a very auspicious place to brainstorm my new novel.
O'Bare: Desist your fretting; this isn't Stage Wrong, it's Stage Left. Now, speaking of your new novel, what have you got so far?
Author: I'm planning on writing a new Sherlock Holmes novel set at the beginning of the twentieth century.
O'Bare: Okay, but it'll need something to make it unique, there are umpteen Holmes novels out there. What else have you got?
Author: Alright, how about I throw in some zombies? Sure Holmes has dealt with plenty of dead bodies, but no undead bodies, amiright?
O'Bare: Clearly you've not heard of Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula.
Author: Aha… wait, you're not joking?
O'Bare: …
Author: Okay, okay. Steampunk! If the story's set around 1900 then let's toss in some honking great airships and maybe a steam-powered car or two.
O'Bare: No, no. Steampunk fans are a discerning bunch. You can't just glue some gears on it and call it steampunk. Apparently.
Author: Fine, we'll go all out: clockwork automata wandering around London, high-tech steam powered medical devices, and Queen Victoria will be Queen mecha-Victoria, like Kenneth Branagh in Wild Wild West.
O'Bare: I don't know, I still feel like we need more.
Author: How about a gently explored romantic subplot between Holmes and Watson?
O'Bare: You want to write paranormal steampunk Sherlock Holmes slash fiction?
Author: Yes!
O'Bare: Done to death.
Author: Fine, let's forget Sherlock Holmes. What if we replaced Sherlock with an agent of the Queen, à la Mycroft but without the social hang ups? And made him more accepting of the paranormal. But kept the opium habit. And let's change Watson into a plucky female heroine, more keen on social reform for her sex than in the technological reforms going on around her.
O'Bare: You might be on to something there. But with all these genres stacked willy-nilly atop one another, can you really write a decent novel?
Author: Well I may be fond of the occasional jarring simile, and there may be one or two occasions when I commit some fairly heinous acts of telling, not showing. But overall I'd say I'm a capable writer, able to pull a good story out from under the pileup of genres. And the plot itself will be a neat who-dunnit, managing to knit together the paranormal and steampunk aspects of the story quite tidily rather than simply having zombies running around an anachronistic city for no reason other than the hell of it. Overall I'd say it'll be a solid first book in an ongoing series.
O'Bare: …
Author: What?
O'Bare: Was that an attempt to insert an actual book review into this piece of high theatre?
Author: …maybe.
O'Bare: You scoundrel! Come here!
Author: Agh!
Author exits Stage Left, pursued by O'Bare. ( )