E. M. Wright

tw racism; slavery; trafficking; implied rape; abuse; ableism

Overall, this was a somewhat compelling read. There’s a lot to unpack in this story about disability, second class citizenship, and systemic oppression. This was a boost and integral part of the story, but also the component that created my greatest unease while reading.

This is an interesting take on steampunk. I’m fairly ambivalent about steampunk in general and there were parts of this imagining that didn’t seem to align with physics and biology., but I consider that part of the territory of steampunk. More importantly, however, there are some very heavy themes present in this work that gave me concern, mentioned below.

The world of Sedition is one where anyone with a physical disability requiring clockwork prosthetics, is bound into servitude. The story involves one such person who has a clockwork arm, Taryn Roft. As the story opens, she appears to be a typical female protagonist, but desperate to keep her clockwork arm secret.

In short, the secret of her nature is discovered, she’s kidnapped by privateers, and taken to a known slave market/hold. During this time, it is revealed that people with prosthetics are not even considered human and, further, that along with a prosthesis, a panel is connected to their brain which can control emotion and mental processing.

Here is where I started to have some issues. Writing about slavery in a fantasy novel is not uncommon, and the author did avoid some pitfalls in that this servitude was not based on race (though there is anti-French language and slurs directed at a character). But I was really uneasy with much of the narrative around the clockwork prosthetics, the control panel, and the dehumanizing of these characters. So, let’s look at this a little bit more. So, the slavery depicted here is chattel slavery. By that, the human slaves are dehumanized to the extent that the oppressors (able-bodied people and the System) do not consider people with prosthetics as human. This is the same slavery system used in the United States, so it will be familiar to those readers. Now, I would be more behind this story if there were something like discussion questions for readers to consider around these topics. The issues of slavery, systemic oppression, ableism, and second-class citizenship are relevant issues to discuss today. It would behoove the author and publisher to include discussion questions to help readers, especially young readers (with inconsistent history lessons in school…) which could help readers unpack the story and connect to modern topics. However, there doesn’t seem to be anything to support readers with this.

So, here is why I find this problematic. Other than the main character, who seems to be programmed to override the emotional and mental programming, the humans with prosthesis, the slaves, have absolutely no agency in this story. This is probably intentional and I so hope that the later novels in this series will bring about some plan (or even deus ex machina) to bring back agency and voice to the humans with clockwork prosthesis/slaves. Writing a novel (especially as a non-BIPOC author) where slaves do not have a voice and agency is a problem. As a white reader, I hope the intent was to make me feel uncomfortable (but again, be intentional about this and push the reader to unpack these issues!). If not, I hope the author/publisher will seek out a sensitivity reader who can help point out problematic language and plot points for the rest of this series.

Overall, it took a little bit for me to get into the story. Aside from my uneasiness, I felt like Ace was not as well rounded so some of his development seemed forced. However I did like that he, as a main character, was forced to reckon with the question of humanity, disability, and slavery. The plot development when the mental/emotional control dampers are explained came across as a gloss rather than an explanation. As such, I felt like this limited Taryn’s voice and agency, which, as stated above, is problematic. She became an unreliable narrator and, to me, this dehumanized her. The ending seemed a little rushed, but I think that is because this is the first novel in the series and the author wanted to entice readers to the next novel. So, I am curious what will happen with the story. I hope there’s more unpacking of the nature of the System and that the main character will be party to tearing down the institution of slavery and this society’s view of disability.… (altro)

I'll spare you the story summary, as you can already read that elsewhere and just provide you my opinions on the book.

Simply put, I enjoyed this book quite a lot. Wright did an excellent job in creating a steampunk world in Victorian England and developing characters that draw you in to the story and keep you engaged. She effectively uses the characters and story to bring attention to some of the social issues we are currently dealing with in our own world, without being confrontational or sacrificing the story to bring those issues to light. Truthfully, I don't know if the story would be as good without these elements in it.

This is obviously just the first installment on a larger story and I look forward to the next installment to see where Wright takes us next.… (altro)