Starred review from October 19, 2009
Palmer's dazzling debut explodes with energy and invention on almost every page. In a steampunky alternate reality, genius inventor Prospero Taligent promises the 100 kids he's invited to his daughter Miranda's birthday party that they will have their “heart's desires fulfilled.” When young Harold Winslow says he wants to be a storyteller, he sets in motion an astonishing plot that will eventually find him imprisoned aboard a giant zeppelin, the Chrysalis
, powered by Taligent's greatest invention, a (probably faulty) perpetual motion machine. As Harold tells his story from his airborne prison, a fantastic and fantastical account unfolds: cities full of Taligent's mechanical men, a virtual island where Harold and Miranda play as children, the Kafkaesque goings-on in the boiler rooms and galleries of Taligent's tower. Harold's narration is interspersed with dreams, diary entries, memos and monologues from the colorful supporting cast, and the dialogue, both overly formal and B-movie goofy (“I'm afraid the death rays are just a bunch of science fiction folderol”), offers comic counterpoint. This book will immediately connect with fans of Neal Stephenson and Alfred Bester, and will surely win over readers who'd ordinarily pass on anything remotely sci-fi.
May 3, 2010
Harold Winslow retells his life story while sitting in a flying prison, explaining how such a ordinary guy like himself got tangled up with the formidable Prospero Taligent and his daughter, Miranda, and how it all went so wrong. With airships and robots, the story is a fantastical jaunt through a magical world elaborately imagined—with help from The Tempest and The Wizard of Oz. Palmer creates a fabulous steampunk pastiche—at one point he, too, appears in the narrative—that breaks all the rules and is marvelous messy fun. William Dufris has some great moments as he keeps up with the shifting narrative and works his tone magnificently during the more ironic moments. He does well with the voice of Harold as a boy, though he has some trouble morphing it into an adult voice, and his female voices are a bit wobbly. A St. Martin’s hardcover (Reviews, Oct. 19)