2016 clockpunkish science fiction. In 1812 Arabella Ashby, daughter of
a Martian plantation owner, is sent Home to Earth to learn proper
ladylike behaviour; but she'll soon need to find her way onto a
Marsman to return to the planet of her birth.
The first thing this book reminded me of was J. A. Sutherland's
Into the Dark… but in a good way, because this is much better.
Levine doesn't spend as much time as Sutherland trying to convince you
that science inevitably dictates space sailing-ships, so when there
are major problems with the physics – for example, the way that these
sailing-ships are apparently propelled by wind relative to the
air-masses that they sit in – I find myself more inclined to think
that it's mostly there to serve the story anyway. We have breathable
air between the planets because that's necessary to have Napoleonic
ships in space.
There is some science, though: the ships are lofted on hot-air
balloons (Newton's invention) up to the "falling line", where gravity
effectively stops, and they need to carry fuel to re-inflate those
balloons when they come to land. (One might have thought parachutes
could work, but that needs a higher technology in fabrics.) This isn't
quite the rigid copying of Napoleonic practice that Sutherland forced,
but there are clearly still a great many parallels.
The key thing though is that this book is not about the ships, but
about Arabella, who (for various good reasons) finds herself, in male
disguise, signed aboard a merchantman with an intriguing captain, a
clockwork navigator, and a variety of people who if they tend to be a
bit sketched-in do at least seem like plausible sketches rather than
just the characteristic which has to be in that slot to make the plot
work.
"This mad scheme cannot succeed!" Arabella cried. "To put an end to
one's own relatives for personal gain would surely render the
inheritance invalid!"
"You underestimate my husband, Cousin. Despite his occasional
follies, he is a barrister, and very clever. He will find some way
to avoid suspicion."
It's somewhat young-adultish in that it's a bildungsroman with
Arabella thriving essentially by her own talents and hard work rather
than by outside assistance, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
(Perhaps she's a bit too good at everything, especially being the
right person in the right place towards the end, but it just about
holds together.) The setting doesn't feel quite as gritty as some
Napoleonic portrayals. Mars is basically the Raj with aliens.
In the end it's not a world-changing book but it is quite an enjoyable
one. Followed by Arabella and the Battle of Venus.
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