Review: A Riddle in Bronze

A Riddle in Bronze by Simon Haynes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a rarity: a steampunk book that isn't crammed full of vocabulary errors - though there are one or two, and it has problems with missing vocative commas (the ones that make the difference between "I don't know Jack" and "I don't know, Jack") and makes most of the common apostrophe errors. The main character is kind of an idiot, but manages to stumble his way to heroism somehow, and overall it was an enjoyable ride.

It's amusing. There's a running gag, for example, where the narrator/protagonist forms a mental image of someone before meeting them and is completely and utterly wrong. The professor is pompous, headstrong and given to calling out faults in others that he possesses himself; for some reason his housekeeper is nevertheless in love with him.

"For some reason" does a bit of heavy lifting at several points in the plot, and there were several moments that unsuspended my disbelief, like tiles on the walls of an uncompleted tunnel and a mysterious supply of faceless sacrificial victims that apparently come from nowhere. There's a strong horror element - ghosts and demons - but it's in the comic mode of Ghostbusters, and despite not liking horror I didn't find it a problem. Some of the plot twists were a bit predictable, but from a relatively short distance away.

I don't know that I'd read another in the series. It was enjoyable enough, but the romance seemed a touch forced, there were continuity issues, and it lacked that final polish that I look for. It was on the good side of OK.



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