Empire State by Adam Christopher
Nov. 6th, 2013 11:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
The Empire State is the other New York.
It’s a parallel-universe, Prohibition-era world of mooks and shamuses that is the twisted magic mirror to our bustling Big Apple. It’s a city where sinister characters lurk around every corner, while the great superheroes who once kept the streets safe have fallen into deadly rivalries and feuds. Not that its colourful residents know anything about the real New York … until detective Rad Bradley makes a discovery that will change the lives of all its inhabitants.
It’s the height of Prohibition in an alternate New York where the Skyguard and the Science Pirate, former superhero guardians of the city, now battle each other for supremacy. Rex is a racketeer shaking down midtown Manhattan when he witnesses the final, epic battle between the Skyguard and the Science Pirate and accidentally discovers the Science Pirate’s secret identity …
Rad Bradley’s a down-at-heel detective in the Empire State. It’s the year 19 and the State is at war but the ironclad battleships sent out into the fog to battle an unseen enemy never return. Until now. When Rad’s hired by Katherine Kopek to find her missing lover, Sam Saturn, his investigation takes him into the Empire State’s darkest secrets – secrets that threaten its very existence …
Adam Christopher’s debut science fiction novel is jam-packed with ideas – pocket universes, robots, superheroes and Chandler-style noir – but the story itself never really came together and was slightly too episodic for me. Rad’s a curiously passive character, dragged along by events rather than driving them and I was disappointed that Rex, having started off so strongly, disappears from the page for too long, leaving him somewhat underdrawn. This is a shame because Christopher’s New York and Empire State are fascinating worlds with some great concepts underpinning them and I desperately wanted to know more about the City Commissioners, the robots staffing the ironclads and the Pastor of Lost Souls but there’s simply so much going on and insufficient pages to explore all of them properly. I did love the bonus interview with Christopher at the end and the creative commons licence is fascinating – all in all I’ll read Christopher’s next book even though this didn’t quite do it for me.
The best parts of the book for me are the scenes involving Captain Carter, a scientist and adventurer whose always one step ahead of Rad and whose relationship with his robotic manservant, Byron, is delightfully ambiguous. Christopher puts Carter’s ambiguity to good use such that you’re never quite sure whose side he’s on. Sadly the female characters are severely underdeveloped – barely more than names on a page in fact – and much as I wanted to root for Rad there simply wasn’t enough there for me to feel involved with. That said, I kept turning the pages and while this book didn’t quite work for me I will definitely check out Christopher’s other work.
The Verdict:
Adam Christopher’s debut science fiction novel is jam-packed with ideas – pocket universes, robots, superheroes and Chandler-style noir – but the story itself never really came together and was slightly too episodic for me. Rad’s a curiously passive character, dragged along by events rather than driving them and I was disappointed that Rex, having started off so strongly, disappears from the page for too long, leaving him somewhat underdrawn. This is a shame because Christopher’s New York and Empire State are fascinating worlds with some great concepts underpinning them and I desperately wanted to know more about the City Commissioners, the robots staffing the ironclads and the Pastor of Lost Souls but there’s simply so much going on and insufficient pages to explore all of them properly. I did love the bonus interview with Christopher at the end and the creative commons licence is fascinating – all in all I’ll read Christopher’s next book even though this didn’t quite do it for me.
It’s a parallel-universe, Prohibition-era world of mooks and shamuses that is the twisted magic mirror to our bustling Big Apple. It’s a city where sinister characters lurk around every corner, while the great superheroes who once kept the streets safe have fallen into deadly rivalries and feuds. Not that its colourful residents know anything about the real New York … until detective Rad Bradley makes a discovery that will change the lives of all its inhabitants.
It’s the height of Prohibition in an alternate New York where the Skyguard and the Science Pirate, former superhero guardians of the city, now battle each other for supremacy. Rex is a racketeer shaking down midtown Manhattan when he witnesses the final, epic battle between the Skyguard and the Science Pirate and accidentally discovers the Science Pirate’s secret identity …
Rad Bradley’s a down-at-heel detective in the Empire State. It’s the year 19 and the State is at war but the ironclad battleships sent out into the fog to battle an unseen enemy never return. Until now. When Rad’s hired by Katherine Kopek to find her missing lover, Sam Saturn, his investigation takes him into the Empire State’s darkest secrets – secrets that threaten its very existence …
Adam Christopher’s debut science fiction novel is jam-packed with ideas – pocket universes, robots, superheroes and Chandler-style noir – but the story itself never really came together and was slightly too episodic for me. Rad’s a curiously passive character, dragged along by events rather than driving them and I was disappointed that Rex, having started off so strongly, disappears from the page for too long, leaving him somewhat underdrawn. This is a shame because Christopher’s New York and Empire State are fascinating worlds with some great concepts underpinning them and I desperately wanted to know more about the City Commissioners, the robots staffing the ironclads and the Pastor of Lost Souls but there’s simply so much going on and insufficient pages to explore all of them properly. I did love the bonus interview with Christopher at the end and the creative commons licence is fascinating – all in all I’ll read Christopher’s next book even though this didn’t quite do it for me.
The best parts of the book for me are the scenes involving Captain Carter, a scientist and adventurer whose always one step ahead of Rad and whose relationship with his robotic manservant, Byron, is delightfully ambiguous. Christopher puts Carter’s ambiguity to good use such that you’re never quite sure whose side he’s on. Sadly the female characters are severely underdeveloped – barely more than names on a page in fact – and much as I wanted to root for Rad there simply wasn’t enough there for me to feel involved with. That said, I kept turning the pages and while this book didn’t quite work for me I will definitely check out Christopher’s other work.
The Verdict:
Adam Christopher’s debut science fiction novel is jam-packed with ideas – pocket universes, robots, superheroes and Chandler-style noir – but the story itself never really came together and was slightly too episodic for me. Rad’s a curiously passive character, dragged along by events rather than driving them and I was disappointed that Rex, having started off so strongly, disappears from the page for too long, leaving him somewhat underdrawn. This is a shame because Christopher’s New York and Empire State are fascinating worlds with some great concepts underpinning them and I desperately wanted to know more about the City Commissioners, the robots staffing the ironclads and the Pastor of Lost Souls but there’s simply so much going on and insufficient pages to explore all of them properly. I did love the bonus interview with Christopher at the end and the creative commons licence is fascinating – all in all I’ll read Christopher’s next book even though this didn’t quite do it for me.
