Mann, George ~ The Affinity Bridge: A Newbury and Hobbes Investigation ~ TOR, 2009 ~ 334 pages ~ Audience: adults, some teens ~ Rating: Very Good.
Opening:
"The flies. Always the damn flies."
Publication History:
This is the first...
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Mann, George ~ The Affinity Bridge: A Newbury and Hobbes Investigation ~ TOR, 2009 ~ 334 pages ~ Audience: adults, some teens ~ Rating: Very Good.
Opening:
"The flies. Always the damn flies."
Publication History:
This is the first volume in a series of Newbury and Hobbes investigations. Other volumes have been published in Great Britain.
Setting:
Victoria is Queen and the British Empire is grand and glorious. Technology has advanced to include a variety of steam-based engines, some card-based computers, and giant airships that tie the Empire together. Industry has brought considerable pollution and an underclass is quite visible in the larger cities.
As expected the Empire, embodied in the Queen, faces a variety of challenges. Besides foreign enemies not considered here, crime and monsters create much danger on the street in the poor sections of London.
Plot:
Sir Maurice Newbury is an anthropologist/archaeologist attached to the British Museum. He is also an important agent for the Crown, reporting directly to the Queen. He is busily engaged in an investigation in killings of in the rougher, poorer parts of the city. Perhaps this are done by a policeman who glows blue in the dark. This investigation is interrupted by the unexpected crash of a passenger airship near the city. He is immediately assigned to discover the cause of the crash and who might be responsible.
Characters:
Besides Sir Newbury, intelligent, very well educated but with some experiences that continue to haunt him, his assistant Miss Veronica Hobbes, plays an important role in the investigations. She is thoughtful, quick to make unexpected connections, will risk herself when necessary, and is attractive. Inspector Bainbridge of the Scotland Yard adds an important element as does the brief but important appearances of the Queen.
Physical Book:
Besides the Prologue and the Epilogue, there are 31 relatively short chapters. Print is comfortably dark and a bit larger than usual with satisfactory white space. See-through is better than average. Pages turn quickly and reading is easy. The front cover illustration by Viktor Koen shows the airship above London within a frame of mechanical parts. It captures the spirit of the story very well.
Recommendation:
Steampunk is quite the fashion at the moment as a sort of alternate history with science fictional or fantasy elements. Some are mostly adventure stories with explorations of unusual environments. Affinity Bridge is a detective or mystery story within what is becoming a sort of “traditional” British steampunk setting.
Mann writes well, the setting is clear and persuasive, interactions between characters work well and are convincing, and the mystery was a surprise to this reader until fairly late in the book. Given the mystery and British element, Affinity Bridge has good cross-over potential.
A good choice for alternative history and broadly defined fantasy collections. Might also be placed with the mystery collection.
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