sagauthor's review
4.0
Murder out of the Blue is a light entertaining read. I easily finished it in three days. It is about half the length of the average full size fiction work.
This steampunk story is set in an alternate world of English empire, at maybe the late 1800s. There is heavier than air travel and even space travel. The story is completely set on an airship traveling from Africa to India.
The heroine is a young Indian woman who is a first class passenger and a well-to-do citizen of the empire, but who faces prejudice because of her skin color.
The prejudice facing Maliha Anderson is well handled and feels realistic. One odd thing I noticed in the book, after I finished was that every character who had alternative gender preferences came to a bad end. Three characters who were gay, and had alternate livestyles were punished or came to a bad end in the book.
This is a well done steampunk book that is a quick read and a fun murder mystery with a smart and heroic female amateur sleuth. I am looking forward to reading the next one in the series.
This steampunk story is set in an alternate world of English empire, at maybe the late 1800s. There is heavier than air travel and even space travel. The story is completely set on an airship traveling from Africa to India.
The heroine is a young Indian woman who is a first class passenger and a well-to-do citizen of the empire, but who faces prejudice because of her skin color.
The prejudice facing Maliha Anderson is well handled and feels realistic. One odd thing I noticed in the book, after I finished was that every character who had alternative gender preferences came to a bad end. Three characters who were gay, and had alternate livestyles were punished or came to a bad end in the book.
This is a well done steampunk book that is a quick read and a fun murder mystery with a smart and heroic female amateur sleuth. I am looking forward to reading the next one in the series.
ajlewis2's review
4.0
Steampunk is new to me and this book showed me how nice it is to just sit back and go with the alternate universe where a difference like Faraday's discovering anti-gravity can change things. I found it very relaxing to let my mind flow in this way.
From the beginning of the reading, I knew I was in good hands with Steve Turnbull. His story has a classical feel to it. I did not feel bombarded with odd things, but just fell naturally into the story where things are not like they are here/now. I enjoyed his main character and his development of characters in general. This is enjoyable, light reading, but there is depth to consider the relationship of the story to my own experience of life. So, it was light, but not frivolous.
I love this universe and will continue in the series to mix it in with other reading. It truly was a pleasure reading this novella.
From the beginning of the reading, I knew I was in good hands with Steve Turnbull. His story has a classical feel to it. I did not feel bombarded with odd things, but just fell naturally into the story where things are not like they are here/now. I enjoyed his main character and his development of characters in general. This is enjoyable, light reading, but there is depth to consider the relationship of the story to my own experience of life. So, it was light, but not frivolous.
I love this universe and will continue in the series to mix it in with other reading. It truly was a pleasure reading this novella.
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