A review by maitrey_d
Morlock Night by K.W. Jeter
2.0
This book is considered to be the pioneer in the "steampunk" genre, something I've been fascinated with recently. In fact the label "steampunk" was coined the author of this book K.W. Jeter.
The only good thing I can think about this book is that moves at a fast clip. The characters are poor (the female protagonist disappears for pages on end, even when she is supposed to be walking right next to our hero), and the plot is faintly ridiculous. The only steampunk-y bits are sub-marines, and a time machine (Jeter calls this book as a sequel to Wells's Time Machine). The writing is pulpy, and the praise that Tim Powers heaped in the introduction of my edition of this book appears quite misplaced.
I hope the other "seminal" steampunk books don't turn out to be disappointments like this one.
The only good thing I can think about this book is that moves at a fast clip. The characters are poor (the female protagonist disappears for pages on end, even when she is supposed to be walking right next to our hero), and the plot is faintly ridiculous. The only steampunk-y bits are sub-marines, and a time machine (Jeter calls this book as a sequel to Wells's Time Machine). The writing is pulpy, and the praise that Tim Powers heaped in the introduction of my edition of this book appears quite misplaced.
I hope the other "seminal" steampunk books don't turn out to be disappointments like this one.