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Old 09-21-2013, 11:41 PM
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Panther Al Panther Al is offline
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The Forever Engine - Frank Chadwick

Well... I got my hands on an ARC of this book, and read through it over the past few hours.


Not too shabby. Its seriously steampunkish, mixed with a little alt-history. In a way.

Its told via first person, with the main Character, Jack Fargo, being a former special operator turned historian, and a cast of historical and made up characters to support the bad guys and the good guys.

Now, after this point, we have da spoilers, so be aware:















Right.

It starts off with a bang - literally. It barely gets past the first 10 pages when the action starts, and sends our hero - through a weapon that didn't work as designed, and tore a hole in time and space, back into the late Victorian Era.

Just not the one we know of.

Here in this era, we have a strong flavour of Space 1889 coming into play, with Liftwood and Ether Propellers all making an appearance, as well as travel to mars being mentioned more than once, though it doesn't play out in the book. I honestly, would not be surprised if some of the characters, be it principle or otherwise, was earlier mentioned in one of the Space 1889 stories.

Our Hero has a rough time of it to start, being an American in England: An England that is about to go to war with America according to the press, without documents and crazy story about being from the future. Through the actions of a third party though, he is shown to be relatively truthful, at least enough so that it is decided that his co-operation would be usefull in determining who was behind the time travel, as the explosion that brought him back wasn't the only one, and there is that little matter of a bloodthirsty snatch team being sent right away to grab him by a mysterious Mr. X in London proper. That sort of thing just isn't done don't you know? A number of historical characters are brought into play, mostly as background, though one is a principle character, though unless you are a geek like me, you won't know know who he is till the end of the book.

They travel through Bavaria, in the middle of October, and the bad guys make another snatch attempt, interrupting a local festival in the City of Munich. Again, that just isn't done - and the team gets additional help in tracking down the now known location of Mr. X.

Of course, things never go that easy: They are promised assistance from a squad of scouts by the Turks, who, alas, wasn't told that they was being offered, so a bad case of blue and blue happens. Which leads to probably the best line where the British Captain, shaken by the results of the BonB, asks what is the best way to avoid it. The answer? "Career change was working pretty well for me until today."

A series of further hiccups results in the capture of our hero by Mr. X, who claims he can return him home, but as the Hero discovers what that claim is about - and worth, the fellow hero's, said to be dead, who turn out not; stage a rescue, leading to a final battle between Mr X and the gang of Hero's.

Pretty much standard fare for most books like this, but it is rather enjoyable, a easy read, and all in all worth the money to read.

Now, I tried to keep spoiler free: Mr. X is revealed fairly early, and there is a very good twist at the end, that twists a few more ways than most twists out there. But all said and done, this is a good one.

The ARC is available now, via the Baen.com ebooks page.
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