Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley
Joseph A Williams’ book isn’t so much a chronicle of a sinking, but a history of a salvage mission. The best parts of the book are the ones that describe the development of diving technology. It also illuminates a lesser known story about WWI. The writing is a bit dry when moving beyond driving, but the use of background material does keep the reader interested.
| Interesting read. I liked how he showed every phase of the operation to find the Golden Fleece. The team had to do historical research on the time period and the pirate Joseph Bannister. They did the search and dived to find artifacts and then had experts ascertain their time periods on the artifacts. You do not need to know anything about salvaging or diving. The author explains all that in layman terms. I enjoy his writing. |
#DEATHBYSUNKENTREASURE 3 STARS AVAILABLE 3/22/16 @kaitcarson @henerypress While I think this is a good series, it's just not for me. I don't swim and hearing about all the things you have to do to go on a dive and all the cautions and warnings over and over. It just became a little redundant for me. I know this is a personal issue and no fault of the author. I think this is a series I will be skipping in the future.
The nuts and bolts of the mystery itself were very good and I did not see the ending coming. So I think most cozy mystery lovers will appreciate this series.
Thanks Henery Press for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.
William Butler Yeats, Walter de la Mare by Lady Ottoline Morrell
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50240THE SUNKEN GARDEN
SPEAK NOT—WHISPER NOT;
Here bloweth thyme and bergamot;
Softly on the evening hour,
Secret herbs their spices shower,
Dark-spiked rosemary and myrrh,
Lean-stalked, purple lavender;
Hides within her bosom, too,
All her sorrows, bitter rue.
Breathe not—trespass not;
Of this green and darkling spot,
Latticed from the moon’s beams,
Perchance a distant dreamer dreams;
Perchance upon its darkening air,
The unseen ghosts of children fare,
Faintly swinging, sway and sweep,
Like lovely sea-flowers in its deep;
While, unmoved, to watch and ward,
’Mid its gloom’d and daisied sward,
Stands with bowed and dewy head
That one little leaden Lad.
Although this is, it seems to me, the best time of year to read this collection, there is but the merest sniff of Hallowe'en. I should like to read his ghostly short stories.
They’re all at war!—
Yes, yes, their bodies go
’Neath burning sun and icy star
To chaunted songs of woe,
Dragging cold cannon through a mire
Of rain and blood and spouting fire,
The new moon glinting hard on eyes
Wide with insanities!
This is one of the weirdest books I've read in a very long time. I don't even know how to describe the weirdness correctly.
Imagine London in the first half of the Nineteenth Century. Now take away everything you know about that. Add to that a lot of steam engines, a complete class of people to man them, a vampire George III and what possibly is the weirdest religion system I've come across with. The Church of England has been replaced with the Gods of the Industrialisation. And then there are several churches based on different ideas. These churches have their Messiahs (like the best engineer in that class) and they are quite competitive. O, and did I mention it has dragons as well? (Although they're not quite given a large enough part of the book).
All of this together was quite the culture shock as I kind of expected Victorian England.
It took me some time to get into the story, as all the ideas where so weird, and although I recognized names from famous engineers from that era, like Stephenson and Brunel it was weird for me to see them as the main characters in this story, that has such a different reality going on.
After reading half of the story I started feeling a little less lost and enjoyed the story more. There were plot points that still don't make sense to me. It also feels like there are multiple massive plot lines that are all mixed up in one book by accident. The dragon-problem, the Luddite-problem and the robots, the whole The Passage-like vampire-problem. It felt like these problems could've better been dealt with in different books as this book was confusing.
And so, I feel conflicted about this book. For one, it's definitely an original story, the alternate steam-punk history is for once really alternate. (Perhaps even a bit too much so). All the things that were thought of really show there must have been a lot of work in making it. On the other hand, not every major plot twist made sense, and so much different stories were going on it was hard to keep track and try to understand anything from the world in this book. It was kind of messy.
However, it was, in its own way fascinating, so I might just give the second book a try when it's going to be published.
The Sunken is the first book in the Engine Ward Series. The second book has yet to be announced.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
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