J. P. Wagner

I am told J.P. Wagner covered a lot of ground and a lot of topics in the course of his career as a journalist. Having 'been there, done that' myself, I suspect it left him with an appreciation for a broad range of interests.

That certainly appears to be the case in his first published novel, "Railroad Rising: The Black Powder Rebellion." Fantasy, action and adventure, swords and sorcery? Check, check, check. Steampunk, royal court intrigue, love story? Check them all off as well.

The story follows the adventures of Cartog, a young nobleman far down in the line-of-succession, and far-removed from any prospect of inheritance. Accompanied only by Yakor, his faithful retainer and a formidable master-of-arms, Cartog has set off on a journey to find his fortune elsewhere and make his own way in the world, perhaps as a mercenary.

They ride into a small town seeking employment ... but instead find themselves in the midst of a what appears to be an uprising and attempted kidnapping. This is the first of a series of events that will involve Cartog and Yakor in a growing conflict and circle of enemies, as well as a growing prospect for advancement and circle of friends. It could lead to great fortune in the long term, or death in the short term.

"Railroad Rising" was an easy read and enjoyable enough, with a straightforward story line and simple characters. But I have to agree with other LibraryThing Early reviewers who thought it could have used some editing, and some polishing to the story and characters.

And we might have gotten some of that, had it not been for circumstances far removed from the realm of Cragmor, in our own real and mundane world ... "Sadly," we read in the book's postscript, "J.P. Wagner passed away in 2015, before the publication of 'Railroad Rising.'" It is something I read with regret as I finished this book ... I was looking forward to Wagner's NEXT book.
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NOTE: I received a free e-copy of this work through LibraryThing in exchange for a review.… (mehr)

A great pity. Throughout the book, I was thinking that this was clearly a first book and desperately needed a couple more edit passes - good setting, great concepts, wooden characters and dialog. I kept framing my review as "I'm really looking forward to his next book!". Then in the afterword I learned that J. P. Wagner died before this book was published. I'm sorry his family(?), publisher(?), whoever thought it would be better to release this book without finishing it. I'd rather have seen a finished, polished book, even if it wasn't wholly J. P.'s, than this half-finished, so nearly good book. Steampunk magic is a great concept - a world where magic is an established thing and railroads and gliders are just beginning to be used (and hot air balloons, which the protagonist apparently largely invents). The problems were rather repetitious (the king might not like him now! Figure out some way to placate him!), the characters were rather simplistic though nicely drawn (Yakor was incredibly useful as infodump, but an interesting person as well; Addy was totally one-dimensional. Didn't she have any ambitions, or was she simply happy to suddenly be getting married to this guy she'd known for whole weeks?), and the ending was extremely facile - the king kept face and Carrtog was no longer under any threat. Too easy. As was the end to the kidnapping. And most of the rest of Carrtog's problems... It was almost fun to read, but I really wish someone had done a bit more polishing.… (mehr)