Thoroughly, unabashedly steampunk with all of the bells and whistles entailed in the description. The narrative style takes a few moments to get used to and the action builds gently, but once Infernal Devices starts - it's runs along swiftly. A gentle hat tip to Lovecraft concerning the fishy folk of Wetwick and a menagerie of bizarre devices and occurrences. Our hero is definitely a trouble magnet - bad things happen to him with a regularity that only increases in pace. Fortunately, he learns to rise to the occasion as often as possible. I truly wish I'd read this sooner. ( )

I found this read a little disappointing after some intial promise. Without spoling the plot, I felt the writing was just too stuffily victorian to be easily readable - though I have to say it did lend agood character to the overall book. So I am somewhat caught a-fenced between wanting more machicanery and more satisfying plotline. Since this is my first foray in to the genre, Ill use it as a benchmark for others to come. ( )

Definitely one of the Books I Should Have Read Already, though I have tried three other times. I just couldn't get into it. But I finally did.

I like steampunk. The visual art element anyway. I like the creativity. Not the gluing on of gears, but a lot of really fun stuff is out there. The thing about steampunk is that is is completely impossible, so I can usually take it in stride. Literary steampunk, on the other hand, is a challenge. For some reason, authors feel like they need to develop neologisms to separate their stories from "ordinary" fantasy fiction. Jeter doesn't have quite as many, but if he's one of the grandfathers of modern steampunk literature, then he's partially to blame for encumbering a story with unwieldy language - to set it apart, and to set it in the chosen time period, I'm guessing. Still, unlike so-called "hard" science fiction, in which there're always things inconsistent within the framework of the universe crafted, which are glaringly obvious, steampunk, unburdened from "clacking" and such is easy to swallow.

But Jeter wove some really bizarre stuff in this book. Absurd even in his universe. I think I settled on him spiking satirical with some of the really out there interjections.

I've got a few more of the origins of steampunk literature to try. Checking this one off.

There's a reasonably decent story here, somewhat burdened by those onerous syntactical constructs. ( )

There's some great stuff in here, but some books would be so much better with a strong editor, and this is one of them .

the audio version was entertaining but this is very visual storytelling with a scene by scene series of interconnected plots, characters and locales, so it would make an even more interesting hanna-barbera meets porco rosso meets wizard of oz sort of live action w green screen "who framed roger rabbit" sorta thing, but even then who would do the flying machine special effects? i have no idea !

regardless, there are all the trappings of dime novel fun here to keep you entertained and few wonderful twists and turns to keep you thinking too, so even at two measly stars i'm still encouraging you to give it a try, especially if piscene creatures or the goings-on of automaton enthusiasts are your thing ! ( )

Poorly plotted, paced, and developed. ( )