Nisi Shawl “Everfair” (Tor, 2016)
A couple of years ago, it seemed like steampunk was
everywhere & there was a lot of conversation about the subgenre. One of the major critiques was that its
emphasis on exploration and derring-do simply reified the colonialism of the
past. Everfair is a giant rebuke to that style
of steampunk.
What if the history of the Congo changed? Shawl’s forces of
liberation have steam technology earlier, and a coalition of English
socialists, American ex-patriots, fleeing slaves and workers, and tribal forces
fight and defeat the forces of King Leopold.
This is a big big story that includes a couple of
generations and takes place on multiple continents. And I think that leads to the biggest
problem. In order to get this huge story in a single volume, there are big
jumps in narrative and characterization.
Ultimately my complaint is not that action takes place off screen
(although that is a bit of a problem), but rather that I felt it hurt
characterization. A more slow and
patient development would have helped particularly in a story that has so many
characters.
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