Karen Memory
2015 • 346 pages
Ratings10
Average rating4.3
15
Ratings10
Average rating4.3
"Steampunk novel set in Seattle in the late 19th century--an era when the town was called Rapid City, when the parts we now call Seattle Underground were the whole town (and still on the surface), when airships plied the trade routes bringing would-be miners heading up to the gold fields of Alaska, and steam-powered mechanicals stalked the waterfront. Karen is a "soiled dove," a young woman on her own who is making the best of her orphaned state by working in Madame Damnable's high-quality bordello. Through Karen's eyes we get to know the other girls in the house--a resourceful group--and the poor and the powerful of the town. Trouble erupts into her world one night when a badly injured girl arrives at their door, seeking sanctuary, followed by the man who holds her indenture, who has a machine that can take over anyone's mind and control their actions. And as if that wasn't bad enough, the next night brings a body dumped in their rubbish heap--a streetwalker who has been brutally murdered" --
A tale set in late nineteenth century steampunk Seattle finds orphaned Karen working in a high-quality bordello, where she confronts a powerful man who owns a dangerous mind-control machine.
Series
2 primary booksKaren Memory is a 2-book series with 2 primary works first released in 2015 with contributions by Elizabeth Bear.
Reviews with the most likes.
Pros: great world-building, fun characters, interesting plot
Cons: some crude language
Karen Memery works as a ‘seamstress' in Madame Damnable's Hotel Mon Cherie. When two women knock on their door running from one of Peter Bantle's cribs by the pier, Karen stands up to him and the roughs who've come to take the women back. Bantle's got a special machine and he's running for mayor, and things in Rapid City start to go downhill fast for the ‘seamstresses', especially when U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves rolls into town, looking for a killer.
You get a wonderful first chapter explaining how Karen's a ‘seamstress' and a seamstress, making her own dresses for her, ahem, actual work. You also get a great introduction to her co-workers and the environment they work in vs environments other ‘seamstresses' have to work in. So when a ‘seamstress' from a much worse environment show up, you're already sympathetic towards her.
The world is basically a decent sized town in the wild west, if the wild west had dirigibles and other steampunk accoutrements - like a souped up Singer sewing machine that straps on. There's also a wide variety of characters, from the black marshal (patterned off of a real man), a lot of spunky women (not all of whom are white), some Russians, a native man, and others. The cast makes the city feel real - and remembers the history of the Western coast, with China towns, escaped slaves, indentured servants, and more.
Bear's prose is fun, seeing through Karen's eyes, though it takes some getting used to as the grammar's atrocious. There's a lot of period - and character - appropriate terms (including derogatory terms for people of other races/nationalities) and swearing, which some may find offensive.
The plot rambles a bit, as Karen isn't always at the centre of things, but is quite interesting and coalesces in a series of fights that make for an exciting climax.
This is an excellent book. Highly recommended.
