So I just picked up Scott Westerfields novels Behemoth and Leviathan and it has me on a real Steampunk kick, I was hoping maybe the good folks here at DLP could recommend any other quality Steampunk novels worth reading.

 

I can only heavily recommend China Mieville's Perdido Street Station. That book blew me away.

I had to pay a surprising amount of attention while reading to not miss something crucial, but his prose is probably the most unique I've ever read. His world-building is simply astounding and he goes to insane lengths in order to create, establish and maintain his aspired level of verisimilitude.

Some of his ideas are just so outlandish but so well integrated that they simply add more and more detail to the world, and as a result Perdido Street Station is probably the most imaginative and immersive novel I've read in a long time.

I'd definitely classify this as Steampunk, and while those elements play an important role they aren't the main focus of the book.

You should certainly read a couple of reviews and recommendations because I doubt that this novel is for everyone's taste, but I loved it.

 

Hmm well I will definitely check it out then, I like the description I'm seeing on Wikipedia. Do you have anything else?

 

If you're willing to go for something more child-oriented, I remember liking Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve when I was younger.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mortal-Engi...0918/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314471907&sr=8-1

It has some very good reviews from adult readers too. Maybe I should give it a re-read.

 

Thats fine with me, I will definitely check it out, thank you for the rec.

 

Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding.

Here's the blurb on the back cover:

I seriously can't recommend this enough. The writing is flawless, the story is awesome, and every character is truly a real person.

Think Firefly, Steampunk style. And there's a sequel too.

 

The Windup Girl was pretty good - the plot had problems but, ultimately, it was a good novel.

Of course, this couldn't be a steampunk thread without someone mentioning the father of the genre: The Difference Engine.

 

Ooo this sounds fantastic, I will absolutely be checking this out. Also Fiat I think my Google-Fu may be failing me here since I can't seem to locate anything on The Windup Girl, can you tell me anything else?

 

Lol, I have both The Difference Engine and Wind Up Girl on my shelf. I disliked both of them.

The Difference Engine is the perfect example of a story based on a world-building idea that then fails to deliver on plot and character. It also didn't help that, despite the world-building being the only attractive element of the novel, the world didn't get revealed much at all, and all of the interesting alternative history developments had occurred prior to the start of the story.

Wind Up Girl had the opposite problem. The writing was good, the characters okay, but I just didn't buy into the world at all. I don't find it a believable possible future.

 

I was recommended The Difference Engine years ago by someone whose taste in books normally aligns well with mine. Unfortunately, when I read it, I found myself asking about every dozen or so pages, "So when is it going to actually get good?" It's the literary equivalent of ninety of foreplay followed by mediocre, forgettable sex. Though I read fully hoping to enjoy it, I am having a hard time now even remembering what it was about.

Most everything by H. G. Wells and Jules Verne deserves mention. Though the prose is purple in spots, I still enjoyed Bitter Seeds by Ian Trigellis: WWII era alternative history, Nazi mutants vs. British warlocks.

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson was quite good. As was The League of Extraordinary Gentleman by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill. The Golden Compass by Pullman. The Prestige by Christopher Priest.

 

I know, but it's one of those books you kind of have to recommend when someone asks for steampunk. I had pretty much the same problem with it, but Your Mileage May Vary. Most of the people I know who read it really liked it, and as such had to at least entertain the possibility that Krogan might.

You really expected to find a plausible future in Steampunk? That's a pretty big expectation you've got. It's steampunk: the entire genre is built on either alternate history dating back to the 1800s or ridiculous improbabilities.

 

I listened to the audiobook version of Agatha H. and the Airship City (the novelization of the Girl Genius web comic). It was enjoyable and you might like the book version.

 

I don't really consider Wind-Up Girl to be Steampunk, at least not in that sense. It's not alternative history, it's meant to be about a possible future of our current society.

 

I've heard of the comic before but I had no idea there was a book as well, I will have to go and look for this.

 

So is Stephenson's The Diamond Age, but I'm sincerely doubting that in the event of a world governmental collapse, one of the major world powers will be a group who have voluntarily reverted back to Victorian morals and aesthetics. Despite this, it's both considered to be steampunk by a very large proportion of the people who read it and enjoyed by an even larger proportion.
There's always a certain air of implausibility about steampunk, but it's a part of the genre.

 

So I just read Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding an did found it great. Can you recommend me a few books/series that are similar?

 

Just finished the first of three books a bit ago. Th Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack. Fairly awesome.

 

There's the sequel: The Black Lung Captain

 

Stephen Hunt's a good author, and actually coined the term "flintlock fantasy" His writing style is a bit disjointed and he throws a lot at you, but the worldbuilding is phenomenal, the writing style differs depending on the book (war story, adventure, exploration, detective, etc) set in a far future earth with a very diverse biosphere.

So far, I've read:

The Court of the Air

The Kingdom Beyond the Waves

Rise of the Iron Moon,

All the ones published so far in the USA.