The Native Star: Bustlepunk revolution
Portlander M.K. Hobson’s debut novel The Native Star is fantasy deliciousness of the first order. I want at least three sequels and a high budget SyFy original series. It would be Deadwood meets True Blood meets Xena, and would melt underwear across the nation. Guaranteed.
Eight reasons why The Native Star is under my pillow, being gently caressed as I sleep:
1. Romance-adventure-fantasy-western-steampunk-historical! The author has coined the term Bustlepunk to describe her new sub-genre of fantasy. She’s not playing around, teasing or holding back. This is an eight course meal, a full on orgy of weirdness and invention that never gives up, webbed in with some seriously creepy violence, and a sprinkling of delicious romance.
2. The heroine is better than plucky. Plucky heroines are a dime a dozen, and don’t you kind of hate them? (I have a long rant about plucky, but this is not the place). Our girl Emily Edwards is better than that. She’s flawed and bitchy. She makes bad decisions, and though she learns to be smart, she does it just a little less quickly than she needs to. Emily gets put through hell, and it’s great to be there with her.
3. The good guy is oh, so bad. Dreadnought Stanton (victim of a father with political ambitions and terrible ideas about naming his children) is a cross between Doctor Strange, Mr. Darcy, and Han Solo. He’s bitchier than Emily — probably because his own personal curse is that his magic works in a way that leaves him with near-permanent low blood sugar and a constant craving for sweets. (Been there, honey!) I love him.
4. The bad guys are even worse. Damn, they’re creepy, taking over people’s hearts and minds. *Shiver*
5. Zombies, mutated forest animals, and magical ooze, oh my! Plus scary religious nuts, addicted witches, love spells gone terribly wrong… I could go on but I don’t want to spoil the fun. The book bursts with imaginative invention.
6. Deliciously well-conceived magic systems. The world’s magical economy is logical, fully conceived, complex, and utterly believable. Learning about it along with Emily is half the fun of the book.
7. The history is broad and deep. This is an America of bunting and steam trains, immigrants and homesteads, politicians and industrialists, dark mine tunnels, endless forests and thronging city streets. Here is America, a ravening, manifest destiny-powered thrust to the 20th Century, and it won’t be held back.
8. Nothing better than costume drama. Dammit, there’s something satisfying about dressing characters up in lovely old fashioned clothes. Emily wears everything from second- or third-hand men’s clothes to ball gowns, and I’m lapping it up at every costume change.
Remember what I said about underwear melting, earlier? Let it melt yours.
You have a limited amount of time, so why spend it reading about things that suck or are only kind of okay? Favorite thing EVER is not a review site. We're unrepentant fans, and this is the stuff we love. Hope you like gushing, because we're about to embarrass ourselves.
Bustlepunk! I look forward to bitchy adventure!
Oh, it’s goooood crack.
I finished it Wednesday night! I tore through it in two days. It was quite a rollicking ride! Do you know if Mary has a second one coming out? It set up a sequel quite handily!
I think the sequel is out in April!
This is an amazing review of such a worth Fave thing Ever; your joy brings tears to my eyes.