Gizmos and vampires and airships... oh my.
Yes, friends, I'm officially hooked on steampunk. Here's another review I wrote recently for O.M. Grey's first novel, "Avalon Revisited." This was originally posted on Amazon.com but I just moved it over here too for safekeeping. Whee!
O.M. Grey's book from the very beginning has the distinctly powerful quality of a clear voice; although at first you don't know anything about Arthur, the narrator, you can hear him clearly word for word and through his narrations you begin to unfold his character. The few hundred years of his vampiric life have made him sly, clever, a little vain and extremely charming, and all of these things are brought out through his first person descriptions and commentary. The mysterious underbelly of the story picks up speed at an expert pace, full of twists and suspenseful moments but ultimately quite thrilling, all the while the reader rides along with Arthur as he tries to reconcile his vampire life with his newfound overwhelming crush on a woman who has no interest in him. Things get touchy when it is discovered that Avalon, the gorgeous but solitary woman of Arthur's affections, is in the business of becoming a vampire hunter, and things get even touchier when the killings across London are being pegged as vampire murders, although Arthur is not fully to blame.
The story is intriguing and delicious, the characters are delightful and easy to picture, and the London backdrop serves perfectly for a supernaturally romantic mystery. I hope to see much more of the same genre from O.M. Grey, whose prose is never over- or underdone, and whose well-rounded construction of Arthur is addictive and quite companionable for the reader. Classic and passionate (but never to the point of smut, in my opinion) "Avalon Revisited" is a delectable triumph and has left me savoring its flavor and definitely hungry for more.
