Steampunk: An Illustrated History of Fantastical Fiction, Fanciful Film and Other Victorian Visions
Steampunk This wide-ranging, beautifully-illustrated and much needed history explores the Steampunk’s many intricate expressions, tracing its development in fiction, cinema, television, comics, videogames and beyond. Full description
Good introduction to Steampunk.,
Firstly; if you already own a copy of “The Steampunk Bible” several of the images in that book re-appear here; that’s fairly unavoidable give the iconic status some book-jacket covers have taken on, though some of the costume photos and film-stills could have been more varied and better identified; I also think that publication still gives the more rounded account and overview of the genre to date.
This volume does, however, make a very good companion to the “Bible” and is in an impressively larger format.
Robb’s book provides an excellent in-depth, authoritative exploration of the literary element of the genre, its origins and antecedents, key works, authors, themes, etc., he also goes into detail with subjects such as graphic novels, the Japanese scene, music – all the diverse elements that come under the Steampunk heading – the only unsatisfactory topic for me is in the definition of what constitutes Steampunk influence in film, TV and video games, which at times can be a little tenuous; this arises from the basic problem that there has yet to be a truly defining Steampunk drama, a successful, iconic movie or series aficionados can unanimously agree on.
That’s hardly the fault of the author though and other Steampunk books deal with this territory with much the same inconclusive outcomes. A useful quotation from Abney Park’s lead singer is illuminating; “We’ve had Steampunk movies for as long as we’ve had movies…It`s just been recently given a name.”
In summation then, this is a well-illustrated book with a good informative text, the strongest points being those dealing with the literary and graphic novel side of the genre; if you don`t already own any book on the subject it’s a good starting point, its nice to look through, though it lacks the compendium feel of the “Bible” which encouraged “dipping into” more readily.
It`s a very good addition to the growing number of volumes on Steampunk.
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|Stunning Steampunk review,
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|Fairly good. BUT…..,
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