The Queen of All Crows : The Map Of Unknown Things Book I
“The year is 2012. The nations of the world are bound together in an alliance of collective security, overseen by the International Patent Office, and its ruthless stranglehold on technology.
When airships start disappearing in the middle of the Atlantic, the Patent Office is desperate to discover what has happened. Forbidden to operate beyond the territorial waters of member nations, they send spies to investigate in secret.
One of those spies is Elizabeth Barnabus. She must overcome her dislike of the controlling Patent Office, disguise herself as a man, and take to the sea in search of the floating nation of pirates who threaten the world order.”
Another excellent addition to the series!,
As befitting the start of a new saga surrounding Elizabeth Barnabus, both the cover and setting are different from what we’ve had before, but not so much that they throw you out of things. In terms of story, some things have marched on, notably Elizabeth’s relationship with John Farthing, but even though much of what went on seems to have happened off-page (to my relief, given that I’m not fond of overt and tedious romances in books) none of it is left as bare as to seem skipped, or handwaved, which is testament to Rod Duncan’s masterful storytelling and him knowing when to show and when to tell.
The story itself is beautifully-written. It finds the happy place between the emptiness of a world and its events left sparse and barely touched to the point of requiring the reader needing to fill in gaps in the building of them and the equally aggravating habit some have of over-describing to the point of either obnoxious floridity or considering the reader an idiot. In addition, it is well-paced and doesn’t fall into the traps of moving along so fast as to feel rushed (not even at the end!) and while also resisting the tendency of others to crawl along at a sluggish pace. The balance in both of these points is perfect.
What really stands out in Rod Duncan’s work, even as far as this fourth book in his series, is his brilliance when it comes to writing female characters. This really cannot be understated. They read as people, real people, with motivations and desires beyond men, and what men might want from them and what men bring to their lives. The prose doesn’t linger unnecessarily on body parts that we don’t ever think about but that many male authors seem to think we do, nor are their driving forces shallow or only added in nominally to give an impression of depth. At the same time, he doesn’t strip the characters of their femininity, which is a trap other authors seem to fall into while trying to write Strong Female Characters. This is apparent in both recurring characters, particularly Elizabeth herself and those that show up as one-offs for this book. They’re just people. People doing things that weren’t shoe-horned in for the sake of representation or diversity, people with believable flaws and desires and goals and that’s really more lovely than I can adequately convey.
Balance seems to be a good word for Rod Duncan in general. This series doesn’t just sit comfortably in the goldilocks zone of storytelling, pacing and believable characterisation, the world itself also perches on that scale.
It’s Steampunk, but only lightly. It might not appeal to people who are in it for the typical steampunk imagery of brass goggles, gears stuck on everything, steam trains everywhere and tophats a-plenty, but it’s also just steampunk enough not to be real-world, while still feeling real and believable. It doesn’t even dip its toes into the world of unbelievable fantasy and where steampunk is concerned, that’s wonderful. The changes to the world are massive, but presented in a realistic way, and the differences in our technology (and social norms and values) and theirs (due, of course, to the alternate history of the world itself) pervades everything without feeling like the author showing off his worldbuilding to us like a proud parent. It feels like a real place. Like it could have happened had things turned out differently.
That this book provides a wonderful self-contained story, a fantastic continuation of the previous trilogy and a tantalising step towards the next book just ties it all up in a neat bow.
All in all, Rod Duncan has quickly risen to a place in the top ten of my favourite authors and this book did not disappoint, even for a second.
A superb piece of writing,
The next in the series presumably takes Elizabeth into the USA as the story ends with her arrival there. I can’t wait for it (when is it out?). Julia has been to Patagonia, so maybe future books will take Elizabeth even further to Antarctica!
This is the latest in Rod Duncan’s excellent “The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire series”,