The Kingdom Beyond The Waves - Stephen Hunt

 
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers/Harper Voyager: London, 2008.

I wanted to like this novel. Adventure, intrigue, and (best of all) steampunk! 

We follow adventurer Amelia Harsh, an Indiana Jones-type, but with magically-enhanced muscular arms, as she seeks to learn the location of Camlantis, the legendary lost possibly-floating-in-the-sky city of ancient mythology. Eventually she unites with a ragtag group of warrior women and freed convicts, taking a u-boat (submarine) deep into the heart of a deadly jungle in search of clues. We also follow Cornelius Fortune, an eccentric (or possibly outright-insane) aristocrat who is secretly also a vigilante named 'Furnace-breath Nick' as he seeks to find the reason behind a series of grave-robberies targeting ancient steammen (sentient robots). 

Eventually the two story-lines will link, but not before we meet a vast array of characters, some of whom are introduced as if important, only to vanish from the story immediately afterwards while others will face gruesome deaths somewhere down the track.

I think that was the big issue for me - the book felt a little unpleasant. I can't put my finger on exactly why that is the case, but it was something I felt repeatedly. Add that to the strangely structured elements of the story (I did eventually realise that this is as sequel of sorts to an earlier Stephen Hunt book, which may explain away parts of the structure) and it left me a bit unsatisfied with this book altogether.

Not for me.

Completed 26 April 2021.

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