Stevie‘s Duckies Do Series review of The Signal Airships Series by Robyn Bennis
Military Steampunk Fiction published by Tor Books May 2017 – May 2018
I’ve been intrigued by the idea of this series since sometime before the first book came out, although it took me until the imminent release of the second to actually start reading them. Set in a world that resembles ours in a previous century closely enough to feel familiar, yet far enough removed to feel just that little bit alien, it gives us steam-powered airborne navies fighting an endless war – only varying from year to year in terms of which countries are allies and which are enemies. Our companions, as we explore this world, are Josette Dupre, an auxiliary officer in the Garnian Royal Aerial Signal Corps – currently at war with the forces of Vinzhalia – and Lord Bernat Manatio Jebrit Aoue Hinkal, a down-on-his-luck and short-of-funds aristocrat, whose uncle just happens to be a high-ranking general in the Garnian army. When the pair are sent on seemingly impossible missions, they must learn to work together – and to figure out which of their crew and supposed allies are really to be trusted.
The Guns Above, Book 1
02 May 17
Josette signed up for military service in order to escape her seemingly tedious life out in the countryside – not to mention her domineering mother – but has begun to grow frustrated with an army that allows women to serve, but not to command or play a major role in battles. When we first meet her, she has successfully landed a crippled airship after her captain’s untimely demise, squashing multiple enemy combatants in the process. This heroism makes her the darling of the press and an inadvertent thorn in the side of her country’s military elite. In an effort to discredit Josette, General Lord Fieren – himself facing negative publicity for the way he’s been handling the war – puts her in command of an experimental new ship and sends his nephew Bernat along as an observer, ready to record Josette’s every mistake.
There was a lot to like about this first book: Josette is set up repeatedly to fail, yet finds a solution to every challenge, while ensuring the continued safety and welfare of her entire crew: male and female. She’s definitely not one of those powerful women seemingly afraid to let others follow in her footsteps; indeed, one of the infringements for which she is censured by those higher up is her allowing auxiliary ensigns to remain on board during battles and even to (wo)man the guns whenever they are best suited to the job out of those available. Bernat, on the other hand, felt a little inconsistent, neither a complete dandy and rake, nor an effectively evil sneaky bastard. I’d have liked to see him with a definite starting point from which to possess the capacity to be redeemed. As for the rest of the airship’s crew, I found it very difficult to dislike any of them and incredibly hard to pick a favourite, while Fieren made for an excellent overall antagonist. It was also great to see a cast in which the one pale-skinned crew member attracted attention wherever the ship happened to stop off.
Grade: B
Summary:
An adventurous military fantasy debut about a nation’s first female airship captain.
They say it’s not the fall that kills you.
For Josette Dupre, the Corps’ first female airship captain, it might just be a bullet in the back.
On top of patrolling the front lines, she must also contend with a crew who doubts her expertise, a new airship that is an untested deathtrap, and the foppish aristocrat Lord Bernat, a gambler and shameless flirt with the military know-how of a thimble. Bernat’s own secret assignment is to catalog her every moment of weakness and indecision.
So when the enemy makes an unprecedented move that could turn the tide of the war, can Josette deal with Bernat, rally her crew, and survive long enough to prove herself?
Read an excerpt.
By Fire Above, Book 2
15 May 18
One aspect of the first book in this series that I really appreciated was the way in which the two main characters were able to alternately work together and be at odds with each other without any suggestion of unrequited sexual tension on either of their parts. Bernat has his affairs – usually with older women – while Josette is mostly too busy with her new command to take much romantic interest in anyone, even if she does object to one of Bernat’s conquests for reasons other than jealously. All that changes in the second book, when, from the outset, the crew observe them as bickering like an old married couple. Not that there’s any definite romance between them – and this time it’s Josette whose choice of dance partner puts Bernat’s nose out of joint for non-romantic reasons – but the implication is there, and annoyingly so.
Having settled most of their other differences, however, Josette and Bernat – along with the crew of the Mistral – are on a mission to relieve the besieged Durum, Josette’s birthplace and the town where her mother still lives. The gang have a new adversary within their ranks as well – a junior officer who is greatly opposed to the idea of female captains and whose desire for glory is exceeded only by his overall incompetence. Sadly, he is the kind of chauvinist who won’t take advice from women, even when it’s obvious that their knowledge in a particular specialty is far greater than his purely by dint of experience in the area. While Josette and Bernat attempt to help the town’s resistance from within, the main part of their crew is tasked with waiting outside – leading to separate adventures for the two groups and giving Josette’s fellow auxiliary officers plenty of chances to shine.
In spite of some diverting scenes during the execution of both plots, I felt overall that this was a weaker book than the first in the series, mainly due to the added tension between Josette and Bernat – and the foregrounding of the two separate relationships contributing to that tension.
Grade: C
Summary:
“All’s fair in love and war,” according to airship captain Josette Dupre, until her hometown of Durum becomes occupied by the enemy and her mother a prisoner of war. Then it becomes, “Nothing’s fair except bombing those Vins to high hell.”
Before she can rescue her town, however, Josette must maneuver her way through the nest of overstuffed vipers that make up Garnia’s military and royal leaders in order to drum up support. The foppish and mostly tolerated Mistral crew member Lord Bernat steps in to advise her, along with his very attractive older brother.
Between noble scheming, under-trained recruits, and supply shortages, Josette and the crew of the Mistral figure out a way to return to Durum—only to discover that when the homefront turns into the frontlines, things are more dangerous than they seem.
Read an excerpt.
Overall, this is a highly innovative series that I’d like to read more of – provided that the upcoming plotlines follow more closely to military adventure tropes than to romance cliches.
Overall Grade: B
