The Guns Above
A Signal Airship novel, Book 1
Robyn Bennis
Tor
Fiction, Action/Fantasy/Sci-Fi
Themes: Airborn Adventures, Cross-Genre, Girl Power, Soldier Stories, Steampunk Etc
***+
Description
Josette Dupre never set out to become a war hero. The Garnian military barely tolerates women in lesser roles,
even aboard their airships; it was pure chance that she was the highest-ranked officer left alive to perform a
daring maneuver that turned the tide of one battle. Now, desperation and politics have combined to land her as
the captain - by role if not by official rank - of a new airship, the Mistral. She knows the top brass are
salivating for a chance to prove that women have no place in combat, and she intends to prove them wrong...
ideally while taking down as many of the enemy as she can. But dreams of vindication and glory soon run head-first
into challenges she never anticipated, from the flaws of her new ship's "revolutionary" design to crew morale and
a war that's about to take a drastic turn for the worse.
Lord Bernat has never worked a day in his pampered life, cheerfully burning through the family coffers - until
one day, instead of more money, his mother sends him to his general uncle. It seems that he's expected to earn his
own money via a commission... unless he proves useful in another way, by providing eyewitness proof of Dupre's
incompetence to put an end to any progressive notions that might take root in the military. Sure, he's never set
foot on an airship before, but Bernat is certain it'll be much easier than actually being a soldier, not to
mention the pay offered by his uncle is far better. But what seems like a simple task becomes much more
complicated, when the Mistral becomes swept up in audacious new plot by Garnia's enemies. The foppish lord
may have arrived on the airship intent on proving Dupre unfit for duty, but she may be the only one who can keep
him and the rest of the crew alive.
Review
It's been a bit since I read a steampunk adventure tale, so I figured I'd give this one a try. It offers plenty
of action and detailed technical musings on the world's airships, as machines and as tools in greater combat...
musings that, along with painstakingly explored battle tactics, threaten to sink the whole story and the
characters with it.
The tale starts in the aftermath of Josette's victory, as she and the other survivors of her doomed old ship become
part of a bold new idea handed down from Garnia's king that aims to put women in active leadership roles for the
first time - in truth, a sign of desperation by a nation that's just plain running out of men and boys to throw into
the meat grinder of war. She leverages her experience and skills from years serving in a non-combat role aboard the
nation's airships to seize this chance to prove herself (and her gender) capable, but things aren't always easy for
her; in a forgotten subplot, it turns out even her second-in-command and best friend secretly thinks women shouldn't
be serving. This is not the only forgotten aspect of the story, which often is less about Josette and more about the
author explaining to the reader in great detail every possible aspect of Garnia's airships in general and the
Mistral in particular. The characters start to feel a bit like placeholders or even caricatures that have
to squeeze their interactions, growth, and very existence into the limited spaces around these details, which later
spread to encompass blow-by-blows of battles and military tactics. It goes without saying, of course, that Lord
Bernat's trial by fire (quite literally) eventually brings him around, but he remains an insufferable twit far
longer than he needs to, and his efforts at witty banter tend to fall flat. The action teeters between exciting
drama and drawn-out excuses to relate more technical details, eventually leading up to a grand finale and the setup
for the second book.
This isn't a bad military steampunk tale, and there are some very good moments. At some point, though, I just got
tired of constantly being lectured about the minutiae of Garnian airship schematics and battle plans, and I never
felt as engaged or invested as I should have been. I also kept thinking that I'd read the same basic ideas done more
effectively elsewhere. Still, if you're looking for a story of soldiers, steampunk, and airships, this is a decent
enough choice.