The Doctor Magic and Steam Book #3
Steampunk,
Emporium Press
May 26, 2022
Kinde
255
Amazon
1882—Gillian Hamilton, magic caster and Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Magic and Steam, has been stripped of his title, badge, and freedom. Gillian’s true name and powers have been exposed, so now he’s kept under lock and key. To make a tragedy worse, Gunner the Deadly has returned to his life out in the Wild West and has not been heard from since.
Rumors of a doctor, known only as Sawbones, with access to illegal magic have persisted into the new year. Gillian believes that violence, chaos, and certain death will befall New York City if this criminal isn’t apprehended. And despite having lost his sense of purpose, Gillian knows he’s the only one capable of confronting this new madman—with or without the backing of the FBMS.
But such dangers should never be undertaken alone. Gillian will need both Gunner’s deadeye marksmanship, as well as his love, if he’s to detain Sawbones before irreparable damage is done to the magic of his world.
Reviewed by Ulysses Dietz
Member of The Paranormal Guild Review Team
This is such a great series. C. S. Poe is a smart, visual writer, creating both a vivid sense of place, but also a strong image of her characters. Something about this particular series that keeps reminding me of the television shows of my childhood—Wild Wild West, for example—but of course with the romantic intensity of Constantine Gunner and Gillian Hamilton. I love them both.
The book starts in a place of horror: an insane asylum on an island in New York’s East River, where Gillian is imprisoned. This chilling opening scene sets the tone for the rest of the book, as Gillian, suddenly stripped of his secret identity and detached from the magical police force, sets out to solve the mystery of quintessence—a kind of corrosive magic that is damaging the world’s aether atmosphere.
As he did when confronted with Gunner the Deadly, Gillian has to reconfigure his whole world to fit his new reality. We learn the full, horrific truth of his past, but we learn a lot about Gunner, too. The connection between the two men starts to feel like destiny as history turns back on itself and they find themselves fighting not just for their own lives, but for fate of magic itself.
Poe’s effortless steampunk world never gets in the way, but offers the reader a kind of history-fantasy that is, if possible, even more gruesome—and more wonderful—than the actual Gilded Age. Outlaws because of their love as well as their public images, Gillian and Constantine have to anchor themselves in their love for each other in order to save a world that doesn’t seem to deserve their loyalty.
The book ends on a cliffhanger—but not before a mostly satisfying conclusion to this episode’s puzzle. Poe manages to make such endings good for me, because I really want to spend more time with her characters and in this intensely engaging world.
LGBT/SCI-FI/FANTASY/PARANORMAL
LGBT/SCI-FI/FANTASY/PARANORMAL – SERIES