Whitechapel Gods

This was my first foray into the Steampunk genre, and I really enjoyed it. Above all, Peters is a master at creating atmosphere. I felt the city around me, and the characters walking through it. Multiple viewpoints throughout are all very focused on the central story. The characters are endearing and real, though Peters could have used a more tangible villain. For a debut, Peters shows that he has talent. He is one to watch. A very enjoyable read, and a good introduction to the Steampunk ouvre.

Excellent sci-fantasy entertainment, and a good commentary on life in a crushing, Socialist nanny-state nightmare. 'Mama Engine' is a fiery primal passion, and 'Grandfather Clock' is a chilly inhuman intellect... these warring demigods loom over the brave but mortal Victorian men who seek their overthrow. This book is suffused with atmosphere, interesting characters, tight spots, and lovely smothering waves of gothic/horror atmosphere. Intelligent steampunk has finally arrived. I can't wait for more from this author.

I really don't know what to say other than, "buy this book." It's a twisted marriage of singularity fiction and steampunk combined with espionage, bubbling rebellions, and some not so subtle criticisms about our technology dependent culture. I left this book on the shelf four times before finally picking up a copy. Now, I'm sorry that I didn't read it sooner.

In a somewhat steampunk Victorian London gone very much awry, Whitechapel has been walled off from the world outside, presumably by the "gods" of the title, Mama Engine and Grandfather Clock, or their minions. The people of this sealed-off bit of London are kept quite firmly in their place by the gold cloaks (minions of Grandfather Clock), the black cloaks (minions of Mama Engine), and the Boiler Men, whose precise allegiance I did not determine, but are definitely not on the side of humanity. A disease is sweeping the people, infecting them with a machine plague entirely unlike those the term is usually used to describe by nanotech-era writers - this causes people to bleed oil, and grow gears, and become virtually unkillable. And eventually, they lose themselves in the machine... The plot here follows an underground group, each with his own reasons for disliking the status quo, in their attempt to bring down the powerful creatures ruling Whitechapel. The plot is fast-paced and fairly gripping, and one does come to be fairly invested in the plucky rebels and their battles. The structure of the thing is a little flimsy, but I'm not so sure that really matters so much in this case, given that it's a fast read, and the pace doesn't really leave one much chance to dwell upon the possible plot holes. Recommended as a vacation book or for other circumstances in which entertainment is key. Not recommended for critical reading practice.

Whitechapel in Victorian London is no longer a part of Great Britain and hasn't been since 1877 when the wall came up making it a separate entity. It is ruled by two mechanical beings Grandfather Clock and Mama Engine; both of whom have no regards for humanity. They are able to turn men, women and children into half human half machines who keep humanity and are backed up by the Boiler Men who were never human to begin with but are nevertheless thinking warlike machines. When humanity rebelled in the Uprising, the death toll was in the thousands. Humanity post Uprising lives in squalor under the rule of Baron Hume who rules humanity. His underling John Sacred, in love with Mama Engine devises a way to kill Grandfather Clock and gives the schematics of the device to Aaron, a member of the underground. He and his two men are caught but he passes the papers to one of his men who falls, several feet unable to die. He waits for someone to get the papers and put him out of his missing and members of the resistance do but building the device and putting it into Grandfather clock seems impossible; then there is the question of destroying Mama Engine. Whitechapel is an inconvenient truth of a neighborhood of twisted building, polluted air that comes from the many factories of Mama Engine's great projects. It is a surrealistic scene out of Dante's Inferno except for the fact that most of the residents are humans. There are many heroes in this book, willing to die if it means destroying the two mechanical gods. S.M. Peters is an author whose work is so refreshingly original; the audience will be on the lookout for future societal satires from him. Harriet Klausner