My Review:
I started steampunk with Alison DeLuca’s The Night Watchman Express but that series is set in England. I picked up City of the Saints and it is steampunk but set in the US right on the verge of the Civil War. Butler built up the idea that real people were going to be used to tell this tale. It was good story. I liked the way he described the era and the people. I am just not sure if I liked the real historical people being used as characters in the story. It was okay but it just nagged me in the back of my mind while reading. Since I’m just starting out in steampunk you’re going to have to take my noobie recommendation of this series.
Book Blurb:
1859; war looms over the United States.
Intelligence agents converge on the Kingdom of Deseret in the Rocky Mountains. Sam Clemens, leading the U.S. Army’s expedition aboard his amphibious steam-truck the Jim Smiley, has a mission: to ensure that the Kingdom, with its air-ships and rumored phlogiston guns, brain children of the Madman Orson Pratt, enters on the side of the United States and peace.
Can he outrace and outmaneuver his British competitors, anxious to protect their cotton trade? And where are the agents of the treasonous, clandestine Confederate leadership? And why does the Madman seem to be playing his own game?
Liahona is Part the First of City of the Saints, a four-part steampunk gonzo action adventure tale.
Author Bio:
D.J. Butler wrote a lot of rock songs before he ever completed a decent novel. The only one he ever got paid for was “WalMart Loves You, Anyway,” which he sent on CD to the entire WalMart board of directors, and for which he was sent a $25 WalMart Gift Card. He spent the loot with gusto.
Butler writes speculative fiction of all sorts for all ages. For right now, you can read his Rock Band Fights Evil and City of the Saints series, but more is coming soon.
Connect with the author:
TWITTER
DAVE BUTLER WRITES