Monday 25 August 2014

Steam Punk Genre | Book Nerd Monday

I've never been interested in the steam punk genre, because I didn't see what was so amazing about a world run on steam. How could that fictional world real me in, surprise me, thrill me, make me fall in love? Well, I don't know how, and I don't know if it did.


The 'steam' aspect of steam punk is the mean theme, and it's the most important, but while reading Lady of Devices by Shelley Adina I found myself not caring about steam engines and just wanting to know more about culture and the budding romances and everything else that went on in the book. Of course, our protagonist does use driving a steam powered motor vehicle as a way of overcoming sexism (the book's set in the 1800s). I highly respect characters that use seemingly male things as a big fuck you to the rougher gender. Hello? Mulan?!

Feminism aside, I don't think I'm hugely into the steam punk genre just yet. I definitely enjoy it, and it's really interesting to read, but I've not fallen in love just yet. The steam punk genre is (of course) all about steam punk stuff, but if I find myself skipping past everything to do with steam engines, I don't see the point in reading the books.


This happens a lot when I read books, actually. There's an amazing book with well-rounded characters, a rich plot, and a crazy setting, but it's in the wrong genre. For example, I read a book a while ago (for the life of me, can't remember the name) about werewolves that I really enjoyed. Except for the werewolf part. I hate werewolves, and like with Lady of Devices I wanted to extract the parts that didn't involve 'steam punk stuff' and put them in another book that I'd love to read. Is this bad? I don't know. But I'm definitely glad I gave the steam punk genre a go, and will read a few more books in the genre before I give up completely.

What's your verdict on the steam punk genre? Do you find yourself wanting to extract certain parts of books to make a newer, better book? Comment below!

~zì jiàn!~

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