Out of the Shadows by Dana Fraedrich really scratched the steampunk itch I’ve been having lately. I especially enjoyed that the book was set in a unique steampunk world, rather than Victorian England. In fact, the unique world that it is set in means that one could also classify it as magicpunk.
The book takes place in Springhaven, a London-esque city in the small country of Invarnis. While Springhaven appears idyllic and tranquil on the surface, in reality, it is a dystopian society run by Enforcers who take a zero-tolerance policy to what they deem criminal activity. Criminal activity includes your usual—theft, rape, murder—but also means any sort of resistance against the established order. This includes befriending or assisting anyone deemed a criminal.
The main character, Lenore Crowley, has been an orphan for around a year at the start of the book because her parents were taken away for defying those in charge. She believes them to be dead, but learns later on that their fate was much worse—they are in a prison where they are tortured daily for information and the sheer sadistic pleasure of the Enforcers.
What I found especially interesting about the world building in Out of the Shadows is that Lenore’s society is built upon the remains of the Old World. Nobody is entirely certain what the Old World was or what happened to it, but they do know that in the Old World, magic, supernatural creatures, and fantastical events occurred which no longer exist (or so everyone believes). As readers, we are not even entirely sure how long ago the Old World ended. Thousands of years, hundreds, or just decades? It is my guess that the end of the Old World may have been brought about by the same iron hand that now rules Lenore’s society.
(Spoilers ahead)
The remains of the Old World is where the magicpunk comes in. While Invarnis does run on new steampunk technology, tech from the Old World still pops up from time to time, and nobody can discern what powered it or how it works. When Lenore is taken in by the Allens, she begins to work as an assistant for her surrogate father Neal at a museum. His department is dedicated to Old World artifacts and the exploration of such. Late in the book, Lenore even comes into possession of a nifty artifact: a seemingly dormant rod with the power to electrocute people at the wielder’s will, which ends up saving her life.
I especially love when steampunk stories tie in Gothic and supernatural elements, and Out of the Shadows does so perfectly. If you couldn’t tell by Lenore’s name (and the names of many other characters), the tone of the novel is heavily influenced by the works of Poe and other Gothic writers. In addition to the Gothic tone, the supernatural features prominently in the story. While most of the population of Invarnis believes that the supernatural creatures of the Old World no longer exist, the Allens know that they do still reside, hiding in the shadows on the fringes of society.
One such creature is a newly-turned (within the past few decades) vampire and friend of the family, Kieran. While their relationship starts out rocky (Kieran attempts to kill Lenore the first time he sees her, believing her to be an intruder in the Allens home), they quickly become good friends. Kieran is very much a traditional vampire, sleeping in a coffin, allergic to sunlight, drinking blood, and magically bound by any oath he makes.
In fact, oaths play a particularly important role in this novel. In the Old World, one’s oath had magically binding effects. That is no longer true in Invarnis, with a few notable exceptions. The criminal leader Rook accidentally made a binding oath to Lenore’s father to protect Lenore at all costs. He is now magically tied to her, able to sense whenever she is in danger or pain, and feels her injuries as his own. This has led to him becoming both obsessive with and possessive of Lenore, and the romantic tension between them is great fun. The tension is heightened because neither of them is entirely certain how much of Rook’s feelings for Lenore are genuine and how much are caused by his unbreakable oath.
Another element that I especially love in fantasy fiction is morally grey characters. I appreciate when the bad guys are not entirely villainous and the good guys are imperfect and flawed. I think Dana Fraedrich does a good job of presenting all of her protagonists as flawed individuals who make and must learn from their mistakes. The villains (mainly the government and Enforcers) are perhaps a bit too stereotypical, but at least one Enforcer is not cackling evil (though he is a mole among their group, so he can’t even really be counted as a villain). It would have been interesting to see more from the point of view of an Enforcer who genuinely believes that they are doing the right thing, to make them feel more human.
Probably my biggest issue with the novel is the love triangle. I have never been a fan of love triangles, and must of the time they feel contrived. Lenore finds herself falling for two men: the bad boy turned protector Rook, and a decent if boring coworker Eamon. She is really only with Eamon out of obligation at first, as she must keep up societal appearances by allowing gentlemen to court her. While they do grow fond of one another, there is certainly no spark between them like there is with Rook.
And while Rook is definitely the one with all of the sex appeal and seems to genuinely care for Lenore, he still does some pretty awful things in the course of the book (he is a crime lord), and many of the actions he takes claiming to have Lenore’s best interests at heart are kept secret from her because he knows they would upset her. This gives the sense that Rook doesn’t truly respect Lenore and her decisions.
At least by the end of the book, both of the men who care for her are aware of her feelings and she has chosen between them. She chooses Eamon and she and Rook agree to remain friends, but I get the sense that the author is setting up the relationship between Lenore and Eamon for failure (either with his death or perhaps him secretly being a villain).
I am looking forward to the next novel in the series, Into the Fire, especially because we will be journeying to a new part of Invarnis, Bone Port on the southern coast, as Lenore and her family are to be part of an Old World expedition there. Hopefully the next novel will explore the Old World further and the mystery behind its downfall.
