My favourite character is the ship’s captain Byron Kae. Although he attempts to seduce the defrocked priest Ruben, ultimately he fails because of the relationship between Ruben and Milord Taken aboard the Shadowless, Dil becomes part of the crew. Wonderful once you’re into the story, very evocative for the setting, but a little jarring to make sense of at the outset. This is where the book loses a half point for me. As Dil writes the story I’m not doing a spoiler by telling you he survives! To be honest I struggled at the beginning, which is such a shame as I really wanted to immerse myself quickly in the universe. The story is written from the perspective of Dil (Piccadilly) the card sharp guttersnipe so nearly killed at the start by one of the Shadowless’ crew, the crime prince Milord. How could I not? A lawless skycity, an aethership, a wide array of widely-differing characters, a clockwork zombie, and… krakens. Some passages may prove unsettling to unmarried gentlemen of a sensitive disposition. This volume (available in print, and for the first time on mechanical book-reading devices) contains the complete original text of Piccadilly’s memoirs as first serialised in All the Year Round. Swoon Again! At the tormented clergyman, Ruben Crowe. Swoon! At the dashing skycaptain, Byron Kae. Disapprove Strongly! Of the utter moral iniquity of the dastardly crime prince, Milord. Marvel! At the aerial escapades of the aethership, Shadowless.īeware! The licentious and unchristian example set by the opium-addled navigatress, Miss Grey. Gasp! As the miracles of clockwork engineering allow a dead man to wreak his vengeance upon the living. Thrill! As our hero battles dreadful kraken above Prosperity. Prosperity, 1863: a lawless skytown where varlets, chancers, and ne’er-do-wells risk everything to chase a fortune in the clouds, and where a Gaslight guttersnipe named Piccadilly is about to cheat the wrong man. A breathtaking tale of passion and adventure in the untamed skies!

Prosperity by Alexis Hall