Power under Pressure by
Andrew P. Mayer, The Society of Steam #3
The Society of Paragons is one – destroyed from within
by traitors and enemies. With the death of the Industrialist and the rebirth of
the Iron-Clad as a monstrous half-human creature known as “The Shell”, Lord
Eschaton now has almost everything he need to cover the world in fortified
smoke and rebuild it in his image – everything except for the mechanical heart
of the Automaton.
The device is nearer than he knows. Just across the
East River, hiding in a Brooklyn junkyard, Sarah Stanton is trying to restore
the mechanical man to life. But before she can rebuild her friend, she must
discover the indomitable power of her own heart and save herself. Only then
will she be able to fore a ragtag group of repentant villains, damaged Paragons
and love-mad geniuses into the tram of hers known as “The Society of Steam”.
Power under Pressure is the
third and final book in the Society of Steam trilogy. The first and second book
if this series were The Falling Machine and Hearts of Smoke and Steam,
respectively. As I mentioned in the reviews of these earlier books, this series
was once that I was very eager to read and review, since it combines two of my
favorite fantasy themes. Steampunk and super heroes. The Society of Steam is a great series that
kept improving book after book.
Just a short recap of what
“The Society of Steam” is about. It is a superhero story but with a twist.
Everything revolves around a steampunk setting. In the Falling Machine we were
introduced with the superhero club known as the Paragons who fight the bad guys
of the nefarious group known as the Children of Eschaton. All taking place in a
Victorian New York. Now don’t think that they got their powers from mutations
or likewise, no they came to make powers of their own using a version of steam
called fortified steam. Already from the first book everything went spiraling
downwards for the Paragons that was followed up in the second book Hearts of
Smoke and Steam. The second book primarily focuses on the rebuilding of the
Paragons but their paths crossed once again by Lord Eschaton. Amidst it all we
find Sarah Stanton, daughter of the Industrialist, who wants to be a bit like
one of the boys. Sarah greatly wants to be a fellow Paragon as well and you
follow her along as she fights not only against Lord Eschaton but also rebels
against the rules of society. She is a very strong female protagonist.
Lets move onto the third
and final book in the series Power under Pressure. It is not as great as the
first and second books, it’s much, much better than the other. It might have
been the build up towards the final showdown. Or already having seen the
collision of several storylines in Heart of Smoke and Steam that I hoped to see
continue in this third book. I already noticed a more confident writing style
emerging in the second book, which was upped even higher in Power under
Pressure. I think after reading Power under Pressure this book couldn’t have
been written any better. Power under Pressure lifts this series up even higher.
It steered from the start in the right direction, adding a great edge of your
seat pacing with the writing style of Andrew P. Mayer, though he shows a lot of
the steam powered version of New York, it doesn’t feel like a drag in the
storyline but he manages to bring it to you in a great and interesting way. The
first part of the book might have been a bit linear having events following up
on each other but the second part of the book really showed change for the
better. Everything that was setup earlier in the series now seemed to fall in
to place. It all felt like it was gearing up towards a big final clash between
Sarah helped by her newly formed band of superheroes and Lord Eschaton and is
followers.
The characters that you
follow in Power under Pressure all have made an introduction in the earlier
books, however I still want to stress a few in this review. For starters there
is the female heroine of the story, Sarah Stanton, her development all along
the series has taken a few steps already, in this final books she takes some
very nice leaps development wise. If you would compare her with the first she
is now something totally different, she has come to terms with herself. In the
earlier chapters of Power under Pressure, it felt that she was getting in a
drag and not knowing how to get out of it. After setting her goals straight and
setting off in the right direction, this series really owed up to the whole
promise of it. This part did coincide with the most integral part of the
series, that of rebuilding the Automaton. Here there was the focus of not only
rebuilding the Automaton with the help of Emilio but also following up on a bit
of the romancing between Sarah and Emilio, which occurred in the second book.
Capturing this brief romancing moment, actually added some additional depth in
both characters. Especially how also secondary tensions arose between Sarah,
Emilio and Emilio’s sister Viola. That were also set into motion in Hearts of
Smoke and Steam. The hatred of Viola against Sarah was notable early on in the
book but progressed rather heavily as the story progressed, Sarah tries to work
it out for the better but Viola just keeps on putting her in a bad daylight and
really bullying her. Andrew P. Mayer shows a lovable set of characters not only
writing about the character merits but also their flaws, making them that much
more relatable.
Next to this I just want to
put the emphasis on two super heroes, who bring a humorous air to the book. I
already mentioned that this series features a bit of stereotypical superheroes,
but Andrew P. Mayer further underlines this by writing out the accents that
some have. Firstly you have The Submersible, with a German heritage and his
sentences go a like: “Ach, das ist der Automaton” and “Not to vorry”. Secondly
you have Le Voyageur, a Frenchmen, who’s sentences sometimes took a bit of
deciphering: “but when you awe wenown, you wiww become mowe powewful zan zou
evew imagined”. I just caught myself more than a few times in trying to speak
this out loud, accent included!
The plot of the book starts
to unravel pretty fast as the pages fly by, especially once you enter the
second part of the book. Everything collides in a final showdown between Sarah
who is aided by several others and Lord Eschaton. But prior to this explosive
finale there is still a lot shown of each individual character and mainly in
the earlier chapter there is a focus on Lord Eschaton, showing his true
intentions of his plans. The balancing between the chapters of the good guys
and the bad guys was in equal amounts and by his narration Andrew P. Mayer left
you more than once on a cliffhanger ending chapter urging you to continue
reading. One encounter does stand out and just shows how good a writer Andrew
P. Mayer is. The encounter between Nathaniel and Lord Eschaton this part was
told in two perspectives, the first from Nathaniels point of view and the second
from one of Eschaton’s thugs, Jack. Though you did read the similar events
twice, alternating the perspectives really added a special something, very neat
stuff! Some of you who have read the first two books already might be familiar
with Anubis, and all I can say is… Yes.
Looking back at the final
showdown that featured in the last chapters of Power Under Pressure, I must say
that I wasn’t expecting an ending like this. But looking back it couldn’t have
turned out any better. Just as a finishing move, Andrew P. Mayer adds that
slight nudge in the storyline that throws everything around of what you would
have guessed delivering a stunning, compelling, amazing and more than grande
finale! The ending of the book is not fully closed though. I hope that Andrew P. Mayer planned this on purpose and that we
can expect more stories within this universe. Maybe a short story collection or
a standalone series.
The Society of Steam is a
series that grabbed me from the go. Starting in The Falling Machine all though
Hearts of Smoke and Steam and delivering a great finale in Power under Pressure,
there was hardly enough time to catch your breath. The Society of Steam has a
great set of characters, more than fine world building. And did I forget to
mention the steam-empowered superheroes? Even if this is not totally a genre
that you would choose, I still urge to read these books, they won’t disappoint.
And if you are into steampunk, you
should ask yourself; “why haven’t I read them yet?”