The Falling Machine

March 21, 2011
This tale of an alternate Victorian New York is something of a boy's own adventure with a feminist heroine. The Paragons are members of a secret society that's part steampunk superhero league and part shadowy scientific cabal. After their morally unimpeachable leader, Sir Dennis Darby, is murdered, his inventions are stolen and his masterwork, the self-aware automaton Tom, is treated like trash. Tom and Darby's student Sarah Stanton decide to investigate the circumstances behind Darby's death as the Paragons are distracted by an internal power struggle and infiltrated by evildoers. A few loose threads and unanswered questions are to be expected in a series opener, but readers will be frustrated by how much is left for future installments.

May 15, 2011

Sarah Stanton is the daughter of the Industrialist, a founding member of the group of gentlemen adventurers known as the Society of Paragons who police New York City. She has grown up surrounded by the exploits and inventions of the Paragons and has the mind and motivation to be an adventurer herself, if it weren't for her protective father. But there is a traitor within the Paragons, and as the deaths and disasters pile up, Sarah joins forces with the fascinating mechanical man known as the Automaton in an attempt to expose the conspiracy. VERDICT Set in a Victorian New York guarded by a society of heroes reminiscent of the golden age of comics, this series debut by a game designer is sure to appeal to steampunk and comic fans alike.--April Steenburgh, Endwell, NY

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