Introduction
Agatha H and the Airship City is a novel very much of the steampunk genre. In other words, it is fiction set in the Victorian era but containing anachronistic technologies, like robots and flying machines. This book began life as a humble web comic under the title Girl Genius and managed to gain much popularity with its online audience. The comic and novel are co-written and illustrated by husband and wife duo Phil and Kaja Foglio.
The World of Agatha Heterodyne
Agatha is an eighteen year old lab assistant living in the town of Beetleburg with her parents the Clays. However the Clays are reanimated humans known as constructs and not Agatha's true parents at all. When the visit of the tyrant Baron Wulfenbach sees the death of her boss, Agatha finds herself being kidnapped and taken on board his massive airship.
On board the airship Agatha makes friends with a talking cat called Krosp and some young people who are Sparks, those born with the ability to create madcap inventions. Soon Agatha becomes embroiled in the politics of the ship as she secretly makes her plans for escape, and forms an unlikely alliance and romance with Wulfenbach's son and heir, Gilgamesh.
Along her adventures in the huge dirigible Agatha makes a discovery about her true heritage and identity, and the reasons why she had never been able to invent anything that worked up until now. She also sees herself facing many trials and she struggles to stay alive when the hive machine on board the ship suddenly begins releasing its wasps.
Agatha H and the Airship City in Review
As far as action and adventure goes, this novel scores full points. Readers will barely encounter a quiet moment within the narrative as some new catastrophe or other seems to occur every few pages. Once Agatha has overcome one test she must immediately face another. At one moment she could be battling against her rival Zulenna in a fencing match, and at another she is hurtling swiftly to the ground in a failed flying invention created by Gilgamesh.
There are also some very funny moments, particularly with the Jagermonsters who all speak with German accents and are fond of making lewd comments. At first it can be difficult to read the dialogue of the Jagers as it is written to portray their accents, with a predominance of v's and z's, but it doesn't take long to get used to this. The Jagermonsters carry out Baron Wulfenbachs grunt work and are openly cynical of his position and the way in which he likes to portray himself.
It is at times quite evident that the novel has been adapted from a comic, as much of the dialogue is written with urgent capital letters and exclamation marks, however this all adds to the action and brings a kind of speedy tempo to the story. The only thing that the novel could improve upon would be to give the reader more of a glimpse into the personal feelings and emotions of the main character Agatha, as this would allow them to connect with her more.
In all, this was a highly enjoyable and entertaining read and a story that has everything you could ask for in a steampunk novel, as declared in the blurb on the back cover, "Adventure! Romance! Mad Science!", and hopefully there will be more to come with a sequel.
Foglio, Phil and Kaja. Agatha H and the Airship City. Night Shade Books, 2011.
Lorraine McInerney - Lorraine McInerney is currently working as a freelance writer and editor. She studied Arts for four years and has a BA in English and ...
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