Heart’s Blood

By Gail Dayton
Tor, $6.99, 432 pages

Steampunk is an indefinable genre of fiction that encompasses history, science, magic, and technology, all with a distinctly post-modern twist, and Gail Dayton succeeds in balancing all elements in Heart’s Blood, the second book, following New Blood, in her steampunk romance series. Though a portion of the plot and characters are carried over from the first book, Heart’s Blood is very much a stand-alone novel, and in turn deepens the mythology Dayton has created. In her vision of mid-nineteenth century England, magic is for men only, as the last female magician—a sorceress—terrorized the land and increased the traditional hatred and fear of women. Dayton successfully weaves the status of Victorian women with magic in the form of the heroine, Pearl Parkin, a street urchin who blackmails one of the most powerful magicians into apprenticing her. Grey Carteret, a master magicker, could be your standard roguish hero, but in Dayton’s hands, he is both flawed and appealing, further enhancing this outstanding novel. Though the basic premise is rote (Grey and Pearl must clear his name after an accusation of murder), the writing and the extremely faceted world-building lifts it above standard and the pacing is steady yet relentless until the final, satisfying conclusion. Dayton sets out to do much in Heart’s Blood and thankfully, she achieves it, crafting a suspenseful historical whose sf/f elements fit neatly within the context of her most excellent characters.

Reviewed by Angela Tate