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Steel and Song
Ani Bolton. Writer Unboxed, $3.99 e-book (188p) ASIN B00LQMDPWG
Bolton’s steampunk Aileron Chronicles open with this disappointing tale of elemental magic in an alternate early 1900s Russia. Tova Vanaskya, a headstrong young Sámi woman, is an airwitch who can manipulate wind to lift aircraft, a crucial skill in the war between Russia and the Franks. After being conscripted from her tiny village, she is soon picked up by Cossack military commander Piers Dashkov, who uses her magic to lift his aileron. Bolton (The Gisbornes of Nottingham) fills the setting with evocative period detail and a look at the hierarchical structures of Russian elite, but the characterization of the two main leads is formulaic and trite. Tova is the typical spunky, talented heroine and Dashkov the typical brooding, secretly vulnerable anti-hero, and their eminently predictable interactions detract from what would otherwise be a capable, genre-broadening work. (BookLife)

Reviewed by Publishers Weekly on 11/07/2014

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