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    The Affinity Bridge: A Newbury & Hobbes Investigation
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    The Affinity Bridge: A Newbury & Hobbes Investigation
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    The Affinity Bridge: A Newbury & Hobbes Investigation
    Audiobook8 hours

    The Affinity Bridge: A Newbury & Hobbes Investigation

    Written by George Mann

    Narrated by Simon Taylor

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Welcome to the bizarre and dangerous world of Victorian London, a city teetering on the edge of revolution. Its people are ushering in a new era of technology, dazzled each day by unfamiliar inventions. Airships soar in the skies over the city, while ground trains rumble through the streets and clockwork automatons are programmed to carry out menial tasks in the offices of lawyers, policemen, and journalists.

    But beneath this shiny veneer of progress lurks a sinister side. Queen Victoria is kept alive by a primitive life-support system, while her agents, Sir Maurice Newbury and his delectable assistant Miss Veronica Hobbes, do battle with enemies of the crown, physical and supernatural.

    This time Newbury and Hobbes are called to investigate the wreckage of a crashed airship and its missing automaton pilot, while attempting to solve a string of strangulations attributed to a mysterious glowing policeman, and dealing with a zombie plague that is ravaging the slums of the capital.

    Get ready to follow dazzling young writer George Mann to a London unlike any you've ever seen and into an adventure you will never forget, in The Affinity Bridge.

    A Macmillan Audio production.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateDec 15, 2009
    ISBN9781427210104
    Unavailable
    The Affinity Bridge: A Newbury & Hobbes Investigation

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    Reviews for The Affinity Bridge

    3.5/5

    48 ratings50 reviews

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    • 4/5
      The alternate Victorian period universe in which this story is set, is quite steampunk, with its airships, gadgets and steam-powered cabs. The tale bubbles with mystery and intrigue, with wonderful layered plot complexity that weaves satisfyingly to a unified conclusion. The characters of Newbury, Hobbs and the Scotland Yard official are well-developed, with hints of attraction between Newbury and Hobbs. Veronica Hobbs is delightfully independent, strong-minded, intelligent and capable. The reader does well to distinguish the voices of the separate characters.
    • 3/5
      An easy-reading swashbuckle through an alternate turn-of-the-century London. With a zombie plague raging and a mysterious serial killer throttling their way through the misty streets of Whitechapel, Her Majesty's agent Sir Maurice Newbury and his new assistant Veronica Hobbes have enough on his hands - until an automaton-crewed airship crashes without explanation, killing a royal relative. Introducing Mann's vision of steampunk London and a likeable investigative duo (although ye gods the romantic references are heavy-handed), The Affinity Bridge is chockful of entertaining ideas and will divert on a slow afternoon. Sadly Mann seems as uncomfortable with his female characters as his protagonist is (poor Veronica cannot be described without reference to her appearance) and is even more awkward when it comes to describing combat (the grand finale is actually painful to read - terrible choreography, and a big ask in terms of suspension of disbelief). Still, these are fairly minor gripes - overall the novel is inoffensive if not entirely inspiring.
    • 3/5
      A steampunk potboiler, pleasantly diverting, though despite being set in a Victorian world of airships, automatons, and flesh-eating "revenants," is as cliched as a 1940s movie serial. The hero is Indiana Jones in a bowler, his assistant an "independent" young woman for her time who secretly swoons for her boss. The villains have no redeeming qualities, and there are cinematic chases over rooftops, atop a speeding "road train," and in a runaway airship. In rapid succession, there was probably one chase too many. And since this was the kind of book where you knew the heroes weren't going to die, well . . .

      It kept me flipping the pages, but now that I've had dessert, I'm going to choose something more substantive the next time.
    • 4/5
      Hooray for another duo of detectives figuring out what the hell is going on in a steampunky Victorian London! I enjoyed the story more than I thought. The whole is quite slow and the descriptions Mann makes of the world are positively chilling, which was a change of pace from your usual action-packed adventure. There's a nice, though not amazing, heroine in this, who is given some worthy moments and a pretty interesting use of science overall, Mann does a good job at explaining his world, I was riveted.
      Overall, not an earth-shattering book but still well above average.
    • 4/5
      Sir Maurice Newbury works for the British Museum in the anthropology department specialising in religion and supernatural practices of prehistoric human cultures. At least that's what he does on the surface as he's also one of Queen Victoria's special agents who, along with Miss Veronica Hobbes his brand new assistant, helps out on investigations that have taken a turn towards the strange. Currently they are helping Sir Charles Bainbridge, a Chief Inspector at Scotland Yard, look into several murders in Whitechapel (no, not those murders) where the perpetrator appears to be a ghostly policeman. Before getting too deeply entangled in this case however, Newbury and Hobbes' services are required elsewhere when an airship crashes and Her Majesty thinks there may be suspicious circumstances involved. Initial investigations fail to turn up a pilot and to make this even more peculiar it was one of the new, supposedly infallible, automatons that have been installed. What caused the crash and where has the automaton disappeared to and why were the passengers strapped in their seats? Better watch out for those zombies in the thick London fog while they try to find out the answers.This is very much a starter book for a series with initial character set-up and pointers for future volumes to discover with tantalising snippets being provided that bear more exploration. It's a very quick read which focuses more on the Victorian mystery element which just happens to be imbued with steampunk accoutrements. It's like a bunch of Dr. Who writers had been asked to produce a Sherlock Holmes episode. But it works and was quite an enjoyable read and I'll certainly be continuing with the series at some point.
    • 4/5
      Damn you, George Mann! Zombies & steampunk in the same book, and he makes me like it. The man has some kind of infenal powers. The inaugural adventures of Sir Maurice Newbury and Veronica Hobbes is an excellent introduction to the series. A series of murders in Whitechapel may or may not have supernatural origins, so Newbury is called in to investigate. In the middle of this case, the Queen calls him to the scene of a mysterious airship crash which has taken the life of a Dutch cousin. Things are odd at the crash site, with the pilot missing and the passengers perishing while tied to their seats. Is there a connection between the two cases? Zombies, automatons, a smattering of the occult, laudanum addiction, and the revelation that, unbeknownst to Newbury, Hobbes is also an agent of the Queen, hired to keep an eye on Newbury and his addictions.
    • 4/5
      Lively story with some excellent characters. A little outrageous in the amount of derring-do demonstrated by the middle aged protagonist. Steed would have shown more restraint and left the dirty work to Mrs. Peel. Should be a fun series.
    • 3/5
      Ich befürchte, mit dieser Art von Steampunk kann ich nicht viel anfangen. Ich fand das Setting anstrengend, die Aufklärung des Falles langweilig umgesetzt und die teilweise unnötigen Actionszenen nervig. Werde den zweiten Teil trotzdem lesen, da er nun mal hier rumliegt und die Hoffnung besteht, dass die Geschichte weniger schleppend ist, nachdem die Protagonisten nicht mehr vorgestellt werden müssen.
    • 4/5
      Let yourself read with a British accent. Go on, you know you want to. Imagine the version that you're filming in your head, which is obviously way better than any version anyone else could film. Enjoy the fights, the curiosities, the vague hints of mysticism that (spoilers) are only going to get heavier from here on out. And most importantly, doff your hat towards Sir Maurice and Miss Hobbes: you never know when they're going to save your lives and the lives of the whole Empire.
      It's the right sort of jaunt for this Anglophile - damned fun and deeply memorable. Here's to the cases building in intensity to match the dedicated world-building, characterization, and delightful writing style.

      More next week at RB:
    • 4/5
      At first I thought I liked it less because I was comparing it to The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series, which is definitely not fair. After reading the four books published by the time I am writing this (second take), I now know this series is way darker, albeit slower in the beginning. So, I wasn't sure how to rate it at first.

      There are two cases which are not connected at first. I don't think it's a spoiler to say they are. The first: someone is killing poor people and there are rumours that it's a ghost of a murdered policeman. The second case is an airship crash. By the end you are hooked.
      The epilogue was great and promising.
    • 3/5
      An airship disaster, a plague of zombies, vicious automata, and a Sherlock-Holmesian investigator with a smart-and-lovely young female assistant, all in 19th-century London...

      Not bad - it's reasonably well-done. I'd say it's better written than the last 'steampunk' book I read. However, I still got that feeling that the author was writing in certain elements (well, most of the elements) to cater to current trends rather than because of his personal and abiding passion for these things. I could be wrong - I don't know the guy - but that's the feeling I received. There's plenty of adventure, and violence - but it all seems a little bloodless. The plot structure is a fairly standard mystery.
    • 4/5
      I rather liked it. Sort of a slightly pulpy page-turner that owes a lot to Sherlock Holmes, and it didn't really need zombies. Also, toward the end, the book is packed with action sequences, almost as if the author suddenly realized that the book was short a few.

      Oddly enough, it was very small things that cracked my suspension of disbelief. For example, one of the automata is represented as typing "ten times the speed of a human." Typing speed around 1900 was down around 40 wpm on the Underwood uprights... ten times that is 400 wpm... I suspect that those old typewriters would not have ALLOWED such a high rate but would have jammed up pretty quickly.

      But I did appreciate the emancipated female character and the light touch on the use of airships. I'll read another.
    • 2/5
      This is the first volume in the Newbury and Hobbes series. Imagine Holmes and a female Watson in steampunk Victorian London and you've about got it. Sir Maurice Newbury is our Holmes (just a little less insightful)--complete with addictions to opium and laudanum. Veronica Hobbes is our Watson, just a bit more insightful and with secrets. I found myself liking Hobbes much more than Newbury, but really being sort of neutral about them both. The characters were not very developed, and really neither was the plot. I expected much more and was left unsatisfied. I'll probably read the second novel in the series just to see if it improves and to find out what happens to Veronica's sister.
    • 3/5
      3-½ stars. It’s a Steampunk Victorian adventure detective story with mechanical men and zombies. What more could you ask for? It’s a quick, easy read, entertaining, pretty well written, that seems like it was written with the movie in mind. It’s obviously trying to cram every trope in existence in to one book, but it works pretty well. Not as good as The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, but in the same ballpark if you liked that one.
    • 2/5
      Maybe my problem is that I've read more straight Victorian literature than I have Steampunk. This book was full of anachronisms and that kind of bothered me. But, it's steampunk, so it's an alternate Victorian era so maybe the anachronisms are supposed to be part of the slightly different environment? I don't know. Every time I encountered one it drew me out of the story and made me want to throw the book across the room. Anachronism aside, the language used in the book is a bit stilted. It reads like the author was trying just a little too hard to make it sound properly Victorian.

      The story itself is not bad. I wasn't totally sucked in, but I was engaged. It was a quick read that didn't require much thinking, which is exactly what I was in the mood for when I picked this up.
    • 4/5
      There are a few things going on with The Affinity Bridge. It’s a page-turner, a detective story, it features Queen Victoria, it has spies, and it’s steampunk to name but a few of them. It’s quite a pot that George Mann is throwing ideas into.

      It could be a mess and a bad pastiche of steampunk-Colan-Doyle-style as it does draw heavily from the idea of gentlemen detectives and the troubles of the upper-classes. But Mann has made it work. I was totally absorbed into his creation.

      Simply he’s put his own stamp on everything. The streampunk is understated but integral. Foremost, this is a detective novel and Newbury and Hobbes have a mystery to solve. Actually two mysteries but the first, the death of peasants is overtaken by the crash of an airship, a case that is of far more important to the Crown.

      Mann challenges the thinking of the time with Sir Maurice Newbury’s assistant, Miss Veronica Hobbes. Hobbes is in striking difference to his secretary Miss Coulthard, who is unable to function after the disappearance of her brother, which she suspects is at the hands of revenants who are stalking to the poorer areas of London. Hobbes on the other hand doesn’t think twice about hitching up her skirt and kicking the odd door from its hinges.

      Mann grabs you by the scruff of the neck and throws you into his version of Victorian London, though I’m not taking any guesses at what year it is or how long Queen Victoria has been on the thrown and you’ll know why when you first meet her. He keeps the plot flying along. Newbury and Hobbes are fascinating in their own right but combined with the story Mann makes this a book that’s hard to put down and a world that’s hard to leave.

      That isn’t to stay that it doesn’t have some weaknesses. There are a few action sequences, which are mostly well done but you get the feeling that Mann is enjoying himself too much in some places and that could they could have been cut down a little. I’m glad they are in there as they make for a nice change of tone from the politeness that Newbury usually exhibits.

      There are a few words and phrases that jar every now and again and this is more to do with how well Mann captures the language of the time that when they get repeated you notice. But the banter and the dialogue is first rate.

      Newbury is a gentlemen spy so his nemesis is a gentlemen of sorts. And the cat and mouse game that they play is teasing and fun. You can’t take this tale too seriously though the main characters have strong emotional connections and they have a believable fondness for each other. Mann has given The Affinity Bridge a strong central core and one that can grow and be explored in the next and subsequent books.

      And there a few tip bits thrown into this one. Hints at what could happen in the future and what has happened in the past especially from the last scene. Now that was a surprise.

      I’m greatly looking forward to seeing the next Newbury and Hobbes adventure, The Osiris Ritual, and I’m hoping that we’ll get to see more of Newbury’s interests in the Dark Arts and what secrets he’s able to tap into.

      Highly Recommended
    • 3/5
      The author is far better at writing places than characters, and, rather jarringly, the opening scene in India is undoubtedly the best part of the book (and suitably horrific). The settings are well drawn, and there's something pleasingly eerie in the Queen and her coterie and the Revenants.The plot doesn't cheat and hide information from the reader so it's possible to work up who/how/why-done-it at the same time or before the protagonists. It's also unconvoluted and well-thought out.The problem is the characters and the dialogue. It just doesn't quite work, there's a few anachronisms too many, I think, and Sir Maurice Newby is a textbook Marty Stu, and not in a nod-and-a-wink way. People take improbable amounts of damage towards the end of the book, and it totally threw out my ability to suspend my disbelief.That being said, I'm buying the next one, because of the cover, because of the setting and because of the thing at the end (that I shall say no more about).
    • 4/5
      The world of Victorian London is full of dark and mysterious activities, such as the strange plague that rots the body and forces the sufferer to crave human flesh has rattled the nerves of folks in the poorer districts. Meanwhile, sightings of a spectral, glowing policeman who strangles random people has Sir Maurice Newbury -- an agent for the Queen and specializing in the supernatural -- scrambling to find the culprit. In the midst of it all, a dirigible known as 'The Lady Armitage' crashes into Finsbury Park and bursts into flames. Normally, Scotland Yard would handle the investigation, but the Queen has a keen family interest in discovering what happened, so she chanres Sir Maurice and his new assistant, Miss Veronica Hobbes, to scour the wreckage for clues.Combing the skeletal airship, they come across a group of crash victims restrained to their chairs so that they could not leave. Heading toward the front of the ship, they are unable to locate the pilot of the ship: no body, no skeleton, nothing to indicate that anyone had been steering the airship. Outside the wreckage, the meet with a Mr. Stokes a representative from Chapman and Villiers, one of the leading air transportation services in the country, and that hey had recently begun to use automatons to pilot their airships. Stokes assures Newbury and Hobbes that the automaton could not have malfunctioned. However, the duo sets out on their own investigation to find the missing pilot, and in the process, uncover the dark secret behind the automatons and a possible connection to the glowing policeman."The Affinity Bridge" spins a fun mystery/adventure tale set within the steampunk world of Victorian London. Electric lights, steam-powered airships, zombies, mechanical men -- what a world to explore, and yet author George Mann manages to keep things firmly within the Victorian world. One of my favorite examples of this is Miss Hobbes preferring to use a regular horse and carriage rather than one of those noisy, mechanical contraptions being controlled by drivers who still aren't too comfortable with the technology. Plus, his characters are all well-written and strong, from the unflappable Miss Hobbes (who has dark familial secrets) and the technologically-enthused Sir Maurice to the squirrely and smarmy Mr. Stokes and the unemotional and determined Pierre Villiers -- the creator of the automatons.My only fault with the novel is the side story of John Coulthard. Introduced in the prologue while serving in the war in India, his character disappears almost immediately after that. His sister happens to be Sir Maurice's receptionist, but the search for him and the reason behind his disappearance don't affect the main story in any way and doesn't have any relevance to it.But that is very minor in relation to the rest of the book. "The Affinity Bridge" is a great mixture of mystery and steampunk -- a fun read that I definitely enjoyed.
    • 3/5
      There were some admirable qualities in the Affinity Bridge. But it fell short of a five star review.It is a mystery, set in a steampunk Victorian era. Late Victorian for Queen Victoria died in January of 1901 and this is later in the year.There are Zombies, so right there, big strike against the book. IMHO there are too many incidents of Zombie fiction that has been unoriginal lately, though Mann does use it as a plot device.That we have a Holmes like investigator is not a perfect claim. Holmes is better than Sir Maurice Newbury. Newbury has his quirks. He draws pentagrams on his floor. But I did not see any result or reason for him to have done so. That was where Mann man have missed the boat. He had a chance to make Sir Maurice bigger. He didn't.He had some Steampunk gadgetry, and this gave us a world where we have Hansom Cabs becoming mechanical. But the day to day gadgetry did not really seem to exist. Only a few big things, like the train, the airship. Then we had a long, really long fight sequence that you will have seen in movies as men jostle atop a train. Yet it was so long that a good tenth of the book seemed to be eaten away. For something that did not add to the drama and became implausible as well.There is the heart of it. Sir Maurice was already wounded and having a terrible (and boringly long) fight on top of a train car that was driving about the streets of London (So how fast could it really go?) and he was able to win. No, Mann had the makings of a mystery, but then he also let us down with no deductive reasoning at the crime scene. An airship crashes and the investigation is rather childish. Need to read Crichton's Airframe, there is a lot that goes on when a major disaster occurs.In the end, the world needed more to be Steampunk (and if the Queen dies, she dies. Easy enough to change your date to 1900), it needed a better investigator, and when a man is wounded, he only has so much he can endure.There just does not seem a need to find out any more in the world of Newbury and Hobbes.
    • 3/5
      Rather a straightforward British mystery/action novel, steampunk-flavored with a twinge of sociology but, frankly, nothing very interesting.I suspect it would appeal more to mystery genre fans.
    • 5/5
      In The Affinity Bridge, George Mann introduces Sir Maurice Newbury, a steampunk hero, part Sherlock Holmes, part Indiana Jones, with a little bit of Dr. Strange thrown in for good measure. Assisting Newbury in his investigations is the decidedly prim, but too much of a BAMF to be a proper Victorian lady, Miss Veronica Hobbes, Newbury’s assistant. Set in an alternate 1901 where Queen Victoria, her life prolonged via mechanical assistance, continues her rule over the British Empire, the Affinity Bridge sets our heroes to solve the mystery surrounding a zeppelin crash in the heart of London. Add to that, a mysterious glowing policeman killing Londoners, a zombie virus plaguing the slums and various malfunctioning automata, and you have a fun-filled steam-powered read. The characters are clearly drawn, the details of Victorian London engaging and the action thrilling. With sufficient cups of Earl Gray and an occasional infusion of laudanum, this story quickly wends to a satisfying conclusion.
    • 5/5
      The more I read steampunk, the more I like it. Especially when the story and characters are as engaging as they are here.This is the first book in George Mann’s Newbury & Hobbes Investigation series. As with traditional steampunk, the setting is Victorian England. Beyond the science fiction however, is a well-crafted mystery. From the beginning I was enthralled. I knew immediately this was going to be an enjoyable book to read. I guessed at part of it, but when unraveled, the complete story was beyond what I’d imagined and I was thrilled to be so surprised. It’s been a long time since an author caught me off guard that way. It was wonderful!The only part I had trouble with is how one of the sub-plots was resolved. It felt . . . awkward, as if it was loose end not discovered until too late and fixed hurriedly. Since the book opens with this particular storyline, or at least it’s main character, then I’m hoping it’s because it will be developed more in a later installment, so I shouldn’t jump to conclusions.Still, it didn’t detract much from the overall story and how much I liked it.This is a definite recommendation not only to those who like steampunk, but especially for introducing it to others. It is an excellent ambassador for the genre.Now, off to read the second in the series, The Osiris Ritual.
    • 3/5
      The first in a promised series of Newbury and Hobbes investigation, this is an enjoyable steampunk mystery. For those unfamiliar with steampunk, don't think an alternate history. Think an alternate aesthetic centering around Victorian electric and steam technology taken to levels not seen in our world (and usually impossible to have ever been seen in our world). While Newbury is a student of the occult, this book is more about the sort of odd, baroque technologies you want in steampunk -- airships, brass automatons, bizarre medical devices, and nifty weapons - rather than magic. While I might have wanted a bit more description of the fog-shrouded London of November 1901 where Victoria still reigns, Mann still does a good job building the atmosphere with descriptions - especially in the action packed final third of the book. Newbury and Hobbes are well done, believable characters. Mann doesn't make Veronica Hobbes a warrior babe. While a romance may be brewing between the two, Mann makes it seem credible and not a hackneyed mystery cliché. The mystery itself, while not wholly surprising in its details, is novel enough not to be boring. The villians are both clever and credible. The main plot threads are wrapped neatly up though some matters are left unresolved, presumably to be dealt with later in the series The novel has some sinister undertones to it. The prolonged reign of Victoria may not be a blessing.
    • 4/5
      Some steampunk books lean more towards certain genres than others--this one is, at heart, a mystery novel with a steampunk London setting. It's a bit stiff in some regards, and it does contain many cliches of the genre (historical steampunk does have an odd affinity for zombies). However, I found it to be a delightful romp of a read, flaws and all. I enjoyed the subtle chemistry between Sir Maurice and Veronica and how Veronica is a true lady of her time period yet still has plenty of spunk. I admit, the scenes with Veronica's sister were fascinating in a way that tended to steal the glory of the rest of the plot; I can only hope that relationship is explored more in future books. I would really like to read on in this series.
    • 3/5
      Fun and harmless. Not sure I will read another in this series, although I must admit that by the end of the book, I was at least a little invested in the characters. Felt like the author was trying a bit too hard sometimes.
    • 4/5
      this is the first Steampunk I've read, I really did enjoy it and will be looking for other books similar, The story itself was almost a simple version of a Sherlock Holmes feeling, then it changed and became its own genre. IndianaJones, lovers may enjoy this.
    • 5/5
      Steampunk is all the rage right now. And Mann did not leave me disappointed at all with his take on it. Introducing Newbury (the detective) and Miss Hobbes (his assistant), this book delves into a world where airships float gracefully through the sky, where zombies stalk the dark street corners, where automatons appear to the be the new frontier.I loved this book. That is not an exaggeration in the least. Mann definitely knows what he's doing. He has great character development and the plot-line is incredibly captivating. I don't think I've read a book that has incorporated all the true elements of the Steampunk genre as Mann has. This is truly a work of art!
    • 4/5
      I love it when two of my favorite genres - Victorian murder mystery and steampunk - come together in a story. It is November 1901. Sir Maurice Newbury is an experienced anthropologist with the British Museum. He is also an agent of the Queen. He is good friends with Sir Charles Bainbridge, a chief Inspector at Scotland Yard. Sir Maurice also has a new assistant that the Museum, Miss Veronica Hobbes. Newbury and his assistant Hobbes are called to investigate the wreckage of a crashed airship and its missing automaton pilot, and attempt to solve a string of strangulation attributed to a mysterious blue glowing policeman while dealing with the revenant plague - aka zombies- that are ravaging the slums, including Whitechapel, of London.It is possible that I will not amuse a number of individuals when I state that I feel that this book should be classified as a 'cozy steampunk mystery". It has all the trappings, setting, characters and overall atmosphere of a cozy Victorian set murder mystery series. In particular, It really has all I have come to enjoy in Charles Finch's Charles Lennox murder mystery series with the added accoutrements of the steampunk genre - airships, automatons - and the addition of zombies in the form of plague revenant victims. The main characters are charming, society class individuals with personalities of their own and the murder mystery is one that is easy to settle into. Not a page turner, and not, IMO, a 'engaging melodrama' as billed, but more of a fun, comfort read. I will say this, you really have to follow the story to its conclusion to see how all the pieces tie together.I would recommend this book as a good primer for anyone who enjoys Victorian murder mysteries as a launching pad into the world of steampunk, to find out what all the excitement is about, and to test the waters to see if steampunk is something they might want to delve into further.The Affinity Bridge is book one in what is so far a three book series - my local library only recently acquired book one - and I do look forward to following the further adventures of Newbury and Hobbes.
    • 4/5
      Victorian England is in turmoil. Revenants, undead creatures, prowl the night and spread their sickness to unsuspecting citizens. Also, a supposed ghost of a murdered police man has been strangling passersby in White Chapel. Many have died so far and there are no witnesses or leads. Sir Maurice Newbury, agent of the Queen and anthropologist for the British Museum, is in the middle of investigating that series of murders when the Crown requested that he investigate a mysterious and tragic accident. An aircraft piloted by an automaton crashed in Finsbury Park and killed everyone inside of it. He and his intrepid assistant, Veronica Hobbes, are on the case and investigate. It starts off as a conventional investigation until multiple attempts on their lives are made. Can Maurice and Veronica figure out the two mysteries before more people die or they are killed?The Affinity Bridge is steeped in an alternative history version of Victorian England. There are flying airships in the air, clockwork automatons as servants and pilots, revenant zombies in the streets, and even a crude life support system to keep Queen Victoria alive. The book opens with a horrific zombie scene in India and then the story goes to England, where much of the investigation is simply in Victorian society. At points, I was lulled into the sense that I was reading a normal Victorian mystery novel and then I would be jarred when clockwork men or zombies attacked. I haven’t read a book quite like this one and I enjoyed that the supernatural aspects weren’t all encompassing. Even though the technology in this book is more advanced than the actual era, poverty, hunger, and their infamous mistreatment of mental illness unfortunately still exist. These stark realities gave the book a believability I don’t think it would have had if they were absent.The main characters in this book are flawed and dynamic, with their own sets of insecurities and sordid secrets. Maurice Newbury is a brilliant detective and anthropologist with an addiction to opium. He is slightly Holmes-like, but much more eager to physically fight. I felt they portrayed his physical strength and stamina a bit overexaggerated. His past is rather murky, but the small allusions to it left me wondering. I always like a story to feel that there is more to it than the book can contain. Veronica Hobbes is my favorite character. She is a strong, confident woman with a no-nonsense attitude. She’s very sensible and seems rather cold, but her close relationship with her sister proves otherwise. I really feel Veronica wasn’t utilized to her fullest ability and I hope the next book will improve. The rest of the characters are largely one dimensional and more like stock characters, even the villains. They didn’t have facets to them like the main characters did. Victorian society also isn’t portrayed very realistically. The close friendship between Veronica and Maurice would have been largely disapproved of and would have had serious consequences for Veronica.Overall, I enjoyed The Affinity Bridge despite the lacking minor characters and depiction of Victorian society. I would recommend it to fans of Gail Carriger’s Alexia Tarabotti series.
    • 4/5
      I don't know why I had such high expectations of The Affinity Bridge - I must have read somewhere that is was a stirling example of the Steampunk genre: however, although its a good, comfortable read, the book is not outstanding and, through no fault of the writer, I was disappointed. George Mann includes many of the essential elements from a Zombie plague to homocidal robots and his secret service hero Sir Maurice is assisted by his glamorous aide Victoria. The original Victoria, the queen, is kept alive by machines designed by a miracle-working and mysterious doctor who comes across as a character set up for closer examination in another book. Robo servers are attacking their masters, airships flown by mechanical pilots are falling out of the sky, and the London fog is made lethal by prowling hoardes of the undead who prey seemingly senselessly on living flesh. The Queen wants it put a stop to so Sir Maurice is kept busy racing across town in wheezing, uncomfortable steam-driven cabs powered by a noisy internal combustion engine or clipping along sedately in a horse drawn hanson while endless cups of tea are consumed and the murky smog lays a blanket over everything. Its all great fun and, if I can get them on the cheap, I shall be reading others in this series which, despite failing my expectations, is none the less an excellent read.