I need to make two qualifications to this review. Firstly, I haven’t read any of the previous
three Burton & Swinburne novels.
This may have left me at a disadvantage.
Knowing that there had been three previous adventures in the series
meant that I was thrown slightly by Burton apparently meeting Swinburne for the
first time in what is the fourth in the series.
I also suspect that The Secret of
Abdu El-Yezdi is much better read as a continuation of the series than as a
stand-alone novel – in fact, I have a nagging feeling that I may have missed
all sorts of points.
Secondly, I’m not much of a steampunk fan. I love Michael Moorcock and his forays into
the genre but, although steampunk should, in theory, appeal to my tastes, in
practice I’ve found it difficult to get into.
Again, this may be because I’ve been trying the wrong books or because
my expectations of the genre are too great but I came to The Secret of Abdu El-Yezdi with an odd mixture of hope and
apprehension.
The backdrop to The
Secret of Abdu El-Yezdi is an alternate Victorian England in which, inter
alia, Queen Victoria was assassinated in 1840, Germany became unified in the
1850s (rather than following the Franco-Prussian war), Richard Burton received the
credit he was due for having discovered the source of the Nile (with Speke
dying and not beating him back to England) and technological marvels such as
airships, rotorchairs and primitive computers and robots are part of life.
The Secret of Abdu
El-Yezdi opens with Burton returning by airship from Africa suffering from
malaria and a kind of breakdown as well as having to deal with the ritualistic
murder of one of his companions. Once
back in London, he is knighted, reunited with his fiancée, Isabelle, and
appointed king’s agent (with Victoria having been assassinated, George V is the
reigning monarch). A number of prominent
scientists and other personages including Charles Babbage and Florence
Nightingale have disappeared and Burton’s mission is to find out what has
happened to them. He is also made party
to the stunning secret that, since Victoria’s death, the British government has
been receiving advice from a spirit, Abdu El-Yezdi, who has masterminded
Britain’s renaissance and is working to bring about a rapprochement between
Britain and Germany. Unfortunately, Abdu
El-Yezdi has disappeared too, adding another complexity to Burton’s mission.
Revealing any more of the plot would almost certainly risk
detracting from one’s enjoyment of the book, save to say that a complicated
plot unwinds thereafter culminating in some heavy action and a major twist at
the end.
Hodder crams his story full of literary allusions including
references to Sherlock Holmes, Frankenstein and Dracula. The latter in particular is almost a sub-text
in itself, with a young Bram Stoker appearing as Burton’s valet and the plot
itself involving a nosferatu (a type of vampire) in a foreshadowing of the yet
to be written Dracula.
Similarly, The Secret
of Abdu El-Yezdi is a grab-bag of 19th Century historical
figures, both major and minor. As many
of them are portrayed differently from their real characters, Hodder provides a
handy and lengthy dramatis personae section at the end. I’d advise leaving this to the end rather
than dipping into as the book progresses to avoid spoiling the surprises.
As all this may be suggesting, Hodder’s greatest strength
lies in his intricate world-building and playful subversion of history. His Victorian London has a real steampunk vibe
and combines more or less accurate historical nuggets with manipulations of
other events, both in fact and time.
This is where my lack of familiarity of his previous Burton & Swinburne
novels may have limited my enjoyment of The
Secret of Abdu El-Yezdi as I had a sense that many of the events referenced
back to the earlier books – references I clearly didn’t get.
Unfortunately, the book is so heavily driven by the plot (and
Hodder’s numerous sub-plots, which were well-organised and didn’t confuse the
main storyline) and the world-building that the characterisations and writing
style have been neglected. Although the
contrasts in Burton and Swinburne’s personalities made for an interesting
relationship, the characters in general were a little flat and, in particular,
the few female characters seemed curiously formless. Likewise, the writing style was a little
lifeless and functioned only to move the plot forward. Fortunately, the plot and Hodder’s world are
interesting enough for this not to matter too much.
I found The Secret of
Abdu El-Yezdi quite difficult to get into, which may be the result of my
ambivalent attitude to steampunk, and I almost gave up after the first
third. I’m glad I persevered though as
the pace picked up, I got my head round the timeline and it just got a whole
lot better.
If you are a fan of Hodder’s other books, I’m sure you’ll
love this, as will steampunk fans, Victorian history and literature lovers and
aficionados of the esoteric. I’m not
sure others will appreciate it so much and I’d very much recommend having read
the first three of the series before this one.
Thank you to the publishers, Ebury, for allowing me to read The Secret of Abdu El-Yezdi through
Netgalley.
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