Clockwork Angels by Lea Hernandez (Texas Steampunk book 2); graphic novel, steampunk; 112 pagesMy second attempt at this series, which as far as I can tell ends with this volume, even if that was not the author's intent. The focus of this volume is Temperence Bane and her friend Amelia: Temper is famous as a mentalist (one who can "read" the dead), and makes her living doing magic shows in the parlors of the wealthy. Most of her act is just that--an act orchestrated between Temper and Amelia, with no magic involved. But Temper really can read the minds of the dead, and when she is asked to read a murder victim, she and Amy find themselves running from a dangerous killer of supernatural origins.
This second volume ofHernandez' series show improvement over the first in both art and storytelling. However, I felt like this story was trying to cram too much into too small a space. Yes, brevity might be considered part of the genre, but Hernandez has a LOT of different elements going on here, and while they are all addressed, they felt rushed in many places--so much so that the romance that should have been central to the story felt perfunctory. This is disappointing, because I felt like this could have been a really great graphic novel, but instead was only so-so. I'm also disappointed that the third volume mentioned in the author's afterward doesn't seem to have ever been published. I would have enjoyed watching her improve on her technique.
Hi, Annie, thanks for reading my book again. You're right: CA's flaws are there, I was still learning! (And STILL learning now!) The third book in Texas Steampunk has been plotted a long time, just trying to give it the attention it deserves.
ReplyDeleteI switched gears after CA and did a series that was collected in 2004, Rumble Girls, and a graphic novel that Gail Simone wrote and I drew, Killer Princesses. I hope you'll check them out.