The Silk Empress

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader along with a Q&A by the author.

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N/B: After I wrote this post, I saw that Matulich calls this “an adult novel with YA sensibilities” in our Q&A. That is a great way to describe the book, but I read it under the impression given by a certain eBook seller who labeled it as for readers of 12-18, and judged it accordingly. Some of what I said below reflects that. So take those with a grain of salt.

Finally, the Captain spoke: “You’re insane.”

“And that’s what will save us all,”Feng Po said with a smile. “We have about ten seconds before our friends out here realize we aren’t going to fall out of the sky by ourselves. If you have a brighter idea, I will be glad to execute it.”

The Captain spent five of those ten seconds in silence. He came back on the wire with a grunt and an unhappy tone.

“This is what Mme. Streif hired you for. You’d better be right.”

“If I’m not, I’ll be dead and wrong, and that should make you very happy in the Afterlife.”

What’s The Silk Empress About?

Our hero is Algie Pigggrem (not surprisingly, nicknamed “Pig” by many), a twelve-year-old First Mate’s apprentice on the airship Wu Zetian flying along the High Silk Road between China and Europe. In the first chapter he and the first mate, Feng Po McLaren, try out some experimental weapons to fight off some air pirates. Algie is fueled more by adventure stories from penny dreadfuls than by common sense or an instinct for survival and takes risks with a panache that will endear him to the reader immediately.

This attack, and the way that Algie and Feng Po succeeded, will bring them (especially Algie) to the attention of the owner of their company, a regional British governor, and others—before he knows it, Algie is in the middle of some high-stakes intrigue.

The Flashbacks

"I am depending upon you to do something both brilliant and short-sighted.”

That comes late in the novel, but it’s in the flashbacks that we get to see how Algie develops this ability.

We get to see a little bit of what happened to Algie right after he was orphaned—how he reacts to that, both in good and unfortunate ways—in flashbacks scattered throughout, leading up to the time he joined the crew of Wu Zetian. The way his mother raised him and the books that he read shaping his mind to act in certain ways (or at least attempt to) tells us a lot about him in the present, and how he has grown and learned from those days.

He shows his gallant and would-be heroic impulses from the beginning—his impulsivity and creativity, too. He learns (the hard way) that he can’t win every time, but it doesn’t stop him.

The Worldbuilding

if you have problems believing that a man from Nigeria might be able to outdo the best minds of the British Empire, I could bring in Mister Liu to explain the science of these fire suppression spheres,” Mme. Streif said coolly. “His English is quite good and he can speak very slowly if you have problems with the larger words.”

The worldbuilding here is outstanding. The obvious thing to look at in a Steampunk book is the tech—I really enjoyed that, both the airship Wu Zetian (and the rest) as well as the smaller, everyday tech. The revolutionary stuff that Algie and the rest encounter—like the clockwork dragon, and similar automatons, is just fantastic. It’s precisely the kind of thing you go looking for in a Steampunk work—it sounds great and you get just a hint of the kind of science that would make it possible. It’s enough like your typical Steampunk technology to feel familiar, but Matulich puts his own spin (helped in large part by the setting) on it, so it feels fresh.

The setting and the people it’s populated with, however, are probably even better than the Steampunk-ness. In addition to the typical Victorian English that usually populate Steampunk, you have people like the Scottish-born (and accented), Feng Po McLaren. But beyond him, there are characters of ethnicities and nationalities like Uyghurs, Chinese, Nigerians, Americans, and French citizens. These all come from a variety of religious, social, and economic backgrounds and combine in this book with a mix of curiosity and acceptance—as well as a decent helping of elitism and racism (as is to be sadly expected). It’s a great way to show how the kind of transportation and technology in this world is bringing things together a little faster than it did in our reality—in addition to the diversity just making things entertaining.

The use of so many non-English phrases (translated in endnotes) is a fun—if occasionally frustrating—plus as well. There were times I was annoyed by having to break from the action to look up the translation—although context would carry you through a scene if you want to finish it before checking the note.

The Illustrations

There are a few illustrations by Seth Lyons (who also did the great cover) starting off each chapter. A few didn’t do much for me, most were pretty good—a few were excellent. I don’t know that the book needs them—but I certainly don’t think they hurt it. Overall, they’re a nice little touch and do a great job of capturing and reflecting the tone and gadgets of the book. They might be a real bonus to a young reader dipping his toe into steampunk for the first time and isn’t sure how to imagine some things.

So, what did I think about The Silk Empress?

“There is a picaroon cutter lying in wait for us about seven kilometers off the port bow.”

“Air pirates?”

“So they are called in Adventure Stories for Boys. I usually just call them well-armed layabouts. Less pressure to live up to expectations that way.”

I’ve tried to stay pretty vague above while talking about a few things that really stood out—because half of the fun of this novel is in the discovery of this world and learning with Algie just what he’s found himself in the middle of. It’s a bonkers adventure—fit for one of Algie’s adventure novels.

I’ve only read one other YA Steampunk—Westerfeld’s Leviathan trilogy—so that’s all I have to compare this to. Matulich’s world is just as intricate and volatile, this book is just a bit leaner than any of Westerfeld’s. Also, this is more fun. That’s not a knock on Leviathan—they’re in a war and trying to stop it. This is more of an action/adventure lark (at least initially). But fans of one should check out the other. Some of the humor is a bit more “adult” than YA—but it’ll either fly right over the heads of a reader or give them a grin.

It’s not just the action or antics that make this an entertaining read—Matulich’s a writer that you want to read. There is a subtle charm to his phrasing, for example—he can take a pretty straightforward sentence or sentiment and tweak it just a bit to make it something that’ll stand out.

I don’t know if there are more books in this universe planned—but man, I hope so. I could live with this as a stand-alone, but I’d really appreciate at least a duology. I’m betting you’ll feel the same way. But first, you need to read The Silk Empress, and I encourage you to do so (and then pass it along to a YA reader).