Product Description

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 new inventions. Airships soar in the skies over the city, whilst 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. For this is also a world where lycanthropy is a rampant disease that plagues the dirty whorehouses of Whitechapel, where poltergeist infestations create havoc in old country seats, where cadavers can rise from the dead and where nobody ever goes near the Natural History Museum.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17798 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Review
'Automata, clattering railway carriages, hansom cabs and 'pea soupers', gas lit streets and the doffing of caps, gruff policemen, mad scientists, arrogant industrialists, seances, pentagrams, addictions to laudanum and a few ravening zombies...Mann is at the forefront of the new generation of UK genre movers and shakers' --SFRevu.com

'Fans of Alan Moore's work will likely enjoy Mann's depiction of Victorian asylums, slums, aristocratic soirees and things that go bump in the night' --Strange Horizons

'An enormous pile of awesome'; Chris Roberson, World Fantasy Award finalist and Sidewise Award Winner. 'Mann's imagination has clearly run wild in this quirky and well realised version of the world, and this is no bad thing!It's fun, it's exciting, and Mann has a very agreeable hand that's easy to appreciate!He has a sharp talent for writing and a surplus of enthusiasm for the genre' SCIFI Now 'The author does a superb job of recreating nineteenth century London...a thoroughly engaging story!Excellent world building; captures the Sherlock Holmes feel; never a boring passage. Bottom line: A hugely entertaining book. 4.5 out of 5.' SF Signal. 'I absolutely loved it' Lou Anders --Various

About the Author
George Mann is the Consultant Editor of Solaris Books, the major SF/Fantasy imprint of BL Publishing/Games Workshop. He is the editor of The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction and The Solaris Book of New Fantasy and the author of The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (Constable Robinson), The Human Abstract (Telos), The Severed Man (Telos) and The Child of Time (Telos, with David J. Howe). His short stories have appeared or are due to appear in venues such as Black Sails, Apex Digest, Triquorum and an anthology of Doctor Who stories. He regularly attends the major science fiction and fantasy conventions in both the UK and the US. He lives near Grantham with his wife and son.

Customer Reviews

Enjoyable
Like others I bought this on the strength of the excellent cover, having no knowledge of the author - and overall I enjoyed it. Whilst the characters and the setting are familiar and the debt to Sherlock Holmes etc is clear, thats OK with me - its SF! The plot is nicely put together, with everything from zombies to airships thrown into the mix and I can forgive any implausibilties such as the lead characters powers of regeneration.

There are the makings of a nice series here and the author knows it, eg references to other adventures such as the 'Hambleton affair'. I wish him luck. For me though the writing style was the real problem and never drew me in. Some of the dialogue really grated (eg "you can choose to help us or choose to create a situation for yourself" - in 1901?).

I can't recommend this book overall. I think the reviewer who classed this book as a missed opportunity pretty much summed it up. I hope that the author can round out the characters in future episodes, as the setting should give him plenty of room to play in.

I never thought that this book would be my first Amazon review. What prompted me was this: I can't be the first to wonder whether the reviewer Lou Anders is the same quoted on the front cover of my copy ("I absolutely loved it"), and thanked by the author in his acknowledgements. I feel that somehow he should have mentioned this in his review, if true.

Badly written
The Affinity Bridge is a curious book, it has all the elements of a great read, interesting characters, and setting, with a story that has a lot going for it, but it is mediocre.

The book has one main problem, the author's writing style, which spoils what could have been an interesting and enjoyable read. Either Mann has to get a good editor, or someone else to flesh out his stories.

In summary, a good story, badly written.

I try hard to get me into
First, I must confess that the book cover gets me. It's like some vacuum cleaner, I get stick it to it. Anything "Victorian-SherlorkHolmian-Steampunkian" hit me in the nerve.
So I bought the book. First I feel very excited about atmosphere. You got zombies, burning Zeppelins, automatons, and some kind of secret agent that works in a museum. All seem right. Clichés, but put it together seems that actually can work.
But then all goes wrong. The characters are very very plain, the action confused, at first you love the "Victorian" style dialogues, then you hate them. You hate the main character and his silly relationship with his assistant.
I can't finish the last 20 pages. I have to quit.
So, the choice is yours, of course to try it, I always think about and investment when I bought a book, I learn something about how you don't force to make the characters look "cool".

Thanks for reading!