Helpful Score: 1
I had high hopes for this anthology;I really enjoyed Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter and was interested in what some other authors could come up with combining elements of fantasy, paranormal, sci-fi, horror etc with a historical setting.I also have read a number of "steam-punk" writings and find the combination of 19th century culture with the sci-fi premise interesting and fun. Anthologies can be a 'mixed bag' so usually, the strongest offerings are up front to draw the reader into the world/theme.In the case of this book, I found the first two stories did nothing to draw me in. There seemed to b e little understanding/knowledge of the era or subject, and the fantastic elements poorly handled.The dialogue and actions of characters in those stories set "in period" was often anachronistic to the point of throwing me out of the story entirely- and I don't mean the dialogue and actions related to the fantasy elements. It may be that a reader with little to no familiarity with 19th century history and culture may find this a better read than I did. In point of fact,this was a DNF for me and I may well have missed a buried gem.
