Review: Corsets and Clockwork Steampunk Stories

Corsets and Clockwork, edited by Trisha Telep, is a collection of thirteen ‘steampunk romances’ over 400 pages in total length. A sizeable book boasting such versatility as to include ‘magical outcasts, kindred spirits, feisty heroines, inventors, war heroes and supernatural rituals’, this clockwork anthropology has a story for everyone, and generally does not disappoint.

The stories range in page count but are all lengthy enough to enjoy over a steaming cup of tea. While the first story rude mechanicals is a rather slow-paced piece packed full of cogs and gears, it comes to an abrupt (and in my opinion fairly anti-climactic) ending, yet Deadwood and The Clockwork Corset are packed with action, hastily-paced like a steam train trundling purposely through the countryside. This variety typically offers a reading experience that can be enjoyed by fans of both action and romance period novel genres. 

In several of the stories I surprisingly found myself questioning the steampunk aesthetic therein. While all the stories are clearly set in the Victorian period, certain tales within Corsets and Clockwork seemed to be missing the gears, cogs and eccentric gadgetry one associates as steampunk iconography, and seemed rather more at home in the reality of the Victorian era, instead of the ridiculous, sepia-hued world of steampunk. Fans of Steampunk however are inevitably also fans of Victoriana, so the stories are still likely to appeal on that level at least. 

This book should be on the to-buy list of anyone interested in the wacky world of steampunk. Generally good reading with that iconic wacky edge, most of the stories hit the mark and the ones that don’t still take one on an adventure into the past with frivolous manners, tea and ridiculous social norms aplenty.