Early Review: Gunpowder Alchemy by Jeannie Lin

Oh, I was so excited when I saw Gunpowder Alchemy up for review on NetGalley. Steampunk! In CHINA!

In 1842, the gunpowder might of China’s Qing Dynasty fell to Britain’s steam engines. Furious, the Emperor ordered the death of his engineers—and killed China’s best chance of fighting back…

Since her father’s execution eight years ago, Jin Soling kept her family from falling into poverty. But her meager savings are running out, leaving her with no choice but to sell the last of her father’s possessions—her last memento of him.

Only, while attempting to find a buyer, Soling is caught and brought before the Crown Prince. Unlike his father, the Emperor, the Prince knows that the only chance of expelling the English invaders is to once again unite China’s cleverest minds to create fantastic weapons. He also realizes that Soling is the one person who could convince her father’s former allies—many who have turned rebel—to once again work for the Empire. He promises to restore her family name if she’ll help him in his cause.

But after the betrayal of her family all those years ago, Soling is unsure if she can trust anyone in the Forbidden City—even if her heart is longing to believe in the engineer with a hidden past who was once meant to be her husband…

drey’s thoughts:

So, I was all excited to read Gunpowder Alchemy, for its setting and genre, and author Jeannie Lin’s very-researched backdrops to her stories. So I’m extremely bummed that I won’t be rating this one “Outstanding”. Why?

The first half of the book is history, and a lot of it. I actually liked the prologue, the scene is short and to the point as it should be. And the first chapter set the current day scene quite well, introducing our heroine and her current circumstances. Then the adventure starts, and here’s where the story seemed to bog down for me. For the next hundred pages or so, Soling is taken by the government, used to ferret out rebel spies, meets her no-longer-intended, sees another land, and questions her future. Sounds exciting, yes?

It should read that way, too. But there’s a lot of self-doubt and self-reflection happening concurrently with the action that slowed the story down, and because it’s self-inflicted it got repetitive.

I get that Soling is unsure of herself in her situation. The culture and tradition of the times, the shame of her family’s exile and her mother’s addiction, the uncertainty in time of war, all add up to a lot of doubt and questioning even in instances where she really doesn’t have a choice. But oh geez, I wanted her to shake it off. (Yes, I totally get that this is on me.) There’s only so much you can do about things not in your control, after all. (Look at me going all Zen…)

In addition, I really didn’t feel that the romance was really going anywhere. In fact, for a while there I was wondering if Gunpowder Alchemy was going to be one of those books (y’know, with Team A vs. Team B) – which surprised me because I’ve read Lin’s romance novels before and they definitely didn’t read this way.

All in all, I think Gunpowder Alchemy is a good start at doing something different in such a rich setting. There’s so much to work with, with China’s history and culture, and adding steampunk to that mix just gets me salivating like one of Pavlov’s dogs. I look forward to seeing where Soling’s adventures takes her next, whether its with her once-betrothed or without, whether its steampunk with romantic undertones or vice-versa. I liked the descriptions of the gadgets and inventions so far, and I can’t wait to see where Lin takes that next, too. After all, steampunk is all about the cool stuff, right?

drey’s rating: Pick it up!

Have you read Gunpowder Alchemy? What did you think?

About Jeannie Lin

Jeannie Lin started writing in 2005 while she was teaching high school. After a long journey through rejections and contests and revisions, her manuscript, Butterfly Swords, won the 2009 Golden Heart® award for historical romance. Her first two books have received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and Library Journal and her second novel, The Dragon and the Pearl, was listed as one of Library Journal’s Best Romances of 2011. Check the Books section for information on individual titles and release dates.

Her stories are inspired by her love of adventure, history, and fantasy in both western and Asian traditions. From an early age she was fascinated by legends of King Arthur and the fantasy of Lord of the Rings as well as the Chinese wuxia (martial arts) fiction. As a result, she writes heroic characters in epic situations while interweaving a strong romance to make larger than life characters human.

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