More like Grim Expectations
anchored on:steampunk19th century
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- George Dower / Infernal Devices
series3 books1987
similar bysteampunk19th century+3 more
K. W. Jeter's trilogy, whose 1987 original helped coin the term 'steampunk,' follows clockmaker George Dower as he's dragged into escalating Victorian conspiracies involving mechanical devices, secret societies, and inventions that shouldn't work but do. Infernal Devices, Fiendish Schemes, and Grim Expectations mix dark comedy with the gears-and-brass aesthetic the series helped establish before it had a name.
- The Raven King
series13 books1996
similar by19th centurybritish isles+1 more
Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell reintroduces magic to an alternate nineteenth-century England, centering on the prickly rivalry between the two title magicians as they revive a lost English tradition. The linked collection The Ladies of Grace Adieu, which includes the earlier story "Mr Simonelli, or the Fairy Widower," explores the same magical history from other corners of England and refers back to the legendary Raven King, said to have created English magic centuries before. The two books share a setting and mythology rather than a single sequential plot.
- Newbury & Hobbes Investigations
series23 books2008
similar bysteampunk19th centurybritish isles
George Mann's steampunk series follows Sir Maurice Newbury, an occult investigator working for the crown in an alternate, more mechanized Victorian Britain, and his assistant Veronica Hobbes, as they take on cases blending supernatural threats with the era's mechanical marvels. The Affinity Bridge, the opening novel, entangles them with a crashed automaton airship and a spreading plague of the reanimated; later books deepen Newbury's struggle with addiction and Veronica's search for her institutionalized sister. It combines detective procedural with alternate-history steampunk London.
- The Difference Engine
William Gibson & Bruce Sterlingstandalone novel1990
similar bysteampunk19th centurybritish islesscience fiction
The computer age arrives a century early with Babbage's perfection of his 'analytical engine'. The industrial revolution is accelerated by the development of steam-driven cybernetic 'Engines'. An advanced Great Britain prepares to better the world's lot. An example of the 'steampunk' sub-genre of the cyberpunk movement.
- Hunchback Assignments / Modo: Mission Clockwork
series5 books2009
similar bysteampunk19th century+1 more
- Into the Aether
Richard A. Lupoffstandalone novel1974
similar bysteampunkwhimsical19th centuryscience fiction
When the "Chester A. Arthur", the world's first and only coal/steam/paddlewheel-propelled spaceship rose into the skies over Buffalo Falls, Pa., who would have expected what followed? Will Professor Thintwhistle and his crew be able to return to earth? Will Miss Taphammer ever find them? Will Jefferson Jackson Clay's foul plot succeed? And what of the King of the Cats? (adapted from the back cover of the first edition)
- Larklight Trilogy
series3 books2006
similar bywhimsicalsteampunk19th centuryscience fiction
The Larklight trilogy is a trilogy of middle grade novels by Philip Reeve, entitled Larklight, Starcross, and Mothstorm. These books are all illustrated by David Wyatt.
- The Little White Horse
Elizabeth Goudgestandalone novel1946
similar bywhimsical19th centurybritish isles+1 more
The Little White Horse is a low fantasy children's novel by Elizabeth Goudge, first published by the University of London Press in 1946 with illustrations by C. Walter Hodges, and Anne Yvonne Gilbert in 1992. Coward–McCann published a US edition next year. Set in 1842, it features a recently orphaned teenage girl who is sent to the manor house of her cousin and guardian in the West Country of England. The estate, village, and vicinity are shrouded in mystery and magic; the "little white horse" is a unicorn.
- The Night Circus
Erin Morgensternstandalone novel2011
similar bywhimsicalmysteriousour worldeurope+1 more
The Night Circus is a 2011 speculative fiction novel by Erin Morgenstern. It was originally written for the annual writing competition National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) over the span of three competitions. The novel has a nonlinear narrative written from multiple viewpoints.
- Jack Mason Adventures / The Steampunk Detective
series6 books2012
similar bysteampunk19th century+2 more
- The Prestige
Christopher Prieststandalone novel1995
similar by19th centurymysteriousour worldbritish isles+1 more
A magician called Borden (at least in private) writes his own version of his life as a magician. There's a lot of focus on a trick, where he seems to move across any width of stage in an instant, and on a feud with another magician, Angier. The account includes passages, where he can't decide what exactly to write, arguing with himself. 3 generations later a Borden (at least biologically) learns about his ancestor. He's also convinced, he somehow has a twin brother, who's happy about this development.
