Book Review: Stone Mad by Elizabeth Bear
This is the second in the “Karen Memory” series, and this review may have some spoilers for the first volume, also titled Karen Memory.
Karen Memery and her boon companion Priya have bought a little ranch house outside of Rapid City in Washington Territory, and are moving in together. To celebrate their marriage, they’re having a fine meal at a fancy hotel. That is, they were having a fine meal until the alleged spiritualists at the next table start levitating.
The Arcadia Sisters may or may not have mediumistic powers, and they may or may not be sisters, but they have most assuredly summoned up something they can’t control or send back. But this earthshaking threat might not be as hazardous to Karen as the rift that’s suddenly developed between her and Priya.
This romance novella is set in a steampunkish Wild West with some fantasy elements. Mysticism may or may not be real (Mrs. Horner, trained in stage magic as her husband’s mechanic, thinks it’s bull) but weird critters are.
Good: I like Karen’s folksy narration and many of the side trails it wanders down. I’m also pleased that this is a more mature romance story in that it’s past the “get together” stage and into the “now how do we make this work” stage.
Less good: I was expecting a steampunk adventure story from the cover and blurb, but the major action is over halfway through and then it’s a long slog to the end through the relationship plot that is the real point of the story.
I think fans who read the previous book are more likely to be invested in Karen and Priya as a couple.
Recommended to romance fans that enjoy a Weird West setting.
