Title: A Serpent in the Gears
Author: Margaret Ronald
In: The Mammoth Book of Steampunk (Sean Wallace)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Steampunk
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2008
5th sentence, 74th page: A second concussion rumbled below us, this one more distant, and from down the hall I heard the captain’s cursing take on a note of relief.

A mission of science and politics quickly turns into something more where the Merged are taking over and imminent war is on the horizon.

This was a slightly easier read for a steampunk short story than what I have been immersing myself in lately. Or maybe I was just a little more awake and lucid…

I like the idea of a mix of machinery and mechanics being foreign. Most of the steampunk stories that I read take it for granted that the vast majority of the characters have a mix of the two systems in their bodies. The fact that this was an oddity and something that made others uncomfortable was something I found a little more relatable. After all… it’s something that is kind of happening now and I’m not really sure how I feel about running around with mechanical systems inside me…

As with all steampunk short stories, I’m not really sure what the message was. And I feel like I probably even missed plot points that I would pick up on if I went back and read it again (which I will in the future). But for now… I thoroughly enjoyed the imagery and the journey that this short story took me on.

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Image source: Amazon