by K.G. McAlbee
Nathanial Stone and Annabelle Somerset race to the rescue of one of the Professor’s friends on Venus…
After the enjoyable antics of the first of these Space 1889 & Beyond chronicles, Vandals on Venus is a bit of a disappointment, with some clichéd characterisation and some very odd use of English – it almost reads more like a first draft than a finished product in places. Whereas the first book created some of its sense of time and place from the use of language, McAlbee’s sense of period is out of kilter (would midshipmen really call to pay court to a member of the gentry in Victorian England?), and her Prussian character feels more like a caricature than a three-dimensional antagonist.
Everyone acts exactly as you’d expect them to: Annabelle is prone to fits of derring-do, which leaves Nathanial wondering what she is going to get them into next (a good drinking game could be made from downing a shot every time he has a thought on this line). The Prussian’s plans are suitably dastardly, and can only be thwarted at the last moment…
Verdict: Predictable, and sadly, just not very interesting. Hopefully the series will get back up to speed with the next instalment. 4/10
Peter Quentin
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