Steampunkalypse: A review of 'The Clockwork Dynasty'

While doing field research and trying to unlock a mystery from her childhood, anthropologist June Stefanov makes a startling discovery: For millennia automatons have lived among us, hiding their presence while trying to understand the nature of their own existence. But their time is drawing to an end and Stefanov may be a key, if unlikely, ally in their survival.

The Clockwork Dynasty (Doubleday, digital galley) is a thrilling and original steampunk fantasy with a touch of Laura Croft thrown in. Daniel H. Wilson, the author of Robopocalypse and Robogenesis, cleverly uses flashbacks to tell a story that develops over thousands of years. Considering the timespan the book covers, it moves at a breakneck pace and is hard to put down.

While Robopocalypse was a cautionary tale about the danger of runaway artificial intelligence, The Clockwork Dynasty is pure fantasy dealing with the familiar struggle of good vs evil. Wilson has proven repeatedly in his novels that he knows how to breathe life into the mechanical bodies of robots.

You can read interviews with Wilson discussing The Clockwork Dynasty at Syfy and Unbound Worlds. Yesterday he was on Reddit answering questions about all of his books.