T;LDR: A steampunk adventure in Victorian London with a rich cast of characters, pirates, and more, Champagne Charlie & The Amazing Gladys is a fun romp through a madcap story.
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
It all starts with the death of a cabman outside of a well-to-do owner’s home and quickly spirals outward from there. Charlie Descharles, the well-to-do passenger of said cab, determines to solve the mystery of the cabmen’s death and hooks up with a magician’s assistant, to do so. Add in world-ending or species’ ending plots, a cast of characters and some aliens…and you have this book.
I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for my review and I accepted the ask because it sounded like an interesting story. And it was, from start to finish. There are a lot of characters in this book and yet I never got lost. The world building, the multilayered motivations from various characters, and the witty banter kept me hooked, which is why I rated it 4 stars.
The Plot
Edward “Charlie” Descharles wakes up from his drunken stupor to find himself outside his house. He stumbles inside, enjoys breakfast with his proper English parents and is startled to find out that the cabbie who drove him home was found murdered underneath the cab. This is where one of the plot starts.
The second thread is the missing magician. Gladys Dunchurch came to London to make her fortune as a singer, but when that didn’t pan out, she became a magician’s, Abu Gruffydd, assistant. Her employer is a bit of a lush and she takes care of him as best she can. In their act, however, is a wand trick, which transports Gladys from one end of the stage to the other. After the show, Gruffydd disappears. Gladys takes the wand for safekeeping.
Gladys and Charlie meet at the police station. She’s there looking for Gruffydd and he’s there, having been arrested for interfering in a police investigation. One thing leads to another and the two eventually team up.
Along the hunt for the murder of Freddy, the cabman, and the location of Gruffydd, Charlie and Gladys find themselves thrown into a larger plot featuring pirates, wingless flying machines, a humans who look like rats. And I’d be remiss if I forgot the bats, who may or may not exist and who may or may not be from outer space. Lurking behind all of this is a group of men who stumbled upon a discovery that made them rich and quite eager to stay that way.
T;LDR: Charlie and Gladys set out to solve two simple crimes: a murder and a missings persons. They end getting embroiled in a plot to destroy two worlds. Can they solve the murder, find Gruffydd and save the planet in time?
What I Liked & Liked Less
This book was a lot of fun. There were many different characters and storylines flying around (literally in some cases) from which to chose your favorites. I also liked that they all had a reason to be at the final battle scene — none of it felt contrived, which is tricky with so many different players.
Were there too many? Not for me, but I would’ve liked a bit more time spent with a few of the characters more than we did. I wanted to know them better, see how they were feeling, and get a deeper connection with them. I won’t say who, because spoilers. Unlike some of the other reviewers, however, this wasn’t a problem for me. I could easily follow who was who because they were all distinct both in manner and character as well as motivation.
I also liked that Charlie wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, even though he does begin to put two and two together near the end of the book. He is basically lead around by Gladys, who can’t read and only has her street smarts to guide her. Their dynamic worked for me, mostly. There were moments where I got annoyed with how stupid he was or how much she pointed it out.
I loved the world building and the new technology- and the reason for that technology. It was neatly done and there didn’t seem to be any major dangling threads around the world building. But it’s also not my strong suit, so keep that in mind.
The author had no problems killing off characters either, even if they had their own POVs. I wondered if they were that necessary to the plot, though. If it was so easy to kill them off and I didn’t miss them before or after, could their pieces have been told by another character? Possibly.
Speaking of, there were other plotlines that didn’t really need to be in the book. They gave the characters reason for doing what they did, so I understand why they were there and the necessity for them, but did we need chapters for them? Could the author have used some of that space for more depth of the characters present? Potentially.
To Sum Up (Too Late!)
Overall, I enjoyed this book. I had no issues with the many characters and plotlines connected to them. Could some of them been incorporated differently? Of course, but I still had a good time reading it, which is all that matters. I loved the world building, I loved that all of the threads of the story tapestry came seamlessly together at the end, and I loved the twists, some of which happened after the big battle scene. For all these reasons and more, I give it 4 stars and recommend it to anyone who likes steampunk.
About the Author
My name is BG Hilton, and I am an an Australian writer. I’m basically pretty okay, once you get to know me. I studied creative writing at the University of Newcastle and the University of Technology, Sydney. My interests include Steampunk, Frankenstein, Dr Who, travel, and food. One time I slept through a riot. In my defense, it was a pretty small riot and I was very tired.
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This book fulfills another square in my Fantasy Bingo Card — the Chapter Titles square.
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