8.6 /10 1 Votes
4.8/5 Barnes & Noble | 3.7/5 Goodreads Originally published 3 February 2015 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Karen memory by elizabeth bear review
Karen Memory is a steampunk novel by Elizabeth Bear. It was published by Tor Books, on February 3, 2015.
Contents
Synopsis
In an alternate 1878, Karen Memery ("like memory only spelt with an e") is a teenage prostitute in the Pacific Northwest, whose life becomes complicated by the arrival of a serial killer, by a rival pimp's attempt to run for mayor, and by mad science.
Reception
National Public Radio described the novel as "a bracing yet charming adventure yarn," praising Bear for giving Karen a "strong, sympathetic, charismatic voice" whose "narrative is sharp, sly, and full of heart." Locus considered it a "delight" and a "tour-de-force", comparing Karen to Huckleberry Finn, while Kirkus Reviews found the characters to be "lively" and "engaging", with an "intriguing" and "steampunk-ishly surreal" plot. Cheryl Morgan commended Bear for "straddl(ing) the fine line between sounding authentic and being irritating", and for depicting a multicultural and intersectional society, but found Bear's portrayal of a transgender character to be non-optimal, and conceded that readers "who identify more closely with other characters in the book's highly diverse cast" may find the portrayals of those characters to be similarly non-optimal.