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The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack

Burton & Swinburne, Book 1

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The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack

By: Mark Hodder
Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
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About this listen

Sir Richard Francis Burton is an explorer, linguist, scholar, and swordsman. His reputation has been tarnished, his career is in tatters, and his former partner is missing and probably dead. Algernon Charles Swinburne is an unsuccessful poet and follower of de Sade, for whom pain is pleasure and brandy is ruin. They stand at a crossroads in their lives, and are caught in the epicentre of an empire torn by conflicting forces: Engineers transform the landscape with bigger, faster, noisier, and dirtier technological wonders; Eugenicists develop specialist animals to provide unpaid labour; and Libertines oppose repressive laws and demand a society based on beauty and creativity, while the Rakes push the boundaries of human behaviour to the limits with magic, drugs, and anarchy.

The two men are sucked into the perilous depths of this moral and ethical vacuum, when Lord Palmerston commissions Burton to investigate assaults on young women committed by a weird apparition known as Spring Heeled Jack, and to find out why werewolves are terrorizing London's East End. Their investigations lead them to one of the defining events of the age, and the terrifying possibility that the world they inhabit shouldn’t exist at all.

©2010 Mark Hodder (P)2012 Audible Ltd Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Literary Fiction
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A pretty fun steampunk romp that's hampered by an unnecessary time travel plot to explain the setting. The story plods along nicely until you reach the second part which is a horrendous amount of exposition somehow combining both showing AND telling, slowing the pace to a standstill. The competent Victorian writing style is undermined by the author's seeming inability to write anything else. He doesn't even attempt to give his time traveller from the future remotely different dialogue from the victorian characters and the attempts at sci-fi are abysmal. There's also a worryingly victorian attitude to mental health that's a little distressing. Characters are nothing special and the sidekick Swinburne is mostly an annoying nuisance for the entire story.

The narration is good, minus the odd amusing mispronunciation. I can understand not knowing how to say "susurration" but it's hard to justify getting "demonically" wrong.

All in all, the book was fun, if misguided and I might check out the sequel. I just hope that having spent a book painstakingly explaining why steampunk exists the author now decides to have fun with it.

Ok beginning, ropey middle

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A very unusual mix of storyline which is believable in most parts, the script is very descriptive producing elaborate mental imagery. The narration is awesome and compelling, I really struggled to stop listening, a really great job and I was straight on to part 2.

excellent all round innovative and gripping

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A well-written, well put together book about an alternative history for Victorian times, however it was sometimes difficult to remember which time zone/ alternative history you were in. However, I enjoyed listening to it.

A good read but confusing!

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I did feel it could have been narrated with more zest and emotion. A steady read that did not wholly encapsulate the story.

A great idea for the legend

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Would you listen to The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack again? Why?

Yes, it was an interesting foray into a past quite different from the one recorded in the history books. There were so many different characters it will probably take another listen to fully appreciate them.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack?

I loved all the scenes with Algernon Swinburne. Although he claimed to be utterly depraved he was a likeable character with a strong sense of loyalty.

What does Gerard Doyle bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

The voices selected brough a warmth and likeableness to many of the main characters and he made those who had bodily modifications sound so very different it really made them come alive.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It had some elements that made me smile but it was most interesting for the world described in such great detail in the novel and for the unfolding of the twists and turns of the plot.

A very interesting imagining

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