Steamed, her latest novel, does not disappoint, although she has tried multiple things that are not her standard; specifically the alternating first-person perspectives and the exploration of a different sub-genre.
The novel opens in a modern day quantum physics laboratory, with Jack Fletcher narrating as his sister thoughtlessly plays with a canister of liquid helium while informing him that she has set him up with a friend who shares an interest in steampunk (a genre of Victorian-ized sci-fi). Jack cares less about the prospective date than the probability of an explosion, which accordingly ensues, opening a new scene from the perspective of Captain Octavia Pye, who finds the pair passed out in the cargo hold of her airship in an alternate - you guessed it - steampunk dimension.
Octavia's characterization is perhaps the best part of the novel, at least in terms of Katie Mac's development as an author. With her formal speech and subtle phrasing, she is a strong, pragmatic heroine who provides the straight-man partner to many of the more zany characters and situations in the novel. Her voice is quite distinct from Jack's, especially towards the onset of the book, though the two start to blend towards the conclusion. For those readers who loathe the love-at-first-sight scenario, Octavia's cool reason as she analyzes her attraction to Jack is absolutely refreshing. However, when it is revealed that Octavia too is a traveler from our dimension, it screeches with hard friction against her initial response to the explanation for her discovery of Jack and his sister, Hallie, on board her ship.
Jack Fletcher, though not as consistently drawn a character as Octavia, is at least an interesting addition to the story. He initially appears dressed in a t-shirt marked "Airship Pirates," providing the first nod to Jack Sparrow of Pirates of the Caribbean; his whimsical nature and whole-hearted pursuit of half-baked plans gives the second and third nods. Though we are told that he is a Quaker, and that he is not necessarily a very devoted Quaker, his responses to conflict are unpredictable, often violent but sometimes pointedly pacifist. This was likely an attempt to provide ironic humor, but it ends up being simply contradictory, much like our initial impression of Jack as a modest man and his later portrayal as jealous and cocky, speaking in poetic/cliched exclamations in regards to Octavia.
The constant switching between their two perspectives is accomplished through the presence or absence of a Captain's log. The main problem with this method is that never once in the exceptionally detailed log book does it mention Octavia's keeping of said log book. But, at the end of the novel, when Jack and Octavia's voices become more difficult to differentiate, it is exceedingly useful to the reader, though the device should have been excludable entirely. However, at least the method is consistent with the aether-driven universe that MacAlister portrays.
The unique setting is one of the main reasons that Steamed is so enjoyable, as it provides a fun and adventurous plot to counteract the necessary "corniness" of the genre. The steampunk world is rife with wars, emperors, and revolutionaries, including the arbitrary and sometimes horrifying acts that accompany such things. Within a few chapters of Jack and Hallie's arrival, Hallie is arrested by the Emperor's agents as a spy, and it is up to Jack and Octavia to find some way to rescue her before she is hanged. This leads to run-ins with the radical revolutionary forces, battles and kidnappings by the agents of the encroaching Moghul Empire, and our hero and heroine having sex... in a secret passageway adjoining the Emperor's bedchamber (Oops!).
Though certainly not high literature, Steamed is well-worth the read in terms of laugh-out-loud entertainment.
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