I greatly enjoyed Elizabeth Bear’s first Karen Memery novel, Karen Memory, when it was published in 2014, so when I saw that a new book, Angel Maker, had just been published, I played hooky from my “assigned” Skiffy and Fanty reading/reviewing list and checked it out from the Hoopla library app. Then I realized that this was actually #3, and checked out the intervening short novel Stone Mad from 2018, too. This turned out to be a very entertaining way to spend a couple of low-energy days while sick.
I had forgotten a lot of the details from reading Karen Memory when it came out; I merely recalled that it was a really fun steampunk Western, the protagonist was a prostitute, and a fictionalized Marshal Bass Reeves was a character. I am sorry to say that I had entirely forgotten Karen’s lesbian love interest, Priyadarshini, the inventor of the sewing machine that converted into a combat mech-suit! If, like me, you’ve forgotten a lot, you can refresh your own memory via the Skiffy and Fanty interview with Bear about the first book. I think a new reader wouldn’t have any trouble starting with the third book, but why deny yourself the fun of the first two?
In the second book, Stone Mad, Karen and Priya are settling into life as a couple together (they’d get married if they could, but that’s illegal) on a ranch they bought. They ride to Rapid City (their fictional town that’s similar to Seattle) for dinner and a show, but suffer their first serious lovers’ quarrel over who how much independence each has in making decisions that affect them both. Karen decides to investigate, over Priya’s strong objections, when some possibly fake spiritualists stir up some supernatural trouble. This book is shorter, with fewer complications than the first, but I liked how Bear explored the couple’s relationship issues, and the adventure is suspenseful and exciting.
The new book, Angel Maker, is about what happens when a film company starts making a Western, and Karen and Priya decide to supplement their income; Karen gets a temporary job as a stunt rider, and Priya, an aspiring Mad Scientist, gets work as a mechanic. They meet a lot of people, including a Mechanical (robot/android) named Cowboy. Karen sets about trying to tame a rogue horse named Angel Maker in between her regular stunts, but murder interrupts a monkey wrench into the works, especially when someone close to Karen is arrested.
The relationship continues to deepen between Karen and Priya; their love is strong, but they are very different people, with different backgrounds, and negotiating their occasional frictions can be tricky. Everything is told from Karen’s strong voice (first person point of view, past tense), but Priya speaks her mind and stands up for what she wants. There are also a lot of other interesting characters in this story, with their own personalities and agendas, from a starlet to a sharpshooter to the black owners of the ranch where the film is being shot, to a VIP lawyer, to a couple of other interesting horses. Karen and Priya’s past relationships with town functionaries also continue to play a role in the present.
The murder mystery has a lot of moving parts (appropriately enough, for this steampunk setting); there were plenty of subplots and red herrings, but not so many that I couldn’t follow along. I didn’t figure out what was happening before the solution was revealed, but it felt appropriate, and I very much enjoyed the ride getting there.
This is a fun series with great characters in an interesting setting. I’d be happy to read some more adventures in this world, but it doesn’t feel like there are many dangling threads, so I can easily imagine it wrapping up with Angel Maker, as it ends in such a satisfying way.
Content warnings: Brutal beating murders (offscreen), fights.
