Breath of Earth

May 23, 2016
Steampunk author Cato (The Clockwork Dagger) turns to the U.S. in this well-researched and vivid fantasy set in an alternate 1906 San Francisco that’s protected from earthquakes by geomancers. Japan and the U.S. have formed the United Pacific alliance and jointly targeted China. The entire San Francisco council of Earth Wardens is destroyed in a suspicious explosion, leaving only the hidden talents of young Ingrid Carmichael to thwart the next attack on the city. Ingrid, the mixed-race daughter of a vanished warden, is restricted from practicing magic due to both her gender and her dark skin. She must look for allies among the city’s persecuted Chinese refugees, exiles forced to wear yellow ID patches. Along with a renegade inventor (with a handy airship!), Ingrid sets out to confront the terrorists who plan to rubble the city and tries to appease the near-mythic guardian whose subterranean slumber is being disturbed. Cato cleverly brings her colorful Barbary Coast–era San Francisco to life, highlighting the neglected perspectives of the outsiders and the dispossessed who made up the majority of its populace. Agent: Rebecca Strauss, DeFiore & Company.

June 15, 2016
In a novel that imagines a very alternate history, Cato (The Clockwork Crown, 2015, etc.) channels her flair for steampunk fantasy into the story of a plucky heroine living in San Francisco in 1906.Ingrid Carmichael is the personal secretary to one of the geomancers who pull magical power from the Earth and protect the city of San Francisco from potentially catastrophic earthquakes. While Ingrid possesses her own exceptional and misunderstood magical talents, she hides them from a male-dominated society that has difficulty believing in a woman's capacity for intellect and power. When disaster strikes the city's geomancers, Ingrid is flung into the conspiracies of a world fractured by multiple international conflicts and dominated by a powerful alliance between the United States and Japan. She discovers unsettling things about her family and her powers and finds herself at the center of a plot that hinges on one of the biggest catastrophes in San Francisco history. Cato has a talent for setting in motion a cast of smoothly likable characters--it's easier to continue reading about them than not--but they rarely surprise and often feel like typical fantasy-novel types. This flatness makes her racially diverse ensemble feel like a dutiful nod to inclusiveness instead of a genuine range of individuals. In the same way, Cato's reimagining of history has an air of gauche, if well-meaning, appropriation. Her story argues for racial empathy, but the execution of its details relies heavily on lazy stereotypes. In Cato's San Francisco, the influences of Japan and China emerge in predictable details sprinkled throughout, but there are few deeply appreciated elements. A steampunk-flavored adventure with amiable characters and a fantastical version of San Francisco that has imaginative promise but fails to engage with the Asian cultures it appears to take inspiration from.

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Starred review from July 1, 2016

The year is 1906. The United States and Japan have forged the Unified Pacific, a powerful group set on world domination, with China standing in their sights. In San Francisco, Ingrid Carmichael is secretary to one of the five geomancer wardens in the Earth Wardens Cordilleran Auxilliary. The wardens absorb earthquake energy, controlling the tremors and transforming it into electrical capacitor crystals known as kermanite. Daughter of a deceased warden, Ingrid carries a secret--she is a geomancer herself, the first woman with this incredible talent. When assassins attack and kill the wardens, Ingrid escapes with her mentor. However, without the full group of wardens, San Francisco faces one of the worst earthquakes in history. Added to this, Chinese refugees begin to force a wedge between the allied forces. Ingrid soon learns that her magic is even stronger than she realized, and she will need all of that strength to meet the conflict that may be contingent entirely on her actions. VERDICT The acclaimed Cato (The Clockwork Dagger) creates an alternate early 20th-century San Francisco of stunning detail. Drawing on the power struggles of the refugees and women's work, this vivid reality will keep readers intrigued to the very end.--KC

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 1, 2016
San Francisco, April 1518, 1906. A time of great upheaval and prejudice in an alternate world of magic and science. The Unified Pacific, an alliance of the United States and Japan, is immersed in conquering China while their main rival, Britain, concentrates on subjugating India. Ingrid Carmichael, a young woman of mixed heritage, acts as secretary to Warden Sakaguchi, one of the geomancers who monitor and control seismic activity in and around the city. Unknown to the other wardens, Ingrid is also a geomancer, with powerful skills unheard of in their male-dominated world. When a violent explosion rocks the auxiliary office, Ingrid saves her mentor by employing her power in an unexpected manner. Those behind the attack are planning greater devastation for San Francisco, and Ingrid's geomantic abilities might prevent a cataclysmor be used by others as a means for global domination. When her guardian comes under government scrutiny, she flees with the help of an unlikely group of companions possessing unique talents and possibly a few secrets of their own. Cato, author of the Clockwork Dagger books, begins a new steampunk fantasy series with supernatural creatures, action-packed adventure, mystery, humor, a touch of romance, and more to come.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)