Karen Memory

I usually enjoy Elizabeth Bear's fiction very much, but this was doomed from the beginning. Karen Memory is an AU story, set in the fictional town Rapid City during the gold rush. Only that this is a steampunk western.

The protagonist and first-person storyteller is Karen Memery, a hooker with a heart of gold who ends up investigating a series of murders together with a Marshal, rescuing abused hookers from the main villain. That's about as far as I got until I started skimming to the end of the book. Not even the f/f love story was enough to reel me in. I would have loved to love this story, but I just didn't.

If you enjoy the western genre, and steampunk, and would enjoy a queer cast kicking ass and taking names, you might enjoy this. I just didn't.

I usually enjoy Elizabeth Bear's fiction very much, but this was doomed from the beginning. Karen Memory is an AU story, set in the fictional town Rapid City during the gold rush. Only that this is a steampunk western.

The protagonist and first-person storyteller is Karen Memery, a hooker with a heart of gold who ends up investigating a series of murders together with a Marshal, rescuing abused hookers from the main villain. That's about as far as I got until I started skimming to the end of the book. Not even the f/f love story was enough to reel me in. I would have loved to love this story, but I just didn't.

If you enjoy the western genre, and steampunk, and would enjoy a queer cast kicking ass and taking names, you might enjoy this. I just didn't.