The Earl of Brass
Publisher Description
A grounded archaeologist, a scrappy inventor, and a hidden city that holds the promise of a better tomorrow.
Eilian Sorrell is no stranger to cheating death, but when a dirigible accident costs him his arm, he fears his days of adventuring are over. As the eldest son of the Earl of Dorset, Lord Sorrell knows he will face a bleak future among London's aristocracy unless he can escape. On a quest to return to his old life, Lord Sorrell commissions a prosthetic arm, but the craftsman isn't quite what he expected.
Fenice Brothers Prosthetics is in trouble. Hadley's brother is dead, and she is forced to pick up the pieces and finish what he started. When clients begin turning her away, she fears she will fail until she crosses paths with the enigmatic Lord Sorrell. In exchange for a new arm, he offers her a chance at adventure in the deserts of Palestine.
Beneath the Negev's sand lies something far more precious than potsherds or bones. A long lost crystal city has been found that could change Eilian and Hadley's world forever, but they aren't the only ones who know its secrets. Will they make it out alive or will they, too, be buried beneath the desert sands?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Jorgenson launches the Ingenious Mechanical Devices series with this slightly discontinuous romantic steampunk adventure. Eilian Sorrell, eldest son of the Earl of Dorset, refuses to give up his archeological travels even after he loses an arm in a dirigible accident. Hadley Fenice is a prosthesis maker seeking a willing surgical recipient for a battery-operated limb designed by her late brother. After the new arm is grafted onto Eilian's stump, he and Hadley join Eilian's friends on a dig in the Negev Desert, with Hadley disguised as the dandy Henry Fox to get around sexist strictures. But the story falters when they discover people living in an underground cave who enjoy classless gender equality and same-sex relationships, work according to individual passions, and learn language instantly via crystals. These utopians are embraced by Elian and Hadley but exploited by their unenlightened British colleagues. After this clunky venture into modern cultural polemic, the couple's return to London restores the atmosphere of romance and delight. If Jorgenson can avoid the urge to moralize, future installments should be entirely entertaining. (BookLife)
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