Ian Tregillis's debut is actually a 2010 release that I discovered in a search for more steampunk reads. The cover art alone is enough to pique interest, but the synopsis is to die for:It’s 1939. The Nazis have supermen, the British have demons, and one perfectly normal man gets caught in between
Raybould Marsh is a British secret agent in the early days of the Second World War, haunted by something strange he saw on a mission during the Spanish Civil War: a German woman with wires going into her head who looked at him as if she knew him.
When the Nazis start running missions with people who have unnatural abilities—a woman who can turn invisible, a man who can walk through walls, and the woman Marsh saw in Spain who can use her knowledge of the future to twist the present—Marsh is the man who has to face them. He rallies the secret warlocks of Britain to hold the impending invasion at bay. But magic always exacts a price. Eventually, the sacrifice necessary to defeat the enemy will be as terrible as outright loss would be.
Raybould Marsh is a British secret agent in the early days of the Second World War, haunted by something strange he saw on a mission during the Spanish Civil War: a German woman with wires going into her head who looked at him as if she knew him.
When the Nazis start running missions with people who have unnatural abilities—a woman who can turn invisible, a man who can walk through walls, and the woman Marsh saw in Spain who can use her knowledge of the future to twist the present—Marsh is the man who has to face them. He rallies the secret warlocks of Britain to hold the impending invasion at bay. But magic always exacts a price. Eventually, the sacrifice necessary to defeat the enemy will be as terrible as outright loss would be.
PW gave it a good review and George R. R. Martin blurbed it. This is one of those cases where I feel guilty for not having come across the book sooner. I'm not certain what the hold up has been, but book two in the series was delayed, hopefully not due to lack of attention, so it's kind of a situation where waiting has paid off a bit: Bitter Seeds is due out in paperback in April 2012 and book two is set for release in July (hopefully). Tregillis did post this back in March, which sort of piles on more reader's guilt, and this earlier this month (note -- I didn't receive this book for review. I've not been sitting on promised promotion. I bought it and... my inner bookseller is cringing right now.)
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Pre-ordering now!
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