Steampunk Canada

This is the story of a life time. Literally. It begins when both Jules Verne and Andre Nemo are but boys playing games on the bank of the Loire. They come from very different backgrounds, Verne from a conservative, but well off family and Nemo from a less fortunate life. His father scrapes by a living by working at the shipyards and they survive day to day. It's their love of adventure stories that brings the boys together. Their other mutual love is the daughter of a wealthy shipping merchant, Caroline Aronnax. She is not a proper young lady. She too likes adventure and doing as she pleases, and she dislikes the restraints on her sex.

From the beginning it is Nemo who invents and takes risks. Verne is too afraid of consequences to truly get involved in their boyhood schemes, but he is a loyal friend who helps to bring Nemo's ideas to life. He loves Nemo, but is jealous of his bravery and his relationship with Caroline. Nemo and Caroline's relationship is one of mutual admiration and a shared kindred spirit.

The title of this book, “The Fantastic Adventures of a Dark Genius” belies the fact that Nemo begins life as a very average, happy and brilliant boy. It is the events throughout his life that turn him into the “Dark Genius”that he becomes. The author does an incredible job of making the reader believe that this story is what truly happened to the great Nemo. At the same time, it is all the average things that happen from Verne's choices in life that finally bring him to his goal of being a great and well known writer. But are the stories truly from his imagination only? His ideas and stories come to life in this glorious piece of fiction.

Kevin J. Anderson writes like someone spreading warm butter on toast. It's smooth and effortless to read. Each character is truly alive and each emotion they feel thoughout the story, whether of pure joy, terror or grief, is palpable. The author has also taken Verne's literary works, his real life, and the history of his time, and added a who's who of his characters, family members, and historical figures into this story. They are the people in the day to day lives of each of Anderson's main characters and they are a big influence in changing them over the course of their lives into the adults they become.

Kevin J. Anderson's Captain Nemo should be a companion book in any English class reading the works of Jules Verne. While Verne's stories are fantastic on their own, it would truly bring a different level of understanding to his novels and his characters. As one of the characters tells Verne in the novel “you must wrap your research within a tale so exciting that the people will cry out for more...you will become a teacher, introducing the public to new concepts without their realizing it”.

On its own, this is an incredible piece of work and I highly recommend it for anyone who loves adventure, history, steampunk, invention, or just a great story.

You can find it HERE.