| $@%&! level: Medium-Low “Bedroom” level: Low (but a good bit of innuendo) Violence level: Medium Back Cover: “The Industrial Revolution has escalated into all-out warfare. Sixteen years have passed since the Heterodyne Boys, benevolent adventurers and inventors, disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Today, Europe is ruled by the Sparks, dynasties of mad scientists ruling over—and terrorizing—the hapless population with their bizarre inventions and unchecked power, while the downtrodden dream of the Heterodynes' return. At Transylvania Polygnostic University, a pretty, young student named Agatha Clay seems to have nothing but bad luck. Incapable of building anything that actually works, but dedicated to her studies, Agatha seems destined for a lackluster career as a minor lab assistant. But when the university is overthrown by the ruthless tyrant Baron Klaus Wulfenbach, Agatha finds herself a prisoner aboard his massive airship Castle Wulfenbach—and it begins to look like she might carry a spark of Mad Science after all.” |
As a character, I find Agatha engaging, entertaining, and at the same time slightly annoying. It’s possible that last one doesn’t actually have anything to do with her, and everything to do with the fact that people around her are constantly assuming (incorrectly) that they understand her and dismissing her because of what they think they understand. And of course they never give Agatha a chance to correct their assumptions. That joke works once or twice, but as a plot device it gets old really quick. And then there’s the fact that she’s remarkably slow on the uptake. The big mystery about her parents and why she can’t build anything may be mysterious to her, but it’s pretty obvious to the reader. No, the real mystery is about what exactly happened to the Heterodynes, and while there are a number of hints to that one, you don’t get the answer by the end of this installment. Perhaps it’ll turn up later.
So, you can’t rely on mystery or suspense to build the plot here, and at least some of the comedy is rather overdone. But that doesn’t really matter so much because instead you get character growth, romance, and Jagermonsters. That is to say, Agatha discovers that she actually is good at building things in that wonderful mad science-y way, even if she doesn’t always know what the things she builds are supposed to do. She mostly builds them in her sleep, you see. And then there’s Gilgamesh, a wonderful young man, deeply in love with Agatha, and able to put his foot down his mouth far enough to stomp on his own heart. (I said romance; I didn’t say it was a successful one.)
But my absolute favorite part of this book just has to be the Jagermonsters, just because they’re so very amusing. The entire race of them seems to share a cheerfully bloodthirsty attitude, so that for them fighting is just a lot of fun (probably even if they end up having to use their own severed arm to beat someone with). And this is even better because they sort of play with that common perception of them, and seem to have a lot of fun terrifying people. Add in the fact they they are, in spite of what may appear, utterly loyal to anyone with the last name of Heterodyne (and they can tell if you’re part of that family, whether you claim it or not), and what you’ve got is basically the terrifying monster under the bed who has, for reasons of his own, decided to protect rather than attack the bed’s occupant. What can I say? They make me laugh, and I want more.