Karen Memory

A fabulously fun and gripping adventure story, with a great, sympathetic (and very diverse) cast of characters and a completely gripping narrative voice. Karen, the narrator, is just *awesome* - matter-of-fact, brave, loyal, funny, and far more impressive than she realizes - and I cheered for her arc of empowerment by the end. I also loved her sweet, fumbling romance, and Priya, her love interest, is truly wonderful too.

Still, despite how much I loved Karen from the very beginning, I found the first half of the first chapter a bit difficult to read, because it was setting up the situation and the world-building, and (a) I've never been a fan of Westerns as a genre, and (b) the situation...well, it's just hard. For all her optimism and sunny attitude, Karen is, in fact, a 16-year-old prostitute who's been working as a prostitute for a while now, so...she's a child prostitute. And that is a really painful situation to read about even when told in the most upbeat (and non-explicit) way possible, even when told in the context of a 19th-century steampunk-Western society that takes that kind of situation for granted (and considers a 16-year-old to be "a grown woman," as other characters frequently remind us and her), and even when she's so emphatically clear on how much better her situation is (because of the ethical woman she works for) than the situations of so many other women in other parts of the city. So for the first half of the first chapter, I honestly wasn't sure I was going to be able to make it through the book.

But then the real story started, and I was HOOKED. From the moment that the central bad guy knocked in the front door of Karen's home in Chapter 1, I couldn't put the book down, I was so engrossed. This was like a really great 19th-century dime novel, with thrills and laughs and exciting adventure and really evil bad guys and dazzling feats of heroism to cheer for - but, even better, without the racism or sexism of real 19th-century dime novels. It was SO much fun and, by the end, so uplifting too. I felt positively buoyant as I finished the book.

So I ended up really loving it after all, and now I want to read a lot more of Elizabeth Bear's books! There are so many of them, in so many different subgenres, that I'm not sure exactly where to start...but I'll take a guess and start trying all the different ones, because KAREN MEMORY was just fantastic.

This is Karen Memery’s story. She’s a prostitute, an orphan, a loyal friend, a fair shot, an excellent horsewoman, and a fair seamstress. Set in the western town of Rapid City in the late 1800s on the west coast of the US, most likely Washington territory, there’s plenty of little steampunk touches to keep me happy. However this story is mostly about the people, and I was not disappointed one bit.

This tale is told in a first person manner as if you were reading Karen’s journal front to back like a printed novel. I instantly liked Karen. She wasn’t raised with much schooling though she has some common sense she learned from working with horses before she was orphaned. That common sense lead her to the bordello run by Madame Damnable, who has a peg leg and runs a respectable and clean establishment. She’s been saving up to move on once she is ready. But things go awry one night when Merry Li shows up with an indentured Indian (from India) woman named Priya. Both are in bad shape and the bordello ladies immediately have to face down Peter Bantle and a few of his men. It wasn’t easy.

So starts some of the toughest days of Karen’s life. Street walkers are turning up dead and dumped in places they will be found. Marshall Bass Reeves plays a prominent role in this novel (hooray!). Here’s my little confession – until last year, I was completely oblivious to the historical figure Bass Reeves, the first black US Marshall west of the Mississippi. He made an excellent character in this novel. He’s hunting a serial killer that may somehow be connected to the mess in Rapid City.

I’ve long been a fan of Elizabeth Bear’s work because she has such a variety of characters in her novels. This book is no exception. We have folks from so many backgrounds. Russian, Indian, Chinese, Native American, African American, French, and probably some others are all represented in this novel. Most of them are multi-dimensional. Now to add to that, this story has folks of various sexual orientation. Hooray! SFF in general needs more of this. There’s a touch of romance and it was very sweet to see through Karen’s eyes.

Then we have all the awesome tech. It’s there, it just doesn’t eclipse the kickass characters and the plot. There was a submersible, a few dirigibles, a very fancy Singer sewing machine, and a mind control device that is put to nefarious deeds. There were references to more things, like mad scientist duels, and such. These steampunk touches were enough to add to the scenery but not enough to become the focus and take away from the plot and characters.

I have to talk about the horses. These are important to Karen and since I have donkeys, I really connected with what she felt towards the horses Bass Reeves and his posse man (Sky) brought with them. Karen grew up with horses and had several ‘friends’ among the horses. When she was orphaned, she had to give all that up and it was terribly hard. Now she finds herself around these horses and so many feelings she had kept under lock and key come to the surface. Tear-jerking scenes folks! As Karen says, once you’ve made a friend of a horse, your life will never be the same again.

The plot had some unexpected turns. I simply didn’t want to put this book down. It started off with this parlor showdown between Madame Damnable’s ladies and Bantle and his men and the tension was kept going throughout, though there were plenty of scenes that were more intense. At first, there’s simply this immediate problem to deal with, but that leads to a bigger issue and then that one leads to yet a bigger issue. It was very well done. This story left me feeling highly satisfied. Yet I can’t but hope for another story set in the same world, or even another Karen Memery story.

I received this book free of charge from the publisher (via Audiobook Jukebox) in exchange for an honest review.

The Narration: Jennifer Grace did a most excellent job with this book. Most of the book is in Karen’s voice, but Grace had a range of accents and voices for all the other characters. Her male voices were quite believable. I especially liked her voice for Priya and her voice for Bass Reeves.

Karen Memory (2015) is a standalone steampunk Fantasy novel. It is set in 1878 in the Washington territory. The technology of that time included steam-powered devices, airships, and submarines. The fauna encompassed Sasquatch, phoenix and other paranormal creatures.

In this novel, Karen Memery is a farm girl who has been orphaned. Her mother died during childbirth and her father raised her as an independent hellion. After her horse tamer father's death, Karen sold his herd and became a street urchin within Rapid City. Now she is a prostitute at the Hotel Mon Cherie.

Madame Damnable runs the Hotel Mon Cherie. She had been on of the few prostitutes who returned from the Klondike. She is the mentor of her girls.

Crispin is the bouncer for the brothel. He is also the confidante of the girls.

Lizzie is a mechanic who uses her skills to keep equipment running at the brothel, She is good enough to get a inventor's license, but prefers to work for Madame.

Connie is the cook. She urges the girls to eat more than they want.

Bethel is the bartender at the Hotel. She keeps a shotgun under the bar.

Francina is the oldest girl in the brothel. She can poise as a man if necessary.

Beatrice is a prostitute from New Orleans. Bea is the daughter of a placee and speaks the dialect of French used in the Delta.

Effie and Pollywog are prostitutes in the brothel.

Merry Lee is a Chinese girl who escaped from the cribs in Chinatown. She now rescues other girls from those cribs.

Priyadarshini is an indentured girl from India. Priya speaks several languages. Her sister Aashini also has signed indeture papers.

Bass Reeves is a Deputy United States Marshal. He is tracing a man who had murdered prostitutes in Oklahoma.

Peter Bantle is the owner of several cribs within Chinatown. He has an electric hand.

In this story, the girls are having story time in the brothel. When a crash is heart from outside, Crispin and Francina go look for the origin. The ladder is broken and two girls on on the ground.

They take the girls inside and Effie identifies Merry. She is hurt and is taken upstairs to the sick room. Lizzie uses the surgery machine to remove a bullet and stitch up the wounds.

The outer girl identifies herself as Priya. She says that Merry had rescued her from one of Bantle's cribs. During their escape, Merry had been shot.

Bantle comes to the door shortly afterward. He has his thugs break open the door. Karen tells him to leave the house. Effie is carrying Bethel's shotgun and fires over their heads. Bantle refuses to leave, but then Damnable comes downstairs and force him away.

Karen is infatuated with Priya, but doesn't want to press too hard. She does small favors for the girl. Eventually Priya asks if she wants to friends with her. Karen wants much more, but realizes that friendship is a step in the right direction.

Later, Connie sends Karen and Francina to the market. One of Bantle's thugs recognizes her and tries to abduct her. Karen fights him off with a sack of onions and her umbrella. After he pulls a knife of her, Bass steps in and identifies himself.

Bass and Francina take Karen home. On the way, Bass gives Karen a newly minted Morgan silver dollar. He also recognizes a Democratic rally as a group of ballot stuffers.

This tale dumps a dead girl near the garbage bins. She had been flogged to death. Bass shows up shortly thereafter and recognizes the modus operandi. The method was the same as that used on other girls in Indian Territory. He has a writ of arrest for the unknown killer.

Then Bantle announces his candicacy for mayor. This volume does not have a sequel. However, An Apprentice to Elves is coming soon.

Highly recommended for Bear fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of the Old West, political intrigue, and a bit of romance. Read and enjoy!

-Arthur W. Jordin

I enjoyed this steampunk mystery thriller with its sassy narrator/protagonist. Bear creates and interesting wild west world where sewing machines are like full body armour and zeppelins cruise the skies. Karen is a "seamstress" a euphemism for whore. When a depraved murderer starts leaving bodies around, Karen becomes aware of the disgraceful conditions in a sex slave type operation in a bad part of town. She develops a crush on a Hindi woman, Priya, who escaped from this sex slave crib and comes to work at Karen's whorehouse as a maid and tinkerer. But Priya has a sister left behind in slavery and when Karen frees Priya's sister, she makes an enemy of Peter Bantle, the owner of the slaves and a criminal mastermind who has a hold on many people in town and has corrupted the constabulary.

Karen Memory is a quick fun read that will keep you entertained and make you laugh.

KAREN MEMORY is a first person account of the adventures of a high-end 'parlor girl' in a steampunk version of 1800's Seattle. The book has great voice, and the main character is engaging and charming. The novel pulls in different threads of racial and sexual orientation issues but never lets that interfere with the rollicking plot. Karen teams up with an ex-slave US Marshall and a host of characters from the other side of the tracks to stop a serial killer with ties to powerful politicians. The villains are a little cardboard cut-out for my taste, and the ending is a confusing mix of steampunk devices and action. Still, the book is a lot of fun, and I would recommend it. The novel features LGBTQ characters and focuses on prostitution in the Old West (or at least a version of it). There's is no explicit sex, and the violence is about what you'd expect for a modern fantasy novel. I would recommend it for older teens and adult readers who enjoy an alt history setting.

In a wild west, steampunk world, the narrator and protagonist, Karen Memery, works as a prostitute at Madame Damnable's Hôtel Mon Cherie, and her western drawl and Bear's gift for coming up with metaphors in said drawl made this book pure fun to read. The story opens up when Merry Lee brings one of her rescues to Madame Damnable's for protection. But Priya Swati isn't content to be safe while her sister still remains in captivity, and Karen isn't about to let Priya attempt to get her sister all by herself.

The plot of this book, which is typical of a western down to the romance, the villain, and the climatic shootout toward the end, is executed with all the right beats. It is not normally a plot I find all that interesting (and the shootout lost me a little, despite being a Very Well Done Shootout), but ... the characters are great. All of them. Priya has both a will of steel and a flair of brilliance, Marshall Reeves has a sense of justice balanced by a keen understanding of the injustice of his culture, and Karen has a knack for humor and storytelling. The supporting characters, the girls of the brothel, are all individuals, and all act according to their own well-drawn motivations. My favorite part of this book was how easy it was to be completely on the side of the good guys, because I liked and sympathized with all of them. They're also characters who happen-to-be-diverse rather than characters who are defined by their diversity. It's queer friendly, and there is a cool trans character (which seems sort of heavy handed to say, but it's rare enough that I want to call it out).

Also, like usual, Bear's world and prose are drawn with exquisite detail. Not only is the voice of this book great, so are all the little steampunk details, the bits of history--even the horses! Karen also used to be a horse trainer, and the horses, for those who care about such things, are really well done. It is not just any western that knows a horse from a handsaw, even when the wind is north by northwest, if you know what I mean.

The steampunk/happy hooker/western adventure took me in. There were so many genres rolled into this work that you'd think it would be overwhelming and a bit confusing, but it works, for some reason. Even the horses seemed to have well developed personalities! I really liked the idea also of adding many races and nationalities to the character mix. The details of the fantastical town with it ladders that are used to climb to the various street levels was quite original. Let's hope Elizabeth Bear keeps writing these very amusing novels for a long time.

Elizabeth Bear’s newest novel is a steampunk romp through the fictitious northwest U.S. town of Rapid City.

The obvious star of this novel is the title character, Karen Memery. Her voice is fresh and immediate, and draws you in from the very first lines:

“You ain’t gonna like what I have to tell you, but I’m gonna tell you anyway. See, my name is Karen Memery… and I’m one of the girls what works in the Hôtel Mon Cherie on Amity street. “Hôtel” has a little hat over that o like that. It’s French, so Beatrice tells me.”

Delightful, fresh takes on steampunk tropes include steam-powered mechas; rootin’-tootin’ ladies of the night... no, wait, I mean seamstresses-cum-U.S. Marshal deputies; and mind control.

Bear’s skillful narrative style, tight plot and fertile imagination bring us along effortlessly. Through Karen’s eyes, we see the crazy jumble caused by Rapid City’s hasty growth, the unregulated west, quite a few crazy mechanical inventions, and backdoor political maneuverings.

As I would expect from an Elizabeth Bear novel, these Rapid City women don’t wait for the U.S. Marshals to save their city, although they happily greet them as allies. Yet this book is not stuffed full of gun-toting women whose only purpose is to wield a six-shooter and belt back a shot of rot-gut. Bear’s main characters are fully realized with the ability to surprise the reader.

Though I truly enjoyed this novel, one thing disappointed me: the tired plot device known as the prostitute serial killer. In my opinion, any additional urgency this plot device engendered, its location in the story arc of the novel, and the satisfaction of the eventual discovery of the protagonist did not warrant its inclusion into what was otherwise a truly original tale.

In short, I give this book 4.8 out of 5 stars.

If you are looking for a fast read during your summer vacation, this book is one to put on your reading list.

I read the first two chapters of Karen Memory when they were posted on Tor.com and they left me breathless. I couldn't wait to get my hands on the book proper and immerse myself in Karen's voice and world.

I'll say this--it's not a bad book. It's just not a great one either. What stuck out most was the cast of characters, which is chock full of people of every combination of race, gender, sexuality, and creed except for "cishet white man"--unless he happens to be an antagonist. But after a thrumming whizbang of an intro, I just couldn't find myself engaging with the rest of this tome. It was too predictable. Too rote. It felt like a world that had been fleshed out in degrees, but not to its full dimensions. If the cast HAD been populated predominantly by cishet white men, I would have found it supremely forgettable.

I was also, I confess, pretty disappointed in the antagonists. They are a tedious lot. I can definitely get behind the decision to make every bad guy a racist, misogynistic white dude, but to really pull that off you have to demonstrate the casual iniquities of those descriptors, not just wave a megaphone around shouting, "Get a load of this jerk! He's so gross!" And there's nothing that breaks immersion quite like the heinous deployment of a cliche like, "Oh, I'm going to enjoy breaking you." Seriously? My eyes rolled so hard I got dizzy.

Ultimately, a serviceable story, but I can't really recommend it unless you're really hard up for diversity in steampunk--which, hey, I feel you. But I want more than just representation.

Elizabeth Bear's latest is also, in my opinion, one of her best. The steampunk elements are well considered and convincing, but not so intrusive that the story gets lost. The tale is told in the first person by a very young woman, but a highly competent one. She does what she must to survive and doesn't whine about it, even though she doesn't like a lot of it, but still holds tightly to her own standards of what is right and wrong. There is a full cast of lively, colorful characters, with very little repetition. Their behavior is consistent with their characters as described. Even the villains are consistent. There were some deaths among the important positive characters, but none of them seemed excessive or unlikely; and given the situations as presented, it would have been highly improbable for none of them to have died.

I enjoyed this story tremendously. It was fast, lively, vivid, and not at all just like every other story I've read this month. I am hopeful that there may be a sequel, but things were wrapped up well enough that I will not feel cheated if there is not one.

A fantastic steampunk novel that walks a fine line between straight-up steampunk & alt history (given the research Bear did about a variety of characters on whom she based her characters). The book features a number of strong female characters from Karen to Priya to the Madame. It also highlights the strange inequities C19th/early 20th USA among people of different ethnicities and backgrounds in the West. One thing I wasn't sure of was why Bear had Memory consistently use the phrasing where 'of' substituted everywhere for 'have'. Sure, this happens in modern speech (and has been done previously), but I often found myself getting a little annoyed by the pretense of it. I got into the swing of the language otherwise, and bear did an admirable job. I would love to return to the world of Rapid City, if Elizabeth Bear ever happens to set another novel there.

A western like no other... an homage to the Pacific Northwest like no other... a look at the world's oldest profession like no other... characters who leap off the page - like no others! Very engrossing book, easy to invest my emotions into. As I read the final page, I knew I would miss this place.

Miss memory spins a semi-historical yarn, mashing steam punk and dime-novel heroics together with a harlot heroine, ingenious Indian, and an implacable marshal. A slow start introduces the large and varied cast, before events whp into a frenzied finale. The only gripe I have is the the antagonist is very one dimensionional compared to the well rounded supporting cast.

Really fun to read with a distinctive 1st person voice as the guide. Characters are well drawn and memorable and the steampunk elements reside in the background rather than dominating proceedings. The story kind of meanders for the first 100 pages and then kicks into gear especially in the final two chapters. Bear is an excellent writer who works well in different genres. Definitely a good one.

I read the first two chapters of Karen Memory when they were posted on Tor.com and they left me breathless. I couldn't wait to get my hands on the book proper and immerse myself in Karen's voice and world.

I'll say this--it's not a bad book. It's just not a great one either. What stuck out most was the cast of characters, which is chock full of people of every combination of race, gender, sexuality, and creed except for "cishet white man"--unless he happens to be an antagonist. But after a thrumming whizbang of an intro, I just couldn't find myself engaging with the rest of this tome. It was too predictable. Too rote. It felt like a world that had been fleshed out in degrees, but not to its full dimensions. If the cast HAD been populated predominantly by cishet white men, I would have found it supremely forgettable.

I was also, I confess, pretty disappointed in the antagonists. They are a tedious lot. I can definitely get behind the decision to make every bad guy a racist, misogynistic white dude, but to really pull that off you have to demonstrate the casual iniquities of those descriptors, not just wave a megaphone around shouting, "Get a load of this jerk! He's so gross!" And there's nothing that breaks immersion quite like the heinous deployment of a cliche like, "Oh, I'm going to enjoy breaking you." Seriously? My eyes rolled so hard I got dizzy.

Ultimately, a serviceable story, but I can't really recommend it unless you're really hard up for diversity in steampunk--which, hey, I feel you. But I want more than just representation.

Elizabeth Bear’s newest novel is a steampunk romp through the fictitious northwest U.S. town of Rapid City.

The obvious star of this novel is the title character, Karen Memery. Her voice is fresh and immediate, and draws you in from the very first lines:

“You ain’t gonna like what I have to tell you, but I’m gonna tell you anyway. See, my name is Karen Memery… and I’m one of the girls what works in the Hôtel Mon Cherie on Amity street. “Hôtel” has a little hat over that o like that. It’s French, so Beatrice tells me.”

Delightful, fresh takes on steampunk tropes include steam-powered mechas; rootin’-tootin’ ladies of the night... no, wait, I mean seamstresses-cum-U.S. Marshal deputies; and mind control.

Bear’s skillful narrative style, tight plot and fertile imagination bring us along effortlessly. Through Karen’s eyes, we see the crazy jumble caused by Rapid City’s hasty growth, the unregulated west, quite a few crazy mechanical inventions, and backdoor political maneuverings.

As I would expect from an Elizabeth Bear novel, these Rapid City women don’t wait for the U.S. Marshals to save their city, although they happily greet them as allies. Yet this book is not stuffed full of gun-toting women whose only purpose is to wield a six-shooter and belt back a shot of rot-gut. Bear’s main characters are fully realized with the ability to surprise the reader.

Though I truly enjoyed this novel, one thing disappointed me: the tired plot device known as the prostitute serial killer. In my opinion, any additional urgency this plot device engendered, its location in the story arc of the novel, and the satisfaction of the eventual discovery of the protagonist did not warrant its inclusion into what was otherwise a truly original tale.

In short, I give this book 4.8 out of 5 stars.

If you are looking for a fast read during your summer vacation, this book is one to put on your reading list.

Very cool steampunk gadgets. Great characterization. So enjoyable that I read it in one day until 12:15am at night. Could not put it down. It is a quick read, lots of fun with many "historical" elements in this alternate world. Very worth reading.