I Read Books: Pasquale's Angel
McAuley slips sideways in time to a Florence that overthrew the Medici and embraced Leonardo da Vinci’s inventions to kickstart an industrial revolution. Our protagonist Pasquale, is a painter (no longer a respected profession except for the superstars) who wants to paint an angel in a way that no one ever has before. However when Rafael comes to the city as an ambassador for the Medici Pope, Pasquale finds himself caught up in politics. With journalist Niccolo Machiavegli he has to navigate murderous plots that seek to embroil Florence in war, revolution, and even stranger, occult turmoil.
On re-reading this with a far greater knowledge of Renaissance Italy than the first time, as well as the Industrial Revolution and 16th century occultism, the book still holds up. It won’t hold your hand, forcing you to make sense of a steam- and clockwork powered Florence before the stranger parts appear. Still, there are a plenty of clues. McAuley shoves in a fair number of celebrity cameos, as might be expected for a book in which a major character is Machiavelli, but some of the subtler ones are the best.
Read This: Because you want skulduggery in alternate steampunk Florence
Don’t Read This: If Renaissance plus steam power plus art plus plots plus occult weirdness is too much
Comments