George Mann

Welcome to the bizarre and dangerous world of Victorian London, a city teetering on the edge of revolution. Its people are ushering in a new era of technology, dazzled each day by new inventions. Airships soar in the skies over the city, whilst ground trains rumble through the streets and clockwork automatons are programmed to carry out menial tasks in the offices of lawyers, policemen and journalists. But beneath this shiny veneer of progress lurks a sinister side. For this is also a world where lycanthropy is a rampant disease that plagues the dirty whorehouses of Whitechapel, where poltergeist infestations create havoc in old country seats, where cadavers can rise from the dead and where nobody ever goes near the Natural History Museum.Finalist for the "Masterton et Bob Morane" 2012 award.

A Newbury & Hobbes Investigation

The Affinity Bridge

Rebecca C Wright

The best of both worlds...steampunk and a great mystery. This is a great start to what will certainly be a great series.

Welcome to the bizarre and dangerous world of Victorian London, a city teetering on the edge of revolution. Its people are ushering in a new era of technology, dazzled each day by unfamiliar inventions. Airships soar in the skies over the city, while ground trains rumble through the streets and clockwork automatons are programmed to carry out menial tasks in the offices of lawyers, policemen, and journalists. But beneath this shiny veneer of progress lurks a sinister side. Queen Victoria is kept alive by a primitive life-support system, while her agents, Sir Maurice Newbury and his delectable assistant Miss Veronica Hobbes, do battle with enemies of the crown, physical and supernatural. This time Newbury and Hobbes are called to investigate the wreckage of a crashed airship and its missing automaton pilot, while attempting to solve a string of strangulations attributed to a mysterious glowing policeman, and dealing with a zombie plague that is ravaging the slums of the capital. Get ready to follow dazzling young writer George Mann to a London unlike any you've ever seen and into an adventure you will never forget, in The Affinity Bridge. Newbury & Hobbes Investigation #1 The Affinity Bridge #2 The Osiris Ritual #3 The Immortality Engine #4 The Executioner's Heart #5 The Revenant Express

Christine Bruce

There were things I really liked and things I really didn't. The twist at the end was NOT EXPECTED and a really great surprise. Also, the characterization was really well done in my opinion as well as the chemistry between the two main characters. However, I was not very pleased with the random plot lines throughout that seems to be forgotten about and in one instance seemed rather useless. Newbury and Hobbes's secretary at the British Museum comes to them saying her brother is missing (the same man from the prologue) throughout the whole book he is missing and in the end he has nothing to do with the main plot and is found by pure happenstance. Also the manner of the Queen's cousin in the dirigible crash seemed pointless as well if only because there was no way to know he was involved or even suspected of involvement at the point when the Queen asks Newbury to devot himself to the investigation. The characters saved this book for me, but just barely. 
I will be reading the rest in the series, and I would recommend this book to steampunk enthusiasts especially, and a few scifi fans.

Ann-Loy

Actually really entertaining and intriguing ride through Victorian London. I enjoyed it!

Kaylee Z

I honestly did not have many expectations for this book. I am always in search for a solid steampunk book but have not have great success so The Affinity Bridge was kind of another test to see if it would at least get the idea of ‘steampunk’ right. So far, this is the first book that truly seemed to succeed. 

Mann did not just rely on the buzz words of the genre and actually unpacked the world to generally make sense and it worked. Another thing that Mann was able to do was weave multiple mysteries into a single book to have the world feel more lived in. It made sense that Newbury would have multiple things on the go and the fact that we also have the addition of a new assistant who is already a few weeks into the job by the time we are introduced to everyone. It was nice that Hobbes’ first day was not also the first day we meet everyone. Sometimes that works as a plot device to bring the reader along and have one character unfold information at the same time as the reader but I feel like it worked better in this story with how Mann integrated her.

In terms of characters, Newbury was super fun to read. He was excited about technological advancement, can hold his own in a fight, has many secrets, is smart and considerate along with having a vice that he can’t quite seem to shake. Essentially, he has levels and I love it. The only downside is that Mann gave a lot of the action to Newbury. And on that note… that brings me to Hobbes. The whole time reading this character had me wishing for Mann to give more to her. I could tell he has plans for her character and that she is very smart and strong but also has troubles of her own which also makes her a very intriguing character but Mann needed to give her more opportunity to fight. But again, it’s something that there is still plenty of opportunity to unpack and give with future books. Hobbes isn’t quite in the background and only a plot device though, she has a lot to offer as a character and I can’t wait to find out more. Especially after that epilogue!

The mystery itself had me along for the ride. I liked how there were different layers to the mystery in terms of having a dirigible crash, a missing automaton, murder-bots, zombies (which were probably some of the best described zombies I’ve read), missing people, a glowing policeman on a rampage… it’s a lot but it all works together well.

All in all I was pleasantly surprised by The Affinity Bridge and will definitely be continuing with the series. I need to see where these characters go!

Carlo Zottmann

Good read. This was one of my first forays into steampunk, and the mixture of victorian London and its culture, steam engines, zombies and automata appealed to me.

Let's just say I'm happy to learn that there are two more books with Sir Maurice Newbury and his assistant Miss Victoria Hobbes available. :)

Beth Bartholomew

The Affinity Bridge has hung over me on my to-be-read shelf for a while now. I bought it a few months ago and thought it looked like a quick and exciting read. However I have to say that if it wasn’t for the sunny weather I may not have finished this when I did. Having recently read The Strings of Murder, which follows a similar premise of slightly sci-fi themed murders set in Victorian times, this book was a little too familiar for my liking. I often felt like I was reading... For my full review please visit my blog https://booksnestbookishopinions.word...

The Affinity Bridge A Newbury & Hobbes Investigation

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