Romulus Buckle & the City of the Founders

The Chronicles of the Pneumatic Zeppelin, Book 1

By: Richard Ellis Preston Jr.

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

In a postapocalyptic world of endless snow, Captain Romulus Buckle and the stalwart crew of the Pneumatic Zeppelin must embark on a perilous mission to rescue their kidnapped leader, Balthazar Crankshaft, from the impenetrable City of the Founders. Steaming over a territory once known as Southern California — before it was devastated in the alien war — Buckle navigates his massive airship through skies infested with enemy war zeppelins and ravenous alien beasties in this swashbuckling and high-octane steampunk adventure. Life is desperate in the Snow World, and death is quick. Buckle and his ship’s company must brave poisoned wastelands of Noxious Mustard and do battle with forgewalkers, steampipers, and armored locomotives as they plunge from the skies into the underground prison warrens of the fortress city.

Captain Romulus Buckle must lead the Pneumatic Zeppelin and its crew of ne’er-do-wells on a desperate mission where he must risk everything to save Balthazar and attempt to prevent a catastrophic war that could wipe out all that is left of civilization and the entire human race.

©2013 Richard Ellis Preston Jr. (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Never heard post apocalyptic steampunk before.

The setting is absolutely fascinating. Set in the western U.S. 300 years after an apocalyptic alien invasion. Alien technology has rendered electronics unusable and therefore recovering technology has shifted to steam power. The story wasn't the most engaging at times but was fun. And, I hope the narrator has a sound proof room to record or else I feel bad for his neighbors. Early in the book he has a habit of screaming into the mic when a character is excited but he throttles it back later on and I found myself enjoying his narration. The one point of the setting and story that I had a hard time swallowing was the dismal firearm technology. So, technology has been wiped out 300 years in the past? Cool, that's plenty if time for us to get far beyond muskets. I could see firearm technology not rebounding completely but, if they can make airships like the one in the story, they can make more modern weapons than those in the book.

Great swashbuckling fun

The performance is over the top and great fun. Every moment is fraught. Literally, just fraught with one thing or another. read this one to keep up with and discuss it with my adolescent, who adores the series

Nice but shallow

I must admit I got sucked in pretty quickly. A fun listening experience, a great narrator in Luke Daniels, a prose that is reminiscent of the halcyon days of pulp fiction, where action was quick, men were real men etc. Alas, the plot line is razor thin, basically two days of raiding and escaping, with a lot of shooting but not much development. At the halfway point I kind of lost interest as the whole thing got a bit repetitive. Still, i guess I will spend a credit on the next book because it was fun while it lasted, and maybe the next book has a bit more depth.

Move Along To Better Works In The Genre.

Sometimes, no matter how you try, you can't get into an audiobook.

It can be the premise. In this case, I LOVE the premise.

Sometimes, it can be the delivery. In this case, Daniels is passable.

So, why did I have so much trouble with this audiobook, starting it over numerous times to make sure I was hearing it correctly, re-evaluating the plots and the "believability" of the work?

Let's figure this out by looking at what good writing does for the reader or listener.

Good writing takes us on a journey that must, by the very genre's nature, suspend disbelief. It's a requirement. This is done by more than interesting action sequences, which this work DOES have. It requires solid world-building combined with a believable lead character.

There are other important factors to successful writing, but on these two key factors, the work falls short. Romulus Buckle is too perfect, with no flaws that accompany a great story. As to the good sequences, they just don't come together as a WHOLE work of exceptional world-building. Tolerable, but not worthy of an Audible credit.

I keep these negative reviews short when I deliver them, because they should be short and to the point. It's my hope that Preston will step up his game in the future.

There are SO many other works that deserve your attention here at Audible, both fiction and non. Explore those instead.

Steam punk set way in the future after modern

What did you like best about Romulus Buckle & the City of the Founders? What did you like least?

The main character is abit of a swashbuckler

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

The narration was good ,no complaints

Was Romulus Buckle & the City of the Founders worth the listening time?

I found it to be a good book but somewhat boring. It did have action and some interesting parts. I bought the second at the same time. Im hoping it picks up

Exuberant Steampunk Swashbuckling Adventure!

The Romulus Buckle series is an exuberant, swashbuckling tale of a dystopian future set in Los Angeles and populated with a great cast of over the top characters. The story is packed with non-stop action and adventure and really sets a great bar for inventive steampunk romance.

Romulus Buckle is the young captain of the Pneumatic Zeppelin - part of the fleet of his father's clan, the Crankshafts. When the leader of the clan (and Romulus' adoptive father) is kidnapped, the Buckle and his Zeppelin will travel across the Los Angeles landscape, fight prehistoric monsters, clan armies, and more - all the while assisted by his capable crew.

I really enjoyed this book - it's a book that has a strong enough plot, great world building, and all the adventure you'd expect from a pirate type adventure. There are even moments of amusement and humor thrown in at some of the situations in which Buckle finds himself. Add in Martians, Los Angeles ruined and under snow, and some inventive steampunking (where steampunk IS intrinsic to the plot and not set dressing) and you have a great read. Los Angeles natives will especially appreciate this book and its ruined Southern California locations.

I listened to the Audible version of this book and it was just a bit too over the top, though I appreciated all the characterization the narrator put into the reading.

In all, this is a gem in the steampunk or dystopian genre.

exciting, intriguing and fun all the way through

loved it! voices are awesome distinct. I am about to start the second book already

Story so real, I could live in the setting and not

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, it is a great intro to steampunk I believe. The story is solid and setting fully fleshed out.

What did you like best about this story?

I own this book in all three formats, The printed book has a beautiful cover and is printed well. The audible is read with impeccable form and the narrator really brings the story to life. This was one of my first forays into steampunk genre and I LOVED it, It is set in a world that is dark, and dangerous, but the locations are very well described. The author obviously knows the area well, and has truly made a masterful setting using a real life area in a post apocalyptic setting. I don't wish to give anything away, but the thought and structure put into the setting, and the airship are truly enormous, so much so that I am honestly wishing I could board a proper ridged airship and fly around with the likes of Buckle and crew! If I ever have the space I may attempt to build a functional scale model of he Pneumatic Zeppelin because in my mind the ship is a very near a real thing, the power of the authors words to bring his setting and characters to life, are impressive.

Have you listened to any of Luke Daniels’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Luke Daniels is quite probably my favorite narrator. He has such a range of voice and all his characters are fully fleshed voices, and never do they break character voice wise. As always Mr. Daniels brings the book to life in a way no other narrator could.

Thoroughly enjoyed it.

I love steam punk but sometimes writers struggle to define why the world uses steam instead of other tech. I like how the background of the world is teased out in bits rather than just dumped on you all at once.

I will get more in the series.

okay if you like steampunk

nicely detailed World building. lots of fun (trite) action, like watching a Saturday afternoon serial at the cinema with Cliffhangers every chapter.
but at the 8 hour mark my ears hurt from the screaming barrage of multiple accents.