The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack

Burton & Swinburne, Book 1

By: Mark Hodder

Narrated by: Gerard Doyle

Length: 14 hrs

Publisher's summary

Sir Richard Francis Burton: explorer, linguist, scholar, and swordsman; his reputation tarnished; his career in tatters; his former partner missing and probably dead. Algernon Charles Swinburne: unsuccessful poet and follower of de Sade; for whom pain is pleasure, and brandy is ruin! They stand at a crossroads in their lives and are caught in the epicenter of an empire torn by conflicting forces: engineers transform the landscape with bigger, faster, noisier, and dirtier technological wonders; eugenicists develop specialist animals to provide unpaid labor; libertines oppose repressive laws and demand a society based on beauty and creativity; while the Rakes push the boundaries of human behavior to the limits with magic, drugs, and anarchy.

The two men are sucked into the perilous depths of this moral and ethical vacuum when Lord Palmerston commissions Burton to investigate assaults on young women committed by a weird apparition known as Spring Heeled Jack, and to find out why werewolves are terrorizing London's East End. Their investigations lead them to one of the defining events of the age - and the terrifying possibility that the world they inhabit shouldn't exist at all!

©2010 Mark Hodder (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The usual superlatives for really clever fantasy (imaginative, mind-bending, phantasmagorical) aren’t nearly big enough for this debut novel. With this one book, Hodder has put himself on the genre map.... Hodder’s only problem now is to find a way to follow up this exhilarating debut, which will appeal not only to sf/fantasy readers but also to mystery and historical-fiction fans." (Booklist)

"A historical figure already larger than life, Capt. Sir Richard Francis Burton, pursues a legendary and violent Victorian creature, Spring Heeled Jack, at the behest of the prime minister in this convincingly researched debut. Fans of steampunk will be intrigued by the alternate history setting, in which the queen dies mid-century; they will also enjoy following Burton and his sidekick, poet Algernon Swinburne, as they investigate the dark secrets of 19th-century England and recall Burton's legendary expedition to find the source of the Nile." (Publishers Weekly)

First rate!

I have been looking for a new series, having devoured most of Orson Scott Card's works and have finally found it. Great premise, great characters and a thoroughly satisfying audio presentation.

Alternate history for 19th century Britain

Mark Hodder's The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack is an alternate history tale set in mid 19th century Britain. In this universe, Queen Victoria had been assassinated shortly into her reign and so the Victorian era never occurred. This led to a scientific explosion resulting in the 'technologists' and the 'eugenicists.' Into this mix, Sir Richard Burton is suborned by the Prime Minister to investigate some disturbing crimes involving young chimney sweeps. At the same time, Spring Heeled Jack has returned and intersects with Burton's investigation, In the end spring heeled jack turns out to be a time traveler who had tried to prevent his ancestor from attempting to kill Queen Victoria and inadvertently caused her death. Subsequent events are either his machinations to correct this or actions resulting from the alternate history that has resulted.

Hodder ingenuously crafts a well designed time travel tale with all the attendant paradoxes in place. At the same time, due to the alternate history he creatively engages actual historical figures including Richard Burton, Algernon Swinburne, Henry Beresford, Edward Oxford, Charles Darwin, and Florence Nightingale (the latter two turn out to be diabolically evil). All of the activities occurring over several decades all come together in the end to reconcile this alternate period.

The narration is quite well done with excellent character distinction. Pacing is smooth.

Fantastic!

For some time I have been looking for a book that could live up to the possibilities presented by the steampunk genre and have largely been disappointed. While books such as Perdido Street station, Terminal World and Boneshaker have all had promise each one has failed to to both convey the technology and culture of a steampunk world while also being a good story in regards to the fundamentals of storytelling such as narrative flow and relatable characters.

The curious case of Spring Heeled Jack however is THE book that steampunks have been looking for and the perfect introduction to those new to the genre. It is both original and historical, filled with fantastic machines and creatures on par with the best alien worlds of fiction. There are characters of surprising depth and exciting action scenes both all set in an alternate "victorian" era. Unlike most alternate history fiction the changes in history here are not merely to suite the authors convenance but are an actual result of the story itself making this not so much an alternative history as it is a time travel epic. It manages to be fanciful without being too bizarre to relate to and unlike many authors of this genre this author remembers that no matter how interesting the world you create may be the characters must be the foundation of the story if we are to care at all about the plot.

The story unfolds first from the perspective of an man hired to investigate some of the stranger happenings in what from our perspective is a radically changed and bizarre world and then later from the point of view of a man from our future trying to deal with his own past and the changes that occurred to the timeline. It is in this second part of the story that this book truly shines when we listen with growing horror and fascination to the sequence of events that have lead to a 19th century england so different from our own.

Any fan of time travel will love this story and the classic paradoxes it copes with as will anyone who has studied the social and scientific changes of the victorian era and wondered, "what if"

At last steampunks have a book they can be proud to recommend as an example of the genre without an excuses or caveats to the fantasy or sci-fi fan.

Great Performance--Interesting Story

The voices and performance were great. I may be a sucker for the British accent...but really enjoyed it. The story was fast and interesting, but ultimately the pieces didn't fit that smoothly in the end. It also seemed to spin out of control and push things too far for my "suspension of disbelief." But Burton and Swinburne were intriguing and different characters. And the story took enough turns to keep me guessing.

No masterpiece, but definitely a fun read.

highly enjoyable

I'm fairly new to the steam-punk alt-history genre but I quite liked this book. That's not to say that if you think about it too hard the book was perfect, but as an enjoyable listen, it was great. The narration was excellent. I really liked the level of technology in the book, seemed mostly believable enough. I have to say that the big confrontation scene at the end of the book was rather anti-climactic, but that's just me. I'm not sure that I will get the next books, certainly if I did, I'd try to find them on sale.

steampunk is the new sci fi

What did you love best about The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack?

The narrator was really good and the characters were Interesesting. I also like how everything tied together, which was kind of the theme. How every little thing you do might affect the world. Also it was a very inventive story about the legend of Jumping Jack.

What did you like best about this story?

I really liked Burton and Swinburne. At first I didn't think I would like them but they ended up being good guys and swinburne was kind of funny.

Which scene was your favorite?

It was exciting throughout I couldn't wait to hear what happens next. It was also fun as the story unfolds and you begin to realize what is really going on and how it came about. (the butterfly effect). But I did lose some sleep over this.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I didn't cry, some parts made me chuckle. This wasn't a feel good book if that is what you are looking for. It was a book about an adventurer whose biggest adventure was at home.

Any additional comments?

can't wait to listen to the next of the series. I am hooked on steampunk now

This one I grew to like.

Would you consider the audio edition of The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack to be better than the print version?

I really didn't expect to like this novel. It was to be one of my fillers between Pendergast and King. But, this book is really good. Great characters and and surprising plot twist. It has really become a pleasant surprise!

An absolutely cracking tale

I'm a big fan of alternate history and steampunk tales. I was in no way prepared for the absolutely cracking tale that I ended up listening too.

A fantastic piece of story telling that shows the impact of time travel and the divergent timeline that is created from it.

I've always been interested in Richard Burton as a person. He' was a famous Victorian adventurer and the only non Muslim to complete the Hajj (that we know of).

The divergent timeline turn what would have been the Victorian Era into this very bizarre steampunk/bio advanced society.

There is the mystery of Spring Heeled Jack that must be solved and it serves as the lynch pin to the entire tale.

Very worth whiled to listen to.

A bit scattered but interesting

This is the first book in the Burton and Swinbrune series by Hodder. There are two more books released in this series after this one: The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man and Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon. The fourth book in this series is scheduled to release in August of 2013.

I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was well done. The narrator did an excellent job of distinguishing between different character voices. The narrator’s voice was very English and did an excellent job of blending with the story setting.

Sir Richard Francis Burton is an explorer extraordinaire. His most recent expedition has left his reputation in tatters and his partner from the expedition is in grave condition. When he is given a chance to serve as the King’s agent in the case of Spring Heeled Jack, he is eager to prove his worth. At his side is Algernon Charles Swinburne, a failed poet who finds pain a most delightful pastime.

I enjoyed all the steampunk elements and the interesting world, but had a lot of trouble engaging with the characters. I also thought the plot was a bit scattered and wrapped up too conveniently.

Burton is a bit too perfect of a character, he pretty much excels at everything. He is portrayed as a noble and misunderstood hero of discovery. He excels at languages, fighting, scholarly pursuits, mesmerism, and pretty much everything he does. He is so perfect that I honestly had trouble liking him at all.

Swinburne is an odd character. He has no sense of fear and follows de Sade, meaning he finds pleasure in pain. He does a good job of balancing out Burton’s melodrama with his plucky personality. But I also found him kind of irritating and naive.

One of the most fascinating characters is Spring Heeled Jack. He has a very interesting back story and what starts out as a trip to change history a tiny bit ends up forcing Spring Heeled Jack into a descent into madness.

The plot is a bit scattered. There are a number of factions and groups of people that are seemingly involved in separate events. By the end of the book it all ties together but in a fairly convoluted way. It all worked out and made sense, but the process of getting there was scattered and at times a bit hard to follow. I got a bit weary of the time travel aspects to the plotline....time travel gets too complicated and convoluted.

The first part of the book is told primarily from Burton’s POV. The last third is told mainly from Spring Heeled Jack’s POV. This worked fairly well for the story.

It was an interesting read and very creative. It is well enough written. Things wrap up fairly well. The epilogue starts the next storyline.

Overall this was a decent steampunk read. I enjoyed the world, thought the plot was a bit scattered, and had some trouble engaging with the characters. Some of the story was intriguing but by the end I just wanted to be done with the book. I am unsure right now as to whether or not I will read the next book in this series.

I would tentatively recommend this book to steampunk fans who don’t mind quirky (and slightly annoying) characters. I would more strongly recommend A Conspiracy of Alchemists by Liesel Schwarz, Cherie Priest’s Clockwork Century series or Meljean Brooke’s Iron Seas series (which has more romance than the others but also an incredibly well done steampunk world).

Fun!

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

I have already recommended this book to friends.

Any additional comments?

I loved this original book. The mash-up of steampunk, sci fi and historical fiction was fun and the reader did a wonderful job. Having a previous knowledge of the time period and the characters before hand made the book especially interesting for me.