Agatha H. and the Airship City

Girl Genius, Book 1

By: Phil Foglio, Kaja Foglio

Narrated by: Angela Dawe

The Industrial Revolution has escalated into all-out warfare. Sixteen years have passed since the Heterodyne Boys, benevolent adventurers and inventors, disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Today, Europe is ruled by the Sparks, dynasties of mad scientists ruling over - and terrorizing - the hapless population with their bizarre inventions and unchecked power, while the downtrodden dream of the Heterodynes’ return.

At Transylvania Polygnostic University, a pretty, young student named Agatha Clay seems to have nothing but bad luck. Incapable of building anything that actually works, but dedicated to her studies, Agatha seems destined for a lackluster career as a minor lab assistant. But when the university is overthrown by the ruthless tyrant Baron Klaus Wulfenbach, Agatha finds herself a prisoner aboard his massive airship Castle Wulfenbach - and it begins to look like she might carry a spark of Mad Science after all.

From Phil and Kaja Foglio, creators of the Hugo, Eagle, and Eisner Award-nominated webcomic Girl Genius, comes Agatha H. and the Airship City, a gaslamp fantasy filled to bursting with Adventure! - Romance! - and Mad Science!

©2011 Phil Foglio (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Liked it, but prefer the graphic novel

This is an odd audio book. It is a novelization of a series of excellent graphic novels, with this book covering volumes 1-3 of the (soon to be) 10 volume Girl Genius Series. Having read the comics, I still thought this was enjoyable, but its roots as a comic show frequently. As might be expected from an adaptation like this, the writing is merely serviceable, with few descriptions, and relatively straightforward passages with simplistic word choices. A lot of the humor of the graphic novels isn't as apparent in the book, and the amazing craziness of the world built by the authors isn't as clear (though the reader is excellent). In short, the audiobook turns an excellent, award-winning story into a pretty good one - a nice adventure tale, but not much more.

For those who have read the graphic novels, there actually is some additional detail here, including some backstory on a few of the characters. There are a few (very minor) changes to the plot, such as who Agatha's room-mate at the castle is, but otherwise it stays incredibly close to the comic version. By all means, download it, you won't be upset, but do yourself a favor and at least check out a few pages of the comic (free online!) first, so you can see what the characters and world look like.

A fun YA Story!

I listened to this book in 9/2015
I enjoyed it from the start. An interesting civilization and a darling girl trying to succeed but usually just finds herself in trouble. In a distant way, this is similar to "Cinder." which is a book that I adore. It also has similarities to Jim Butcher's new "Spires" book.

a graphic novel republished as a novel

This story originally came with complex, dynamic pictures accompanying the dialogue. The authors converted it to a non-graphic novel and that translates really well into this audio version. Great voices for all the various humans, aliens, and talking machines make this a fun adventure

A rollicking good time...

Even if steampunk isn't usually your thing, Agatha H and the Airship City can't help but be a delight. There is a reason the webcomic of it won the award for Best Webcomic so many years running that they willingly took themselves out of the running in subsequent years.

Great Story

Mad Science! Adventure, Romance, Sword fights, Airships! What else do you need?! Oh Men swinging on cables thousands of feet in the air!