Agatha H. and the Airship City

Girl Genius, Book 1

By: Phil Foglio, Kaja Foglio

Narrated by: Angela Dawe

Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

loved the imaginative world of advenrure

It is great fun to have a talking cat in among the geniuses. If you are looking for escape this will be just right for you

Excellent story

I am a huge fan of the web comic but I caught up some time ago and stopped following it. I wanted to go through the series again from the beginning and was checking kindle to see if the comic was available when I found this. At first I was worried this would be abridged or otherwise lacking without the comic's pictures but I am happy to report that if anything this version is better. The vivid descriptions still bring the story to life but we actually get more information now. Also the narration is top of the line and the accents add more to many characters than I ever got reading it myself. My only complaint is in the early part while still in beetlesburg there was a loud tonal noise that hurt my ears. it only happened 2 or 3 times in that one chapter and I assume was an error with either my audible or the editing of the audio.

For those of you unfamiliar with the story all I will say is there are some confusing parts but it all starts coming together towards the end or this book. Stick with it and it will pay off in the end. No spoilers here just know that this is one of the rare books that once you know the twist it is an even better story. Also don't worry there are more twists to come in later books. Give it a try you won't regret it if you like the super genre and mad scientists or steampunk at all.

Romance! Comedy! Adventure! MAD SCIENCE!

This story is amazing in all incarnations. Follow along a wonderful tale worth listening to.

comic to book: awesome

if your a fan of the original online comic you'll love this .
This book and subsequently the narration give so much more detail that can make the situation of the original storyline all the better.

If your a fan of the concept of steam punk alternate realty this book is a great take on the idea. the maddest of mad scientists of this world are called sparks and they up end everything everywhere they go. this story follows one of these mad girls. a girl that, like an off kilter fairy tale, Is in fact a lost member of one of the most notoriously well known family of sparks. she uses her family traits (and family monsters) that she never knew about to save herself and friends from a premature release of a nasty monster. a monster that had been created by a bad guy thought lost to time. at the same time having a silly interlude with a young man only for the young man to get hit on the head and knocked out.

Great Story, Great Narrator

This book is so much fun! The characters are well-developed, the world is a fascinating alternate universe, and I can't wait to find out what happens in part two (soon, I hope).
Ms. Dawe has a great range. The Jaegermonsters are hysterically funny, and Crosp's voice is perfection itself! It's hard to believe this is just one person narrating. I certainly hope the same narrator will be used for the sequel(s).

Starts a little slow but takes off and never slows

Takes a while to get going mostly because they introduce a lot of characters. I literely was starting to wonder about the purchase half way thru the fiirst chapter. But once it got going I was riveted. Very impressive narration definately helped especially for a book like this. The world they create it unique, intriging, dangerous, colorful and unexpectly hilariuosl. You never no what to expect but some how always end up pleasantly surprised. If you enjoy steam punk don't expect this to be the same old same because it is anything but. I loved it and plan on reading the series.

Great fun!

This was a terrific story with a really excellent narrator. I had not read any of the Foglio???s works before and wasn???t sure what to expect. I wasn???t disappointed in the least. The world building is well done as is character development. There are a lot of very quirky and downright strange characters and a lot of humor. Something mysterious is happening in this world which is slowly being revealed. Out of curiosity, I went to the Foglio???s website and checked out their ???Girl Genius??? comic upon which this novel is based. While it is well done, my preference is for the novel. I like having more written detail and being able to create the characters and world in my own mind.
Angela Dawe is a wonderful narrator. I loved the way she created the voices and accents of the different characters. Each one distinct and easily identifiable. I was especially impressed with her male ???voices??? as I find that it is harder for a woman to create male voices convincingly, but Ms. Dawe does so impressively.
I very much look forward to the next installment in Agatha H???s story!

love the extras

the book is based on the Web comic series, and manages to capture most of the mad cap illustrations of the comic while providing details that the comic format is not suited to showcasing. the comic is at girlgenius.com. there are some minor continuity conflicts between the comics and this novelization, but minor enough that you can page through the comic while listening to the book.

Awesome fun.

I love the web comic. Angela Dawe does a great job bringing it to audio.

Review For Agatha H in the airship city

This is the first book in the series and my first taste of this series as well. It was an enjoyable performance! It was well read with characters being delineated by accents & various voices. I liked that! Great storyline as well. I understand this series is also in comic book form & will have to check that out too!