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.

I cannot recommend it enough.

This is the only female narrator I've ever heard who can do a believable male voice. Her interpretation of Gilgamesh Wulfenbach in particular actually changed my impression of the comic. Combine that with the inimitably whimsical writing style of the Profs. Foglio, and you get a minor masterpiece. Probably a bad place to use a credit (it's one of the less pricey audiobooks), but a GREAT place to spend a few bucks for eight hours of straight-faced steampunk fantasy.

If you're familiar with the work of the Foglios, you know that they have a style that can only be described as sincere silliness; that is to say, they are completely sincere, but when interpreted through a real world lens it is ridiculous. But it works. You can take it seriously while laughing at the absurdity.

Compare Graphic Novel and Novel

What made the experience of listening to Agatha H and the Airship City the most enjoyable?

It is a fun book.
Angela Dawe was able to make Agatha real.
There was alot of fleshing out of small details like how clanks move that the G.N. could not do.

What other book might you compare Agatha H and the Airship City to and why?

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett. Both have strong females and a randomness that remind me of the Muppets.
Also
Summon the Keeper by Tanya Huff. Again a strong female with odd bits of humor sprinkled in it. This is a more serious book nothing like the Muppets.

What does Angela Dawe bring to the story that you wouldn???t experience if you just read the book?

She is female I am male...

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Adventure, Mad Science & Romance.
or
Any plan vere you lose your hat iz a bad plan.

Any additional comments?

For me the fun of the GN is you get to see the expressions on the secondary characters that do not have speaking lines. Like the fish that Gil rescues. Also the colors used for everybody's clothing is wonderful.

wish there was more

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

yes, good for any age group. fun, easy to read or listen to.

What did you like best about this story?

very fast moving, did not want to put it down. did not guess where the book was going

What about Angela Dawe’s performance did you like?

smooth voice, very nice.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

no idea. lol. over my head. but if they go by the book it would be great.

Ever wanted visuals while audio book listening?

What did you love best about Agatha H and the Airship City?

Loved the story, but discovering that I could look at the online comic WHILE listening made for a fully immersive experience. I have often wished for images to go along with audiobooks and this has almost the whole story illustrated. FANTASTIC.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Jägermonsters are probably my favorite. All of the characters have pretty well rounded development.

Which scene was your favorite?

Climatic scenes where Agatha's clanks come to the rescue are pretty exciting.

Very fun novelized version of Girl Genius comic!

What made the experience of listening to Agatha H and the Airship City the most enjoyable?

The Girl Genius webcomic is a great series which is a fun and sometimes-silly story in an alternate reality. This novelization of the beginning of the webseries is a great adaption to a pure literary versus visual/word medium. I enjoyed it and hope that there will be continuations as the webcomic continues into the novelizations as well!

What about Angela Dawe???s performance did you like?

The vocal performance was very dramatic and I loved her ability to do voice variations to better signal character voices!

Enjoyable story, fun performance

The story has just the right mixture of adventure and comedy without being overly complex. It was perfect for listening in small segments in the car.

The narrator does a great job of conveying the characters' sarcasm in her performance.

The audio book looses one star from me because the audio tracks don't align with chapter divisions in the book. It made finding good stopping points and finding my place again when I accidentally bumped forward or backward somewhat difficult.

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.