The Industrial Revolution has escalated into all-out warfare. It has been sixteen years 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 Hetrodynes' 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.
Agatha H. and the Airship City
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Book Description
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. The Hugo Award-winning Foglios (Girl Genius) present the first three volumes of their popular gaslight fantasy comic in novelized form, maintaining the zany energy, witty repartee, creative characterization, and innovative world-building of the original. Agatha Clay is a university lab assistant in a world filled with madboy scientists, dangerous automata, and not quite human soldiers with silly Germanic accents. She soon finds herself a pawn in political power struggles when her locket is stolen and she is taken hostage on the airship of the powerful Baron Klaus Wulfenbach. While trying to stay alive long enough to discover the truth, she begins to discover her personal history and genius talents of her own. This version keeps closely to the original plot, and uses most of the original dialogue, but also provides expanded scenes and character interiority that will delight regular fans of the series. Although this book is likely not the best way to experience the Foglios' talent for the first time, and cannot do justice to the sheer buxomness of its main character, it is entirely comprehensible and enjoyable on its own without its comic counterparts. (Jan.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
About the Author
PHIL & KAJA FOGLIO are famous for their comic book series "Girl genius". This year alone, Girl Genius, Volume 8 won the World Science Fiction Society s prestigious Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story and Girl Genius was named as one of the thirty most important comics of the decade by Comic Book Resources. Over the last eight years, Phil Foglio was nominated for a Hugo Award as "Best Professional Artist," the series has twice been nominated for the Eisner Award and won five Web Cartoonist Awards.
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More About the Author
PROFESSORESSA KAJA FOGLIO is the current Head of the Department of Irrefutably True History at Transylvania Polygnostic University. She first became aware of the power of Creative History while listening to the excuses of her fellow students who had failed to produce their homework. Her doctoral work brought recognition to the long hidden canis operisphagus, or "homework-eating dog" which, as we now now, infests most of our major schools and universities. She first became interested in the history of the Heterodyne family during the infamous "Nymphenberg Pudding Incident" when she was mistaken for Agatha by an angry mob of dessert chefs from whom she barely escaped. Her subsequent research has brought her the grudging acclaim and jealous rivalry of many of her academic colleagues. She enjoys airship racing, Hyrulian Electro-Mechanical Shadow Puppetry and illustrated novels.
PROFESSOR PHIL FOGLIO spends most of his time in the field, collecting legends, folk songs, anecdotes and gossip relating to Sparks and their effects on village society and "folk science". This is a bit odd, as he was originally hired by Transylvania Polygnostic University to teach Modern Dance. He first became interested in Heterodyne stories while doing research on simple automatons and was actually present when the Lady Heterodyne unleashed her "Battle Circus" upon Baron Klaus Wulfenbach. Through subsequent research, bribery, and rampant speculation, the professor has managed to fill in a great many of the narrative gaps in the early life of Agatha Heterodyne. He enjoys botany, mechanical illustration, entomology and -in moderation- modern dance.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
41 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Agatha H. and the Airship City (the novel) is a second look at the Agatha Heterodyne "Girl Genius" story now being developed in the authors' graphic novels, the most recent two of which have won the Hugo for Best Graphic Story. As such, it should be taken as a secondary source.
This volume covers the story we met in the first three volumes of the graphic story: Agatha Heterodyne and the Beetleburg Clank, Agatha Heterodyne and the Airship City, and Agatha Heterodyne and the Monster Engine.
Phil Foglio has stated in interviews that one part of the Girl Genius story is what happens to legends over time. The legends about Agatha's parents and uncle have grown with time; should we not expect the same of the legends about Agatha? In fact, there are some details changed and snippets of story added. A prologue tantalizes with glimpses of history and historical characters and perturbs the historical timeline developed by fans, hinting at clues or vital constraints. Other changes deepen and richen the character development without, so far as I can tell, damaging the story. We learn a few new things and are reminded of some old ones. Some lines of fan speculation are cut off, leaving us to focus on better questions.
The Girl Genius story is all about the backstory. Bit by bit through the graphic novels we've gotten history, found questions in it, and gotten answers that have provided fascinating and bigger questions. That essential story dimension does not change.
The Foglio humor still glows. Much of it revolves around the Jaegermonsters. If you are a fan, you probably know that the Jaegermonsters were a late addition; Phil was already drawing the comic books in which the first part of the story appeared when they were invented. By now they are deeply woven through both story and backstory. Among their narrative duties, they serve as clowns whose antics conceal both foreshadowing and backstory. A few new incidents near the start of the novel had me laughing out loud. (Clowns or not, they are capable of noble action and sacrifice.)
Is this as good a novel as the graphic story is a graphic story? No, it is not. That's not bad news: the graphic story's artwork, pacing, and working out of story details are so good that it would be a wonder if the novel could match it. The most apparent weakness is that details of the milieu that can be background in graphic form must be explained, and sometimes the explanation pauses the story for detail that might better be given elsewhere. This is a matter of technique and a basic problem for all SF&F writing, and unless the Foglios choose not to improve (for the sake of style, perhaps) they surely will.
It is possible that writing this novel required the Foglios to make another pass over their story notes. The overall plot and the key characters were written before the first published page was drawn, promising a tightly woven story. Phil and Kaja Foglio have delivered magnificently on that promise. This novel may help them continue to do so.
If you want the primary source for the Girl Genius story, continue to buy the graphic novels and read the eponymous web site. That's what they are for. If you are already a fan of the story, or cannot bear the long graphic form, then buy this book. But if you skip the graphic novels, you are missing an awful lot of richness, depth, and fun.
This volume covers the story we met in the first three volumes of the graphic story: Agatha Heterodyne and the Beetleburg Clank, Agatha Heterodyne and the Airship City, and Agatha Heterodyne and the Monster Engine.
Phil Foglio has stated in interviews that one part of the Girl Genius story is what happens to legends over time. The legends about Agatha's parents and uncle have grown with time; should we not expect the same of the legends about Agatha? In fact, there are some details changed and snippets of story added. A prologue tantalizes with glimpses of history and historical characters and perturbs the historical timeline developed by fans, hinting at clues or vital constraints. Other changes deepen and richen the character development without, so far as I can tell, damaging the story. We learn a few new things and are reminded of some old ones. Some lines of fan speculation are cut off, leaving us to focus on better questions.
The Girl Genius story is all about the backstory. Bit by bit through the graphic novels we've gotten history, found questions in it, and gotten answers that have provided fascinating and bigger questions. That essential story dimension does not change.
The Foglio humor still glows. Much of it revolves around the Jaegermonsters. If you are a fan, you probably know that the Jaegermonsters were a late addition; Phil was already drawing the comic books in which the first part of the story appeared when they were invented. By now they are deeply woven through both story and backstory. Among their narrative duties, they serve as clowns whose antics conceal both foreshadowing and backstory. A few new incidents near the start of the novel had me laughing out loud. (Clowns or not, they are capable of noble action and sacrifice.)
Is this as good a novel as the graphic story is a graphic story? No, it is not. That's not bad news: the graphic story's artwork, pacing, and working out of story details are so good that it would be a wonder if the novel could match it. The most apparent weakness is that details of the milieu that can be background in graphic form must be explained, and sometimes the explanation pauses the story for detail that might better be given elsewhere. This is a matter of technique and a basic problem for all SF&F writing, and unless the Foglios choose not to improve (for the sake of style, perhaps) they surely will.
It is possible that writing this novel required the Foglios to make another pass over their story notes. The overall plot and the key characters were written before the first published page was drawn, promising a tightly woven story. Phil and Kaja Foglio have delivered magnificently on that promise. This novel may help them continue to do so.
If you want the primary source for the Girl Genius story, continue to buy the graphic novels and read the eponymous web site. That's what they are for. If you are already a fan of the story, or cannot bear the long graphic form, then buy this book. But if you skip the graphic novels, you are missing an awful lot of richness, depth, and fun.
50 of 53 people found the following review helpful
By JJ
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
OVERALL SCORE: A-
Overall, if you enjoy steampunk, adventure stories, science fiction or fantasy you should pick this up and is defintaelly a good read. I would give it a A- for a starting novel.
MY TAKE:
I enjoyed the book, I felt it was well writen for being an adaptation of the web-comic Girl Genius (which I am a fan of). The steampunk themed Europe the authors have dreamed up is amazing. They do a good job of describing the different steampunk inspired devices and enviornment without losing the reader in technical jargon that doesn't add anything to the book. The main characters are well developed, however there are a lot of supporting characters in this first novel that made an appearance that is going to be easy to lose track of in future books. The other drawback is that it seemed a bit short, however since I do read the webcomic I understand why they stopped where they did as it was a natural stopping point.
BREAKOUT:
World Building: A
They do a good job of building a unique steampunk world, solid A.
Plot/Story: A
This is the first book of the series, which introduces the world and the main character Agatha, it finished up the main plot of this story nicely and leaves a couple of sub-plots open that leave you wanting more, solid A.
Characters: B+
The main characters are portrayed very well, but as I mentioned above some of the supporting cast that was introduced who played only a small part in this book is going to be hard to remember, will be curious to see how the authors deal with this going forward, B+.
Length: B-
The length was disappoiting, again I know where they stopped where they did due to this being a retelling of the webcomic but would have liked to have seen it fleshed out a bit, maybe add some additional details about the world, B-.
Overall, if you enjoy steampunk, adventure stories, science fiction or fantasy you should pick this up and is defintaelly a good read. I would give it a A- for a starting novel.
MY TAKE:
I enjoyed the book, I felt it was well writen for being an adaptation of the web-comic Girl Genius (which I am a fan of). The steampunk themed Europe the authors have dreamed up is amazing. They do a good job of describing the different steampunk inspired devices and enviornment without losing the reader in technical jargon that doesn't add anything to the book. The main characters are well developed, however there are a lot of supporting characters in this first novel that made an appearance that is going to be easy to lose track of in future books. The other drawback is that it seemed a bit short, however since I do read the webcomic I understand why they stopped where they did as it was a natural stopping point.
BREAKOUT:
World Building: A
They do a good job of building a unique steampunk world, solid A.
Plot/Story: A
This is the first book of the series, which introduces the world and the main character Agatha, it finished up the main plot of this story nicely and leaves a couple of sub-plots open that leave you wanting more, solid A.
Characters: B+
The main characters are portrayed very well, but as I mentioned above some of the supporting cast that was introduced who played only a small part in this book is going to be hard to remember, will be curious to see how the authors deal with this going forward, B+.
Length: B-
The length was disappoiting, again I know where they stopped where they did due to this being a retelling of the webcomic but would have liked to have seen it fleshed out a bit, maybe add some additional details about the world, B-.
56 of 61 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great for fans of the webcomic, but not an entry point to the series
January 11, 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I feel a little guilty about only giving this three stars -- I *love* the webcomic, and obsessively check at 9PM Pacific Time Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday evenings to see each new page. I grab the graphic novels as soon as they come out. The Foglios have made a stunning alternative world, their art is amazing, they've crafted a fabulously intricate plot that has gone on for years with cliffhangers, twists and revelations on almost every page, etc. They richly deserve every accolade it has received.
When I heard this book was coming out, I immediately pre-ordered it, but was a little nervous. I didn't know if they could write prose as dazzling as their webcomic and, while I craved learning more of backstory, I feared the whole house of cards might fall down if they tried to explain too much.
This is definitely better than my worst fears -- you do learn a bit of backstory, and a few episodes from the first three volumes of the graphic novels are retold with enlightening new details. And the prose is servicable, if not dazzling.
But it really is mostly the story from the first three volumes, much of the same dialog, with a few adjectives tossed in to replace what was done in the artwork of the books. It just isn't the same!
For those already in love with the characters, it may not matter -- just seeing the familiar lines in the book immediately conjures up the page of the comic in which they occur and the characters you already know so well. But it's all a bit flatter without all that support.
[q]
It was Z. who felt he had to state the obvious. "It's a talking cat."
Theo shrugged. "Well, we're in a Heterodyne story now. These things happen." The others nodded.
[/q]
Can't you see them all running away from Klaus in a line as they say this?
[you can find it on the webcomic with date=20040823]. But if you try to imagine the book on its own, it just doesn't seem as engaging. "The others nodded." oy.
I'm not saying you shouldn't buy it. Of course you should. If you're as obsessed by the comic as I am, you will, anyway. You'll probably enjoy it, especially for the new bits sprinkled about.
But if you are new to the Girl Genius series, this isn't the place to start. Start by reading the webcomic. [Start from the beginning]. Soon enough, you'll be utterly in love with it all, you'll stay up all night for three nights straight catching up, and THEN you can buy this book for that extra bit.
When I heard this book was coming out, I immediately pre-ordered it, but was a little nervous. I didn't know if they could write prose as dazzling as their webcomic and, while I craved learning more of backstory, I feared the whole house of cards might fall down if they tried to explain too much.
This is definitely better than my worst fears -- you do learn a bit of backstory, and a few episodes from the first three volumes of the graphic novels are retold with enlightening new details. And the prose is servicable, if not dazzling.
But it really is mostly the story from the first three volumes, much of the same dialog, with a few adjectives tossed in to replace what was done in the artwork of the books. It just isn't the same!
For those already in love with the characters, it may not matter -- just seeing the familiar lines in the book immediately conjures up the page of the comic in which they occur and the characters you already know so well. But it's all a bit flatter without all that support.
[q]
It was Z. who felt he had to state the obvious. "It's a talking cat."
Theo shrugged. "Well, we're in a Heterodyne story now. These things happen." The others nodded.
[/q]
Can't you see them all running away from Klaus in a line as they say this?
[you can find it on the webcomic with date=20040823]. But if you try to imagine the book on its own, it just doesn't seem as engaging. "The others nodded." oy.
I'm not saying you shouldn't buy it. Of course you should. If you're as obsessed by the comic as I am, you will, anyway. You'll probably enjoy it, especially for the new bits sprinkled about.
But if you are new to the Girl Genius series, this isn't the place to start. Start by reading the webcomic. [Start from the beginning]. Soon enough, you'll be utterly in love with it all, you'll stay up all night for three nights straight catching up, and THEN you can buy this book for that extra bit.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Steampunk Victorian AU Gaslamp with Mad Science!
Full of very unusual characters, this series is well worth the pickup for any who like Steampunk, Gaslamp, or just anything by the Foglio family.
Published 3 months ago by L. Adkins
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sneaks up on you
I made it all the way through this book before realizing that it was a Girl Genius book. In fact it was the 'similarity' that caused me to remember the Girl Genius web comic which... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Aaron
5.0 out of 5 stars
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Anyone who has ever enjoyed science fiction adventure and fantasy will find this an enjoyable read. It has fast-paced action and laugh-a-minute twists to the plot. Read more
Published 4 months ago by MsColleen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Even better than the comic
I am a huge fan of the Foglios' web comic, Girl Genius, so I went into the book with high expectations. It was everything I hoped for and more! Read more
Published 4 months ago by Micah Joseph
5.0 out of 5 stars
exactly what a fun adventure book should be!
well written with great timeing, pacing and pleasant humor. a fun read. even if you know the graghic novel, a must read! Read more
Published 4 months ago by Lucius Rippeteau
5.0 out of 5 stars
Loved it!
(Disclaimer)
I am a HUGE Foglio fan.
I own the omnibus edition of the Girl Genus comic, but reading it was a new experience, filled with extra details and leaving,... Read more
I am a HUGE Foglio fan.
I own the omnibus edition of the Girl Genus comic, but reading it was a new experience, filled with extra details and leaving,... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Seth Halbeisen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Girl Genius the Novel!
It's fantastic. A long time fan of both the authors and the web comic I was thrilled to see the novelization of this award winning web comic. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Aethermancer
5.0 out of 5 stars
Loved this book
I'm a huge fan of the comics, and really enjoyed reading the book as well. I agree with the other reviewers: this is a great book to read if you're already familiar with the world... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Little Jedi
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very entertaining mixture of Sci fi, fantasy, and just plain comedy..
A short book with a very good story. It really sucked me in. First it caught a friend of mine who told me I should be sure to read it. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Derek J. Jordan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderfully written
I love the Girl Genius graphic novels and to see them turned into books is very interesting indeed. Professor and Professoressa Foglio did an amazing job translating this into a... Read more
Published 8 months ago by D. Blum
