Phoenix Rising: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel (Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novels) [Kindle Edition]

Pip Ballantine (Author), Tee Morris (Author)

Book Description

Co-authors Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris ingeniously reimagine England’s Edwardian Era in Phoenix Rising—a hilarious, rip-roaring steampunk fantasy romp that the voracious fans of New York Times bestseller Gail Carriger will eagerly devour with great relish. In this outrageous, non-stop adventure, Ballantine and Morris introduce us to Agents Books and Braun of the ultra-secret Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences—the most delightful duo of very British evil-bashers since The Avengers, Emma Peel and John Steed. With its malevolent secret societies, earth-shattering conspiracies, breathtaking derring-do, and absolutely wondrous weapons, Phoenix Rising out-Sherlocks Robert Downey, Jr.’s Sherlock Holmes.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Steampunk is a fascinating genre, and Ballantine and Morris have captured it perfectly. I think this series could serve as a great introduction to the genre, in fact, since you really don't have to have much of an understanding of steampunk to enjoy the book. There also seems to be an element or two of the pulp genre, though much of that is actually turned on it's head.-Pew Reviews

If James Bond wore a corset and drank Earl Grey it might be something like the adventures in Phoenix Rising...The two agents make light-hearted banter whilst chasing down evil villains and mad scientists and getting in and out of scrapes in immaculate period style. It's anachronistic and absurd, but Phoenix Rising has a sweet ending and getting to it is gleeful fun.
-Warp Core Sci Fi

This was a great start to a great series.  Steampunk-when written right-can be a grand adventure into the past that tells a whole new story of the ingenuity of the human mind.  The banter between Eliza and Wellington, or "Welly" as she calls him, had me chuckling in more than one spot. --RomFan Reviews

I enjoyed this book more than I think I can express in a single review. The moment I finished it I wanted the next one in the series. The steampunk world is incredible, all the way from awesome weaponry to colorful clothing. Eliza's sassy attitude kept me upbeat throughout the entire book, even when I was scared for the characters' lives.-All About Romance

This book combines aspects of the "The Odd Couple", the first three Indiana Jones movies, any good detective novel and the TV show, Cold Case...People love Steampunk and I think in Ballantine and Morris we have authors that can carry the torch. If you haven't purchased this book or downloaded it you are missing out.-Geek Life

From the Back Cover

Evil is most assuredly afoot—and Britain’s fate rests in the hands of an alluring renegade . . . and a librarian.

These are dark days indeed in Victoria’s England. Londoners are vanishing, then reappearing, washing up as corpses on the banks of the Thames, drained of blood and bone. Yet the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences—the Crown’s clandestine organization whose bailiwick is the strange and unsettling—will not allow its agents to investigate. Fearless and exceedingly lovely Eliza D. Braun, however, with her bulletproof corset and a disturbing fondness for dynamite, refuses to let the matter rest . . . and she’s prepared to drag her timorous new partner, Wellington Books, along with her into the perilous fray.

For a malevolent brotherhood is operating in the deepening London shadows, intent upon the enslavement of all Britons. And Books and Braun—he with his encyclopedic brain and she with her remarkable devices—must get to the twisted roots of a most nefarious plot . . . or see England fall to the Phoenix!

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 789 KB
• Print Length: 421 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0062049763
• Publisher: Harper Voyager (April 26, 2011)
• Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004BA57W6
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #28,042 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 47 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars rollicking good fun! April 26, 2011

By J.C. Hart

Format:Kindle Edition

I've always had a soft spot for the idea of Steam Punk. It's an appealing genre for so many reasons, but mostly, I guess, because it's just plain fun. I like to put on the British accent and affect the mannerisms as I read and it just really makes me happy. Typically set in the Victorian era, it invents an alternate history for the world where so many things are possible.

Now, I said I like the idea of it. I have to confess to not having read a whole lot of this genre, so I don't have much to compare `Phoenix Rising' with. What I can say is that it had everything I could have hoped for: guns, machines, action, secrecy, sinister plots, good old fashioned British sensibilities.

It also had something I didn't really expect, in the form of the main characters: Eliza Braun, a feisty colonial from New Zealand--obviously this is going to go down well with me, a New Zealander through and through. While the bulk of the novel is set in Britain, it was pleasantly surprising to have someone from outside that country play such an important role.

Books, the unassuming Archivist for the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, is also an intriguing character. He is so much more than he first seems. I adore him.

Both are refreshing and original. I thought they were really well developed and brought a lot of depth to this novel. Both appeared to be a certain way to begin with, and over the course of the story we're shown more of their layers and complexities, which is something that really worked for me.

And the plot? Wow. Just, wow. Right from the very start it's action packed--these two sure know how to get themselves caught up in trouble, and get themselves out of it (in fairly good shape anyway!). The storyline threaded through past and present, blending backstory and character history seamlessly into the action, while also raising enough questions to leave the reader itching for the next book in the series. There are bigger things afoot, and I can't wait to find out what happens next.

If you like a rollicking good time, then I encourage you to check this one out--you won't be disappointed. Also, if you get a chance, why not check out the fabulous website for the book? There are some great podcasts in there as well as other fun stuff.

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Book, Shoddy Editing December 12, 2011

By Kat

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I can't say this book turned my head as much as I wanted it to. There are some incredible ideas, concepts, scenes, and action in here, and the whole thing feels like a rough gold nugget just waiting to be polished to a brilliant shine. And in some places it did, so brilliantly, in fact, that it made me forgive many of the issues of the novel, and even turned me on to giving any second attempt a try. But the places where it was left rough and unpolished--sometimes criminally so by the editors, and not through any fault of the author's--detracted enough to make me want to knock my head on a wall. REPEATEDLY.

The Good:

The entire concept of the super secret organization the main characters work for is very cool, as is the very charming and smaller Ministry of Seven. In fact, the entire novel is littered with Moments of Cool, ranging from steampunk inventions to orgies to action sequences that will take your breath away. The characters were eminently likeable, and if the joke with the names (Books and Braun) was not subtle, I can honestly say I never stopped being amused by it. Books is actually a very complex character, and I sometimes had the impression the writers liked him more than the impulsive and much easier to understand Braun.

The Bad:

The editing will make you want to punch a publishing house in the face. The shoddy editing was NOT the fault of the writers, nor should it reflect badly on their writing skills. Someone was either asleep at the wheel, or just didn't care enough to do their danged job.

What can be placed on the writers is some inconsistent pacing, or scenes so painful they stalled out my reading. Not to mention the painfully shoehorned romance which not only felt forced, but sometimes downright blasphemous considering how REAL Braun's feelings for her dead ex-partner felt. It's not that any of this was intrinsically BAD, just done in such a way that certain bits could be a chore to read. Thankfully, they were rare--and again, a better editor would have caught such anomalies and had the writers fix them before the book ever went to publishing.

The Ugly:

WORLD ESTABLISHMENT. The authors NEVER DID THIS. Sure, they set the steampunk part of it up well--you deeply understood the Ministry, the conspiracy, the asylum, and any part of the world the two characters had to immediately interact with. But for anyone with a smidgen of knowledge of history, they left us hanging. Questions like why Braun would allow the very male Books to see her bathing, questions about their very informal manners when masquerading as a husband/wife duo of the upper classes (hint, the upper class did not generally call each other "sweetheart" in public or cling all over one another), and several dozen other historical inaccuracies left any informed reader swinging in the breeze.

We never discovered if this was normal for this alternate society, or if the authors had just been lazy about researching the facts. Even Braun's suffragist tendencies didn't sit well; she was obscenely aggressive even for a woman of our era, making her a veritable anomaly or possibly a candidate for Bedlam in any earlier time. And yet, no suitable explanation was ever given as to why Braun was being accepted as a functioning member of society. I would have appreciated a little more fleshing out of WHY and HOW their Victorian era was not like OUR Victorian era, other than "they had way cooler guns."

You'll notice, though, that even with it's issues I am giving the book a solid four stars. Why? Because it is obviously a first effort on the part of the writers, and it's pretty danged obvious the writers held up their part of the deal to the best of their abilities. There comes a point in the novel writing process--preferably BEFORE publishing--that a second pair of eyes are supposed to look over, give feedback, and lovingly correct a book. And had that been done, most of the issues seen here (including troublesome grammar, misplaced words, misspelled and even missing words--you know, the basics) would have been corrected.

As well as this was written overall in SPITE of what was an obvious lack of care by their publishers, I suspect they'll get a second crack at this series. And I will want to see it when it comes out. And the fact that I'm willing to try again tells me all I need to know.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Fun but unoriginal April 30, 2011

By TChris TOP 50 REVIEWER

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Phoenix Rising is the first in a series of steampunk novels featuring The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences. I'm not a big follower of the steampunk "movement," nor do I go out of my way to read this science fiction subgenre, but this novel sounded even quirkier than most steampunk so I decided to give it a try. It turned out to be moderately entertaining but less interesting than I thought it might be.

The novel starts with field agent Eliza Braun rescuing the Ministry's archivist, Wellington Books, from a cell in Antarctica, where he was being held by the House of Usher. Braun disobeyed orders by rescuing him; she was supposed to execute him to assure that his knowledge didn't fall into evil hands. To punish her transgression, the Ministry's director, Basil Sound, reassigns her to the archives (an assignment that does not permit her to indulge her passion for dynamite), where she must serve under Books' tutelage. When Books tasks Braun with filing unsolved cases, Braun decides it would be more fun to solve them. In particular, she wants to take on a case that her former partner had been investigating before his admission to an asylum. She enlists Books' help and, working on their own (without the Ministry's knowledge or support), they attempt to infiltrate The Phoenix Society, a secret organization whose members conspire to restore the faded glory of the British Empire. Their self-assigned mission provides an excuse for the novel's various fights and chases, as well as constant bickering (and thinly-concealed desire) between Braun and Books.

One of the charms of steampunk is inventive gadgetry; surprisingly little of that turns up in this novel, and the mechanical devices that finally appear are unoriginal. Much of the novel seems familiar: from the "difference engine" to serrated blades that extend from carriage wheels, from a secret society bent on world domination to Dickensian street urchins, a fair amount of this novel has been done before. Even The Phoenix Society's orgy scene seems like a pale replica of Eyes Wide Shut. With the exception of that scene and some other references to passionate encounters, the novel resembles an episode of the old British television series The Avengers.

Despite its setting in time and territory, Phoenix Rising is not written in the Victorian prose style that characterizes many steampunk novels. I imagine some readers prefer reading modern English but it somehow seems untrue to the steampunk mystique. The novelists' writing style is adequate to the task but it isn't exceptional. I give the writers credit for telling a fun story, one that held my interest, and for creating a couple of winning characters in Eliza Braun and Wellington Books. The novel's end sets up the next in the series; I'll leave it to others to read it. This one wasn't bad but it never rose above ordinary. I would give it 3 1/2 stars if I could.