Wild Things: YA Grown-Up discussion
Fantasy/Sci-Fi
>
Steampunk
date
newest »
![Down arrow](https://cdn.statically.io/img/s.gr-assets.com/assets/down_arrow-1e1fa5642066c151f5e0136233fce98a.gif)
![Felina](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1559188448p1/852687.jpg)
![Paula (pauldajo)](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1267815126p1/2647629.jpg)
![Esther (eshchory)](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1405164850p1/141331.jpg)
I have also received The Wind-up Girl but there is some debate as to whether it is really steampunk.
And I have just started Northern Lights which is also considered steampunk.
![Tammy Cordeiro (devadasi7) | 14 comments](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1345247872p1/566298.jpg)
![Carolyn (seeford) | 67 comments](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1224872189p1/1356784.jpg)
"Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction and speculative fiction, frequently featuring elements of fantasy, that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used — usually the 19th century, and often Victorian era Britain — but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date.
Other examples of steampunk contain alternate history-style presentations of "the path not taken" for such technology as dirigibles, analog computers, or digital mechanical computers (such as Charles Babbage's Analytical engine).
Steampunk is often associated with cyberpunk and shares a similar fan base and theme of rebellion, but developed as a separate movement (though both have considerable influence on each other). Apart from time period and level of technological development, the main difference between them is that steampunk settings usually tend to be less dystopian than cyberpunk."
I don't think that China Miéville's works really fit the bill for steampunk - I've heard his stuff described as "Magical Realism" and he describes it as "New Weird", but it seems to be very dark fantasy to me.
The Windup Girl is not steampunk, as it's set in a very dystopian future where biotech warfare has devastated the planet. I think that the low-tech nature of the society has people thinking 'steampunk', but since it's set in the future, that doesn't really work.
The biggest factors for me in determining whether a book is steampunk or not is that it needs to be set in a historical time period and it needs to have a significant technological difference from that actual historical era. So, Boneshaker works, but Wind-up Girl doesn't.
Steampunk seems to bridge the gap between Historical Fantasy and Alternate History (considered to be science fiction.)
![Heather Bree (blackdotbug)](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1248375450p1/2553389.jpg)
Boneshaker is the most steampunky thing I've read and I love it. I've put a few more on my TBR, but haven't gotten to them yet. I'll have to dig them up to post them here, they aren't labeled.
![Sara ♥ (saranicole) | 719 comments](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1364972316p1/155288.jpg)
Also Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass) definitely have a steampunk feel to them, at least starting with the second one.
![Heather Bree (blackdotbug)](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1248375450p1/2553389.jpg)
Read here: http://steampunkscholar.blogspot.com/...
![Sara ♥ (saranicole) | 719 comments](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1364972316p1/155288.jpg)
EDIT: And it's a FABULOUS book!
![Kristen Harvey | 1046 comments](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1188525077p1/327471.jpg)
I also finished reading Clockwork Angel which could be though of as Steampunk as well. :)
![Phoebe (phoebecja)](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1698052224p1/4137725.jpg)
I'm currently putting together a proposal for a thesis focusing on automatons, dolls and other mechanic bodies and it's surprising that there are actually not many steampunk novels for adolescents out there that feature prominently representations of moving, sentient automatons and dolls. Or maybe I just haven't looked hard enough.
Other steampunk novels for young adults
The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
The Hunchback Assignments by Arthur Slade
![Kristen Harvey | 1046 comments](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1188525077p1/327471.jpg)
Books mentioned in this topic
The Vyne: Mystery of the Hidden Ember (other topics)The Looking Glass Wars (other topics)
The Hunchback Assignments (other topics)
The Boy With the Cuckoo-Clock Heart (other topics)
Clockwork Angel (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Philip Pullman (other topics)Kenneth Oppel (other topics)
China Miéville (other topics)
I just finished a book that fit this criteria called The Clockwork Three by Matthew Kirby and it was a great read - it involved an automaton that comes to life in the 1800s.
Other titles you may be familiar with:
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
Have you guys read anything like this lately? I'm really enjoying the small subgenre.