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Arabella of Mars /

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Levine, David D., Adventures of Arabella Ashby ; book 1.Publisher: New York : Tor, 2016Edition: First editionDescription: 350 pages ; 22 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780765382818
  • 0765382814
Subject(s): Genre/Form: DDC classification:
  • 813
LOC classification:
  • PS3612.E923834 A88 2016
Summary: "Since Newton witnessed a bubble rising from his bathtub, mankind has sought the stars. When William III of England commissioned Capt. William Kidd to command the first expedition to Mars in the late 1600s, he proved that space travel was both possible and profitable. Now, one century later, a plantation in a flourishing British colony on Mars is home to Arabella Ashby, a young woman who is perfectly content growing up in the untamed frontier. But days spent working on complex automata with her father or stalking her brother Michael with her Martian nanny is not the proper behavior of an English lady. That is something her mother plans to remedy with a move to an exotic world Arabella has never seen: London, England. However, when events transpire that threaten her home on Mars, Arabella decides that sometimes doing the right thing is far more important than behaving as expected. She disguises herself as a boy and joins the crew of the Diana, a ship serving the Mars Trading Company, where she meets a mysterious captain who is intrigued by her knack with clockwork creations. Now Arabella just has to weather the naval war currently raging between Britain and France, learn how to sail, and deal with a mutinous crew...if she hopes to save her family remaining on Mars." --
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Holdings
Item type Current library Home library Collection Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Standard Loan Hayden Library Adult Science Fiction Hayden Library Book LEVINE (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available 50610020029265
Total holds: 1

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Since Newton witnessed a bubble rising from his bathtub, mankind has sought the stars. When William III of England commissioned Capt. William Kidd to command the first expedition to Mars in the late 1600s, he proved that space travel was both possible and profitable.

Now, one century later, a plantation in a flourishing British colony on Mars is home to Arabella Ashby, a young woman who is perfectly content growing up in the untamed frontier. But days spent working on complex automata with her father or stalking her brother Michael with her Martian nanny is not the proper behavior of an English lady. That is something her mother plans to remedy with a move to an exotic world Arabella has never seen: London, England.

However, when events transpire that threaten her home on Mars, Arabella decides that sometimes doing the right thing is far more important than behaving as expected. She disguises herself as a boy and joins the crew of the Diana, a ship serving the Mars Trading Company, where she meets a mysterious captain who is intrigued by her knack with clockwork creations. Now Arabella just has to weather the naval war currently raging between Britain and France, learn how to sail, and deal with a mutinous crew...if she hopes to save her family remaining on Mars.

Arabella of Mars, the debut novel by Hugo-winning author David D. Levine offers adventure, romance, political intrigue, and Napoleon in space!

"Since Newton witnessed a bubble rising from his bathtub, mankind has sought the stars. When William III of England commissioned Capt. William Kidd to command the first expedition to Mars in the late 1600s, he proved that space travel was both possible and profitable. Now, one century later, a plantation in a flourishing British colony on Mars is home to Arabella Ashby, a young woman who is perfectly content growing up in the untamed frontier. But days spent working on complex automata with her father or stalking her brother Michael with her Martian nanny is not the proper behavior of an English lady. That is something her mother plans to remedy with a move to an exotic world Arabella has never seen: London, England. However, when events transpire that threaten her home on Mars, Arabella decides that sometimes doing the right thing is far more important than behaving as expected. She disguises herself as a boy and joins the crew of the Diana, a ship serving the Mars Trading Company, where she meets a mysterious captain who is intrigued by her knack with clockwork creations. Now Arabella just has to weather the naval war currently raging between Britain and France, learn how to sail, and deal with a mutinous crew...if she hopes to save her family remaining on Mars." --

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Growing up in the British colony on Mars, Arabella Ashby would rather be working with her father on his automatons or outside with her brother and her Martian nanny. Yet her mother wants her to be a proper young lady and decides to take Arabella and her sisters to Earth, specifically London, to reside. When the news of her father's death as well as a threat to her Martian home arrive, Arabella knows that she would rather save her brother than save face. Disguised as a boy, she gets a job with the crew of the Diana, a ship that serves as part of the Mars Trading Company. Learning of her knack for clockwork, the captain puts her in charge of the ship's lifelike navigator. Dealing with the intricate automaton would be enough, but -Arabella also must learn to sail across the stars-while dealing with a less-than-happy crew and the British and French naval war. It will take all of Arabella's skills to survive the skies, and she only hopes to ensure her family stays alive on Mars, too. Embedded in the chaos of clockwork and space adventure, Arabella is a delightful heroine with more than enough fortitude to traverse the solar system. VERDICT A fanciful romp through a cosmic 1812, Hugo Award-winning Levine's first novel is a treat for steampunk fantasy fans.-KC © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

Arabella, a human teenager born on Mars, is catapulted into adventure in a tale that cleverly combines some of the most intriguing elements of steampunk and classic science fiction. In an alternate 1812, Arabella's mother moves her three daughters to Earth and away from the wild influences of the Martian colony. When the family gets news that Arabella's father has died on Mars, the headstrong 17-year-old girl disguises herself as a boy and hires on with one of the great ships that sail the solar winds between the planets, planning to protect her brother, who's still on Mars, from treachery. Along the way, she faces privateers and mutiny, but Arabella is resourceful and courageous, gamely enduring hardship to accomplish her mission. Arabella is a fully realized character, daring and willing to risk everything to protect the brother she loves and the legacy that her father has left them. Her wits and cleverness save the ship and crew more than once in this rousing swashbuckler. Agent: Paul Lucas, Janklow & Nesbit. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* This Verne-inspired novel is a joyous throwback to sf adventure tales of old. Levine combines steampunk technology, Victorian sensibilities, British colonialism, and interplanetary maritime swashbuckling with wit, energy, and excitement. As a proper English lady, 17-year-old Arabella Ashby should regard the Martian frontier a barbarous place, but having lived on an English plantation on Mars all her life, Arabella feels more kinship with the Martian way of life, taught by her itkhalya (nanny), than her mother's lessons. Fearing further native behavior, her mother takes Arabella and her sisters to Earth, where she withstands frilly dresses, prim conversations, and unrelenting gravity. When she uncovers a plot to control the family fortune by murdering her brother Michael, still on Mars, Arabella disguises herself as a boy and enlists on a Mars Trading Company ship. Despite her inexperience sailing the solar system, Arabella has a knack for the complicated automata used for navigation. To return to Mars, she endures grueling labor, storms, privateers, mutiny, and an uncomfortable attraction to the confident Captain Singh. The alternate-world science is novel, the plot thrilling, and the romance appropriately chaste, but with her wits, resourcefulness, and courage, Arabella cuts a dashing figure as the heroine of this story.--Hutley, Krista Copyright 2016 Booklist

Horn Book Review

In 1813, disguised as a boy, Arabella sails to Mars to save the family estate from a conniving relative. A shipboard mutiny and war between the colonists and native Martians complicate her task (and blow her cover). Steampunk mixes with a critique of colonialism as Levine simultaneously pays tribute to and updates the science fiction of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Jules Verne. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

David D. Levine is the author of novel Arabella of Mars (Tor 2016) and over fifty science fiction and fantasy stories. His story "Tk'Tk'Tk"won the Hugo Award in 2006, and he has been shortlisted for awards including the Hugo, Nebula, Campbell, and Sturgeon. His stories have appeared in Asimov's , Analog , F&SF , numerous Year's Best anthologies, and his award-winning collection Space Magic . He lives in a hundred-year-old bungalow in Portland, Oregon.

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