‘Phoenix Rising’ introduces Braun and Books, an unlikely couple

Authors Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris have spun a clever, wholly satisfying steampunk tale with their new novel, Phoenix Rising, the inaugural installment in the new Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series.

Using a beautifully detailed language, coupled with a Sherlock Holmes-like plot, Phoenix Rising proves to be an invigorating read about two mysterious characters you’ll come to know and love. If you’re a sucker for historical fiction and can’t say no to fabulously rendered technological advancements (think guns, contraptions and thing-a-ma-jigs), then you’ll be in good company with these two creations.

Agents Eliza D. Braun and Wellington Thornhill Books, Esquire, are about as different as a machine gun is to a magnifying glass. She likes dynamite and throwing in some (un)necessary violence to accomplish her job at the ministry, while Books is content with his life as the archivist in the basement. Their last names seem intentionally appropriate.

When Phoenix Rising first begins, the two agents hardly know each other, even though they both work for the same clandestine organization. The two become unlikely partners after Braun saves Books in Antarctica, and the outrageous methods she uses for the rescue find her in dire straits with the ministry’s chief, Doctor Basil Sound. As punishment for her excessive force and unhinged destructiveness, Sound punishes Braun by making her an assistant to Books in the drippy, dank basement of the ministry.

At first, the two agents are like an historical Odd Couple set in Victorian England. Books covets his work and sees the necessity for proper classification and historical knowledge. Braun is not the least bit interested in shuffling through the archival remains of old cases.

That is until our sexy heroine stumbles upon some unsolved cases in the innards of the ministry’s basement. Included among the dusty boxes is a file on Braun’s former partner, Harrison Thorne, who literally went mad chasing down his final case for the ministry and now resides in a mental hospital known as Bedlam.

Intrigued by the prospects of picking up her old partner’s case, Braun convinces Books to tag along for the wild ride. They’re unexpected journey takes them into the heart of a secretive society built around the image of a phoenix. When they are nearly killed after asking a few simple questions, the two agents realize they must be onto something big.

What they find behind closed doors is violent, cutthroat, sexual and a paramount threat to the Queen.

Phoenix Rising offers an accessible steampunk story that is more in the tradition of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle than modern spy novels. Braun and Books very much appear to have a Holmes-Watson relationship. One of the main differences is that there is an undeniable attraction between these agents of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences (although some would say that attraction was evident in Doyle’s texts as well).

Ballantine and Morris bring both characters to glorious life with a descriptive eye. Braun is a sexy, independent woman who wears bulletproof corsets for the obvious safety reasons, but also to throw in a little distracting temptation. She’s from New Zealand, and the issue of discrimination toward “colonials” is dealt with throughout the book. Even Books categorizes Braun as an uncultured bully without first getting to know her.

The archivist, on the other hand, is a studious practitioner of academia. He loves the warmth of his professional surroundings, and until Braun enters his life, Books is content with a life of solitude and personal ambition. He’s more of a warm cup of tea kind of guy, while she’ll take some absinthe, straight up.

Ballantine and Morris smartly realize that their characters are the strongest features of the book. The plot, involving the Phoenix Society and its threats to the Queen of England, has been done before in many different incarnations. Having a centuries-old organization undermine society with nefarious plots is old hat, but when Books and Braun enter the fray, the story feels fresh and vivid.

The great climax, which takes place at a country mansion and finds our heroes in often lethal circumstances, is a great sequence to finish the book on an exhilarating note. It’s no surprise that both Books and Braun come to appreciate the talents of each other, and, in many ways, they realize that they need to work together in order to overcome their individual obstacles. The archivist and the dynamite girl are incomplete, unless they join as one.

The technological descriptions in the book are all imaginative. There are various devices and contraptions that come to life through the carefully-chosen words of the authors.

I’m still a little lost on what exactly is the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, but perhaps the inner-workings of the organization will be set aside for a sequel some day. That’s one of the difficulties of having Braun and Books working on a clandestine case that was supposed to be closed: They need to circumvent the ministry and take risks of their accord. This makes their roguish ways that much more threatening, but also it leaves a hole in exactly what the ministry does on a day-to-day basis.

But still, Ballantine and Morris have achieved one of the more difficult aspects of a proper steampunk novel: They have created two characters that are interesting, engaging and worth more than 400 pages.

Braun and Books are good company, indeed.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• Phoenix Rising, A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel

• By Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris

• Harper Voyager, 402 pages (mass-market paperback)

• Retail price: $7.99

• Bubble score: 3.5 out of 4

• Click here to purchase Phoenix Rising.

Revised: August 2014