“Has the Castle changed much?”
“Nah, it schtill thinks it’s fonny.”
“Oh come on,” the Castle said, “this is hilarious.”
It’s been a few years since we’ve had a new Girl Genius novelization, but it’s been worth the wait. This latest installment of the adventures of Agatha Girl Genius finds us once again in the unique (and occasionally survivable) city of Mechanicsburg. Agatha – the long-lost heir to the Heterodyne Family – and her friends have managed to fix her ancestral Castle to the point where it’s sane enough to not kill people for a joke. Much.
And just in time, because Baron Wulfenbach is about to call for an all-out attack against the Castle, and it won’t be too much longer before every would-be conqueror in Europa is going to join in on the madness.
I know this will disappoint some people who want to pick up a new book and not do a lot of homework, but this novel is not a good jumping-off point for the series. Kaja and Phil Foglio started the Girl Genius comic book in 2001, which means that by the time Book Four starts we’ve had nine years of the ongoing story.
We begin the book with Agatha being possessed by the ghost (spirit? Mind?) of her evil mother Lucrezia, who plans to take over the world using her mind-controlling Slaver Wasps. Standing in Lucrezia’s way are Agatha herself, Agatha’s friends Violetta the Smoke Knight and Zeetha Warrior princess of Skifander, Agatha’s loyal troupe of Jagermonsters, Agatha’s would-be lover Gilgamesh Wulfenbach (who’s father is even now bringing the giant dirigible Castle Wulfenbach to attack Castle Heterodyne), her other would-be lover Tarvek Sturmvorous (who’s family has set him up to be the future ruler of Europa as The Storm King) and Zola, a conniving pretender to the throne who somehow manages to get another copy of Lucrezia’s mind implanted in her own head.
Got all that? Well that was all from the first chapter. The first half of the first chapter. At one point in the book there’s a footnote that goes on for an entire page before the author finally finishes with “You really should just read the other books”.
So yes, start with the other books in the series, which won’t be a hard thing to do because they have so much of what I love about the Girl Genius series.
Most of the dialog is word for word from the graphic novels – which is a treat as always – but the Foglio’s also have a real knack for description. This means we get all of my favorite scenes gloriously retold, like when Tarvak has to flee a burning dirigible carrying a stack of priceless science notes, several crash victims, and an injured Jagermonster that won’t stop talking. Or Agatha charging through the streets of Mechanicsburg using every run-in with an abomination of science as an opportunity to scavenge for parts. (I completely forgot about the scene with Othar Tryggvassen, Gentleman Adventurer, and how much I loved it.)
The plot of the graphic novels includes a lot of other plots as several different Mad Scientists see the reappearance of the Heterodyne family as a chance to Take Over The World. Some of these plots are so intricately convoluted that it was hard to remember who was supposed to be allied with who, right up until someone figures out a way to get a knife into their allies’ backs. The novelization can take a little more time to explain things, and goes into more detail about everyone’s motivations, so it becomes a little easier to understand what’s going on.
This never slows the story down though, since there’s always someone willing to stop everything to deliver a stirring address (or an unhinged rant), and the reader gets a firsthand view of just how deliciously horrifying things can get when you have a sentient Castle that has control over much of the surrounding town of Mechanicsburg, and doesn’t have to pay too much attention to physics. And that’s not even taking into account just how weird Mechanicsburg itself has become with several generations of townspeople who have learned to survive under the rule of the Heterodyne Family.
“Those soldiers are trapped on Tiny Monster Island.”
“What? We have to –”
“They’ll be find as long as they obey the signs and don’t leave the path,” Carson said as he watched the troopers ignore the signs and climb over the railings. Then they started to dance. Carson smiled. He always loved that part.
I’ve said this in previous reviews of this series, but Phil and Kaja Foglio write some of the best footnotes and chapter headings in the business. Sometimes they’re valuable backstory for anyone who may have forgotten what happened in Books 1-3. Most of the time they’re done for effect. Wonderfully, weirdly random effect. Travel guides, for Mechanicsburg, historical essays about the Heterodyne Family, little digressions where the writer theorizes why everyone tends to look up when speaking with the castle, and a brief PSA on why it’s so important to read your Flight Raiment’s Owner’s Manual (RIP, King Darius the Incandescent). The Foglio’s delight in writing sentences that don’t go anywhere near where you expected them to, and they’re constantly expanding the world of Girl Genius with random asides, like the story of how the Mechanicsburg shoe and boot industry was saved when some smart-alack philosopher was kicked to death for not knowing how long a freaking pamphlet was supposed to be.
This sort of thing happens a lot in Mechanicsburg, and a wise traveler should take pains to see that it does not happen to them.
This is a world where abominations of science are a business model, and where the laws of inheritance have to take into account reviving the dead. Agatha has changed a lot since Book One, and she’s turning into a full-fledged MadGirl who’s still a little taken aback at how much joy the townspeople of Mechanicsburg (monsters in the sewers included) feel at getting to be Minions to a Heterodyne again. Heck, we even get some romance here, for several of the characters, not just Agatha still dithering over whether to pick Gil or Tarvek. (Moloch better run far and fast before he finds out just how creepy Fraulein Snaug’s obsession with him is). And this book only catches up with the story as far as 2013, so we’ve still got several years of novelizations of Gaslamp Fantasy and Mad Science to enjoy.
…but you really should read the graphic novels too.