Reviewed by Jess
TITLE: We Will Make Mischief Together
AUTHOR: J. Hepburn
PUBLISHER: Less Than Three Press
LENGTH: 52 pages
RELEASE DATE: March 14, 2018
BLURB:
Frances once had a life of her own, and a future in a world that was throwing off old shackles.
That was before she was hauled back home to be chained by convention and family, and the dearest person in the world to her went missing, presumed dead.
Then a battered wooden box arrives, bearing a cryptic message from someone she thought long dead.
REVIEW:
I’m always looking for good, well-done steampunk, and since the market was oversaturated with mediocre works for years, I was very pleasantly surprised by this short tale. The author obviously did his research and put a lot of heart into making a believable historical steampunk world set in Australia with a resourceful, likable sapphic protagonist.
Frances is the hero we’re always rooting for. She’s incredibly smart and brave as she’s going up against a patriarchal society that wants to see her fail. She’s tested time and again, but even when she stumbles, she comes out on top. She’s a fun character to enjoy an adventure with—fabulous yet flawed.
I liked the balance between steampunk/tech elements and romance, but the pacing is a little wacky. Heavy emphasis is placed on weird items, like the box Frances received Katherine’s note in. It is described in such detail that I thought it must be an important story element, but it ended up meaning very little. And for the first three-fourths of the story, I forgot Frances was even trying to find her long-lost lady love because the writing was very heavily skewed towards Frances’ prowess as an engineer. The end goal was sort of lost in the steampunk shuffle.
That being said, when Frances is finally reunited with Katherine, it is a totally swoon-worthy scene. I completely believed their strong connection without even knowing the details of their romance at boarding school because their chemistry is so strong when they meet again. I also like how Frances’ life at her family home is written as impossibly stifling and rigid, so when she gets her freedom (and a little cathartic release), we’re exhaling along with her.
This is a great story for people who love well-written, tech-heavy sci-fi works with a dash of lesbian romance on the side (Gail Carriger fans—pick this one up right away!). I just think it will be a little slow for those who want the opposite—heavy romance with a little sci-fi sprinkled in.
RATING: 
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