Hells Gate: A Steampunk Lovecraft Adventure (Gears of a Mad God Book 3)

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To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Gears of a Mad God , please sign up. Lists with This Book. Let's see, the title says steampunk. Only a promise of that and a steam used as a weapon once or twice. Next it says Lovecraft. Not much of that either, I'm afraid. As the first in a series it holds a promise of more steampunk than just a mention and more of buried and locked gods in need of liberation and awakening type of story than a mere use of the word cult.

There are some people chasing our heroine and all that and we know they are cultists because she's been told they are. As I said, only Let's see, the title says steampunk. As I said, only a promise so far.

Gears of a Mad God: A Steampunk Lovecraft Adventure

I've checked the reviews, so I can't say I didn't know. I started reading knowing there wouldn't be a lot of stuff from the title. She doesn't have any problems fighting against five attackers. Next, her actions directly endanger people who help her. These are just a few examples why she is annoying. The only thing this story delivers completely, and then some, is the adventure.

It is a fast paced story with a lot of shooting, fighting and chase. The instalments are probably better now that the first story has established this world and its problems. View all 4 comments. Apr 01, Chad Ringgenberg rated it liked it. Not bad Not a bad read, plenty of action and adventure. Well worth the time. The female protagonists is compelling. This was a fun, Victorian adventure story. That, unfortunately, was the sum of it. You can imagine, then, how a story billed as 'a Lovecraftian steampunk adventure' would grab my interest.

Unfortunately, Gears Of a Mad God was much more adventure than anything else. The author used only the most superficial of Lovecraftian elements, and even then much too sparingly.

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The 'Lovecraftian' element boils down to a n This was a fun, Victorian adventure story. The 'Lovecraftian' element boils down to a nameless cult and a mysterious place with a vaguely ominous name. No cosmic horror, no hints of things that would drive a human mind to insanity. There was actually one person who went insane, at least, but that was clearly tacked on at the end of the story during editing - it was too abrupt and unexplained to serve the story in any way.

The steampunk flavor was presented with a bit more depth. I enjoy 'historical' steampunk, which this story fit perfectly. However, aside from the Victorian elements, which I felt were correctly used secondary to the action, there was not a deep sense of the steampunk genre. No techno fantasy, just straightforward gears and steam. No retro-futurism to be found at all. So, we're left with a Victorian adventure story.

Taken in that vein, Gears of a Mad God is entertaining. Too bad that's not how it is advertised.

May 08, Mandy Walkden-Brown rated it really liked it Shelves: A great introduction to this series. There's an unusual assortment of characters and I particularly enjoyed meeting Colleen, a feisty young woman, who's not afraid to hurl the occasional insult, or hammer, at the somewhat psychotic members of the opposition. Action and intrigue aplenty with no dull moments. A thoroughly enjoyable read. Nov 15, Gevera Bert rated it liked it. This is not Steampunk at all. Just because one of the characters knows how to repair clocks?

Jul 06, L. Gears of a Mad God is exciting enough, but that is all there is to it. It has an excellent premise and good ideas throughout, but it fails to achieve on a number of levels.

It's not a steampunk Lovecraft adventure, as advertised. Other reviewers have beaten this dead horse a number of times, and so I won't go into too much here. Virtually non-existent steampunk elements. In fact, steampunk veers toward what I believe are unintentional anachronisms, showing little knowledge of Victorian norms t Gears of a Mad God is exciting enough, but that is all there is to it. In fact, steampunk veers toward what I believe are unintentional anachronisms, showing little knowledge of Victorian norms typically found in steampunk. The Lovecraft part is similarly nebulous, but I found that point appealing.

I don't need every Lovecraftian story to delve deeply into the Mythos. Here, we see crazed cultists, of which the heroes know little and so the author wisely includes little as a result , who are trying to find some mysterious place or device known to Colleen's dead uncle. Colleen, as the spunky heroine, is easily the best part of the book. Should the author in subsequent books add more Lovecraftian color, it would be refreshing to see a hapless female protagonist fall into the maddening clutches of the horror cosmic.

The majority of the novella is dominated by two rather large set pieces. The first takes place aboard a ship crewed by a number of cultists. The other occurs at the end, when Colleen returns to rescue her compatriots. Both are over-long and are pure glitz with no substance. As such, the book overall lacks substance. It's also difficult to explore characters when all they do is run around, so overall characterization falls by the wayside as well. The majority of the ideas put forth throughout are never really explored.

For example, we see virtually nothing of the FBI or its Canadian counterpart in any measure working against this cult aside from the characters Colleen meets. There's little feel of their being an "effort", especially given this cult's plans for worldwide destruction. You've got to give the audience something. It can't all be saved for the sequels.

To sell a series you've got to give your audience something of the world to make them want to read on. What we're given are two action sequences and very little exposition that influences us to move forward. Though this particular story is self-contained, it ends with its author fully intent on continuing the story as a series. This is a failing of so much fantasy and science fiction these days. Everyone wants to write a multi-book epic without first learning how to tell a story. So, rather than tell a complete story that could launch into the next book, Gears of a Mad God reads like part of a much longer work.

It's hard to read this and not feel cheated in some way. It's not hard to see the author wants to tell a story but doesn't know where to go. A good set up and good first chapter is all but ruined by the resultant adventure. When you don't know where you're going, you throw a bunch of action in the reader's way and hope he doesn't realize you've said nothing at all.

That is the situation here. We emerge from the first volume of this series not knowing any of the characters. She's young, she's blonde, she has no family, and is in a difficult relationship with a man she thought she loved. She's part of a group searching for a mysterious place or object, and there are cultists trying to kill her. That might sound like a lot, but a good writer could do more with half the space, and he could tell a complete adventure.

There simply isn't enough here to warrant my continuing this series. Marketed as a Steampunk Lovecraft Adventure I found the book lacking in one major thing No sooner have you been introduced to the main character Colleen, you the reader, and her are dropped into frantic chaos. This chaotic pace and plethora of action continues until the very last word, not once letting up. Action is marvelous, but this may have been too much action, and not enough story building to create a well formulated novella, let alone series. I will say that I am intrigued eno Marketed as a Steampunk Lovecraft Adventure I found the book lacking in one major thing I will say that I am intrigued enough to desire to read Dark Island.

On the Steampunk Genre front, Nichols has nailed it on the head! There is nothing missing for a pure steampunk classic. We have a clock maker, steam powered automobiles and ships, a bounty of inventions to bedazzle the mind. Again, the problem remains in the details. While it is not necessary to describe every thing, such as the color of a lady's glove, there is a need to develop details to make events more real, characters more complex, and the plot more plentiful.

At less than pages, I feel that more might have been better for this to fly like a dirigible into the foggy Steampunk Night. Let's break it down by the 3 Basics of Book Building Nichols has a rather elaborate cast of characters that appear within the page novelette. Many have a great power to intrigue, but without sufficient back story development they lie stagnant.

Colleen begs to be given an opportunity to develop for the reader, as does her uncle. The numerous characters; friends and foe alike, almost demand further study. It is almost hard to know who is trustworthy and who is a villain, the story moves over the character's introductions far too fast. While there may be an intentional reason for keeping Colleen's uncle's true identity and back story under wraps, the rest of the characters truly need more of a story to bring the reader up to par with what might be going on.

Chapter one taunts the reader, as it is well paced and written. Hold on though, because chapter two flows like a rapid river. You can follow the story which is a plus, but it twists and turns so violently at times, you feel like you need a life preserver to secure yourself to the structure.

Alas, the foundation is never solidly built, and you are left floundering. What connects Colleen so closely to her uncle? Why would Colleen give up stability for someone she hasn't seen in years? These questions and many more could be answered to set the solid corner stones of the story before plunging the reader into nonstop chaos.

On average, many readers would get far too confused to stick with the book. Buried within the faster than a speeding steam locomotive action is actually an exceptional and compelling plot. There is mystery and mayhem. Nichols plotted out a great story, he just bypassed the descriptions, details and distinct explorations I personally find so delightful in any novel, but especially a Steampunk novel. I went into this book more for the Lovecraft element than for the steampunk, so I wasn't horribly disappointed.

I'm not a steampunk fan, so I can't really judge how well that end of the story held up. From a Lovecraftian angle, however Bonus points if you actually know what I'm talking about. The story had several cute nods to Lovecraft. There was a p I went into this book more for the Lovecraft element than for the steampunk, so I wasn't horribly disappointed.

There was a passage early on - "Every cultist we've ever captured has been at least half mad. And, whatever is at the heart of their twisted religion, it seems to be something that the human mind can barely withstand. Colleen's uncle that she barely knew read a mysterious book, and the knowledge contained within drove him to insanity, and ultimately, suicide. Then, there's the "hero" of the story - not Colleen, she's just the main character. The "hero" would be an FBI agent named Carter, who's leading an investigation into the story's half-mad cult.

He's the most competent of all of the secret agents on the case, and ends up being instrumental in keeping everybody alive at the end of the book. In his own writings, Lovecraft would often write himself into the story, Mary Sue style, as "Randolph Carter". Back to the story. I wasn't sure if that was a nod to Lovecraft's tendency to describe mundane objects and actions to death, or if it was just a dragged out action scene.

If that scene was meant as another Lovecraftian reference, then I can't be as annoyed with the five-page car chase sequence. As it stands, though, it was pretty obnoxious.

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Throughout the book, I kept getting flashes of deja vu. I'd read a passage about fighting cultists with steam, or the entire end battle and think, "Wait Say hello to a little-known game from , Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. While the stories are nowhere near the same, they both had parts that felt the same. It wasn't the Lovecraftian element, either.

Gears of a Mad God: A Steampunk Lovecraft Adventure by Brent Nichols

That's a bit too obvious. It was the steam. There's a level in Dark Corners where you've got to redirect various steam pipes to escape from Deep Ones, and - at the end of that particular level - a shoggoth. The most helpful item you have on you during that entire sequence isn't a gun, or a weapon. That's all I could picture in my head while I was reading the steampunk scenes of Gears. Jack Walters fighting a shoggoth.

Feb 14, Alexandra rated it it was ok. Gears of a mad god was not at all, as good as I thought it would be. It was quite bad actually.

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I cant say that it felt at all like a steampunk adventure. There wasn't much description from what I remember, and I often forgot the when and where. A lot of the time Colleen was running around and not actually achieving much. There was actions scenes that were too slow and was unrealistic in regards to it fitting in with the protagonists inability to fight. She apparently doesn't have any experience Gears of a mad god was not at all, as good as I thought it would be. She apparently doesn't have any experience in fighting, and yet apparently she can fend of a total of 5 men until backup showed.

This doesn't make any sense to me. There is a lack of logical thought in this book and also a lack of character and plot development. I supposed that is because it was extremely short. Maybe if this wasn't the case I would be more interested to know what happens next. I was really wanting this to work but it didn't.

There was no surprise. The protagonist hardly had a difficult time, and was barely injured the only one and everything seemed to go smoothly for her. There was nothing in this book that made me feel any strong emotion. The whole time I was waiting for the big climaxed where it would have some sort of direction, some meaning but either I missed it or there want one. The tone is exuberant and the action begins almost immediately, with a series of intense chases, plot reversals and reveals. Nichols ably captures the feel of a opening episode of a television program or graphic novel: Courage, resourcefulness, ingenuity, loyalty and hardheaded stubbornness.

Her choice of weapons and use of her environment is also fun to watch. The same holds true for the secondary cast of characters.

This book is clearly the pilot or kickoff of a series, and Nichols does an able job of introducing the characters and exploring them and their mission while keeping the action going. In brief, the main character is brought into a secret organization formed to oppose a cult serving dark forces from beyond the earthly realm. The main character brings both expertise in the mechanical field to the group. The story also showcases the dangers that the heroes face and the price they must sometimes pay to safeguard the world.

The quality of writing and editing is also noteworthy, with few if any errors and none that really jumped out at me. There is, however, one flaw. I believe there should have been at least a brief appearance of an otherworldly abomination in the final fight. There are hints to the dark eldritch forces lurking in the wings, but not a single tentacle. On the whole, I recommend giving it a try.

Jun 18, J. Sff and Steampunkish lovers. This is an interesting book and it was a fun read. I'm not sure if it qualifies as Steam-punk just because it has steam driven things in it and the heroine likes to wield wrenches work on steam machines and even toss around a few very large heavy gears. Alas though it has Steam-punk in the name so we'll go with it. This reminded me more of a who done it book. A bit of the games a foot. It is a nice introduction to the main character and possibly the supporting cast.

Colleen Garman has lost most of her family and has only tenuous threads to the family of her boyfriend Roland. As the story begins and introduces her, she's discovering that her only real family, her uncle, has passed away. She makes rather hasty arrangements to cross the Canadian Provinces to take care of her uncles affairs. She discovers that her uncle is accused of taking an axe and attacked a school prior to his death while in a jail.

She meets Jane, her uncles girl friend. And, she discovers there are strange circumstances to her uncles death. While attempting to take care of her uncles affairs she is thrust into a conspiracy and the hunt for possible ancient myths. There is a lot of action and sleuthing and danger in this novel. Colleen comes to a point where she's almost certain that this is not the type of life for her, but now that she's been tagged by the evil organization she's not sure how she'll get out of it all.

Part of this story is Colleen examining just what she does want out of life. Mostly, again, it's all an introduction to what seems possibly to be a series of novels. My usual quibble with these types of novels is that they seem to be unregulated in size. The goal seems to be an endless number of tiny serial pieces. They often seem incomplete. Thankfully this one seems larger than many and does comprise a fully rounded novel within itself so it has more going for it. I would say that this novel stands complete within it self as much as each of the short stories of the Sherlock Holmes series were.

I enjoy a bit more character development and involvement and this story could easily be a five for me if it had that. May 19, Paige Ellen Stone rated it really liked it. I am currently reading the 5th of the 6 novellas in this series so far. I have to admit I am enjoying it and that enjoyment started with this first volume.

Set in the early 's, during Warren Harding's time as President, the author stays as true to things as they were but does make a few errors, but they don't really matter. The story involves a very atypical young woman who is very mechanically inclined, especially when it comes to steam powered devices.

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Hell's Gate

Preview — Hell's Gate by Brent Nichols. Kindle Edition , 94 pages. Published September 22nd by Amazon Digital Services. Gears of a Mad God 3. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Hell's Gate , please sign up. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. May 22, Paige Ellen Stone rated it really liked it. This is episode three of what I am calling a Saturday Matinee Serial on paper. We find our heroine, Coleen Garmin facing a horrible dilemma.

The cult of Katharis has opened a portal to another dimension and she must find a way to close it. Katharis himself may escape, and take over the world. Further, she doesn't know how to close it and her friend and colleague, Carter, is trapped in the other dimension. Her only likely help can come from a former member of the team to which Coleen belongs, Dir This is episode three of what I am calling a Saturday Matinee Serial on paper. Her only likely help can come from a former member of the team to which Coleen belongs, Dirk Smith, who is now locked up in an asylum for the insane.

Too much exposure to the influence of Katharis and the mysterious book have rendered him crazed. However, she needs Smith and gets him out, hoping that the mission and his friendship with Carter will focus him enough to be of help. Smith does come through and seems to find something of his own mind returning by the end of the story. As with the previous two books, the main features are Nichols' gift for writing blistering quick action scenes and his loving development of the character of Coleen, who becomes more and more resourceful as needs require, proving she is no "lady" in the terms of her era, the early 20's.

No spoilers, must lots of action, fast reading and decent story-telling, as well as a great and expected set-up for the next entry. Read on fans, and keep the popcorn warm and buttered Aug 06, Scott Kinkade rated it liked it. The story takes place during the roaring '20s around Washington, D. Colleen, the protagonist, is a young woman who works for a top secret government agency dedicated to investigating the occult think Hell Boy. Said agency just happens to be in possession of a mystic stone sought by the evil Cult of Katharsis.

They waste little time attacking the agency's HQ to get the stone so they can open a portal to the realm of the dark god Katharsis. With the help of her friends and her gorilla-esque au The story takes place during the roaring '20s around Washington, D. With the help of her friends and her gorilla-esque automaton Woody, Colleen sets out to save her mentor and thwart the cult's attempts to release Katharsis into the world. Hell's Gate is really just a novella at around 75 pages.

However, it is well-written with likable characters.

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