I continue to really enjoy this author. I didn't love starting with a new protagonist instead of Elizabeth, but the new setting and systems was a breath of fresh air in what had been getting a little stale.

I'll begin by saying that I think Rod Duncan is one of the freshest voices currently writing in science fantasy. If I see Duncan's name on a book, I'm probably going to buy it (and there aren't many authors about whom I would say that).

<em>The Outlaw and the Upstart King</em> is the second volume in Duncan's The Map of Unknown Things series, and is the fifth book in the Elizabeth Barnabus series. But this is also the first book in which Elizabeth plays a more background role, which definitely had me feeling a little off-balance for awhile as I've really grown to liking the character.

Here we find ourselves on the coast of Newfoundland - a savage territory where warlords control clans and those who serve the warlords are marked by special tattoos. Elias is a man marked, but by his missing thumbs ... severed as punishment ... and he now looks for his revenge on those who have crippled him.

We spend a fair amount of time getting Elias' story before Elizabeth makes her appearance (enough so that I stopped twice to look back at the beginning to make sure I really was reading a book in the Elizabeth Barnabus series). It is a strange diversion and reads almost like a spin-off, but the deeper we get into the story the more realize the masterful touch Duncan is putting on this, giving us three stories (that for Elizabeth, Elias, and warlord Patron Jago) that intersect and we are allowed to be there to see how each uses the others to further their own goals. This is a really fascinating study in conflict and character and patience and we don't always know who is using whom or who has the upper hand.

Duncan provides an intricate literary dance and he does so with strong, believable characters and in a world that is tremendously familiar and yet oddly foreign at the same time. It is this ability to bring this kind of story into the home of the reader that makes Duncan such a masterful story-teller.

I think that you could pick up this book and read it without having read any of the other books in the Elizabeth Barnabus series ... but why would you? Allow yourself to take the journey in the Gas-Light Empire with Rod Duncan as your guide.

Looking for a good book? <em>The Outlaw and the Upstart King</em> by Rod Duncan is a tightly woven story with three strong protagonists, each trying to get the upper hand, within the steampunk-like Gas-Light Empire series and it is well worth reading.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Elias is an exile and an outlaw. He has been cut off from his clan and forced to live as an oathless exile. He wants revenge however and will sign up with anyone to achieve this. Elizabeth has been forced to hide who she is as she tries to find a way off Newfoundland. Elizabeth eventually meets up with Elias, the only man she knows who has ever made it off the island.

The plot was intense with a great blend of action, world building and suspense. I liked how the author didn’t reveal the true history of Elias until halfway through the novel. The final battle at the end was great, I was surprised by the short ending to Jago though. For such a cruel man who dominated the story his end came in only two paragraphs.

I was a little confused at the beginning with Elias and the rules of Newfoundland and the clans. Instead of having a big information dump at the beginning everything is slowly revealed throughout the novel, so a lot of things didn’t make sense right away. The characters were well written with great detail and depth into each of them. They were all playing each other to get what they wanted. Elizabeth had to act too much of a girl though, so I was a little annoyed by that. I understand she was forced to fulfill a role Jago wanted her too, but I still missed the badass from the first novel. Jago was the perfect villain with a cruel and evil personality that I loved to hate.

In conclusion, this was a great steampunk sci-fi novel with good characters, a great plot, great characters and incredible world building. I would recommend it to anyone who like steampunk novels. Thank you to Netgalley and Angry Robot for this ARC.

This is my first book by Rod Duncan. The Outlaw and the Upstart King is a fantasy adventure. Elias is an outcast bent on revenge, but overall I didn't like him. Elizabeth is a fantastic heroine because she's strong and decisive. The fantasy world setting is beautifully rendered in detail. It's an action packed story that is paced well and well written. I would read other books by the author. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Outlaw and the Upstart King made me glad that I gave Duncan another shot. Duncan refreshes the series with an entirely new character. Heck, we don't even see Elizabeth until Part Two. Once Elizabeth introduces herself to Elias, we finish the novel switching between perspectives.

The new leading gent Elias No-Thumbs has a name you just have to get the story behind. The small blurb showing him as a leading character on Netgalley is the sole reason I requested the ARC and headed back to the Gas-Lit Empire at all.

Elias is a man down on his luck and living off the scrapings of the rich and mighty he used to rub shoulders with. He sells his freedom for a ride on an unwelcome smugglers rig and gets enslaved in a glycer factory. He then sells his future for revenge. Little did he know what we would find on that return trip when he signed the oath with his blood.

This is not a happy novel. It is filled with disgust, shame, dirt and hardship. There is pain. There is angst. But I read every last sentence with rapt attention. I haven't read a book ensconced in the darker side of human emotions combined with the hopes of faith and love in ages. Too often you get the dark ennui with only the devil for company or you get a pink-spewed rainbow of endless joy. The lack of balance has sunk many a great story.

Congratulations, Duncan, on making a story that showed sides of the human experience I haven't read in a long while and bringing me back to why I loved the "Gas-Lit Empire."

The Outlaw & the Upstart King reunites readers with Elizabeth Barnaby and the world of the Gas-Lit Empire. Gone are the trappings of England and a sea-bound nation of women, replaced by the wilds of Newfoundland and a society more reminiscent of King Arthur than modern day. Duncan is a grade-A storyteller, taking us deeper into this fascinating world with strong characters, a darker villain, and twists at every turn. It’s a fitting sequel to The Queen of All Crows, and will leave you eager to discover the fate of our favorite trickster-turned-pirate-turned-escape artist.

Full review at: https://reviewsandrobots.com/2019/01/01/the-outlaw-and-the-upstart-king-book-review/

With the Outlaw and the Upstart King, Rod Duncan veered away from steampunk style plot and setting. The feudal, political coup plot that seemed like it belonged in a fantasy novel, only it had no magic. It was a great story in a very well-developed land with a fascinating political system. It just wasn’t what I expected when I started reading.

The story more or less picked up where the previous book, The Queen of All Crows, left off, but Outlaw and the Upstart King hardly felt like part of the series. There were tie-ins, but a reader could also pick up that book and read it as a stand-alone, or without having read any of the other books in the series and still appreciate. They only things they might not get were the importance of the “big reveal” of Elizabeth’s identity, fleeting references to other characters, and vague hints at how this connected to plots to bring down the Gaslit Empire. These things were subtle enough that they wouldn't ruin the story for a new reader, but they reminded those of us who have read the whole story that this book was indeed part of it.

The Outlaw and the Upstart King followed two characters, Elias and of course, the heroine of the series, Elizabeth Barnabus. The first part of the book was from Elias’ point-of-view, though there was a character who came in and out of the picture that I suspected was Elizabeth. At the end of Part 1, I learned I was right. Elizabeth was indeed that character. Up to this point, I’d been frustrated that I hadn’t seen anything from Elizabeth’s point of view. And while it was interesting to see the next chapter recap what had happened so far from her point of view, it was a technique I think works a little better in movies than books.

Elias is a fascinating character for sure. He has clear motives and through a balance of flashbacks, action, and internal thought, the reader knows why he has those motives and how they formed. I loved how he wasn’t a “good guy”  but I still wanted him to succeed, to grow, and learn to see himself how others saw him. Watching him intellectually spar with Elizabeth was also entertaining.

However, I wanted a little more from some of the other characters. Julia was mentioned, but kept passive and out of sight for the whole book. She didn’t really do anything other than be one of Elizabeth’s motivations until the the climax had passed and she was assisting in the resolution. Tinker was there more, blending in mostly, but he didn’t do anything of importance. In previous books, he used his ability to move around unnoticed to help with whatever Elizabeth plans in some significant way. This time, he didn’t, at least not in any way I noticed.

In the end, it was clear how this did connect to some of the larger, political movements that were happening between the Gas-Lit empire and the nations outside it, however, that felt much further in the background than in previous books. The benefit of it was that it did allow more of a focus on character development and the more immediate action.

One thing I’ve always loved about this series is how it explores gender and gender roles. Back in England, within the Gas-Lit empire, society certainly was male dominated. However, it was social norms, laws, and a sense propriety that suppressed woman. Elizabeth grew up in a circus, outside the some many social and cultural norms, so she was less influenced by them and more independent than other woman around her. Her resistance to the role women were forced into and a need to live independently drove Elizabeth to use skills  she developed in her father’s show to create a second-male identity: a brother she pretended to live with.

Watching Elizabeth slip back and forth between man and woman was what originally helped me connect with her. I always read her as genderfluid even though as the books went on, her male identity was used less and less.

In this book, it was non-existent.

In the culture this story happened in, women were oppressed as much as London, though in different ways. In the Outlaw and the Upstart King , a single woman owned and ran an inn/tavern and promiscuity seemed more acceptable. However, here, perhaps more than in any other place Elizabeth has been, women were objects subject to the whims of physically stronger men.

Elizabeth was dependent on and/or under the control of men throughout the book, forever playing the part of a woman, and really feeling like a side character in her own book. This was Elias’ story, not Elizabeths.

If I was a new reader with no attachment to Elizabeth, I would give this book five stars because it was beautifully written and clearly well researched. The plot was well executed. The world richly developed.

However, I’m used to seeing Elizabeth in control and in charge not matter how bad the situation got, and it killed me to see her with so little agency, only able to influence the outcome of events in subtle, typically female ways.

Once again, Rod Duncan proves he is one of the best contemporary sci fi/urban fantasy authors out there with a follow up just as good yet distinctly different than his previous book. Rather than regurgitating the same tale of action and adventure, we have a very moody, slow burn, psychological piece that manages to maintain high tension and energy in stark contrast to the swashbuckling adventure of The Queen of all Crows. What's more, Elizabeth now has a mission and will no longer be wandering after her escape from the Gaslit Empire.

Story: In the lawless territory of the Newfoundland coast, the people are ruled by patrons: warlords who tattoo those in their service and bind them to them for life. If you break your oath, the tattoo is removed along with whatever body part it is on. It is here that Elias - formerly the pampered son of a Patron but betrayed and now oathless and treated like a dog - operates in the underbellies of the villages. He plays a long con - something Elizabeth Barnabus knows well. Together the two will have to work together to help Elizabeth and her hiding friends do what few others have ever done: escape Newfoundland without being discovered and enslaved by the patrons.

Author Duncan takes a bit of a risk here by not introducing Elizabeth until one quarter or so of the story has passed. Then the POV alternates between the two characters, telling us how Elizabeth ended up in Newfoundland and how she is working to get herself and her friends out alive. But at the same time, Elias "no thumbs" is both a pitiable and yet driven character whose story is fascinating enough to make for a very excellent read. The intertwining of their motives and foibles makes the story work on so many levels.

This is a tale about three individuals (but with only two POVs): Elias, Elizabeth, and the Patron Jago. Each is playing a game with the others and it is one that you really can't guess the ending of or how the story will play out. There are far too many nuances and carefully timed reveals to give away the story early, making for an excellent read from start to finish.

I am very impressed that the author can go from one milieu to another so seamlessly. At first, it felt like this will be a series of random travels outside of the world of the Gaslit Empire. But by the end of this second book, Elizabeth has something very important to search for - and I am definitely looking forward to seeing more of the North American continent and this fascinating alternate universe world. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

After leaving the Gas-Lit Empire behind and surviving a run-in with a floating city of pirates, Elizabeth Barnabus has landed on the inhospitable island of Newfoundland in less than ideal circumstances. While seeking a seemingly impossible escape to the Free States of America she runs across Elias, a thumbless outlaw who hungers for revenge against those who wronged him.

I appreciate that each book in this series does something markedly different while remaining true to the spirit of the overall saga. Here, in a brand new setting, Elizabeth takes a backseat to newcomer Elias and he drives the narrative for most of the book. Elias adds a new element to this story as his bitterness and reckless nature serve as a nice counterbalance to Elizabeth’s kind heart and sharp mind.

Author Rod Duncan continues to convey atmosphere in an engaging way. You can smell the brine, feel the mud, and hear the gulls in the sky, which is a testament to Duncan’s skills as a storyteller. Even if I wasn’t always enraptured by the story, I could enjoy the vivid imagery and worldbuilding that Duncan employs.

Overall, this is a strong entry in the ever-expanding Gas-Lit Empire saga and I enjoyed this one slightly more than the first book in this new trilogy. I’m excited to see how the story rounds out in the final book.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second book of the second Elizabeth Barnabus Trilogy (the first trilogy being the Gas-Lit Empire), but you could be forgiven for thinking it isn't about her to begin with because Elizabeth doesn't appear until well into the story. It's partly narrated by the outlaw, Elias No-Thumbs, a man in search of a certain kind of revenge, or maybe justice, and it's set in a dangerously feudal version of Newfoundland where people are bound by tattooed oaths. Warlords, known as Patron Protectors, rule, supported by thugs. The upstart Jago is one such, a man to be feared.

It turns out that Elizabeth and her friends, Julia and Tinker, have been shipwrecked on the shores of Newfoundland and the problem is how to get off the island, since the only routes in and out are dictated by the patrons - but we don't discover that until Chapter 9, the second part of the book. Thereafter the viewpoint is shared between Elizabeth and Elias. This is really Elias' book. He's the one with the greatest journey to make in order to understand the lengths he'll go to for revenge on the ones that outlawed him and cut off his thumbs. Elizabeth gets embroiled in Elias's troubles in her search for a way off the island.

There's obviously another book to come, and I'm looking forward to it. I've thoroughly enjoyed Rod Duncan's Barnabus books. Maybe this one slightly less than Queen of All Crows.

The Outlaw and the Upstart King, by Rod Duncan. An interesting and compelling tale set in a time of lawlessness and where every man is looking out for himself. A rogue gambler returns for revenge and sets himself against the powers of his homeland, but marked as a failure and a cheat, what lengths will he go to in order to succeed?

Every time I think Rod Duncan's written his best book, he writes another one and proves me utterly wrong.

Some spoilers ahead:

Elizabeth, her best friend Julia, and the orphan boy Tinker, having escaped a battle between the Company (of the Gas-Lit Empire) and the women of Freedom Island in the middle of the Sargasso Sea, wash up on the shores of what they this is north America, only to discover it's Newfoundland, and they're about to be made slaves, according to Newfoundland Law (such as it is).

What follows is an account of how Elizabeth tries to find a way to get the three of them to freedom, sometimes aided, sometimes obstructed by Elias No Thumbs, formerly of the Blood, son of the ruling class of Newfoundland, who was set up in rigged card game and accused of cheating in punishment for his previous cheating at cards. He loses both his thumbs before being Outlawed by the Blood. He manages to escape from Newfoundland to mainland America in a smugglers' submarine and once in the Yukon finds work making 'glycer-fortis' (the equivalent of gelignite). He's sent back to Newfoundland after 18 months to persuade one of the Patrons (heads of the different Blood clans) to join forces with the smugglers in Yukon so that they can open up a trade route between the two.

What follows is weeks of crawling tension (I was forcibly reminded of Frodo and Sam's journey through the land of Mordor) as Elias tries to fulfil his task without being killed outright, and Elizabeth seeks to find a way to get herself, Julia, and Tinker, to the Americas.