Infinity Coil. (The Ehrich Weisz Chronicles). Marty Chan. Markham, ON: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2014. 263 pp., trade pbk. & epub, $12.95 (pbk.). ISBN 978-1-55455-345-7 (pbk.), ISBN 978-1-55455-859-9 (epub). Grades 7 and up / Ages 12 and up. Review by Ronald Hore. *** /4

excerpt:

Shadowy figures prowled the streets outside the tenements. They flitted from one side of the cobblestone road to the other. One advanced, then stopped and waited for another to come ahead. The eerie blue glow from their bowler top hats bobbed like will o’ the wisps in the narrow lane.

A teenager stopped in front of the ragamuffin and leaned down to inspect her grimy face. “You live here?”

She shook her head.

“Then scram,” ordered the lanky boy as he lifted the green tinted goggles over his eyes.

She scrambled over the pile of trash and bolted around the corner of the brick tenement building.

Wilhelm signalled the other hunters to join him. “The street is clear.”

The four members of the Demon Watch squad approached, their teslarons raised. A dull blue aura glowed from the doughnut shaped ends of their black blunderbuss rifles.

Margaret, a snub nosed bruiser with crooked teeth, took a position in front of the wooden entrance to the tenement. She gently nudged the butt of her rifle against the door and it creaked open. She peered inside and waved to her squad leader.

“Dear lord, the place reeks.”

The second volume in “The Ehrich Weisz Chronicles” returns to the steampunk fantasy of multiple universes or dimensions set in a 1888 New York city playing out in an alternate version of our world’s New York. We find the hero, a youthful teenage Ehrich Weisz, still attempting to rescue his younger brother Dash. Now a fugitive, Ehrich is hiding in the city slums. Tensions are growing between the locals and the Dimensionals who are seeking to migrate to this world from other dimensions. Ehrich poses as a stage magician under the name Harry Houdini while searching for the assassin who has captured his brother’s soul. Hunted by his old comrades in the Demon Watch, helped by allies including the inventor Tesla, he struggles against two forces. Local authorities are led by Thomas Edison and his Demon Watch while a dangerous inter dimensional conqueror plots to invade this world.

      The story continues with the struggles and characters from the first volume, Demon Gate. This is one trilogy where it is a definite asset to read them in published order so as to follow the tale’s twists and turns and keep track of the characters.

     The book consists of 263 pages, including a half page of acknowledgments, and is broken into several chapters with descriptive headings rather than numbers. Infinity Coil is well written adventure tale that describes a very unusual version of our world, one complete with multiple villains and heroes, not all of whom are human.

     For readers who enjoy complex plots, steampunk settings, and plenty of action.

Recommended.

Ronald Hore, involved with writers groups for several years, dabbles in writing fantasy in Winnipeg, MB.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

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Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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