Queen of Clouds by Neil Williamson

Publisher – NewCon press

Published – Out Now

Price – £12.99 paperback £4.99 Kindle eBook

Billy Braid has been raised in an idyllic mountain backwater, aiding Master Kim to craft strangely sentient sylvans from carefully cultivated trees. Then the outside world impinges, and Billy is tasked with delivering a sylvan to the Sunshine City of Karpentine. Upon his arrival, Billy falls in with a young Weathermaker, Paraphernalia, who proves to be fascinating and infuriating in equal measure. But all is not well in the Sunshine City, and Billy is soon embroiled in Machiavellian intrigues he is ill-equipped to understand, as the city's ruling Guilds - the Constructors, Inksmiths, Weathermakers and more - jostle for status and power, seeing him as the key.. 

Science Fiction and Fantasy are indeed one of the most political genres. Far too often it’s removing one nobility with another, but the genre can explore this in many other ways and explore how does power in our society work (or not as more often is the case). In Neil Williamson’s Queen of Clouds we get a strange magical city based adventure of mysterious factions, technological edges and a desire for social justice creating an unusual but pointed tale about those who want power.

Billy Braid wants a simple life working in the countryside as an Apprentice for his master making magical and mysterious automaton called Sylvans who have a mind and inclination of their own once alive. Billy though finds his peace shattered when his master receives a summons from the main city of Karpentine. Master Kim packs Billy with a new Sylvan and instruction to get to Karpentine immediately for payment and then to get home. But Billy’s mission is not secret, he meets strange groups on his journey and his arrival ends in a magical destructive battle with clouds. Billy can hear both Sylans and the clouds inner thoughts. Soon in jail Billy finds himself caught up in Karpentine’s internal battles for power where various families all seek an edge to show who is in charge but at a certain point those serving the families’ games will living seek justice too.

This is one of those stories where I really liked the mix of almost classic fairytale with a bit of contemporary fantasy social bite. The initial scenes will make you think we’re going for a sweet and innocent tale as Billy is very much everyday character who is just doing things as he is told to by his master and appears a little too innocent for the world he is about to meet - he could easily have been called Jack. But Williamson then makes Karpentine the opposite and we get a city that is very much from the refugees refused entry for no having the right paperwork (as if that could happen in real life), cruel justice system and infighting powerful factions one that is far more resembling our own world.

We get a focus on how factions fight for power and we get interesting ideas thrown at us such as ink that compels the readers to pay attention to certain rules or factions. We see money and power have priority in a City that alleges it is fair to all and poverty walks close to those in hand. We get Billy having to learn this city and its factions fast and at first resisting but then seeing a need for change is required. Williamson makes the first half of the book about us understanding how Karpentine really works and then the second half is dark magic, revolution and uncertain outcomes. The world and its perhaps not quite magic is not always explained but we get some great imagery from a family home made of cogs to prisons full of people who do what they’re told and two memorable magical sisters key to the tale’s ending. I think reading these encounters episodically may help as pacing could feel a little like you’re going around the entire city but once its all set up the speed really increases to a strange and unsettling final conclusion.

Queen of the Clouds is a fascinating allegorical read with lots of memorable strange sights such as angry clouds that are not metaphors, strange wooden beasts and a bureaucracy that seeks to support those who pay its wages. It has beneath the initial fairy tale quite a sharp bite which makes it well worth your attention. Worth a look indeed!