Leo Tolstoy & Ben Winters

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From Publishers WeeklyThe next installment in Quirk's much-heralded sci-fi/classics mashup series, this steampunk take on Anna Karenina discards tsarist Russia for an alternate reality where a miracle metal, gronzium, has fueled the development of a thriving robot culture. Carriages and candlesticks persist, but everything is mechanized, including the servants: at the peak of the robot hierarchy are the near-sentient "Class IIIs," humanoid robots who aid and comfort their upper-class owners. These futuristic additions are more than background filler, though; Winters incorporates an entire action-packed sci-fi sub-plot, with terrorist attacks from a group of renegade scientists, an alien invasion, and the growing menace of a certain scorned cyborg husband. The sci-fi elements are carefully accomplished, sometimes brilliantly extrapolated from the original. The Class IIIs, for example, also act as telling externalizations of their masters: cold, duty-bound Karenin becomes half-robot and childish Kitty gets a pink, mechanized ballerina companion. Tolstoy's text is more than strong enough to stand up to this sort of treatment, its force attenuated just enough to allow Winters (Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters) to integrate his additions-a feat he manages with aplomb. Illustrations. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistThe extraordinary success of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2009) has spawned an entirely new genre. The publication of Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters (2009) and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2010) left readers wondering what famous figure or classic novel would be the subject of the next delightfully irreverent mash-up. Wonder no more, just sit back, relax, and prepare to consider Tolstoy's masterful Anna Karenina in a whole new light. Anyone who has ever delved into the works of the great Russian novelist knows that he was, first and foremost, a realist. Somehow Winters manages to pay homage to Tolstoy's pragmatic tone while investing this timeless, ill-fated love story with robots, cyborgs, androids, and a host of other familiar sf elements. As Anna and Count Vronsky embark on their scandalous affair, they must also battle a band of radical scientists intent on fomenting a revolution. When upstart machines rebel, adultery becomes the least of their problems. Although Tolstoy purists may sniff, the parallels to nineteenth-century Russia remain surprisingly true in this futuristic version of his timeless classic. Advise readers to suspend their disbelief and go along for the ride—most won't be disappointed. --Margaret Flanagan