The time is a far distant future, one and a half millennia after the collapse of our own civilisation. Nicholas Raspero, the descendant of the Barons of Raspero and the possessor of wandlore secrets, has arrived in New Landern, the capital of Anglashia. Almost immediately he is drawn into the underworld when he defeats a group of thugs who attempt to rob him, thus making him an enemy of Jolly, the most powerful gangster in the city. Jolly therefore recruits Angela Ashton, the lovely actress, to act as bait for a trap he has set for Nicholas Raspero. Meanwhile, Nicholas has set his heart on Isabel Grangeshield of Grangeshield House - the wealthiest, most beautiful heiress in New Landern and the most obstinate. “Isabel looked wide-eyed and open-mouthed through her window, admiring and friendly, pleased with the propriety of the enormous storm, which had everything in the right place; Nicholas stood under the shelter of a marble war monument, his hand on the hilt of his wand, exulting in the drama of the moment; Angela plied her trade with her current client, half-naked by a roaring fire, while pretending to laugh before the background of the thunder. Captain Abner Nevsky was a stone, insensate from an overload of intoxication; Ben paid no attention to the storm, aware of it only as a distraction from the important legal work he was crafting as cleverly as only a lawyer knew how, and the freshly dug earth of Jolly’s grave shone fat and wet and dark with pregnant secrets as the rain splashed over the abyss into which he had fallen. Nothing is ever over, the rain said as it fell, but nothing is ever definite, it also said, more softly.” For lovers of steampunk and fantasy, The Last Suitor, will have you cheering for Nicholas Raspero, the wand-fighting hero and wishing that you too, could transport to the world of New Landern, where everyone who has a wand is not afraid to use it in a duel to maintain one’s honour.
This superbly written novel is a memorable steampunk fantasy.
A.J. McMahon has been influenced by writers as diverse as Jane Austen, Jack London, Alexander Pushkin and J.R.R. Tolkien. He has lived, worked and travelled in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Australasia. It is this range of experience in the real world and in the world of literature that informs his imagination as a novelist, as the fantastical and the everyday combine in his story-telling. He writes in the fantasy genre because here imagination, feelings, logical insights and ideas can all be combined in a beautifully written story that takes the reader into another world entirely.
The quality of the writing is truly exceptional. No other steampunk fantasy novel is this well written.
The futuristic setting is believable and fascinating, drawing the reader into an escapist fantasy like no other.
The labyrinth of the tale follows its own logic from beginning to end to form an integrated whole.
The characters are so vividly drawn that the reader will see them as real people.
