My Top 5 Steampunk Novels

My Top 5 Steampunk Novels

I love Steampunk; I was made to live in a Steampunk fantasy world filled with hissing and ticking machinery, men in top hats, tail coats, and monocles peering at fob watches, and ladies in bustles, corsets, and goggles; all tooled up with the most amazing weaponry you could ever imagine. Steampunk is the ultimate escapist fantasy and the novels that fit into the Steampunk genre are the ultimate fantasy literature. It’s a fairly new find for me, genre wise but it’s one I thoroughly enjoy.

As long as there is steam, clockwork and Victoriana involved, we are in the Steampunk world. You can add the occasional vampire if you want, a little romance and even change history.

These are my top 5 Steampunk Novels, old and new.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Widely considered to be the inaugural Steampunk novel Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a timeless classic that I first read before I ever knew there was such a thing as Steampunk.

A mad professor, a monster, and a plethora of hissing and steaming contraptions ensure you’re guaranteed a wonderfully wild introduction to the genre.

Frankenstein (US)
Frankenstein (UK)

Mortal Engines By Philip Reeve.

The first of a quartet (Predator Cities) Mortal Engines will have you hooked from the very first line.
“It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea.”
London is no longer a huge sprawling city, it’s a gigantic machine and it’s fighting for survival in a world rapidly running out of essential resources. Aimed at YA audience these are much more intricate than most fantasy YA books and will keep you turning the pages long into the night.

Mortal Engines (US)
Mortal Engines (UK)

Boneshaker By Cherie Priest.

Written in the POV of two main characters Briar and Zeke, each character having separate chapters dedicated to them and written with a really lovely twist. These books do need your full attention or you will, like me, have to re read several pages to work out what the heck is going on. Stick with it though and you will find yourself enraptured by an intricately written story with a few zombies (Rotters) thrown in for good measure.

Boneshaker (US)
Boneshaker (UK)

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea By Jules Verne.

How could I pick a top five without including probably the best known Steampunk novel ever written? I read this book as a child and have read it over and over in the years since, loving it more each time. Captain Nemo is brilliantly flawed, The Nautilus is still the only cruise ship you’d ever get me on and even then only if Jules Verne would deign to have dinner with me in the Nautilus’ dining room.

20,000 Leagues (US)
20,000 Leagues (UK)

Agatha H and the Airship City By Phil & Kaja Foglio.

The first in a set of ten gorgeous novels based on the comics of the same name and a real belter of a story. I am only half way through these so I can’t guarantee they’re good right to the last one but they’ve kept me entranced so far. This is Steampunk and then some.

Agatha H and the Airship City (US)
Agatha H and the Airship City (UK)

~~ More Recommended Reading ~~