The Gilded Scarab by Anna Butler

Narrated by Gary Furlong

Sad to say, but Anna Butler’s name wasn’t even on my radar when I saw The Gilded Scarab crop up at Audible, but Gary Furlong’s name on the cover together with a quick peek at the reviews on Goodreads convinced me to take a punt – and I’m glad I did. It’s the first book in a trilogy with a steampunk-y vibe set in an AU Victorian era and it’s full of excellent period detail (many of the historical events of the time are referenced), strong worldbuilding, and boasts a fully three-dimensional and thoroughly engaging lead character.

In this world, the Britannic Imperium is ruled, under the monarch, by eight Convocation Houses which hold all the political power. They divide government departments between them and staff them with members of their own Houses or of the Minor Houses allied to them. Captain Rafe Lancaster is a minor scion of one of those Minor Houses, who, instead of becoming an equally minor government official, decided to join the Aero Corps, much to the annoyance of his family. He’s become one of the Corps’ best – if not THE best – aeronauts; he’s well-liked and a bit of a dare-devil (sometimes a troublemaker) but when push comes to shove, he’s the man for whatever job the Corps wants to throw at him. When the book opens, he’s fighting in South Africa (in the equivalent of what we know as the Boer War) when the famous ‘Lancaster’s Luck’ finally runs out, and his aerofighter is shot down while on a mission. Rafe survives the crash with mostly cuts and bruises, but the head injury he sustains damages his optic nerve which means his vision is no longer fit for military service, and he is medically discharged.

Desolate at the loss of the life he’d loved, Rafe returns to Londinium to lodge in one of the hostels run for the single gentlemen belonging to his House. He has a little money to keep him going for now, although his pay out and meagre military pension won’t go far; he doesn’t want to become a mere drone in some office, subject to the dictates of his House, but he doesn’t yet know what he wants to do next. Feeling a bit down in the dumps, he decides to splash out on a visit to one of his favourite clubs, one where men who share his inclinations can go to find the conviviality of good food, fine wine and physical companionship, should they so desire. It’s a place Rafe used to patronise regularly back in the day, but now it’s something of a treat, and he’s determined to make the most of it. It’s there that he meets the handsome Aegyptologist Edward Fairfax, the intense attraction that ignites between them leading to a very satisfactory evening (and night and early morning). There’s not a lot of time to enjoy the afterglow however, because Edward has to leave before dawn – and he’ll be away for several months.

The disappointment Rafe feels at this news is unexpected – he’s never been interested in more than casual arrangements – but he chalks it into the ‘what might have been’ column and continues his search for a new direction in life.

This new direction appears quite unexpectedly when the elderly proprietor of what has become Rafe’s favourite coffee house – in Bloomsbury near the Britannic Imperium Museum – decides it’s time to retire. Rafe has found a second home – of sorts – there over the past few months, and decides to buy the place; it won’t be easy and he’ll need a loan from his House (he hates the idea of being beholden to them) but he’s determined to make it work. This time, it seems Lancaster’s Luck is on his side.

Rafe throws himself into the venture with gusto – much to the disapproval of his family and House, and of his new lover, Daniel – also an Aegyptologist – who, it has to be said, is a whiny snob. But Rafe has reckoned without his ability to attract trouble, and the quiet but satisfying life he’d envisaged, of a purveyor of coffee, enjoying his experiments with blends and flavour and roasting suddenly becomes much more complicated – and dangerous – than he could have imagined.

The writing here is excellent, the descriptions of the various locations are vivid and colourful, and I was really impressed at the way Anna Butler so skilfully peppers her AU with clearly recognisable and real historical detail while at the same time presenting listeners with a fully developed and very different world full of many of the concepts and conventions that will be familiar to devotees of steampunk. I loved the smaller details, such as the fact that the House names hearken back to a much earlier time of post-Roman Britain, that while everyone speaks modern English, the street names are in Latin… it’s a fascinating and meticulous melding of the real and the fictional, and I loved it.

Rafe is a terrific central character. He’s got a great sense of humour and a clear sense of self-awareness that combine to make him immensely likeable and relatable, and I really liked his pragmatic, slightly ironic voice. He’s determined to live life on his own terms, which includes living as authentically as he can in a society in which being queer is still something to be kept very much under-wraps.

I enjoyed the story very much, but it’s not without its flaws. Practically half of the book is set up; we witness Rafe’s accident and then there are several chapters which describe the aftermath, up to and including his medical discharge. Then we see his move to London, how he comes to be a regular at the coffee house, we learn a bit about House politics and where he stands on them… it’s all fascinating, but by the time I got about halfway, I’d started to want something more to happen. (Fortunately, just after that things pick up again). Most of the actual plot is contained in perhaps the last third of the story, so if you’re expecting something complex and full of intrigue, you may need to adjust those expectations. The romance, too, takes a while to get going – we witness Rafe’s passionate night with Edward, who then disappears for half the book – but when it does get going, it’s a bit of a slow burn and is nicely done.

If you’ve listened to Gary Furlong before then chances are that his name on the front cover of this audiobook will be enough to have you picking it up; if you haven’t, then you’re in for a treat. He’s one of my favourite performers and there seems to be very little he can’t do when put in front of a microphone! He’s technically very accomplished – his performances are well-paced and clearly enunciated – his voice is pleasant to listen to and he’s able to portray a large cast by means of a wide variety of tone and accent (especially accent – he’s very good at those!) and differentiate between them. He’s also one of the best voice actors around, able to really get into the heads of the characters he portrays and hit all the emotional beats within a story, no matter how small. There are quite a few secondary characters who appear frequently in this story, and Mr. Furlong finds distinctive vocal characterisations for all of them so there’s never any danger of not knowing who is speaking. Best of all, his interpretation of Rafe is a perfect fit;- he’s all raffish charm and gentle cynicism wrapped up in a cut-glass posh English accent. I did notice a small number of mispronunciations I wish had been corrected, but there aren’t many and are ‘things I noticed’ rather than ‘things that spoiled my enjoyment’.

Great writing, excellent worldbuilding, a bit of suspense, a touch of romance, an engaging central character and great narration all combine to make The Gilded Scarab a fun listen and one I’m more than happy to recommend. I definitely plan on listening to the other books in the series as soon as they’re available.

Caz