Along with being a damn good weblog Bookslut also publishes an online monthly magazine, and this month their resident sf/fantasy reviewer takes a look at Passarola Rising by Azhar Abidi.
We can argue till we're blue in the face as to whether or not the novel falls into the fantasy category and the reviewer, Colleen Mondor, even acknowledges the problem: "Passarola Rising might seem more like a historical novel or mainstream adventure story, but at its heart it is about an amazing flying machine. The fact that the man who designed this craft was real only makes it that much more wonderful and certainly a title that any fan of Jules Verne (or H.G. Wells) must certainly grab a copy of." And then goes on to say: "Passarola Rising is an old fashioned fantasy, one that embraces the fantastic elements posed by the early 18th century."
Which pretty much allows it to be read anyway you want. And a good thing too.
