The Culture

This is the excellent sequel to the Scarlet Traces book and is again written by Ian Edginton and drawn by D’Israeli.

The alternate history story continues 40 years after the events in Scarlet Traces. Britain has taken the war to the Martians and has been involved in an extended campaign on Mars itself. But why do so few soldiers ever make it back home to Earth? This is the question that takes investigative photo journalist Charlotte Hemming to Mars with the help of Robert Autumn. There she finds out the secret of the missing soldiers and the secret of the Martians themselves.

I really like this book. It has more of the gorgeous world building that featured in the first book. This one has some more flying machines than the first with aircraft as well as space planes and rockets. Although it is a sequel to Scarlet Traces, it can be read as a standalone book. When Charlotte meets Robert Autumn he neatly summarises the plot of the first book in a few pages. Being an alternate history story it is full of little references to characters – both historic and fictional – and reading Edginton’s take on some of these adds to the enjoyment for me. Most of these references are British, of course, so you may not catch them all unless you know your British history. However the story can be enjoyed on its own merits and is recommended to fans of the alternate history or steampunk genres.