Sally Slick & The Steel Syndicate, Carrie Harris

Sally Slick & the Steel Syndicate: A Tale of the Young Centurions
Carrie Harris
ISBN: 9781613170632
Read January 2, 2014

YA: FATE role-playing system tie-in novel, first of a planned series (sequel: Sally Slick and the Miniature Menace).

Sally is the only girl in a family of 7 boys, and she's an inventor to boot.  She's proud of her inventions, especially her racing tractor.  She's less proud that the town bully and his gang continue to beat up her best (only) friend Jet while she stays out of their way.  When her eldest brother returns from Chicago and tries to secretly bury a broken mechanical man in the family graveyard, Sally gets mixed up in more danger and excitement than she'd ever imagined.  The mechanical man is the focus of a turf-war between Chicago gangsters.  The Steel Don and a strange inventor, her brother's employer Doktor Proktor, both want the power this invention will grant them.  As Sally tries to keep her family, especially her brother James, safe, she realizes that her own skills are in demand as well, and that her opponents will stop at nothing to secure her talent. 

This was created as a "stretch goal" for a Kickstarter campaign for the FATE system, and it shows a little.  The book is softbound, with those glare-white pages and really narrow margins that scream "self-published" but the content is thankfully not subject to the usual low self-publishing standards.  I didn't notice any typographical or grammar mistakes, no great jumps in narrative, or strange railroading or mystical decisionmaking.  The plot was funny and quick, the characters quirky and individualized (except for the 7 brothers, of whom I know of the sick baby, the twins (one of whom is a prankster, and the other a tactical genius) and the eldest brother.  4 out of 7 isn't bad, right? 

The only real complaint I have with this one is that more times than not, the dialogue is stilted and somewhat off.  People don't really talk to each other the way that the author has them do here, and it's a little bit of a detriment to the story, especially when the characters themselves are pretty nifty, and well-drawn.

Cute, fun, clean, and in the same excellent early-century inventor breed as Tom Swift, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and The Rocketeer, but specifically geared towards younger readers.  Not quite Jules Verne, but amusing and inventive.  I only hope that Calamity the tractor will play a slightly larger role in the next book.