Tracks

I first heard of Tracks on the sffworld.com forums and was immediately caught up in the idea. Hobos, railroad barons, a steampunk fantasy land in a world right next to ours. There there was Vincent, a young man of the modern world who enters this Hobohemia to find his long lost sister. We have had so much steampunk fantasy set in the British Empire that it was exciting to hear of one set in America.And when I finally got around to reading Tracks, it didn’t disappoint.This is the first book I’ve read by Tolan, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Tracks is a fun, fast paced adventure that kept me turning the pages long after I should have been in bed. Tolan’s characters are deep and complex, each with a conflicting and very real set of motivations. This is one of the best parts of the book, I think. Not only did Tolan explore the joys and triumphs of humanity through his characters, but he also wasn’t afraid to look at our dark side either by literally showing how much our darker natures can control and hurt us.Tolan really created a full, rich world with Tracks. From hobo jungles to steam children to gandy dancers. My only problem with the book was that, at points, I wish Tolan had taken a little more time to describe his world, both the places and some of the more fantastical characters. This didn’t stop me from enjoying the book, but it did draw me out a little at times as I tried to see what Tolan saw in my mind’s eye.Overall, Tracks is a fantastic novel and I highly recommend it. I can’t wait for my next chance to visit Hobohemia!

K.M. Tolan’s Tracks is a far more complex and layered novel than I was expecting from its blurb, and it deserves more attention than it seems to have received. The story follows Vincent, a young man living on the edge of society in a rather grim world, haunted by the disappearance of his little sister (which he witnessed and may have caused) and his father, both tied to ghostly train tracks and vanishing steam engines.Ten years after those disappearances, Vincent stumbles into a search for his sister and finds himself in Hobohemia, the mysterious and mythical land connecting diverging worlds—and world views. Anchored here and there by its hobo jungles and rail yards, Hobohemia is under attack by the forces of Taylorism, with its assembly lines and diesel trains. Vincent is caught up in the conflict as he learns he is, like his father, a gandy dancer, able to call up living rails and the steam trains that run on them—but at a cost. Along the way he meets steam children, hobo knights, monstrous yeggs, and the rebellious (and very dangerous) daughter of a railroad baron.Hobohemia is full of the mythology of railroading and American folklore; Tracks is capped by a dark and dangerous trip to the Big Rock Candy Mountain. I’d be hard pressed to categorize the novel—adventure, fantasy, steampunk, romance, alternate history? All that and more, as Vincent explores Hobohemia and the lands passes through and revisits the elements of his family: his bitter, reality-bound mother, his long-lost sister, and his father, stuck on the Westbound Train.Tolan’s world-building moves so fast and explains so little that I sometimes wondered just where I was—but so did Vincent. The borders of Hobohemia are ephemeral, and I was left wondering if those ghost trains run through the back roads of this world, too.

K.M. Tolan has given us another book, this time in an alternate world filled with nitty-gritty hobos and fairies. There are bad guys to loathe and good guys to cheer while fantastical creatures titillate you. A delightful book.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable book. Tight plot, well-crafted characters, and a really interesting and fleshed-out world. Vincent was very relateable and an excellent take on my favorite "reluctant hero" motif. The author is working on a sequel and hopefully it won't be too long in coming as I look forward to my next visit to Hobohemia.

Tracks is the third installment in the steampunk collection Gears & Goggles. I don't have any idea why this book is in this collection as there is nothing resembling steampunk in the book. That said, I'm glad I came across it.As a young boy Vincent and his younger sister Kati are out collecting tadpoles when they come across some railroad tracks that were never there before. The tracks sing to Kati, a steam train roars towards them, Vincent rushes to get Kati off the tracks, but she's vanished leaving behind a broken jar of tadpoles.Fast forward ten years. Vincent's father walked out shortly after Kati went missing, his mother hates him and believes he killed her, and Vincent is basically not a likable guy. He's in Chicago (1950s?) and sees a couple of guys beating on a homeless man. Normally he'd leave, but for some reason he intervenes on the bums behalf. The bum gives him a coin (hobo nickel) and told him to never stop looking. I immediately put two-and-two together and the man was Vincent's father who dies in his arms. The police show up, and with his record they'd just assume he killed the man so he takes off on his battered old Triumph and heads for the only place he knows he might get some gas money and a meal, home.While his mother prepares a meal for him, Vincent takes a walk out back and the tracks reappear so he follows. Thus we discover hobohemia, a world that sort of moves in and out of the real world. His father used to tell them stories about steam trains and hobohemia and riding the rails. Vincent just thought they were stories, but they weren't. The hobo nickel calls his sister who is a Steam Child who also called riders, and they power steam engines.As he crosses into this world he comes across the two hoods who were beating on his dad (he doesn't yet know that it was his dad). In this world they're called Yegg, a sort of ghost with claws, and he's saved by Samantha. She takes him to the local Hobo King, Willy. Vincent learns who his father was and like father like son, he's what's known as a Gandy Dancer, someone who can call tracks.I'll end here because I don't want to give away spoilers, but I'll say this, in this world there's a fight between hobohemia and what the author call's Taylorists. The Taylorists are cold businessmen who value efficiency, cohesiveness, automation, asseblylines, and profit (oh, there's that evil word). On the other hand are the hobo's who value craftsmanship, unions (totally unnecessary in 2018), and keeping things as they've been.The author creates a feeling of the Robber Baron's of old (the baddie is a Baron), but call's Taylorism capitalism (it isn't), and the dividing line are the steam engines of old and the new diesels. This becomes rather juvenile in my book and the author needs to take a few economics classes. And while the world building is really good, some times it feels forced. Hard to explain, but an overall enjoyable read.