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Sky High (Steeley #1)
Jan. 10th, 2024 05:55 pmYesterday I decided on a whim to dive into the last 'character' series of WEJ's that I hadn't tried yet, and ended up breezing through the first Steeley book in just a few hours. It's fun!
Steeley is (for anyone unitiated) a sort of Robin Hood figure, who following the trauma of the Great War decided that he was sick and tired of war profiteers and the like getting rich on the misery of the underclasses and resolved to Do Something About It. The Something About It just happens to include illegal smuggling, running a chain of hosiery shops under the name 'Madame Montforte' (yes, really), engaging in ludicrous and admirable displays of philanthropy under a Latin pseudonym, and hitting policemen in the face with lobsters.
He is also desperately, existentially lonely in a way which the narrator - his old war buddy Eric 'Tubby' Wilde (so named for his 'expansive' waistline, thanks WEJ) - is at pains to point out and occasionally attempt to mitigate in his own slightly failtastic way. I found this a really interesting character beat to be honest. It also means that my ongoing quest to read deeply into the implications of some of the characters in Biggles is not necessarily in vain, because WEJ really did like to go into some psychological depth in his writing. I really enjoyed the short introduction from Tubby about their wartime experiences (and not only for the homoerotic devotion he displays) because it introduced the core tenets of Steeley's character very early on and then they were stuck to assiduously by the narrative!
The plot itself was very much in the WEJ vein of constant action and derringdo, which I enjoyed very much, although the plot was extremely thin on the ground. It felt more like WEJ had invented Steeley and thought 'hey, here's a guy I can get into' then spent 150 pages just hanging out with him in his cool house with multiple secret passageways, hidden aircraft hangers and a HOT AIR BALLOON LAUNCHPAD.
I also love WEJ's names. Has anyone discussed this? Because this book has a sort of Flash Harry character called Dude Dale. DUDE. DALE.
Anyway I highly recommend this one for its extreme concentration of fun and excitement, alongside the WEJ-required gay subtext and big flock of sheep. I've started reading Steeley Flies Again and in chapter 2 Tubby and Steeley experience a homophobic microaggression. It's great.
Steeley is (for anyone unitiated) a sort of Robin Hood figure, who following the trauma of the Great War decided that he was sick and tired of war profiteers and the like getting rich on the misery of the underclasses and resolved to Do Something About It. The Something About It just happens to include illegal smuggling, running a chain of hosiery shops under the name 'Madame Montforte' (yes, really), engaging in ludicrous and admirable displays of philanthropy under a Latin pseudonym, and hitting policemen in the face with lobsters.
He is also desperately, existentially lonely in a way which the narrator - his old war buddy Eric 'Tubby' Wilde (so named for his 'expansive' waistline, thanks WEJ) - is at pains to point out and occasionally attempt to mitigate in his own slightly failtastic way. I found this a really interesting character beat to be honest. It also means that my ongoing quest to read deeply into the implications of some of the characters in Biggles is not necessarily in vain, because WEJ really did like to go into some psychological depth in his writing. I really enjoyed the short introduction from Tubby about their wartime experiences (and not only for the homoerotic devotion he displays) because it introduced the core tenets of Steeley's character very early on and then they were stuck to assiduously by the narrative!
The plot itself was very much in the WEJ vein of constant action and derringdo, which I enjoyed very much, although the plot was extremely thin on the ground. It felt more like WEJ had invented Steeley and thought 'hey, here's a guy I can get into' then spent 150 pages just hanging out with him in his cool house with multiple secret passageways, hidden aircraft hangers and a HOT AIR BALLOON LAUNCHPAD.
I also love WEJ's names. Has anyone discussed this? Because this book has a sort of Flash Harry character called Dude Dale. DUDE. DALE.
Anyway I highly recommend this one for its extreme concentration of fun and excitement, alongside the WEJ-required gay subtext and big flock of sheep. I've started reading Steeley Flies Again and in chapter 2 Tubby and Steeley experience a homophobic microaggression. It's great.
