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Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
John Raleigh Boyd's Standing Naked In The Wind, book two of The Royal Society of Esoterica series, begins in 1901 London, when scientist Maxwell Jaxon investigates the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn after Aleister Crowley uses clockwork butterflies to turn concertgoers into unwilling thieves. The stolen objects belonged to John Dee, whose ritual tools can help the Order force spirits into metal bodies built by grieving inventor Ernest Decamps. When Maxwell uncovers a plan to use famous monuments as engines for resurrection, the Order takes him prisoner aboard a ship bound for New York. Emerald Robinson follows with others as the plot turns toward the Statue of Liberty. There, a ritual meant to conquer death risks giving a dangerous exiled mind the body it needs to return.
John Raleigh Boyd’s Standing Naked In The Wind is such great science fiction, and Boyd makes it work best when familiar inventions become threats. A clockwork butterfly lands on William Eccles’s neck at Bechstein Hall, then forces his body to steal John Dee’s ritual object from the British Museum. As a Londoner, I loved being there! A deep social order feels built into every room. Maxwell, a Royal Society of Esoterica scientist, makes an excellent lead. I liked him most aboard the SS Ambriz, where he builds a receiver so Emerald Robinson’s coded warning can reach him. It is the MacGyver of Morse Code, and it's awesome. The Statue of Liberty section gives the book its most cinematic setting. Bedloe’s Island becomes a ritual engine when Maxwell climbs into the torch while the monument breaks around him. Readers who enjoy occult science fiction with Victorian machinery will adore this book.
