Sometimes a book has all my catnip but it doesn’t gel into a cohesive, engaging story. Breath of Earth is one of those books. The language is descriptive, the setting intriguing, and the characters are diverse. Even the cover art is lovely. But I never got a feel for what was happening or why I should care.

Here’s the publisher’s description of the plot, which I am including because my description of the plot is, “I dunno, stuff happened, I guess?”

In an alternate 1906, the United States and Japan have forged a powerful confederation— the Unified Pacific—in an attempt to dominate the world. Their first target is a vulnerable China. In San Francisco, headstrong secretary Ingrid Carmichael is assisting a group of powerful geomancer wardens who have no idea of the depth of her own talent—or that she is the only woman to possess such skills.

When assassins kill the wardens, Ingrid and her mentor are protected by her incredible magic. But the pair is far from safe. Without its full force of guardian geomancers, the city is on the brink of a cataclysmic earthquake that will expose the earth’s power to masterminds determined to control the energy for their own dark ends. The danger escalates when Chinese refugees, preparing to fight the encroaching American and Japanese forces, fracture the uneasy alliance between the Pacific allies, transforming San Francisco into a veritable powder keg. And the slightest tremor will set it off. . .

Forced on the run, Ingrid makes some shocking discoveries about herself. Her already considerable magic has grown even more fearsome . . . and she may be the fulcrum on which the balance of world power rests.

The biggest strength of this book is the diversity of the characters, which resonates with both the alternate history of the book and the actual history of San Francisco, a city that has always been diverse in a variety of ways. The main character knows that her mother was White, but all she knows about her father is that he must have had dark skin and curly black hair, like her. Her appearance means that she has to deal with racism as well as sexism. Other main characters are Chinese, Japanese, and Hawaiian. There’s also a transgender character.

Unfortunately, none of these characters come fully to life with the exception of the transgender character. They basically careen around from disaster to disaster, with little chance to show their personalities. I didn’t care what happened to them. I had the same problem with the book’s alternate history idea – it’s a neat idea that allows for steampunk elements and a ton of intrigue, but I never got a good feel for the world, or the politics, or why I should care about either. The story elements seem thrown together at random.

This book has a romance between Ingrid and Cy, a mysterious inventor and soldier who comes to her aid. Cy is a likeable but bland character, humanized primarily through his relationship to his friend Fenris. The romance is another aspect of the book that sounds like a great idea (Cy helps Ingrid, and Ingrid is sexually confident, two things I love in a romance), but it’s basically a few kisses in between explosions and earthquakes. Breath of Earth is the first book in a new series so presumably the romance will continue to develop in future installments.

It’s possible that I simply couldn’t concentrate on this book because Things Were Happening in my life that week (nothing bad, but a lot of stuff going on). But I’m pretty sure that this book didn’t work not because I was stressed out but because it’s simply too messy. Some stories benefit from throwing the reader into the action, but since this book had almost no moments of calm, there was never a chance to get a feel for the world or the characters or establish reasons why we should care about any of them. It is honestly no skin off my teeth whether the US wins this conflict or the other side wins or aliens invade and trounce them both.

The setting is San Francisco, a city dear to my heart, but it’s portrayed in such a way that it could be any city – it only exists to fall down, and the cost of earthquakes and riots and explosions in only discussed in abstract terms. The main characters seem nice enough but there’s nothing that makes them stand out. Ingrid herself spends much of her time figuratively wringing her hands about her situation – it’s understandable, but not compelling.

If you read this book under less stress than I was under, and you liked it, please tell us! I wanted to like it. It had all my catnip – inclusive characters, steampunk elements, 1906 San Francisco, science nerds, magic, and a heroine of color – but it never came together for me as a coherent story with a solid sense of character and place.