History Literature / DawnOfSteam

* KnifeNut: Sam Bowe eschews guns, preferring to use her myriad collection of knives.

* FriendlySniper: BoisterousBruiser Edward ‘Call Me Eddy” McBride; at least if you’re on his good side.

* ActionDressRip: Assassins intent on killing the French monarch attack a ball the crew of the Dame Fortuna attending, Sam Bowe shreds her skirts for easier movement. Since she hates wearing the dress in the first place, she takes great pleasure in destroying it over the course of the battle until she is left in nothing but her underclothes by the aftermath.

* BadassBookworm: James Coltrane inventor and pilot of the Coltrane Battlesuit[[spoiler:or perhaps more accurately Jillian]].
* BadassGrandpa: Captain Fisher is an old man who literally ties himself to his ship’s wheel to see if safely through one of the worst storms he’s ever seen.

* BallroomBlitz: A party for the visiting French Monarch is crashed by assassins, forcing the crew to fight in their formal wear (and fewer weapons).

* BunnyEarsLawyer: Eddy [=McBride=] is a rifle expert and a war hero: who just happens to be very, very picky about how he's addressed.
* CoolAirship: Plenty. A flotilla of airships is part of the reason for the British Empire’s dominance and victory in the Napoleonic War. Then there is the Dame Fortuna, a customised drop ship for the Coltrane Battlesuit, on which the heroes travel the world.

* HappilyMarried: According to her commentary, Gregory and Cordelia end up as this too. They're together for decades, until he died of old age, and her entries speak well of him.

* KnifeNut: Sam Bowe eschews guns preferring to use her myriad collection of knives.

** James Coltrane to a tee as he is a war hero that has retired to inventing and is still active in social circles.
** Gregory and Eddy to varying degrees as both of them were soldiers but the former lacks James' presence and the latter is somewhat quirky.

* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Sam is the tomboy to Jillian’s girly girl because the former is a resident of the American Frontier and the later is a lady of England High Society. This causes much intra-crew conflict. [[spoiler:As it turns out, Jillian is more tomboyish than everyone thought; she is the true Coltrane war hero because she was the one in the battle suit and would rather be in her workshop than a tea party.]]

* ActionDressRip: assassins intent on killing the French monarch attack a ball the crew of the Dame Fortuna attending, Sam Bowe shreds her skirts for easier movement. Since she hates wearing the dress in the first place, she takes great pleasure in destroying it over the course of the battle until she is left in nothing but her underclothes by the aftermath.

** Sam Bowe is a daughter of the American Wild West. She can kill gunman with knives.

* AmazonChaser: [[spoiler: After it is revealed that Jillian, not James, was the one in the battle suit, Eddy falls in love with her because it proved that she was not, in his words "an intelligent but mostly useless decoration".]]
* BadassBookworm: James Coltrane inventor and pilot of the Coltrane Battlesuit[[spoiler: or perhaps more accurately Jillian]].

* BrainUploading: Sam’s ornithopter companion, Bubsy, contains the mind of a sheepdog. [[spoiler: More horrifyingly, the cause of death for Mrs Mitchell was an attempt at this.]]

* DistressedDude: For most of the second book, [[spoiler: James Coltrane]] is held captive.

* SamusIsAGirl: Dr. Robert Bowe’s son Sam Bowe, whom the crew are sent to employ as a guide, turns out to be Samantha Bowe. [[spoiler: In a more literal example it turns out that the designer and pilot of the Coltrane Battlesuit is Jillian and not James]].
* ShipperOnDeck: Jillian for Eddy and Harriet. She's determined to see her cousin married to the Scottsman because he's a man of fame, fortune, and most importantly, loves her. [[spoiler: Ironically, she marries him herself by the end of ''Gods of the Sun''. Harriet wasn't interested in him anyway.]]

* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Sam is the tomboy to Jillian’s girly girl because the former is a resident of the American Frontier and the later is a lady of England High Society. This causes much intra-crew conflict. [[spoiler: As it turns out, Jillian is more tomboyish than everyone thought; she is the true Coltrane war hero because she was the one in the battle suit and would rather be in her workshop than a tea party.]]
* VictoriasSecretCompartment: Julietta keeps a stiletto knife here amongst otherthings.

Dawn of Steam is a trilogy of alternate history/SteamPunk novels and associated short stories written by Jeffrey Cook and Sarah Symonds.

Additionally there are two short stories there are two short stories set after the main trilogy:

* SteamPunk: The main part of the series is set a little bit before the usual period for Steampunk but employs plenty of expected tropes such as airships and powered armor. By Cordelia’s time England seems to have more fully embraced this trope.

* FootnoteFever: Cordelia often breaks into the flow of the narrative to explain certain parts of the setting the reader or to add additional depth to the story.

* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Sam is the tomboy to Jillian’s girly girl because the former is a resident of the American Frontier and the later is a lady of England High Society. This causes much intra-crew conflict. [[spoiler: As it turns out, Jillian is more tomboyish than everyone thought; she is the true Coltrane war hero because she was the one in the battle suit.]]

* ShipperOnDeck: Jillian for Eddy and Harriet. She's determined to see her cousin married to the Scottsman because he's a man of fame, fortune, and most importantly, loves her dearly.

* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Sam is the tomboy to Jillian’s girly girl because the former is a resident of the American Frontier and the later is a lady of England High Society. This causes much intra-crew conflict.

* ActionDressRip: Sam Bowe, when assassins intent on killing the French monarch attack a ball the crew of the Dame Fortuna attending. Since she hates wearing the dress in the first place, she takes great pleasure in destroying it over the course of the battle until she is left in nothing but her underclothes by the aftermath.

** [[spoiler:Jillian Coltrane is no slouch in this department either.]]
* {{Badass}}: Comes in a number of flavours throughout the series: war heroes in battle suits, ghost-like snipers, frontier knife wielders, etc.

* BadassGrandpa: Captain Fisher, who literally ties himself to his ship’s wheel to see if safely through one of the worst storms he’s ever seen.
* BadassCrew: The band aboard the Dame Fortuna starts of with some of Britan’s greatest war heroes and continues to pick up [[{{Badass}} Badasses]] and [[ActionGirl Action Girls]] along the way.
* BallroomBlitz: A party for the visiting French Monarch doesn’t go exactly to plan.

* BrainUploading: Sam’s ornithopter companion, Bubsy, contains the mind of a sheepdog. [[spoiler: More horrifyingly the cause of death for Mrs Mitchell was an attempt at this.]]

* DawnOfTheWildWest: The period the original trilogy takes place in. The last third of First Light, in particular, takes place on the American Frontier.

* FriendlySniper: BoisterousBruiser Edward ‘Call Me Eddy” McBride. At least if you’re on his good side.

* HappilyMarried: According to her commentary Gregory and Cordelia end up as this too. They're together for decades, until he died of old age, and her entries speak well of him.

** Gregory and Eddy to varying degrees as well as both of them were soldiers but the former lacks James' presence and the latter is somewhat quirky.

* PoweredArmour: The Coltrane Battlesuit. A nine foot tall steam-powered bulletproof behemoth that fires rockets, can bend steel and jump higher than a house.

* SamusIsAGirl: Dr. Robert Bowe’s son Sam Bowe, whom the crew are sent to employ as a guide turn out to be Samantha Bowe. [[spoiler: In a more literal example it turns out that the designer and pilot of the Coltrane Battlesuit is Jillian and not James]].

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* BunnyEarsLawyer: Eddy McBride is a rifle expert and a war hero: who just happens to be very, very picky about how he's addressed.

** Mrs Fisher has made it her goal to ensure that every woman on the crew should behave like this. She critiques Harriet's behavior and makes every effort make Sam comply.

* ActionGirl: Sam Bowe. [[spoiler:Jillian Coltrane is no slouch in this department either.]]
* Badass: Comes in a number of flavours throughout the series.
** BadassBookworm: James Coltrane inventor and pilot of the Coltrane Battlesuit[[spoiler: or perhaps more accurately Jillian]].
** BadassGrandpa: Captain Fisher, who literally ties himself to his ship’s wheel to see if safely through one of the worst storms he’s ever seen.

* TheBet: A high stakes wager in the House of Lords kicks off the plot.

* BratsWithSlingshots: Matthew Fisher-Swift in the original trilogy.

* CoolAirship: Plenty. A flotilla of airships is part of the reason for the British Empire’s dominance and victory in the Napoleonic War. Then of course there is the Dame Fortuna, a customised drop ship for the Coltrane Battlesuit, on which the heroes travel the world.
* DistressedDude: For most of the second book, [[spoiler: James Coltrane]].

* Dynamic Entry: The favoured method of deployment for the Coltrane Battle suit – being dropped on the adversary from the Dame Fortuna.

* EnglishRose: Jillian. Harriet very much wishes to be this. Sam Bowes vehemently does not. Mrs Fisher has made it her goal to ensure that every woman on the crew should behave like this, though.

* ForegoneConclusion: The framing device with Cordelia indicates a number of characters will survive the events of the main narrative.

* HappilyMarried: The Fishers. According to her commentary Gregory and Cordelia end up as this too.
* TheKlutz: Harriet with anything not related to mechanics.

* MadScientist: Dr Mitchell. A scientist so crazed he’s been ostracised by the setting’s other mad scientists and is now forced to live in seclusion in a cove full of technological marvels he’s created.
* OfficerAndAGentleman: James Coltrane to a tee. Gregory and Eddy to varying degrees as well.
* PerpetualFrowner: Mr Toomes.

* ProperLady: Jillian Coltrane who runs the Coltrane estate
* Regency England: The original trilogy takes place in the aftermath of the Napoleonic War.

* ShipperOnDeck: Jillian for Eddy and Harriet.
* SteamPunk: The main part of the series is set a little bit before the usual period for Steampunk but employs plenty of expected tropes. By Cordelia’s time England seems to have more fully embraced this trope.
* SupportingProtagonist: Gregory tends to act as a supporting character to the plot. But the original trilogy is narrated mostly from his point of view.
* TankGoodness: A steam tank, no less. Employed to combat the Coltrane Basttlesuit.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Sam is the tomboy to Jillian’s girly girl. Harriet falls somewhere in the middle.

* {{Woobie}}: Harriet so desperately wants to be a ProperLady like Jillian but is completely out of her depth due to her clumsiness. It’s almost impossible not to feel sorry for her.
* WorfEffect: Franzini is repeatedly reported to have the fastest hands that Gregory has ever seen. However, whenever this trait comes up in context it is always to show that some is faster than he. This is particularly notable during Sam Bowe’s EstablishingCharacterMoment.
* WrenchWench: Harriet Wright. A mechanical savant who can build or repair anything she has taken apart or seen the instructions or plans for.