A new 3-star review of The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus appeared on Amazon recently.

Now, I'm used to Pax Britannia not being everyone's favourite thing - each to his own - but I have never read a review that claimed the Steampunk elements of the books are bolted on before.

"This omnibus volume provides a perfect introduction to Jonathan Green's series of Pax Britannia Steampunk adventure novels. I say "Steampunk", but to me, most of the Steampunk elements seem rather bolted on; these are fine and entertaining adventure novels using a retro-science fiction approach, but much of the late 1990s setting of Magna Britannia is vague, sketchy and doesn't really convince me."

Pax Britannia was conceived as a Steampunk series, and the Victorian-styled tech has always been integral to the stories. The reviewer goes on to say:

"Green's plots - at least in the three novels and two short stories that are contained here - read more as detective/adventure stories than hardcore, Steampunk sci-fi."

What I want to know is, why can't Steampunk stories also be detective/adventure stories? What do you think? Is Pax Britannia Steampunk or not?