Exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, and denouement.

You know those terms, or at least the equivalent in your mother tongue, and it was certainly hammered into your head during middle or highschool. This is the main structure of a fiction story, and it constitutes the main dish, the tool that will electrify the audience, the charm that will hypnotize their hearts.
And when a story manages to captivate enough hearts, supplementary material is then released to offer people some "behind the scenes" view, enhancing the experience (and lining the pockets of the studios and publishers).
That is indeed the "basic idea", how it is normally.

And that is where Steam Reverie in Amber completely dodges every single one of those aspects, breaks all those rules. The author, Kuroimori, is not offering a complete work: this is a sketch, a concept, a collection of ideas that has no "original material" where the reader can pinpoint where they have already seen this character or that machine. This is a train of thought recorded on paper, a very aptly named reverie. This gives the manga a more personal and private aspect, like you're being led by the hand of the author to explore her ideas and thoughts in a freeform way

Kuroimori is a rather new name in the art domain: she was already the artist behind the artworks featured on the Final Fantasy XIV vinyl LP box and Steam Reverie in Amber is her debut manga, which probably explains why it is so free of constraint. In any case, despite being a newbie, Kuroimori is no small fry: the work she's done on this one piece of media is astounding and she's genuinely talented. I could easily compare her to Kaoru Mori, the author behind Otoyomegatari, as her drawings are truly mindblowing: not only does she offer extremely detailed drawings full of life and whims, she has a talent for colouring. Because yes! this manga is ENTIRELY in color, which is rare enough to deserve outlining it. Her character designs manage to be whimsical, elegant and, let's be honest, sensual without being overloaded or looking cartoonish, her colors manage to instill a feeling of warm life to the pages without falling into any pitfall of saturation. This masterful artwork is definitely the main attraction of the manga as it was advertised and you really want to lay your eyes upon it.

A game of tarot reimagined by Kuroimori-sensei

Of course, it is not 'just' an array of artwork: in fact, each chapter (or rather should I say "section") of the manga has introductory material that offers either some information about the imaginary world and its characters, or a short story with actual dialogue. In a way, certain people might think it is a bit cheap to do only to "dump" an array of beautiful artwork right afterwards, but I'd argue it unveils little by little interesting bits about this incomplete world, like this one matter of "steampunk scar" that resides in certain people's heart. In fact, there's just enough about the world being depicted that you cannot help but try and imagine what kind of stories you'd make using the manga's setting.
Funnily, the idea of a "moving library that only a select few people may access" matches exactly a concept that I had imagined so many years ago and the fact that such a concept is being represented so elegantly in full color pleases my heart.

Spoiler, click to view

Seemingly, the book "The Invisible Library" also has such a concept but I have never read it so I can't exactly say anything about it. Please consider this as simple trivia.

Introduction

Of course, as the note below certainly betrays it, it's not all perfect in my view as I certainly have a few gripes with the content of this book: first of all, you WANT to purchase the DeluXe edition of this work. Why? Because, it comes with the manga, a game of tarot cards, some postcards and a little bit of sculpted quartz, all enshrined in a beautifully decorated cardboard box. Indeed, the tarot card game depicted inside the manga actually WAS printed by the manufacturer and is sold alongside the manga itself. The problem? The manga alone costs 16 euros. The DeluXe edition cost me 43 euros. I have the money, for sure, but having the manga inherently depicting side "bonuses" that come in a superior edition feels like a cheap marketing tactic. The superior edition was certainly a good purchase in my view, but any person choosing to get the manga only might feel left behind.

The Japanese DeluXe edition Also, the steampunk aspect of the concept certainly feels more like a purely personal choice in the way of design rather than something that can be explained in the world, which also holds vague fantasy elements. Finally, when all is said and done, I wish Kuroimori had delved deeper into her imaginaerum and dug up more stories, more ideas, more concepts. The non-graphic part of the work certainly was satisfying, but, had it been developed even further, maybe it would have felt more immersive.

Or maybe a reverie should remain vague enough to be fleeting and light to digest...