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Angelmaker

by Nick Harkaway (Goodreads Author)

4.02 of 5 stars 4.02 · rating details · 2,418 ratings · 578 reviews

A Wall Street Journal and Booklist Best Mystery of 2012

From the acclaimed author of The Gone-Away World, blistering gangster noir meets howling absurdist comedy as the forces of good square off against the forces of evil, and only an unassuming clockwork repairman and an octogenarian former superspy can save the world from total destruction.

Joe Spork spends his days fixin...more

Hardcover, 482 pages

Published March 20th 2012 by Alfred A. Knopf (first published February 20th 2012)

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Mar 26, 2013 Clouds - (¿head-in-the?) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, science-fiction-stand-alone, reviewed, read-in-2012

A man cannot live on award winning Sci-Fi alone!

Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my GIFTS & GUILTED list.

Sometimes people gift you books you want which barge their way into your reading list. Sometimes people gift you other books and you feel guilty for not reading them...

I have a friend c...more

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Mar 01, 2012 Paul 'Pezski' Perry rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: baited-breath, read-in-2012, english, british, fiction, sf, steampunk

I usually only mark as to-read books I own, but on seeing that Nick Harkaway has a second novel due out there is absolutely no doubt I'm going to read it. No pressure, but The Gone-Away World was not only one of the best debuts I've ever read, but one of my all time favorite books.

21 likes · like · see review

Apr 03, 2012 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, mystery, steampunk, espionage, literary-fiction

Joe Spork is the son of an infamous gangster “Tommy Gun” Spork, trying to live a quiet life fixing antique clocks. His plans were uprooted when he finds an unusual clockwork mechanism. Turns out that device is a doomsday machine and Joe has triggered it. Now Joe Spork has to face the wrath of both the British government and the diabolical villain Shem Shem Tsien. Angelmaker is an adventure unlike anything I’ve read before, featuring a mystery involving Joe Spork and his quest to stop the evil vi...more

9 likes · like · see review

Apr 06, 2012 Ben Babcock rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: own, 2012-read, deliciously-quotable, humour, science-fiction, thriller, 2012-best10

It would be tempting to say that Joe Spork lived a quiet, unremarkable life until he was pulled into an attempt to stop a mad South Asian dictator from unleashing a 1950s clockwork doomsday device by a retired octogenarian super-spy named Edie Banister. Tempting, but not quite accurate, since Joe is the son of the infamous Matthew “Tommy Gun” Spork, who kept fashionable crime and the honourable lifestyle of the gangster alive long after it should have faded into obscurity. Joe has turned his bac...more

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Jul 22, 2012 Sara rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy

If you enjoy the way words can roll around and reassemble in marvelous and unexpected ways, read Angelmaker. Harkaway makes me happy to read. So few people write sentences that make me stop in wonder at their beauty. Just watching the phrases, feeling pleasure at the way the words are coming off the page and floating in my head.

The story is good, if occasionally lost in the meandering of words well used. When you enjoy the use of words, it's probably best not to use a non-linear time line. The...more

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May 04, 2013 J.P. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

This could have been called A Chip Off the Old Block since the author is the son of John Le Carré. And a tip of the hat to Nick Harkaway for not using that to gain publicity.
The acorn does not fall far from the tree as they say so you might think this is all about spies, but this is one of those novels that’s impossible to attach a brief label to. An intriguing blend of steam punk, spies and gangsters, this is a complex, gritty book that developed quickly into an engaging read.
Joe Spork is liv...more

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Feb 02, 2012 paula rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult-fiction

I wish I could write the review this book deserves, as Nick Harkaway (not his real name) wrote the review that Neal Stephenson's Reamd deserved - the one I was in the process of writing in my head. Stephenson's book was an action novel taken to absurd lengths, a nonstop global car/boat/bike chase firefight populated by real characters, most of whom you had to fall in love with. Ergo, I think it's no coincidence that Harkaway (still not his real name) felt he had some solid ground upon which to s...more

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Jul 30, 2012 Michelle Burkhart rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm a total evangelist for The Gone-Away World, so I can't wait to see what Nick Harkaway does next.

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Apr 07, 2013 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

A madcap mongrel hybrid of Gaiman Neil (Neverwhere, again), China Miéville, and - especially - GW Dahlquist. Trains, gangsters, strange machinery, spies, a secret plan to transform and/or destroy the world, etc and very etc. All very rococo and rollicking.

Ideally it would all snap together elegantly like one of the clockwork contraptions Harkaway so clearly loves. Unfortunately it rather spirals out of control instead. There are bits of plot mechanic flying all over the place by the end, and no...more

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Mar 23, 2013 Brunhilde rated it 5 of 5 stars

I am holding my breath in anticipation of Nick Harkaway's third novel - I haven't been this excited since I read Ghostwritten and number9dream but I can't help remembering it has been a steady downhill trajectory for Mitchell ever since. Anyway, after The Gone-Away World, Angelmaker - and what a helterskelter, rollercoaster, Hollywood blockbuster (may it never be turned into a film, let it remain in our imaginations), breathtaking pageturner it is. Joseph Joshua Spork, his relatives, friends and...more

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Feb 24, 2013 Alan rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Angels and devils

Recommended to Alan by: Previous work; just about everyone, including Amanda...

London is old, and each generation has added to its mysteries.
—p.40

Angelmaker is a multi-genre novel: a secret history, a comic caper, a wild chase story with some serious social commentary mixed in. The romance of the outlaw submarine surfaces here again as well, a feature of Matt Ruff's Sewer Gas and Electric as well as The Illuminatus Trilogy. You'll detect more than a whiff of steampunk from the pages of this novel, too, although Harkaway combines and highlights all these elements in unusual...more

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Jan 23, 2013 Andrew Rumbles rated it 5 of 5 stars

Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway

World War II was ended and peace maintained by the use and possession of atomic warfare. The weapon encapsulated such a threat that its existence meant peace. But was it really the only ultimate weapon developed during the war?

Harkaway’s previous book, Gone Away World evoked an alien planet with a thrilling plot and many twists, Angelmaker is very much our world today, yet he makes sure we believe in the unbelievable.
The charming hero is clockmaker, Joe Spork, son of c...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Joyce rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adrenaline, audio, science-fiction

What a great book to listen to--not certain how far I would have got reading it, but Daniel Weyman just swept me up and never stopped. Part of the listener's pleasure is in recognizing his pleasure in immersing us in this wonderful romp. The book is a steampunk SF spy thriller adventure and that's just for classification. It's Joe Spork clockmaker's journey of self-discovery, elderly super spy and vamp Edie Banister's magical tale, and a wonderfully imaginative, swashbuckling adventure with the...more

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Nov 30, 2012 Evanston Public Library added it

Shelves: science-fiction, fiction

Back in 2009, Nick Harkaway's sci-fi debut The Gone-Away World earned a Locus nomination for Best First Novel, and now his ambitious follow-up is a virtual lock for 2012 Best Book lists. A wholly original mix of gangster noir, steampunk, espionage adventure, and picaresque, Angelmaker tells the raucous tale of Joshua Joseph Spork, an antique clock repairman and the son of a legendary London mobster. Shaken from his quiet life when a 1950′s doomsday machine surfaces in his shop, Spork is forced t...more

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Oct 28, 2012 Adam rated it 5 of 5 stars

With only two books out, Nick Harkaway has rocketed to near the top of my favorite authors list. This is the best book I've read in a while. It is fun, complex without being convoluted, has great action, and Something to Say. I love Nick Harkaway's writing. I love the intricate sentences and the extraordinary amount of detail given to the characters, the settings, the scenes.* And as I was reading Angelmaker and writing other reviews, I would notice over and over again just how much Nick Harkawa...more

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Oct 16, 2012 Michele Weiner rated it 4 of 5 stars

Angelmaker gets off to a slow start as Harkaway introduces the cast of characters and their various milieux. The hero, Joshua Joseph (Joe) Spork, is a large, diffident young man working as a clockmaker and antiques dealer, as did his grandfather, Daniel. His father, Matthew, on the other hand, was a master criminal, lively, incorrigible, and the head of the Night Market, a regular gathering of career criminals inhabiting underground spaces abandoned by previous generations. The Night Market is a...more Angelmaker gets off to a slow start as Harkaway introduces the cast of characters and their various milieux. The hero, Joshua Joseph (Joe) Spork, is a large, diffident young man working as a clockmaker and antiques dealer, as did his grandfather, Daniel. His father, Matthew, on the other hand, was a master criminal, lively, incorrigible, and the head of the Night Market, a regular gathering of career criminals inhabiting underground spaces abandoned by previous generations. The Night Market is a cross between a family-style local carnival and a night club, where business is done, and gangsters show off their molls, as well as their children. The Tosher's Beat refers to the pathways through sewers and old cellars in which men in rubber suits search through sewage to find valuables lost by the careless. With the appropriate keys and/or permissions, a criminal can walk underground all over London. Joe is fluent in the clockmaker and the gangster cultures; he can fix mechanical devices like Daniel, and has all the knowledge of the demimonde imparted by Matthew. Another culture of importance to the story is that of The Waiting Men, i.e., undertakers. It is their job to sit with the dead and to make them presentable for viewing. They have their own code of behavior, and admission rituals. Waiting Men are supposed to possess The Quiet; and they have a hazing for each new applicant at the end of formal training. In the case of applicant Vaughn Parry, they sewed a live fox into a corpse and watched as the animal scratched and clawed inside the dead man until it found a way out. This experience might have scared most new recruits to death, but Vaughn had absolutely no reaction. Fearfully, The Waiting Men did not accept him. Vaughn went on to become a serial murderer, the talk of England, tried, convicted and locked up for life. The Order of St. John the Maker, also known as the Ruskinites, are described in some detail. They believe in making things that work forever. They have mad skills in all areas of endeavor, and train like genius special forces in academic, practical and martial arts. During WWII, they are enlisted in England's war effort. They struggle to maintain their purity, but are eventually taken over by an evil force, the Opium Khan, who wants to bend them to his purpose. The Khan (known by many other names) wants to be God. He has learned to replace the minds of men with his own mind, recording his every thought, attitude, memory and transferring it all to unwilling experimental subjects. He has even taken over the body of one particular subject so that he can live in the flesh forever, too. All this is very Pinky and the Brain, but it's engaging anyway because so dense and cleverly constructed. Bureaucrats visiting his shop is Joe's first warning that something unusual is up. They are looking for the key to a device built by Joe's grandmother, Frankie. At first they are simply inquiring, but soon begin to take on a threatening attitude. Joe doesn't know what they're talking about. Daniel's things are stored in a shed underground, and he's certain there's nothing important there. But then he gets a second visitor, the Khan himself in Ruskinite robes to disguise his appearance. Now Joe is definitely in trouble. He activates the criminal skills he has learned from his worshipped father and tries to find out what he's been lead into. As he searches for answers, we meet his friends, all of whom will later be enlisted to fight the Khan's evil plan to rule the world. I haven't mentioned the half of it, but will leave you to discover the plots, counterplots and terrifically exciting conclusion on your own. (less)

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Oct 15, 2012 Joshua rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012

I'm torn on this one. For every dazzling section that Nick Harkaway writes that is cool, unpredictable, lively and just awesome, he then writes a section that is meandering, show-offy and self-indulgent. It's too bad that he can't harness the greatness more often as this would be an epic entertainment involving a wide assortment of characters and action. But, he can't do that, as he goes on way too many off-shoots that slow the pacing and are just not needed. There is a re-occurring theme I have...more

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Oct 10, 2012 Jeff rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Kevin, Tom, Camille

Recommended to Jeff by: Found it on the Library Shelves

Shelves: fantasy, alternate-history, science-fiction, favorites

A nearly 90, female James Bond; a bold receptionist with awesomely sexy toes; the Night Market; the Fifth Floor Men and the Honorable and Enduring Brotherhood of Waiting Men; the Ruskinites; the Order of John the Maker; and Apis Mechanica all conspire systematically and -almost with a determined sense of destiny - to unravel Joseph Joshua Spork's extremely careful and controlled life as a clockmaker of little renown. But (ho!ho!) it isn't destiny at all: its just a little family history.

The humo...more

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Aug 23, 2012 Peggy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Have you ever had so much fun reading a book that you actually talked to it?

Not the book itself (although that's what it looks like to anyone who sees you), but the characters in it and sometimes even the author him- or herself' There's no surer sign that I'm enjoying a book than my refusal to care that I look like a crazy person.

If that level of fun is what you're looking for, take a look at Nick Harkaway's Angelmaker. I won't even attempt a summary. It's impossible and whatever I come up with...more Have you ever had so much fun reading a book that you actually talked to it?

Not the book itself (although that's what it looks like to anyone who sees you), but the characters in it and sometimes even the author him- or herself' There's no surer sign that I'm enjoying a book than my refusal to care that I look like a crazy person.

If that level of fun is what you're looking for, take a look at Nick Harkaway's Angelmaker. I won't even attempt a summary. It's impossible and whatever I come up with couldn't possibly show you the sheer mad fun of it all.

So let's start with characters.

Joshua Joseph Spork is the shambling heart of the book. Joe is a nice guy, so intent on doing the right thing and not bothering anybody that he is incapable of figu ut when a girl is flirting with him. Although he has broken with his father's underworld life, he keeps their secrets and remains polite to any of his father's former colleagues he runs into.

Joe's bumbling, Everyman decency is heartening, amusing, and very, very necessary, because there are shadowy forces out there determined to break him, and they do a mighty fine job of it. Our outrage on Joe's behalf keeps this cockamamie story grounded.

Joe is not the only character you'll fall for. Harkaway's cast is quirky and memorable and outrageous. From Joe's felonious pal Billy Friend to mad former monk Ted Sholt to the seemingly immortal evil of Shem Shem Tsien, each character will make an impact on you.

And then there's the women! I swear, I fell in love with every single woman in the book: old Edie, young Edie, Dotty Catty, Cecelia Foalbury, Frankie, Polly Cradle. All of 'em. They're brash and strong and loyal and excellent foils to Joe's placidity.

It's a big, solid book full of crooks and con men, impossibly complicated clockwork devices, a malodorous pug with one tooth and a bad attitude, saucy lady spies, French mathematicians, mad monks, governmental cover-ups, dotty old ladies, serial killers, an Undertaker's Guild, nuns, lawyers, oriental despots, and, at its center, a huge man dedicated to delicate clockworks just trying to do the right thing and honor his grandfather, an unyielding man with a gift for delicate work and a broken heart that never healed, and not become his father, a notorious criminal and lordly Prince of the London underworld.

And if all that isn't enough to convince you to give this a try, then you don't know what you're missing.

(This review was written for RevolutionSF.com: http://www.revolutionsf.com/article.p...)(less)

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Aug 08, 2012 Spencer rated it 5 of 5 stars

My new favorite author has done it again. Saucy and humorous, yet twisted with suspense and gobs of action. If only one word could be used to describe this book I might choose "explodey." Or "hilariaction." Maybe "thinky-BANG-comedy-spy." Perhaps I will just throw my head back and laugh maniacally when asked to describe this it. Although this book IS so much, let's talk about what it is not. It isn't quite steampunk, but the horologist bit and the submarine/train parts will dazzle fans of the ge...more My new favorite author has done it again. Saucy and humorous, yet twisted with suspense and gobs of action. If only one word could be used to describe this book I might choose "explodey." Or "hilariaction." Maybe "thinky-BANG-comedy-spy." Perhaps I will just throw my head back and laugh maniacally when asked to describe this it. Although this book IS so much, let's talk about what it is not. It isn't quite steampunk, but the horologist bit and the submarine/train parts will dazzle fans of the genre, and let's not even get into the clock-work bees. It isn't quite espionage, but the shadow government and cloak-and-dagger portions will tickle you conspiracy nuts. It isn't a heist story per say, but there is a whopping dose of lock-picking, larceny, and (don't you just love to say this one) skulduggery. It isn't action/adventure, but, ye gods, one's knuckles run white while characters leap onto fire escapes, crash trains into castles, and jujitsu the shit out of each other. Plus, there's Nick Harkaway's gifts for deliciously British dialogue and quirky characters. Did I mention the jujitsu? I won't mention the steamy, sexy parts, but the film version would have scenes sultry if not scandalous. Ahem.

Our reluctant hero is caught between the life he thinks he wants and the life he thinks he does not. He is so confused in his wonderfully British neurosis of mis-utility that his name is Spork. Joe Spork. Between a fork and a spoon, he is also between the straight world and the criminal underworld. He is also a pawn in a game of world domination, drawn in by the now-nonagenarian-once-hottie-superspy to thwart a crazy god-complex dude bent on said domination. He'll need: a magnificent lawyer, a specific set of skills, a kingdom of underworlders, and a tommy gun. But he already has those, even if he does not yet realize. Along the way he gets one of the most powerful women in all of literature as a girlfriend (but she won't be "darning the socks of her family," so don't worry). In fact, I believe Mr. Harkaway worships his wife as much as I do mine. As a result, his male characters are often twerpy or reluctant (see main character) and the women are strong, brilliant, or both. To further my point, once one of the strong women turns to support one of the male characters, these male characters suddenly realize that the twerpiness is just a neurotic choice and really they are equipped with sword, horse, and shining plate armor. I digress.

Back to the book review: I'll call this genre of writing literary action. Or maybe plot boiler. Bollocks (hee hee)! I just call it page-turningly pleasureful. Fans of the genres and descriptions above, however, may trip and stumble in the luscious verbiage employed by Harkaway. I love to wade out into his paragraphs, awash in the description and word-play, but for those that like the action direct and straight forward, this might not be as spectacular. From a linguistic perspective, I find it fun to go back and read sentences, sometimes aloud, or even whole paragraphs or sections. In fact, Harkaway is great to re-read on the whole. (Buy it in hardback! Support the cause!!)

At any rate, I look forward to the next bang-up. Oh, and I have a mega-crush on Polly Cradle.

(P.S. In an effort to mimic the talents and wordiness of my favorite modern author I have used as many words as I can think to put in this review.)(less)

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Jul 17, 2012 Jan rated it 5 of 5 stars

I had more fun reading Angelmaker than I've had with a book since I was twelve. It's a comic book wrapped in a literary novel, an incredibly inventive and beautifully written story of an ordinary guy who comes to realize that it's up to him to save the world. Throw in a bit of political commentary, a little philosophy (does knowing the truth bring salvation or doom?), a wealth of characters both real and larger-than-life, and you have an unforgettable novel. If you like Michael Chabon (especiall...more I had more fun reading Angelmaker than I've had with a book since I was twelve. It's a comic book wrapped in a literary novel, an incredibly inventive and beautifully written story of an ordinary guy who comes to realize that it's up to him to save the world. Throw in a bit of political commentary, a little philosophy (does knowing the truth bring salvation or doom?), a wealth of characters both real and larger-than-life, and you have an unforgettable novel. If you like Michael Chabon (especially "Gentlemen of the Road") and Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy, you'll love this. Check out the cool promo on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxJn0W....

A few favorite passages:

A few decades of calm, she reasoned at the time, and the world would set itself straight. But somehow it all went wrong instead. The onward march of progress has wandered off down a dark alley and been mugged.

Picture a man, the tale [of the Recorded Man] went, in a bed of silk sheets. And picture all around him wires and cameras and men taking notes. Everything about him is written down. They are making a record of him: his breaths, his words, his pulse, his diet, his scent, his chemistry—even the fluctuations of electricity in his skin. As he grows weaker—for he is very old now, and injured, and sick—they press filaments of metal through holes in his skull and into the fabric of the brain itself, and record the chasing flashes of thoughts running from fold to fold of the grey stuff inside his head. And through all this, he is conscious, and aware. Is he a prisoner? A millionaire? Does he feel pain or horror at his own predicament? Does he have any idea why this is happening? It’s so bizarre. And yet somewhere, somewhere, it is real, and he is lying there. Perhaps, when he is gone, they will need someone else. Perhaps they will need you.

Above all, he mistrusts duplication. A rare thing becomes a commonplace thing. A skill becomes a feature. The end is more important than the means. The child of the soul gives place to a product of the system....For anything really important, Joe prefers something with a history, an item which can name the hand which assembled it and will warm to the one who deploys it. A thing of life, rather than one of the many consumer items which use humans to make more clutter; strange parasitic devices with their own weird little ecosystems.

So he cheated back. He abandoned Daniel’s world in order to preserve it, and from that lesson drew his entire life. He broke laws, cracked safes, smashed windows and shattered the public peace, and from destruction he drew consolation. The biggest lie was that the world worked the way it was supposed to, and having seen through it, Mathew Spork was free.

(less)

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May 15, 2012 David Hebblethwaite rated it 4 of 5 stars

Two novels into an author’s career might be too soon to generalise, but we have to work with what we’ve got. I’m coming to think of Nick Harkaway’s novels as battlegrounds between whimsy and cold, hard seriousness. The Gone-Away World combined mime artists and digressive prose with a desire to treat the effects of its reality-bending weapon matter-of-factly; Angelmaker embodies the conflict in its protagonist. Joe Spork’s father, Mathew was a master criminal – and no ordinary one, but a gentlema...more Two novels into an author’s career might be too soon to generalise, but we have to work with what we’ve got. I’m coming to think of Nick Harkaway’s novels as battlegrounds between whimsy and cold, hard seriousness. The Gone-Away World combined mime artists and digressive prose with a desire to treat the effects of its reality-bending weapon matter-of-factly; Angelmaker embodies the conflict in its protagonist. Joe Spork’s father, Mathew was a master criminal – and no ordinary one, but a gentleman-crook of the old school. As a boy, Joe spent his days in the world of the Night Market – the kind of shadowy gathering which one assumes could only exist in fiction, whose changing locations is revealed only by clues hidden in newspapers. It’s crime that belongs in a heightened version of reality; but here it is in the world of Angelmaker, and Joe wants none of it; instead, he has followed in the footsteps of Daniel, his grandfather, and become a clockmaker. But his latest job makes Joe cross paths with Edie Banister, a nonagenarian ex-spy; and eventually he gets caught up in a plot to end the world with a swarm of clockwork bees – components of the Apprehension Engine, a device which would cause people to apprehend truth so clearly that it would render the universe static.

Like the criminal underworld of Joe’s youth, Edie Banister’s world of espionage is more colourful than our reality should be able to hold – she was schooled in the ways of spying from an early age, aboard an artisan-crafted train and submarine, and has a ruthless arch-enemy who makes Keyser Söze look like a sissy – and Joe remains protected by a firm of old-school-tie types with seemingly bottomless resources. But Harkaway underlines that the passage of time has been squeezing out these ways of being: ‘The world was getting old and cruel. The great game [Edie] had played, the wild, primary-colour roller coaster, had become something harsher.’ (p. 347) That primary-coloured world is what Joe has spent his life trying to escape, but his story throughout Angelmaker is one of learning to balance his past and presenrt – just as the novel as a whole finds a balance between its outlandish and down-to-earth aspects.

Not everything in the novel works so well: Joe’s love interest, Polly Cradle, remains a little too close to the stereotype of super-competent totty; and I think Angelmakerasks its readers to feel more warmly towards its larger-than-life crime capers than I personally was able to. But then the novel treads its high-wire with nimble feet and gives us genuinely chilling scenes in which Joe has been seized and is tormented by his gentlemanly captors. It shows that Edie’s nemesis is no cartoon villain, but all too real and ruthless beyond belief. It causes the hairs on the back of one’s neck to rise with its fantastical hints of a world changed by the Apprehension Engine. It wrong-foots us with passages of genuine emotion in the midst of a deceptively light narrative. If Angelmaker pits whimsy against seriousness, the outcome is a stalemate; but the real winners of the fight are Nick Harkaway and his readers.(less)

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May 02, 2012 Libby rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: unforgettable

This is one of those oh-so hard-to-describe books that you want to press into your friends' hands and REQUIRE them to read. It's about chaos and order, morality and evil and a whole bunch of other good stuff. Suffice it to say that the world is about to be ended by one of the most nasty characters in recent fiction. The save has to be made by an unassuming clock repairer, aided by a geriatric super spy and her blind dog, a librarian who collects false teeth, a nun, a lawyer and a beautiful recep...more

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Apr 29, 2012 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Anglemaker is Neal Stephenson by way of P.G. Wodehouse. Or perhaps the other way around.

Rarely have I read a book so thoroughly enjoyable. Is it a "Great Work"? Perhaps not. But it is "art". I suppose some would say it's merely an adventure story. It is, but it's told with such wit and verve that I almost couldn't put it down. Mr. Harkaway so clearly loves his characters (even the bad ones) that they leap off the pages and demand that you acknowledge them.

The plot of the story is straightforwar...more

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Mar 21, 2012 Everyday eBook rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Nick Harkaway’s Angelmaker: Steampunk, Spies, and a Doomsday Device

Slate recently compared Joe Spork, the protagonist of Nick Harkaway’s ripping spy novel Angelmaker, to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’s Arthur Dent and Neverwhere’s Richard Mayhew. Accurate comparisons, both. Like its spiritual predecessors, Angelmaker is a breezy read in spite of its intricate plot, which concerns a mild-mannered clockmaker (the son of one of London’s most infamous gentleman gangsters) who unwittingly trig...more Nick Harkaway’s Angelmaker: Steampunk, Spies, and a Doomsday Device

Slate recently compared Joe Spork, the protagonist of Nick Harkaway’s ripping spy novel Angelmaker, to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’s Arthur Dent and Neverwhere’s Richard Mayhew. Accurate comparisons, both. Like its spiritual predecessors, Angelmaker is a breezy read in spite of its intricate plot, which concerns a mild-mannered clockmaker (the son of one of London’s most infamous gentleman gangsters) who unwittingly triggers a doomsday device. (“Whoops” doesn’t quite cover the gravity of the situation.) It features a terrifying, Bond-esque villain, heaps of humor, and a moody steampunk atmosphere, not to mention some of the sharpest writing to come out of the sci-fi genre in a while.

What really sold me, however, was a relatively small moment not too long into the book. As a horror-movie aficionado, nothing grates more than seeing characters so willingly stepping up like lambs to the inevitable slaughter. “There’s a horrible killer on the loose! Wait, what was that sound?” “I don’t know but I’M GOING TO CHECK IT OUT!” Kids, you’re going to die either way, at least let me pretend the monster is outwitting a worthy adversary. I can’t root for your survival if you’re not making a go of it yourself. So it was a great comfort to see the following exchange:

“You have it? Here? Now? How long do we have? Come on, man, they won’t be far behind!”
“Who won’t?” but Joe Spork is already moving, old instinct demands it: when someone says ‘they’re coming’ you go out the back first and get details later.

Indeed, from that moment on I knew I was in the hands of an author who gets it, who knows how to tweak the genre with one hand and pay homage to it with the other. And really, genre in the singular isn’t even a fair word to apply to Angelmaker — sci-fi, steampunk, and spycraft are all at play in this engrossing work of fiction.

Read the full review: http://bit.ly/GCTZPd (less)

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Mar 06, 2012 Candace rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Nick Harkaway’s new novel is a brew of fantasy, steampunk, adventure, and Dickensian plotting. There’s a good-natured wink to the writing along with the verve of a boy’s-own tale with violence added.

The dilemma is how to explain the plot without giving away any of the fun. Joe Spork is the son of a mobster and the grandson of a clockmaker and master of automata repair. Even though he is always welcome at the Night Market—the mysterious, roving, criminals’ evening out—with great effort he choose...more

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Feb 06, 2012 Victoria rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-science-fiction, not-for-me

This book was one that sounded so interesting from its description. I wasn't sure what to expect, but "noir" is not an accurate description that the publisher applied. It is more of an urban pseudo-fantasy, set in a sort of steampunk-version of London, and this is a genre that simply does not hold much appeal to me. There are moments when the story and its characters utterly sucked me in - especially Bastion the pug, but the style of the novel as a whole just couldn't captivate me. The meanderin...more

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Mar 20, 2012 Rick F. rated it 5 of 5 stars

"From the acclaimed author of The Gone-Away World, blistering gangster noir meets howling absurdist comedy as the forces of good square off against the forces of evil, and only an unassuming clockwork repairman and an octogenarian former superspy can save the world from total destruction.

Joe Spork spends his days fixing antique clocks. The son of infamous London criminal Mathew “Tommy Gun” Spork, he has turned his back on his family’s mobster history and aims to live a quiet life. That orderly...more "From the acclaimed author of The Gone-Away World, blistering gangster noir meets howling absurdist comedy as the forces of good square off against the forces of evil, and only an unassuming clockwork repairman and an octogenarian former superspy can save the world from total destruction.

Joe Spork spends his days fixing antique clocks. The son of infamous London criminal Mathew “Tommy Gun” Spork, he has turned his back on his family’s mobster history and aims to live a quiet life. That orderly existence is suddenly upended when Joe activates a particularly unusual clockwork mechanism. His client, Edie Banister, is more than the kindly old lady she appears to be—she’s a retired international secret agent. And the device? It’s a 1950s doomsday machine. Having triggered it, Joe now faces the wrath of both the British government and a diabolical South Asian dictator who is also Edie’s old arch-nemesis"

What an amazingly unique rollercoaster of a ride ANGELMAKER is!! This is a very hard novel to categorize as it contains so very much in the way of plot, characterizations and wit. I suppose if you take a dash of Dickens, add a spoonful of HG Wells, a sprinkle of Pratchett and a tumbler of Spillane- you might have a general idea of this utterly original novel. While I have named several legendary writers, ANGELMAKER is all Nick Harkaway..and what a creative, sharp-witted and skilled writer Mr. Harkaway is!

Joe Spork is very happy with his nice quiet life working with antique clocks. An existence forever changed by the arrival of one of the most endearing and surpising characters you will meet- Edie Banister- who is nothing like the nice old lady she first appears as!! She is a standout amonst a book chock full of wonderful and eccentric characters! She is also the reason that nice, quiet Joe Spork is forced to undertake the journey of a lifetime- a journey the reader is lucky enough to be a passenger on...and a journey one is not likely to forget anytime soon!!!

A JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB MUST READ

RICK FRIEDMAN
FOUNDER
THE JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB (less)

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Jun 30, 2012 Will Lock rated it 4 of 5 stars

Angelmaker, by Nick Harkaway, is a contemporary novel that draws richly on the tradition of classic British crime stories (classic as in the bank and train robberies of the 50s and 60s) and the classic British spy story (classic as in Ian Fleming’s Q and SPECTRE). Joe Spork is a great protagonist, the son of a dashing, lovable criminal, who always tries to do the right thing. Amidst all that trying, he unwittingly sets off a doomsday machine. From that point, Alfred Hitchcock steps in (did I say...more

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May 11, 2013 Aoife Roantree rated it 5 of 5 stars

'Angelmaker' is a riotous whirlwind of a story, with old-fashioned London gangsters, a clockwork doomsday device, hooded monks, an ancient brotherhood of undertakers (the Waiting Men), colonial espionage, and a pet bulldog with one tooth and two glass eyes. Joshua Joseph Spork is an intriguingly unlikely hero for such a sprawling end-of-the-world scenario, and his journey (and his decisions later in the novel) are vastly satisfying. He is accompanied on his adventures by a host of supporting ch...more

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About Nick Harkaway

Nick Harkaway was born in Cornwall, UK in 1972. He is possessed of two explosively exciting eyebrows, which exert an almost hypnotic attraction over small children, dogs, and - thankfully - one ludicrously attractive human rights lawyer, to whom he is married.

He likes: oceans, mountains, lakes, valleys, and those little pigs made of marzipan they have in Switzerland at new year.

He does not like: b...more

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Quotes from Angelmaker

“And don't tell me the end justifies the means because it doesn't. We never reach the end. All we ever get is means. That's what we live with.” — 9 people liked it

“I shall now explain my plan. You may then speak, but only to amend the detail. The broad outline is not subject to negotiation. Are you ready? Good … I propose to have sex with you. I believe it will be excellent sex. Your obedience on one particular issue of timing it will be required to make it unforgettable sex. I will explain that issue as we go. At the moment, I wish to hear your inevitable objection to the general sex part of this plan.” — 6 people liked it

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