Jay Lake's first trade novel is an astounding work of creation. Lake has envisioned a clockwork solar system, where the planets move in a vas...
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Dec 17, 2009
I bought this novel on the basis of Cory Doctorow's cover blurb, and man do I want to kick his ass. This book is horribly written. Character development is non-existent. Our hero, Hethor goes off on this quest to rewind the mainspring of his clockwork earth at the behest of the archangel Gabriel. Along the way he stops off in a sucession of thinly-imagined fantasy cities that all feel like they were cobbled together for a clockpunk D&D campaign and has sex with a tiny monkey lady. I know, I
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Apr 02, 2011
Ben
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Feb 22, 2011
Ian
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I happen to believe in a divine creator. I readily admit, however, that it's not always easy to maintain such a belief, particularly in the light of suffering or injustice. So my faith waivers from time to time. I am forced to reevaluate my beliefs in light of what I see around me and elsewhere in the world. Sometimes I come back to my roots and sometimes I am compelled to alter my faith to conform to reality.
Yet the question of a divine creator’s existence is only one among many More...
Yet the question of a divine creator’s existence is only one among many More...
Dec 16, 2009
Ross
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The core conceit of Mainspring imagines that the solar system is actually a gigantic orrey, and that the movements of the stars, planets, and the earth itself are all controlled through a sort of deistic clockwork, giving physical form to the ages-old watchmaker analogy of creation. When the mainspring of the earth begins to run down, the archangel Gabriel engages young Hethor Jacques, a teenaged clockmaker’s apprentice, to find the “Key Perilous” and rewind creation. As this cunningly-plotted q
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Feb 02, 2009
Ellyddan
rated it: 
While I enjoyed parts of this clockpunk work, overall I can't help but feel a little indifferent after finishing the tale.
The author did some excellent world-building. I really wanted to know more about the various cultures and climes that Hethor, the main character, came into contact with.
On the other hand, the originality of idea could not overcome for me the blandness of the main and side characters. I don't mind books where the main character is somewhat more of an More...
The author did some excellent world-building. I really wanted to know more about the various cultures and climes that Hethor, the main character, came into contact with.
On the other hand, the originality of idea could not overcome for me the blandness of the main and side characters. I don't mind books where the main character is somewhat more of an More...
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Sep 17, 2008
Brian
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Warning: Mild Spoilers
First, I liked this book. It's an entertaining read.
That said, I was disappointed with it. I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. That's not to say it's bad, because it's not. It's more a case of it's not anywhere near as good as it could be.
The main problem I had with it is that Hethor, the book's protagonist, never does much of anything. The book sort of happens to him.
In a way, instead of the Victorian E More...
First, I liked this book. It's an entertaining read.
That said, I was disappointed with it. I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. That's not to say it's bad, because it's not. It's more a case of it's not anywhere near as good as it could be.
The main problem I had with it is that Hethor, the book's protagonist, never does much of anything. The book sort of happens to him.
In a way, instead of the Victorian E More...
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Jul 14, 2008
Josh
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Mainspring begins with the archangel Gabriel appearing to Hethor, the novel's protagonist. It seems that the world will end very soon, and Gabriel sets Hethor on a journey to make things right. Jay Lake may not realize it, but he's rewriting Donnie Darko. (And I'm not just saying that because of the obvious Christ imagery in both stories.
The problem is that Hethor's world is like a clock, the Earth revolves around the sun on a giant brass track, and the Earth's mainspring is windi More...
The problem is that Hethor's world is like a clock, the Earth revolves around the sun on a giant brass track, and the Earth's mainspring is windi More...
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Jun 17, 2008
Matt
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The author would appear to be something of a fan of Gene Wolfe, and if you are going to pattern yourself after someone that's a pretty good choice. Unfortunately, Wolfe has a singularly unimitatable style and the author is quite unable to match his high ambitions. There are flashes of greatness in the story, but by and large it is peopled with flat uninteresting characters that do uninteresting things.
The principal conceit of the story is that the world of the story is truly the cl More...
The principal conceit of the story is that the world of the story is truly the cl More...
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(3 people liked it)
Nov 18, 2008
Anne
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Jan 21, 2009
Lane
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I really wanted to like this more, but it fell kind of flat to me. I love the literal clockwork universe, but unfortunately the main character was pretty standard and shallow. Just another naive fantasy chosen one. The conflicting ideologies the plot set up never really culminated into anything satisfying, either, and the [spoiler:]furry take on the fantasy hero discovering the joys of true love didn't work for me either.
But I liked the world building. I just didn't get as much of what More...
But I liked the world building. I just didn't get as much of what More...
Nov 28, 2008
Andrew
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May 03, 2011
Tom
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I'll start it short: This is a terrible book.
The premise is excellent, as is the cover. The execution, however, is amateurish at best and laughable at worst. There were some 4 star moments, though - the journey, to be fair, proceeded as follows:
3 stars, 4 stars, 3, 4, 2, 2, 1...
The second half of this book is so unsatisfying, and the ending so trite and faux-didactic that I had trouble not throwing it across the room. As a massive sf/fantasy literary snob (China More...
The premise is excellent, as is the cover. The execution, however, is amateurish at best and laughable at worst. There were some 4 star moments, though - the journey, to be fair, proceeded as follows:
3 stars, 4 stars, 3, 4, 2, 2, 1...
The second half of this book is so unsatisfying, and the ending so trite and faux-didactic that I had trouble not throwing it across the room. As a massive sf/fantasy literary snob (China More...
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Apr 02, 2011
Margaret
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Most peculiar story.
Remember how you learned about deism in your AP European History class? A bunch of French philosophers thought they would be clever and decided that God had created the universe, wound it up like an enormous watch, and left it to run its course. What would happen if the universe really was a huge watch? What would happen if a talented short story writer tried to build a novel around this central conceit?
The result is ... interesting. This is a world a lot like your usual stea More...
Remember how you learned about deism in your AP European History class? A bunch of French philosophers thought they would be clever and decided that God had created the universe, wound it up like an enormous watch, and left it to run its course. What would happen if the universe really was a huge watch? What would happen if a talented short story writer tried to build a novel around this central conceit?
The result is ... interesting. This is a world a lot like your usual stea More...
Feb 09, 2011
Andrea
rated it:
Hethor is an aprentice clockmaker who lives in a literal clockwork universe. One night the brass angel Gabriel comes to him and charges him with the task of finding the Key Perilous so that he can wind the mainspring of the world so that the Earth will continue turning.
There were some things that threw me when I first picked up the book. First, I hated "Hethor" as a name choice. It made me cringe every time I read it, tossing me out of story. Second, while I'm all for starti More...
There were some things that threw me when I first picked up the book. First, I hated "Hethor" as a name choice. It made me cringe every time I read it, tossing me out of story. Second, while I'm all for starti More...
Jan 25, 2011
Collin
rated it:
The reason why I bought Mainspring to begin with was kinda odd. I was just looking over the Sci-Fi section in a bookstore when I saw a familar cover. I've seen Stephen Hunt's The Court of the Air around for a little while, but never bothered to figure out what it was about. Upon reading the cover I read a blurb by one Jay Lake and curiously went to see if the store had any of his books. Indeed they did, so I picked up the one mentioned on the cover of Hunt's book and read what it was about.
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Nov 04, 2010
Ian
rated it:
I love cool ideas. Nothing excites me more than a really gonzo idea story. Jay Lake, a superb short-story writer, is the kind of guy who has a half dozen mind-blowing ideas before breakfast. (Which is one reason why I both admire and hate him. Also, he writes crazy fast, which is another reason for admiring and hating him.) The premise behind Mainspring is one of the coolest things I've encountered in a long time.
I've heard it claimed that Isaac Newton changed the way natural phil More...
I've heard it claimed that Isaac Newton changed the way natural phil More...
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Jul 19, 2009
Ninja Sock Puppet
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I started Escapement (the second book of this series) because Ceridwen liked the cover art and didn't realize that it was a sequel. This has happened before, notably with Darwin's Children, and after getting part way through I realized that I was missing some essential pieces of the world and as a result I was confused. What kind of a world is circled by a huge wall with gears on top that mesh with a giant brass ring in the sky like a huge celestial-sized orrery? That's like a map on a scale
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Sep 14, 2011
Ms. Library
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I didn’t like this book. I did not enjoy reading this book for multiple reasons, which I will detail here. The first is that the author tends to write like Gene Wolfe, the author of The Wizard, which I also did not enjoy. It employs a very dry writing style purposefully, which resulted in me often losing focus while I was reading and having to re-read sections. I want my fantasy/science fiction/steampunk to have depth, but I also want it to hold my interest. There were several moments thro
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Sep 17, 2010
Bagtree
rated it:
Profoundly underwhelming. The characters are undeveloped, the central conceit - though at first intriguing - isn't fully thought through, and does no one else see unfortunate implications in turning the entire Southern hemisphere (with especial attention to Africa) into a land of ~*savages and barbarism and strangeness*~ where no one is human, and they're all either leading pleasantly unsophisticated lives in harmony with the universe or HORRIBLE MONSTERS?
Moreover, there is no ambigu More...
Moreover, there is no ambigu More...
Nov 20, 2008
Robert
rated it:
I am usually not a fan of the "What If" school of fiction: what if Germany won World war 2, what if the USA lost the American Revolution, etc. This is pretty good. Well-written and interesting. I found it a little hard to visualize the world with huge brass gears but it didn't stop me from enjoying the book. The obligatory love story is a little annoying (human boy meets furry girl from another species...yadda yadda). Otherwise fun without too much historical speculation.
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Jan 08, 2011
Patty
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I've greatly enjoyed Jay's space opera short stories and didn't know anything about this book when I bought it.
This book is absurdist steampunk. The concept is really daft, in a good way that allows the author to do a lot of inventive stuff with it. The world is a giant clockwork that runs on a track around the sun, but the spring is running down and needs to be re-wound.
So far, so good. The worldbuilding is certainly inventive and I enjoyed this aspect of the book. For l More...
This book is absurdist steampunk. The concept is really daft, in a good way that allows the author to do a lot of inventive stuff with it. The world is a giant clockwork that runs on a track around the sun, but the spring is running down and needs to be re-wound.
So far, so good. The worldbuilding is certainly inventive and I enjoyed this aspect of the book. For l More...
Sep 14, 2011
Caroline
rated it:
Mainspring by Jay Lake drops the reader into a familiar, yet alien world, an alternate reality Victorian era where the world is literally run by clockwork. The sun is a revolving lamp and the sky is a metal shell. Christianity is based on a brass Jesus and robotic angels.
Teenaged Hethor is the chosen one, a savior who needs to find the Perilous Key and rewind the world. To succeed, he needs to take a world tour - an excuse to wander around fantastical settings. We experience courts, More...
Teenaged Hethor is the chosen one, a savior who needs to find the Perilous Key and rewind the world. To succeed, he needs to take a world tour - an excuse to wander around fantastical settings. We experience courts, More...
Jun 21, 2011
Jeremy
rated it:
Like _The Void Captain's Tale_ by Norman Spinrad, this book's strengths lose out to its weaknesses, and, like Spinrad's book, this one suffers one of the congenital defects of Science Fiction: the author describes too much of the world, too much of what there is in his imagination, rather than letting that world come into existence in the experience of the characters (Zelazny and G. R. R. Martin are masters of this). Don't get me wrong: I liked the book. It's a decent twist on steampunk; the ide
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Jul 17, 2009
Eric
rated it:
As part of a book discussion group I got to hear some very interesting reviews from the other folks reading this book.
I don't think I'd rather stick something sharp in my eye. I would rather read this than stare at the back of the airplane seat or read the vomit bag. I'm certain I could get a pet to chew on it... given time.
I can say that I did read the entire book, and while it wasn't fantastic I *did* enjoy the setting. This book suffers from the same thing "Bone S More...
I don't think I'd rather stick something sharp in my eye. I would rather read this than stare at the back of the airplane seat or read the vomit bag. I'm certain I could get a pet to chew on it... given time.
I can say that I did read the entire book, and while it wasn't fantastic I *did* enjoy the setting. This book suffers from the same thing "Bone S More...
Sep 06, 2011
Niall519
rated it:
Glad I read this, as it went some way to balancing my experience with Green. I'm not actually sure what to make of it, but I thought it worked much better and I enjoyed it more than my previous encounter with Jay Lake's work as a result as a result.
It's an odd little beastie. Part love affair with clocks, part Pilgrim's Progress-like travelogue and perhaps allegory (although with what intent I'm still not sure), and showing the influences of older authors like Dickens and O'Brian. Th More...
It's an odd little beastie. Part love affair with clocks, part Pilgrim's Progress-like travelogue and perhaps allegory (although with what intent I'm still not sure), and showing the influences of older authors like Dickens and O'Brian. Th More...
Jun 16, 2010
Ahniwa
rated it:
I really enjoyed reading this book, but in the end I enjoyed reading it much more than I enjoyed having read it. Lake's writing is smooth, and throughout the book I admired how the writing never got in the way of the story. The story itself is imaginative, and the world that Lake creates is interesting enough that I'm lining up the read the two sequels.
Having finished the book, I find that it suffers in two ways. First, it lacks a really good villain. Rather than having a bad guy to fo More...
Having finished the book, I find that it suffers in two ways. First, it lacks a really good villain. Rather than having a bad guy to fo More...
Apr 09, 2011
Megan
rated it:
FINAL UPDATE:
This book is boring. I am not terribly surprised, but still somehow disappointed. I will admit, I didn't get terribly far in it--another Steampunk book that this happened with.
Mostly, it was a travel story. Which is not a style I like at all I have finally realized over the years. The plot line--beyond the basic universe--was cliched. Young boy, mistreated, has a major MISSION in life from God. Nobody believes him. He struggles. Bildungsroman, blah, blah, blah.
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This book is boring. I am not terribly surprised, but still somehow disappointed. I will admit, I didn't get terribly far in it--another Steampunk book that this happened with.
Mostly, it was a travel story. Which is not a style I like at all I have finally realized over the years. The plot line--beyond the basic universe--was cliched. Young boy, mistreated, has a major MISSION in life from God. Nobody believes him. He struggles. Bildungsroman, blah, blah, blah.
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Jun 27, 2009
Nathan
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May 07, 2009
Colin
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I have a long list of expectations when it comes to science fiction. There’s the good (creative concepts, detailed setting, the epic feel of an alternate universe), the bad (execution falling short of the creativity of the idea, dragging pace, botched social commentary) and the whatever (obscure names, interspecial love interests – oh, why does it never end awkwardly?). For Jay Lake’s Mainspring, he avoids many of the pitfalls of science fiction, but he doesn’t nail many of the positives either.
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Jan 03, 2012
So many thoughts exist for this book. First of all, the genre of 'Steampunk' is one which holds the most interest and curiosity for me. However, some steampunk novels are so 'original' or 'creative', so wild in their invention, that the plots are lost in the muddle. This book does not do this. Mr. Lake provides an alternate world from our own, though not vastly different. I found his idea of taking the 'God-as-clockmaker' analogy to new literal heights extremely fascinating. From the view of wor
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