The Alchemy of Stone

Nov 15, 2011 Emilie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 09, mythic-fiction, shakespeares-sister

...you are a wind up girl. he holds the key to you. and then you think that you are free because you have been emancipated by your creator...and you become more independent and learn to be an alchemist. and then you realise that that he still holds you. he still has power over you, for he holds the very key that winds up your heart...

The Alchemy of Stone is about freedom and ownership and independence, control and power. though mattie is an automaton, she has been created to be female. the whale...more ...you are a wind up girl. he holds the key to you. and then you think that you are free because you have been emancipated by your creator...and you become more independent and learn to be an alchemist. and then you realise that that he still holds you. he still has power over you, for he holds the very key that winds up your heart...

The Alchemy of Stone is about freedom and ownership and independence, control and power. though mattie is an automaton, she has been created to be female. the whalebone corset that is part of her very body structure literalises the way cultural and social constructions and ideals of femininity are so internalised in women through early inculcation, education, punishments.

mattie, a very charming clockwork doll, spends most of the book seeking her own freedom, while caught up in other struggles around her for freedom that mirror her own.

with themes of freedom, identity, otherness, prejudice, change, and what it means to be human and what it means to be female.
mattie is a strong female character, and very complex. i think that her struggle and vulnerability are what makes her so compelling. her ambivalence, a characteristic which is so often missing in strong female characters, as if strength and courage signifies that someone does not experience struggle and ambivalence.

mattie struggles to be seen as a subject and not only a pretty object. she struggles to figure out who she can trust. she struggles to figure out who she is real to. she struggles to be good and fair and true to herself. she struggles with her feelings for her creator loharri, who is a complex character. loharri shifts between roles as attentive suitor, wounded victim himself, comforting friend, and abusive partner.

the Alchemy of Stone is dark, beautiful, imaginative, fun, touching, thought-provoking, and well-written. the focus is on the characters; and they are complex, flawed, and charming. this is a steampunk novel, and the atmosphere sedia creates is intoxicating, imaginative and vivid. there’s a struggle between the Mechanists (loharri is one, and mattie feels some allegiance to them, as loharri made her) and the Alchemists (which mattie feels some allegiance to, as she is an Alchemist) and the more disenfranchised classes in the society (such as the Spiders who work in the mines) who are having a revolution that mattie is caught up in. and the Gargoyles (gargoyles, i love gargoyles! and they narrate sometimes too (narrating Gargoyles!) who come to mattie seeking freedom from the stone that is their death.

mattie is a literal construction of femininity. many discount her for this reason. yet all women (all people) are partly constructions, and womens experience is so often discounted just as matties is.

i felt Ekaterina Sedia created an honest portrayal of the complexity of struggles for freedom.

...you want to be free more then anything. you feel desperate to be free and to be recognised. you are strong, and your desires are not simple. you are attached to someone who loves you and hurts you. you feel lonely and conflicted. you feel passionate and you are intelligent. and your choices are still difficult. you want to own the key to you...

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Jun 12, 2011 Mariel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: if I only had a heart

Recommended to Mariel by: 11:11

Do kids stare at you? Not like they look at other adults (just more adults in a taller treetop world). Unknown quantities. Not them. Not the other thems (meaning adults). Deciding to be afraid or not, or where to place you in budding perspectives. (Could be looks of judgement. My little niece stares only to proclaim that my hair looks bad. After loooong periods. THAT'S what you wanted to say? I'm sure she gets it from her mother. She always hated my hair.) Still deciding who everyone else is. St...more Do kids stare at you? Not like they look at other adults (just more adults in a taller treetop world). Unknown quantities. Not them. Not the other thems (meaning adults). Deciding to be afraid or not, or where to place you in budding perspectives. (Could be looks of judgement. My little niece stares only to proclaim that my hair looks bad. After loooong periods. THAT'S what you wanted to say? I'm sure she gets it from her mother. She always hated my hair.) Still deciding who everyone else is. Staring. What do those looks mean? Do you ever exchange looks with children right back? (Are they just a mini adult who will proclaim that your hair looks bad?) I always had a staring problem. My ex once told me that kids stared at me because they sensed that I was one of them. It depressed me very much, back then, because he really didn't get it. The look is because the inbetween space is undecided. The other is boring. I do know how Mattie feels. Looked on to complement, not as your own whole self. Pulled along in case you get in someone else's way. Expected to make social mistakes. It's an awful feeling. It's the new people she meets that interested me. Potential.

The whispered thread going through all the voices I try to listen that speaks to me was ALMOST there. Over what makes a person a person, what is a soul, men versus women, control. Society blah blah. I know the expected mistake feeling. Is it wrong that I wanted the other voice to be louder? I feel it was more important. I've been looking for stories that have that thread for as long as I can remember. I hold them inside when I find them hoping they'll be around at a time when another peice will fall into place. Elizabeth Bowen's The Death of the Heart (Portia is the apart kind of eyes and staring). Gary Oldman dancing with the kids in Sid & Nancy (he's one of them). Yukio Mishima's moments of all the same bodies in tangled limbs and laughing arms for a kid again festivities. No eyes, no thinking. One of them. (I have more. I don't have enough. I want to figure this out.) The decision limbo... To be afraid? To be? A part... Whatever it is, you can't see what it is they see from those tall tree tops.

Mattie is an automaton. A machine. A clunker. Her heart is wound up and her creator, Loharri, has the key. She's programmed to not be her own. There are other threads, too. It is hard to put all this together at once, free will and genetic make up. How much is variables? I inherited social anxiety from my mama (it was bred further by being beaten into me that no one would ever like me). If I have caffeine and forget to take my vitamins my depression is exponentially worse, and unmanageable before my period. I am not myself. How much is ME and how much is just diet? Am I trudging through my mama's footsteps? You are what you eat and mostly water. It can make all the difference, those variables, in overcoming circumstances and how I was made. Mattie was made to be a slave. She was given enough of a mind of her own to not be boring. She was made to look how someone else wanted her to look (I fought bitterly to escape that, growing up. Matching outfits, twins, that whole cliche was my life).

Not everyone she meets is like Loharri (and he wants more from her than most). But the staring. The looks of difference and not knowing if you're going to learn to be afraid or not... What do people want from others, anyway? Girlfriends, sisters, brothers, boyfriends, fathers, children...

That's it. Making children and then they are forever your appendage, delighting in reflecting back of one's own ego, kids say the darndest things, cute little dress up outfits. But what about the rest of the kids? Mattie meets the soul smoker. The soul smoker took the job of hosting the souls of the dead until he dies and can lead them to wherever the dead goes because he had no other life. Her foriegner friend, mistrusted because she is different. Her not really a friend client, Ilonda. The feminism thread was beside the point really, I felt. It's like picking one oppressed group from history and saying that no one else had it bad. They COULD have all been in it together, if they didn't decide to mistrust after the staring moments. (I wasn't too interested in Ilonda the courtier who would only hire other women. Too fun loving girl and, like Mattie, I don't easily connect to that type because I don't know how to behave the same way.) Peasants had no jobs and were replaced with machines. The childhood objectification thing was over all. The gargoyles (holy shades of Meredith Anne Peirce's The Darkangel Trilogy here) who made the city but have been forgotten in the greed of the mechanics (like Loharri) seek out other lost souls like themselves. Kids staring to other kids staring. Almost. Mattie falls in love with their feeder, Sebastian (another persecuted foriegner) who doesn't see her past his own mechanics desire to take apart someone and see how they might work for them. "I made that. They are in my image." Child of god, machine, flesh, stone. Made of something else. Still itself.

The ending was kinda bullshit.

Pardon my foul language and potential spoilers. But bullshit.

Mattie is dead to the world without a key to her heart. Sebastian who felt she was an object suddenly decides to wait by her side? Why did Sedia go for the gothic imagery shit? Did she think it was a haunting image of the tragic metal and whale bone girl with a guy waiting by her side? Now mortal gargoyles flying over head to protect her while they still live? It wasn't. (Another book that pisses me off going for the rotting romantic image instead of what would have meant something. Into the Forest pissed me off enough for 2011, thanks. Why don't they ever listen to me?)

The gazes look away. Mattie doesn't get the chance to learn her definitions of friendship and love through experience, make her own variables. I didn't care as much who the parents were! WHY did they stare at Mattie and decide she was a cute little machine but then sit by her side at the end? The gargoyles had been honest in their whispers of staring, before. Now they owed her? Sighs. Sedia did quite well writing Mattie's chemical balances. Now what about the experience? Bullshit!

Four stars because of the voices of Do you really love me? all of the time. The more it is asked the less you are sure if you don't. How it feels when you are told you are soul mates when you don't know what that even means. Sedia got some stuff right. If only that was the asking I had wanted...(less)

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Jun 07, 2010 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: andersen, fantasy-steampunk, fantasy-fairy-tales-influ, cover-love

When I re-read The Little Mermaid as an adult something about it bugged me. This something bugs me more and more each time I re-read the story. It's not the pain the mermaid feels when she walks; all of Andersen's characters seem to get tortured, the Ugly Duckling was a male and he got frozen in the ice. No, with the mermaid, it's how the prince treats her. She sleeps at the foot his bed, he rests his head on her breast. It's like she's his personal lap girl with whom he has groping benefits.

I c...more When I re-read The Little Mermaid as an adult something about it bugged me. This something bugs me more and more each time I re-read the story. It's not the pain the mermaid feels when she walks; all of Andersen's characters seem to get tortured, the Ugly Duckling was a male and he got frozen in the ice. No, with the mermaid, it's how the prince treats her. She sleeps at the foot his bed, he rests his head on her breast. It's like she's his personal lap girl with whom he has groping benefits.

I can't help wondering if Ekaterina Sedia feels the same way for The Alchemy of Stone is very reminiscent of "The Little Mermaid".

Unlike "LM", Mattie, the protagonist, isn't looking for a soul; she's looking for her independence, to be her own person. She is a clockwork girl, which means even so often her gears run down. There is only one key that winds her up. This process makes her feel violated. (In fact, whenever Mattie is opened, it almost feels like a rape. This is a brilliant touch). Guess who has it and doesn't want to share?

You guessed it. Her creator, a man.

Her creator, Lornarri, has freed her, but he still exerts control over her in a variety of ways, not all of which sit well with Mattie, her friends, or the reader. Lornarri reminds me very much of the prince in "The Little Mermaid", crueler, but he has that same selfish thinking, that disregard for the women who are connected to him. A me first attitude, and let's not think about anyone's feelings, at least anyone who is not my equal.

Mattie is an alchemist and despite being non-politic, soon finds herself caught up in the revolution that is taking place in her world. This comes about due to her desire to help the gargoyles. No Disney cutie pies, the gargoyles are the creators and keepers of the city where Mattie lives, and they find themselves dying off without any means of reproduction. In this struggle for control of an unnamed city, Sedia touches on the cause and effects of terrorism, the roots of revolution, and the effects of such violence on the community and the groups within that community. It is true that these issues are not dealt with startling depth. This isn't to say that she does a bad job; she doesn't. In fact, the book is timely in the topics it covers; it is hard not to see some of it as a mirror of current events.

The focus of the book, however, isn't on politics, but on gender roles and the idea of humanity. Reviews on the back of the block, liken Mattie to any women and considering the roles of female supporting characters, the idea of a woman's role and woman's independence is what Sedia seems to be examining. Who doesn't feel like a wind-up girl sometimes? These gender roles are also used in "The Little Mermaid". The mermaid wanted a soul, more than she wanted the prince, so she wouldn't become foam on the waves. Mattie is not looking for a soul, though one could she has one and the best one of the novel. Is she more human than those around her? Does she have more of a soul? The same questions are raised in Andersen's tale, when the mermaid's compassion is compared to the thoughtless of the prince. Why do her sisters help her, but the prince cannot even think about her? It is easy to see the connection of this story to Andersen's fairy tale.(less)

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Oct 16, 2008 Andrew Liptak rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a surprise in my mail earlier yesterday - I’ve been trying to get a hold of this book, The Alchemy of Stone, for a little while now, and had some problems. This third book by Ekaterina Sedia was one that I was really looking forwards to reading, and it was a fun book to read - While I waited for my computer to restart, I finished the last 150 pages in about an hour.

The story follows Mattie, an intelligent automation in a world that is very steampunkish. Mattie is an alchemist, trying to...more This was a surprise in my mail earlier yesterday - I’ve been trying to get a hold of this book, The Alchemy of Stone, for a little while now, and had some problems. This third book by Ekaterina Sedia was one that I was really looking forwards to reading, and it was a fun book to read - While I waited for my computer to restart, I finished the last 150 pages in about an hour.

The story follows Mattie, an intelligent automation in a world that is very steampunkish. Mattie is an alchemist, trying to discover a way to prevent the gargoyles in the city from turning to stone and dying out. They seem to predate the human inhabitants of the city, and are responsible for its construction and character. At the point in the story, the city is overcrowded, and divided. There’s a political rivalry between the Alchemists and machinists, which spills over into violence with the Duke of the city and his family is attacked and killed, culminating in civil war between classes. Mattie is at the center of this, as an Alchemist, but her creator, whom she is bound to, is a fairly cruel machinist who will not let her stray too far from needing him.

This was a fun read, but not as good as I’d hoped it would be. It felt like a quick look into a vastly complex and interesting world and I didn’t get the depth that I would have liked, and that easily could have been there. That being said, what I got was still a very good, engaging read. Where the story is somewhat lacking, it is made up for with the character of Mattie and the various struggles that she comes across in the story. Where most people would think of a robotic being as fairly robust and durable – watching any sort of movie about robots will tell you this – Mattie is weak, timid, and fragile, both physically and mentally. At several points, she is easily broken after being attacked, and must be rewound by her creator in order to function. She is shy, and eager to please her master, Loharri, while at the same time despising him and yearning to be completely free from his grasp, which is not possible, as he literally owns the key to her heart.

There are many themes which run through this book that all intersect with Mattie, but the dominant one can be considered one of transitions. The city is changing, physically as there is a boom in construction and the machinists are taking over, building new things daily, which precipitate in a sort of political change. Between the Machinists and the Alchemists, there is a duel nature to Mattie as well, who was built by a machinist, but rejected that way in life, instead focusing on life. While the exact roles of the machinists and alchemists in this society aren’t entirely clear, they do bring up another duality, one of life and death, or fulfillment vs. automation, role vs. job and emotions vs. logic. There is a class system, we see, as angry coal workers, forced off their fields by robots, are tasked with mining coal, while the machinists are content to blindly follow another sentient automation, the calculator.

This, to me, is an interesting theme, as it relates to themes that went on during the Renaissance period, a period of much change, but without the magic and fantasy elements. To some extent, the book has several issues that are still highly relevant today, if not more so. To what extent is a culture vibrant and full of life when it overwhelmingly utilizes machines and devices? At one point, a character that Mattie befriends, Naobi, an outsider, notes that the people of this city aren’t happy or content, they just exist. When reading that, I had to wonder how much of that was a sort of social commentary on today’s society, where the television, computers, mobile phones, MP3 players are the dominant forms of entertainment and recreation, rather than something that might be more fulfilling. It’s certainly something that I have thought about often.

Another dominant theme that the book approaches is the city’s response to the death of their Duke, where foreigners were rounded up, harassed and at times, had their souls removed or were threatened as such if they weren’t cooperative. This was a somewhat chilling, if very unsubtle point in the book that is extremely relevant in today’s society after 9-11. Thankfully, this isn’t an overwhelming point in the novel. While it doesn’t detract from the reading, I always get nervous when any artist, whether it be a writer, singer or painter, uses their material as a soapbox, for it dates and lessens the material that they are releasing.

The final big theme of the book is that of life and death. This is prevalent everywhere, from the machinists who create life from nothing, to the alchemists who preserve life, to the soul seeker who seeks to prevent it, while the gargoyles are slowly dying out. It seems fitting that Mattie, an automation, relates to all of those fields, while not alive herself, is a conscious being, actively seeking to preserve the gargoyles who still remain. More ironic, she is unable to remain alive without her human maker, who holds her fate based on his whims.

This isn’t really a positive book when it comes to tone – it’s dark, gritty and at times, downright depressing, which came as a real surprise to me, especially at the end, when things came together. I can’t really remember a book that has done this, one that really puts the characters into place.

Mattie is the true center of the novel, and is a brilliantly conceived character from the start, one who is curious, afraid, at times strong, and one who changes over the course of the story. While she is built, automated, I never once thought of her as a robot, but as an organic being – at times, I was trying to imagine her as a robot, and had a hard time doing so, which is absolutely fantastic, given what type of character she is – this is something that few authors that I’ve come across have been able to do, turn a machine into a character that you can really and truly care for, one where you don’t have to stretch your imagination to imagine her being hurt or having feelings.

At the end of the book, I was happy to have gotten into a book and finished it in a day. The Alchemy of Stone was a fun read, engaging and interesting. I’d highly recommend it.

(Originally Posted: http://jeditrilobite.wordpress.com)(less)

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Sep 05, 2008 Liviu rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-fantasy, 2008_release_read, top_25_2008_novels

This was a very different read from what I expected so at first I thought that it sets up a great storyline/world and then fails somewhat to live to that potential, but the last 3rd or so of the book and especially its poignant ending made me reconsider and appreciate this one as what it truly is - a mainstream character study disguised as science fantasy.

The character happens to be a mechanical girl called Mattie, but her creator a Mechanic with a damaged face and a past that slowly revealed...more

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Apr 14, 2012 Katy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: take-ii-book-club

uh oh.... Alex gave it one star and Ang gave it 5! I like it so far, but we'll see at Book Club!

Meh. I never quite knew who to root for. There were one too many story lines... Automatons gaining independence. Cool. Saving the gargoyles. Ok. Mechanics vs. Alchemists. Sure. Revolution of coal miners... Fine. Pick one cause for me to be invested in and I'll get behind it. But with so many competitions, I ended up being indifferent to all of them.

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Nov 28, 2008 Alan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I had not run across the euphoniously-named Ekaterina Sedia or her work before, but I'm glad I picked this one up. Her ornate, careful prose is unlike anything else I've read of late, although China Mieville's dark, smoky steampunk cityscapes invite comparison. Sedia's work is her own, though. Her protagonist, a clockwork automaton named Mattie, is a sympathetic device whose portrayal is just as it should be - yes, Mattie is unsure of herself when dealing with human emotions, even the ones she p...more I had not run across the euphoniously-named Ekaterina Sedia or her work before, but I'm glad I picked this one up. Her ornate, careful prose is unlike anything else I've read of late, although China Mieville's dark, smoky steampunk cityscapes invite comparison. Sedia's work is her own, though. Her protagonist, a clockwork automaton named Mattie, is a sympathetic device whose portrayal is just as it should be - yes, Mattie is unsure of herself when dealing with human emotions, even the ones she possesses herself, and yes, she is a sentient being whose feelings matter, even if her creator Loharri and her compatriots in the city of Ayona do treat her as a mere mechanism.

Factions and conspiracies abound in Ayona, reminding me of the ones that struggle in Colson Whitehead's brilliant first novel, The Intuitionist. In Sedia's world, the two main human factions are the Alchemists and the Mechanics - shapers of organic matter pitted against those who fashion devices of steel and brass, as if the sciences were bitter enemies rather than working on a continuum. It is a disastrous division which Mattie cannot bridge by herself, though she is an accomplished Alchemist whose maker is a most prominent Mechanic.

A third complicating factor are the gargoyles who long ago grew the city itself from the very stones of the earth - a dying race for whom Mattie may be the only hope of survival. The gargoyles observe and interject their own views of the human conflict from a gray, alien perspective that Sedia portrays very well.

Things come to a head when the Duke's Palace is violently demolished. The Palace is the stone centerpiece of the city, the gargoyles' crowning achievement. And it has been destroyed by explosives only Alchemists could have made - but which only Mechanics buy, and they normally only in order to extend the mines that bring them the coal the Mechanics need to make their engines. The destruction of the Palace throws the city into chaos, and Mattie, though she tries to stay as aloof as her porcelain face would make her appear, is inevitably drawn in to the conflict...

Sedia writes beautifully, even about ugly things. She is a writer to watch.(less)

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Apr 25, 2013 Tim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Nonhuman protagonists provide the main perspectives in "The Alchemy of Stone," a steampunky novel from the mellifluously named Ekaterina Sedia. The main character is an intelligent automaton, a clockwork woman who has been emancipated from her creator, but freed in name only. Sedia's handling of Mattie's efforts to aid the gargoyles — who provide the novel's only first-person (group) narratives — in halting their slow and stony slide to extinction is given a tremendous boost by the brilliant way...more Nonhuman protagonists provide the main perspectives in "The Alchemy of Stone," a steampunky novel from the mellifluously named Ekaterina Sedia. The main character is an intelligent automaton, a clockwork woman who has been emancipated from her creator, but freed in name only. Sedia's handling of Mattie's efforts to aid the gargoyles — who provide the novel's only first-person (group) narratives — in halting their slow and stony slide to extinction is given a tremendous boost by the brilliant way the author gets inside the head of a character without a brain. Really, it's Mattie and the novel's sharp conclusion that lift this odd — but not off-puttingly bizarre — tale to four stars in the final reckoning.

The world of "The Alchemy of Stone," (in addition to the intelligent gargoyles who largely perch atop buildings, eventually becoming stone themselves), features a coal-fired, smoke-choked atmosphere; automatons (most not intelligent like Mattie); wheeled mechanical caterpillars and carriages drawn by live lizards; muskets; and a society in which conflicting forces of Mechanics and Alchemists vie for ascendance, orphans and peasants are used for dangerous work, and miners chafe at their lot in life. There also is a blind Soul-Smoker who inhales the souls of others and thus serves as a repository of their voices.

Where Sedia succeeds so well is in building the character of Mattie and making the odd environment feel completely natural.

Sedia is less successful in presenting the political climate, in which the miners are in revolt, and, adding the push-pull of power between the Alchemists and the Mechanics, this stew leads to upheaval, violence and terrorism. I didn't always get a good sense of what the motivations were of these groups.

Mattie's creator is a Mechanic who seemingly has set her free but in fact retains a great deal of control. He has the only key to her wind-up mechanism and has implanted certain compulsions in her makeup that make her beholden to him.

Mattie's attempts to take sides in the conflict and to help the gargoyles free themselves from their bond of stone, form the heart of this fine novel. Sedia's writing has an uncluttered grace that makes the novel fascinating and far more moving than you'd think with a clockwork lead character.
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Oct 26, 2012 Lucia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. "Forse sei solo convinto che chiunque non voglia essere un tuo schiavo debba per forza star tentando di diventare il tuo padrone"
La storia di un automa che cerca di raggiungere l'emancipazione e la libertà in un mondo che ricalca l'epoca vittoriana (con tutta la sua boria e sogni di gloria), un paese diviso da una guerra intestina tra i Cortigiani (entourage degli antichi reggenti i Duchi), gli Ingegneri fautori del progresso tecnologico e gli Alchimisti scienziati volti ai poteri degli elementi...more "Forse sei solo convinto che chiunque non voglia essere un tuo schiavo debba per forza star tentando di diventare il tuo padrone"
La storia di un automa che cerca di raggiungere l'emancipazione e la libertà in un mondo che ricalca l'epoca vittoriana (con tutta la sua boria e sogni di gloria), un paese diviso da una guerra intestina tra i Cortigiani (entourage degli antichi reggenti i Duchi), gli Ingegneri fautori del progresso tecnologico e gli Alchimisti scienziati volti ai poteri degli elementi naturali.
Il nostro automa è una macchina (di sembianze femminili) creata da un Ingegnere il quale le ha permesso di emanciparsi e diventare un'Alchimista.
Alcuni interrogativi mi hanno stuzzicato:
1 - IL LIBERO ARBITRIO
Mattie, questo il nome dell'automa, è programmata per essere libera. Ciò significa che sia libera?
Il suo Creatore per cui è insopportabile pensare che Mattie possa non tornare da lui rifiuta di lasciarle la chiave che serve a ricaricarla eppure a lei ripete "bhè sei libera, fai ciò che vuoi, vai dove vuoi, vivi come meglio credi", Mattie stessa ne è convinta. Poi torna a farsi caricare.
2 - IL RUOLO DI MATTIE NELLA RIVOLTA
Lei cerca unicamente di recuperare la propria chiave per poter finalmente raggiungere la libertà, per farlo sarà disposta a tradire la fiducia di chi la cura da una vita senza farle mai mancare nulla.
Non si schiererà per principio in nessuna delle parti coinvolte nel conflitto, poichè tutti sono ciechi e sordi alle sue necessità (la chiave), accecati dalla sete di potere o di rivalsa. Corre il rischio di essere distrutta praticamente da tutti perchè "Non importa cosa pensasse o facesse una persona, una volta che fosse stato percepito come un nemico da qualche cieca forza malvagia, sarebbe stato considerato tale".
3 - AHI L'AMORE
Questa veramente non avrei voluto leggerla, ma Mattie l'automa senz'anima si innamora.. e pure ricambiata (a prima vista).
Peccato che il suo amore sia un Ingegnere, invaghito forse più del mistero di come funzioni piuttosto che di lei. La prima cosa che fa PER AIUTARLA è tentare di costruire una copia della chiave. Così anzichè un padrone la cara Mattie se ne sarebbe trovata due.
4 - LA NEUTRALITA'
I Gargoyle, che fino ad ora ho nominato solo nel titolo, sono i guardiani della città. Ciò significa che guardano, e basta.
Apprezzabile il fatto che saranno gli unici a scamparla senza problemi.
Sullo sfondo, ma neanche troppo lontano, si incrociano le vite misere della gente comune, le quali elevano la storia da favoletta a romanzo.
Il finale mi è piaciuto, molto. E' proprio come io l'avrei fatto finire. No, non ve lo dico.(less)

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Apr 21, 2011 Filipa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Steampunk and I have a long story back. I never fancied the "war-type" focussed stories, but the ones that that type of things happened on the background.
So here we are to meet Mattie, a inteligent automaton that lives in a pure Arcanum world. She is an alchemist, searching a place in the world. In "the" world and in her personal world. The story goes in a ever darkness/shadowy world where a city created by gargoyles is suddenly crumbling to pieces. And Mattie, in her search for herself, sees he...more

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Sep 04, 2010 Book Calendar rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, steampunk

The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia

Mattie is a clockwork woman with a windup heart. She is like a porcelain doll made of whalebone, copper gears, and steel. In the center of her chest is a clear box with a hole in it. It is there that her creator, Loharri puts the key in to wind up her heart.

They exist in a city at the edge of an industrial age not our own. The novel is a kind of steampunk, but not in any Victorian style. There is a mix of the magic of alchemy and clockwork machines. Mattie...more The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia

Mattie is a clockwork woman with a windup heart. She is like a porcelain doll made of whalebone, copper gears, and steel. In the center of her chest is a clear box with a hole in it. It is there that her creator, Loharri puts the key in to wind up her heart.

They exist in a city at the edge of an industrial age not our own. The novel is a kind of steampunk, but not in any Victorian style. There is a mix of the magic of alchemy and clockwork machines. Mattie is the bridge between two factions in the city, the mechanics and the alchemists. She is an intelligent automaton trained as an alchemist.

Unlike either faction, she can see the suffering of the common people, the poisoned air and water, the deformed children bred to work in the mines and the peasants forced off their land by automata. She also is in touch with the gargoyles, the fleeting creatures who represent the nobility who are quickly becoming irrelevant in the larger scheme of things.

The city itself is fascinating; there is the foreign quarter with its dark skinned inhabitants, the constant flow of centipede like carriages, the paper factories, the parliament, the palace toppoed with gargoyles, and the automatons doing menial labor. It is a city falling apart at the seems moving into civil war and destruction.

This story is a tragedy and it does not come to a happy ending. There is even an element of a love story between Sebastian, a rogue mechanic, and Mattie. This goes against the wishes of her creator, Loharri. The sense of tragedy and forbidden love is what makes the book so wonderful and lyrical. The story pits the ideas of tradition versus progress against each other leaving ruin in the end. The story is full of unique images and has a poetic quality to it that touches your sense of wonder and imagination.

Ekaterian Sedia also wrote The Secret History of Moscow. This is a story of weird fiction. I could compare it to Jeff Vandermeer's Ambergris novels, or possibly China Mieville. She has a website, http://www.ekaterinasedia.com (less)

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Feb 17, 2010 Juushika rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: status-borrowed

Mattie is an emancipated automaton and an alchemist, commissioned by the city's gargoyles to extend their short life spans. Her research draws her into a conflict between gargoyles, Mechanists, and Alchemists, but Mattie's attempts to help are hampered by her lingering ties to her creator. A steampunk fantasy novel, The Alchemy of Stone has a fun magical setting and a wonderful protagonist, but overhasty pacing leaves too much of the book undeveloped. The potential here goes unfulfilled, and it'...more Mattie is an emancipated automaton and an alchemist, commissioned by the city's gargoyles to extend their short life spans. Her research draws her into a conflict between gargoyles, Mechanists, and Alchemists, but Mattie's attempts to help are hampered by her lingering ties to her creator. A steampunk fantasy novel, The Alchemy of Stone has a fun magical setting and a wonderful protagonist, but overhasty pacing leaves too much of the book undeveloped. The potential here goes unfulfilled, and it's simply disappointing. I don't recommend it.

The Alchemy of Stone is an indulgent steampunk fantasy that tries to do a lot but doesn't do it very well. The setting is a delight: automatons and alchemy, steampower and atmospheric detail all paint a storybook-vivid steampunk landscape. It's magical and colorful and just a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the book often fails to go past storybook depth, and that's mostly the fault of pacing. Scenes are so short that if you blink you may miss them. There's no time to for character motivation, and so Mattie's wanderings between settings and characters seem random. Nor is there time to build relationships between characters, and the reader doesn't care about anyone but Mattie. There's no time for the reader to pause and meditate on the story, denying foreshadowing and much of the book's greater meaning. All told the pacing makes the plot feel unfocused and superficial, and it leaves little time for the sort of detail that could give the storybook setting some meaning and life.

The book goes placesin fact there's almost an excess of plot: back story, power struggles between Alchemists, Mechanists, and gargolyes, civil war, and always Mattie's search for identity and community. But the journey is one of swift jumps and starts that seem random and underdeveloped, and the conclusions feel haphazard, more stumbled upon than created. And so The Alchemy of Stone is promising but dissapointing. The setting is a fun playground, and Mattie is an interesting character; her struggle for self-identity is the book's strongest aspect, a touching story of humanity and displacement told through an unusual, animatronic protagonist. But the rest of the book is too swift and too haphazard, leaving everything from supporting characters to plot woefully undeveloped and making the conclusion seem more or less random. The setting drew me in and there's a lot of potential here, but it's unexplored and I didn't enjoy the book. I don't recommend it.(less)

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Nov 16, 2009 Brenda Cooper rated it 5 of 5 stars

I found The Alchemy of Stone to be beautifully written, and slightly disturbing in the way that excellent fiction or poetry should be disturbing. The city in the book is haunting and always a bit distant, as if it is seen through the a gauze, an every city of magic caught in a time of wrenching change. Characters include alchemists, gargoyles, men of science, and most importantly, the woman Mattie, a being created of gear and wood and whalebone with a heart that must be wound.

This was not a fast...more

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May 11, 2009 Brendan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, book-club, fiction, fantasy, scifi

The tone and feel of this book reminds me a lot of China Mieville’s Perdido Street Station or The Scar, both of which take place in a steampunk world of strange creatures, mixing fantasy and science-fiction and excellent character development. Sedia brings those same ingredients to The Alchemy of Stone.

The novel tells the story of Mattie, an intelligent liberated automaton alchemist who works in the city of the gargoyles, both part of human society and disdained by it (the epithet for automatons...more The tone and feel of this book reminds me a lot of China Mieville’s Perdido Street Station or The Scar, both of which take place in a steampunk world of strange creatures, mixing fantasy and science-fiction and excellent character development. Sedia brings those same ingredients to The Alchemy of Stone.

The novel tells the story of Mattie, an intelligent liberated automaton alchemist who works in the city of the gargoyles, both part of human society and disdained by it (the epithet for automatons, btw, is clunker). The book hinges on the abusive relationship she has with her creator, a machinist (the political opponents of alchemists) who keeps her tethered both by ingrained programming and by keeping her key, because of which she must visit him regularly to be wound up. The events of the novel turn on political rebellions and citywide battles throughout which Mattie must wrestle with the basic questions of life and purpose.

It’s a pretty good book, one that I warmed to as I read it. It’s also melancholy and kind of dark; I had trouble navigating the events of Mattie’s life without real empathy for her difficult situation. A few more thoughts:

* The political intrigue between the machinists and the alchemists works really well. The machinists are depicted with the scientific-rational worldview, one in which the idea of building a solution to all problems prevails. By contrasts, alchemists are more in touch with nature (but no less petty or abusive).
* The gargoyles, a part of the book both interesting and ultimately irrelevant, serve like a kind of chorus, reflecting on the events of the book and revealing key bits of information as the plot unfolds.
* Class warfare and abuse of the underprivileged plays a key role in the novel. It’s hard not to read the history of Russia–Sedia’s birth country–as influencing this sub-plot. By the same measure, it doesn’t feel overtly Russian (whatever that might mean).
* The bodily experience of being an automaton comes through spectacularly in this book. There’s a moment where Mattie tries to sneak up on someone, only to forget that her heart’s ticking can be heard quite distinctly in a quiet clearing.
* The blood magic Mattie learns from a fellow alchemist struck me as particularly interesting and visceral. I’m still haunted by the image of the sloppy, grotesque homunculus that soils her skirts with its bloody, muddy hands.

The book also dovetails very nicely with my New Millennium Studies class reading of Frankenstein. The Alchemy of Stone supposes a similar divide between creator and created, substituting a sort-of self-pity for disgust in the creator. Mattie’s mechanic resents her desire for independence, both granting it and holding enough strings to keep her from truly leaving his sphere. In a conversation about our obligations to and from our creations, it works really well. One might also use this novel to consider the experience of parenting a teen or early twentysomething — they want their independance but they’re the first person they come to when they need your help.(less)

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Jun 03, 2011 Lauren W rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

You think you know everything that's going on in the story but then you read a little more and then something new happenes that leaves you dazed and confused. That's what makes The Alchemy of Stone different from all the others in the sci-fi fantasy world. It's one of those all around great books that keep you hooked from the beginning! Just looking at the title makes it sound like an interesting book to read. I mean who doesn't think that an intelligent automation who studies alchemy has all th...more

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Jul 17, 2009 Beth rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, fiction

The idea of clockwork intelligence is interesting. So are the traditions surrounding the Duke, Stone Monks and Gargoyles, and what it means to have a soul in the world the author created. As far as density of odd things goes, the book is solid. Maybe my suspension of disbelief stops at a clockwork first-person narrator that reads like a human, no matter how mentally disturbed its creator may have been. I know this isn't hard steampunk, but still: where are all these heat sensors? How does Mattie...more

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Jun 18, 2010 Brenda rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: those who may be curious about that genre known as steampunk

Shelves: favorites

"A novel of automated anarchy and clockwork lust."

When I first read that cover blurb for Ekaterina Sedia's _The Alchemy of Stone_ , I laughed. Let me just say that the protagonist does not seem to have the usual organs of lust. She's not a life-sized, mechanical sex toy though I did find myself comparing this figure to the charismatic gigolo-robot, played by Jude Law, in _AI_. Sedia's Mattie does comfort her maker by allowing him to carress her--before she's emancipated. But, her erogenous zon...more

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Apr 26, 2010 the little reader rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2010

i almost didn’t read this book, wavering in my interest based on the synopsis. now that i’ve read it though, i can see that this is a book about so many things and it would be impossible to do it any justice in a few words. my ultimate faith in the person who recommended it (Calico Reaction) prevailed and i am definitely glad i gave in and read it.

the political face-off between the Alchemists and the Mechanics is at a breaking point and the underground political movement is threatening all out w...more i almost didn’t read this book, wavering in my interest based on the synopsis. now that i’ve read it though, i can see that this is a book about so many things and it would be impossible to do it any justice in a few words. my ultimate faith in the person who recommended it (Calico Reaction) prevailed and i am definitely glad i gave in and read it.

the political face-off between the Alchemists and the Mechanics is at a breaking point and the underground political movement is threatening all out war. the gargoyles, as builders and protectors of the city, are dwindling in their numbers and have turned to the Alchemist Mattie, to help them find a cure for their eventual turn to immovable stone. at the core of the story is Mattie, who is an intelligent automaton, the highly sophisticated product of the mechanic Loharri. in her quest to assist the gargoyles, Mattie is drawn to the most varied and surprisingly tangible cast of characters, including the lonely, yet resigned Soul Smoker Ilmarekh and the sexy rebel Sebastian.

honestly, though, the plot lines are secondary to the characters and the writing here. Mattie, with her human-like abilities to feel pleasure and pain, and her programmatic increased sensory capacity, make her a very descriptive and emotionally driven narrator, one that is very easy to be sympathetic towards. her unique position of being an Alchemist and the creation of a Mechanic gives the reader an insider’s view to both political factions and equates to a highly readable and rather fascinating book. this is a dark and twisting story that is both thoughtful and engaging, with a great amount of depth to it.

by using Mattie and Loharri’s unique parent/child relationship, Sedia seamlessly weaves in the themes of identity, freedom, and obligation, in addition to the overlaying political and societal themes of prejudice and survival. despite the fact that Mattie was emancipated, Loharri holds power over her, not only because he is her creator and is necessary for her maintenance, but also because he refuses to hand over the key to her ticktock-ing heart. it reminded me very much of a twisted, steampunk Pinocchio mixed with a Wizard of Oz quest for a heart story. and oddly enough, it really worked.

Numb, Mattie obeyed. It was just like before, and no matter what had happened to her since, no matter how powerful or emancipated, she still did as she was told – because she could not do otherwise, because he was the one that made her. Just like the gargoyles obeyed the stone – or was it the other way around? she could not remember – she obeyed Loharri.

this is one of those rare books that could probably be enjoyed by a vast range of readers – sci fi to literature, paranormal romance to science lovers,The Alchemy of Stone manages to have a little bit of it all.(less)

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Jul 29, 2012 Erica rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In my opinion it was a little too short but, apart from that, i LOVED it. I think it's a very original story, I have never read a book with such different elements. I mean, the robots, politics, gargoyles, ghosts, alchemy and so on. I was a little disappointed with this one because when I bought the book I thought that the main topic was alchemy but then I realized that it wasn't. Through the reading I noticed that in the book the REAL alchemy was not explained and experiments carried by Mattie...more

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Sep 21, 2011 Kate rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, library-copy

Lovely and lyrical, but disappointing. Mattie, an automaton who works as an alchemist, craves her freedom. Her maker holds the key that winds her clockwork heart.

Mattie exists on the fringes of society. Her place there- out of the way, caught up between alchemists and mechanics, automatons and gargoyles- causes her to get swept away in a series of events over which she has no control and precious little influence.

Therein lies my biggest problem with "The Alchemy of Stone;" Mattie seems at almost...more

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Jan 18, 2012 Nicole Bunge rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: feminist, fantasy, tiptree-or-speculative-fiction-abo, steampunk

This book was beautiful. The prose was elegant and simple, giving enough detail to develop the otherworldly steampunk city without bogging the reader down in pages of useless description. (Frankly, it has much to do with the perspective of the emancipated automaton heroine's limited viewpoint and interest in such things as much as anything. She tastes and smells in the pursuit of her alchemy... but is not overly involved in hedonistic narcissism of human life.
I liked the gargoyles perspective,...more

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Aug 06, 2011 Leah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: steampunk, science-fiction, women-writers, gothic, fiction, 21st-century, fantasy

I've always had a curious affinity for so-called nonhuman beings. Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Edward Scissorhands, and others like them felt more curiously real to me than their flesh and blood counterparts. And now, joining that elite group is Mattie, the automaton protagonist of The Alchemy of Stone. Through Mattie, we're offered a variety of food for thought on the nature of life and death, culture and exploitation, and the nature of change and transience.
Mattie is an automaton...more I've always had a curious affinity for so-called nonhuman beings. Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Edward Scissorhands, and others like them felt more curiously real to me than their flesh and blood counterparts. And now, joining that elite group is Mattie, the automaton protagonist of The Alchemy of Stone. Through Mattie, we're offered a variety of food for thought on the nature of life and death, culture and exploitation, and the nature of change and transience.
Mattie is an automaton alchemist, created by a Mechanic, Loharri, and is emancipated, but in name only. She still depends on her master to wind her, and he traps her to him in ways even she is unaware of. It is mechanical indentured servitude, essentially. Mattie is unique among automatons in that she is aware of the indignity of this, and longs for freedom and independence. She has the capacity to feel pain and pleasure, and seems to develop th ability to feel love and hatred. She loathes her binding to Loharri, hates him for confining her, and develops friendships and even experiences infatuation and love.
Even as I was fascinated by Mattie, I was equally intrigued by the world she inhabited, which consists of equal parts steampunk, politics, and magic. The society she inhabits is deeply socially stratified, with Courtiers, Alchemists, and Mechanics upon the top tier, with the courtiers cloying and partying with the Duke, and the Alchemists and Mechanics trading sour political jabs as each vies for control of society and respect of the people. Existing in the same city but a separate world from these three are the gargoyles who created the city out of stone without so much as a chisel or hammer, who long for freedom from stone, and seek out Mattie's alchemy to deliver on this. There are also the miners and hideous "spiders" who make the city's prosperity possible through their labour and suffering, the enigmatic stone monks, "Easterners" who seek their fortune in the city but find only discrimination and mistrust, and the unique Soul Smoker, blinded and eternally alone, save for the souls which inhabit his body after he smokes them in through his opium pipe.
The social inequality experienced by Mattie, the Easterners, the Soul Smoker, and the power held over them by figures like Loharri does not go unnoticed by the reader. It is these inequalities which eventually topple the city as Mattie knows it, and her struggle for freedom remains poignant and understated until the very end. Ekaterina Sedia is a Russian born author, and if you scratched the surface of the faux-Victorian fantasy world, there's more than a hint of CCCP and Czarist likeness to the city and the way it operates, with its pyramid of classes and the near-fanatical fixation on progress and improvement the Mechanics possess.
I liked the concept, the city, and Mattie so much, I wished that I could have gotten into the book overall. But a few things prevented me from truly loving The Alchemy of Stone. I was saddened that we only got a cursory glance towards the middle and end of the lives of the spiders and miners who were leading the end to the ducal leadership. I longed for a more in-depth look at the nature of Mattie's free will, and I ached for a closer look at characters like Sebastian.
Most of all, I think I wanted the story to be more tightly knit. It does bite off a mouthful, but a few of the themes explored, such as Mattie's "humanity", her kinship with the Soul Smoker, the fact that the society Mattie previously knew was built upon exploitation and the robbing of others' happiness, and Loharri's shared past with the Soul Smoker and his motivations behind creating Mattie, and making her intelligent and wilful, deserved more page space. (less)

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Apr 29, 2010 Erika rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ayona is known as the “City of Gargoyles” as much for the dark statues along the city’s architecture as it is a concession to the way Ayona was conceived: birthed through the magic of the gargoyles who once had an ability to manipulate stone. Now these reclusive creatures are part of a triumvirate of government leaders including the Alchemists and the Mechanics. The Alchemists are preoccupied with spiritual and magical concerns; the Mechanics are focused on things physical. Together they represe...more Ayona is known as the “City of Gargoyles” as much for the dark statues along the city’s architecture as it is a concession to the way Ayona was conceived: birthed through the magic of the gargoyles who once had an ability to manipulate stone. Now these reclusive creatures are part of a triumvirate of government leaders including the Alchemists and the Mechanics. The Alchemists are preoccupied with spiritual and magical concerns; the Mechanics are focused on things physical. Together they represent the gargoyles who “shape the physical with their minds” (p.69). When the Mechanic Loharri constructs Mattie, an automaton, he doesn’t intend for her to be more than a helpmeet. In the unorthodox manner that will forever mark her character, Mattie is asked to be emancipated to learn the art of alchemy. As she gathers ingredients for bizarre concoctions to sell in her little shop, a war begins brewing between opposing sides of the city. Ayona has been polarized by an explosion that changes Mattie’s life. Now the gargoyles are flying into her window with a request…

The Alchemy of Stone is a wonderfully thematic book. With concerns over alienation, immigration, origin, ownership, trust, power, and industrialization it’s a testament to Sedia’s skills as a writer that this book wasn’t longer. Though, the best things often come in the smallest of packages. In just under 300 pages, The Alchemy of Stone explores these themes (and others) through government, class, and what it means to be an automaton in a world full of humans. The alchemical government, for one, was one of the most interesting aspects of the novel. From the very start it’s a combination putting sides often opposed in the same arena and told to work together toward the same end. This is a bit like asking Church and State to get along and ignore the friction of their underlying belief systems. The awkward relationship is one of tension and thinly veiled hostility, but serves to represent on a larger scale the unique relationship between Mattie and Loharri.
 Loharri is, unfortunately, one of the nicer Mechanics. At first it seems he might be well-intentioned, if a bit problematic. As the narrative unfolds we discover he’s merely the best of the worst. Fixing things that aren’t broken are the least of his problems, especially as those relate to Mattie--the C-3PO to his Anakin Skywalker. He doesn’t trust her, is wildly possessive and only manages to achieve an underhanded loyalty. Loharri is a loathsome character, to say the least, but he’s an ugly necessity. If it weren’t for him, Mattie wouldn’t exist.

For having no soul, Mattie’s managed to become quite a complicated thinker when it comes to love and friendship. She feels petty slights against her just like anyone else would and it’s not entirely clear if Loharri intended this or not. Mattie has a right to be wary of him--a man she can barely tolerate for his cruelty. She pities him his rare moments of vulnerability, but cannot stand his selfishness at using the key she needs to wind her body as leverage. He’s an abusive manipulator in this way, but Mattie has used this to her advantage. She’s learned to manipulate human emotions to elicit desired responses, responses she can recognize in herself in the analytical and detached way she has. She’s keenly observant of her own actions (particularly, her loudly ticking heart) as well as of those around her. Mattie’s point of view reflects her mechanical nature as much as it does her desire to emulate very human emotions and behaviors; she’s acutely aware of how many in society view automata.

She must choreograph her world against the human demands that make certain alleviating gestures necessary. Mattie realizes she is not human; most humans are distrustful of automata, especially one that can talk. Therefore, putting humans at ease is important, especially since she’s required to interact with them on an almost daily basis. I like how Mattie is still questioning whether her actions are believable. I think that doubt is wonderful in how human a reaction it is. It shows how marvelous Mattie has adapted to not being human and the extremes Loharri went to produce an automaton that works above and beyond the typical mindless drone. At the same time, though, her humanness makes her vulnerable to Loharri’s unfairness and trickery.

I love how brilliant Mattie is. She’s so inquisitive and eager to be as human as is possible. Ironically, she comes across as one of the most human characters, especially in comparison to Loharri. A few days after finishing, I’m still thinking about Mattie and what an impressive heroine she is. While Mattie had most of my attention, the gargoyles were also quite interesting. I’m not sure what to make of the stylistic choice to have their point of view all in italics. It does graphically show the leap from Mattie to the gargoyles, but adds something urgent to their speech. A dying breed would speak urgently, I would think. I wish I could have learned more about their magic or how it works. The vague explanations seemed a bit too ethereal for a book that also focuses on concrete things such as Mattie’s alchemy or the Mechanic’s machines. Granted, we never question how Mattie sentience works either, it just does. I suppose the magic of stone operates under the same presumption.

Sedia has created an amazing character in Mattie; I think the book is worth reading for her alone. She’s strong and assertive, at one point telling another, “I am not a thing” (p. 119). The Alchemy of Stone is a complicated study of humanness that grapples with complexities of the heart. Mattie’s story must be read. Her convictions and desires are enough to convince you she could be human, if she just wished hard enough.(less)

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Aug 06, 2009 Mikko Karvonen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-scifi

The Alchemy of Stone is a curious book - on surface, it's a steampunk story of a city where alchemists and mechanists fight for power until everything starts to break around them. On deeper level, it's much more about the main character, an intelligent, emancipated automaton callied Mattie, caught in the middle of everything, observing the events and humans from the view point of a true outsider.

Both aspects of the book work reasonably well. The world Ekaterina Sedia takes us is an interesting o...more

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May 19, 2010 Liz rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I had never heard of this book but picked it up at the library book sale, attracted by its cover I guess. This is science fiction/fantasy, the main character being an automaton who has been created by her make to feel both pain and pleasure. The world she lives in consists of automatons, Mechanics, Alchemists, The Duke and his Courtiers, and the Gargoyles. Mattie, the main character has been emancipated by her maker and she becomes an alchemist. The gargoyles trapped in stone have been speaking...more

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Jan 24, 2011 Julie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This novel is written in an unusual way, i.e., from the points of view of two non-human sources - an automaton and a gargoyle hive-mind. It allowed the reader to feel their sense of helplessness and confusion regarding the behavior of the humans around them. I sympathized with both Mattie and the gargoyles, as they were far more kind and humane than the self-absorbed humans, who only took notice of them when they wanted something. Both entities were treated as mere tools, though they longed for...more

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Jan 20, 2011 Sandy Parsons rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club

I wanted to like it. I really did. I picked it as my choice for the book club, after all. But after a promising start, I kept feeling like I was reading a sketch of a larger story, with an occasional burst of wonderful imagery, or a hint of a really cool idea. I loved the metaphor of Mattie and her heart, and the key to her heart, which she could never quite possess (and arguably, she sometimes seemed programmed not to want to actually achieve, all her protests notwithstanding). The soul smoker...more

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May 05, 2012 Linsey rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I had to think up a new description of how the Alchemy of Stone's plotline flowed, and this is what I managed. Imagine the plot is a puzzle and most people build puzzles toward a specific picture with all the pieces fitting together. This plot seemed more like someone took all the pieces of similar color and mashed them together. It comes out with a shape similar to the picture, but with no flow or grace about it.

I'm not really sure how to explain how the plot sped and hobbled and stuttered alon...more I had to think up a new description of how the Alchemy of Stone's plotline flowed, and this is what I managed. Imagine the plot is a puzzle and most people build puzzles toward a specific picture with all the pieces fitting together. This plot seemed more like someone took all the pieces of similar color and mashed them together. It comes out with a shape similar to the picture, but with no flow or grace about it.

I'm not really sure how to explain how the plot sped and hobbled and stuttered along, but it drove me nuts.

As far as the story goes, there is an emaciated automaton named Mattie, but she is still subjected to her creator who holds her key to wind her clockwork heart. She is an alchemist in a city that I am not sure what ever named, but seems to exist in a Steampunk timeline. Maybe similar to London. In the beginning she is asked by the gargoyles to find a way to cure them so they no longer turn to solid stone. Apparently the city was partially made and watched over by these benevolent and mostly absent creatures. There is a good deal of gargoyle narrative as they follow the city and Mattie, but the whole gargoyle thing, despite being introduced first, appears to be a subplot without much impact on the main story.

The other plot is more concerned with the city, ruled by a Duke, and the conflict between the mechanics and alchemists, an uprising stemming from the peasants being forced to work in coal mines. Also, Mattie meets new friends, gets involved somewhat though she doesn't seem to care at all, except to get her key and go back home.

I have a hard time with almost all of the characters in this. Mattie doesn't seem to have any strong consistent feelings. Maybe it was because she was an automaton, but I'd hope that would be more apparent in the writing. She likes her new friend, then she's sad for a split second when her friend leaves before not caring at all. She thinks she falls in love, but after an incident, doesn't seem to have any real feelings about that other than "I should go see him, warn him," and then decides to see someone else and warning the fellow becomes incidental.

Her relationship with her creator is bizarre. Half the time she seems to care about him and want to take care of him, and he looks on her with a somewhat possessive but kind affection. The other half the time, it seems she wants him to go die in a fire and wouldn't mind kindling it herself, despite the fact that it seems he treats her pretty decently since her emancipation and doesn't do anything outright mean to her until later.

And in the end, none of her friends seem to matter anymore, nothing matters more than just going back to making potions. The story of where her creator came from never gets resolved and we never know why Mattie's hair, that used to belong to a boy that died, was saved. And despite the fact that she met people and learned things, she seems no more enlightened or changed than the beginning. And there is no resolution, just an end with things left undone.(less)

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Jun 21, 2009 Charlene rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The first half of the book was way more interesting. The writing was great but I felt it was way too poetic for me. I was entertained at first but the amount of mystery was extremely lacking.

So the author made up this world and decided to categorize the people that live in it: automatons or robots, mechanics, gargoyles, and alchemists. And then there are the nobles or courtiers and a bunch of people on the bottom of the totem pole. Then there's a lone soulsmoker that takes your soul away before...more

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Jan 23, 2011 Logan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: borrowed-library, steampunk

First impressions: I read the first half of this book without stopping. This world is so rich and different and mysterious that I had to keep reading to figure out what was going to happen next. If you like sci-fi or steampunk even in the slightest, you will be hooked from the get-go.

Lasting impressions: The gargoyles were fascinating. Mattie is the heart of the book, but the gargoyles are the soul. I didn't quite understand them, but their presence was always lingering at the back of my mind. T...more First impressions: I read the first half of this book without stopping. This world is so rich and different and mysterious that I had to keep reading to figure out what was going to happen next. If you like sci-fi or steampunk even in the slightest, you will be hooked from the get-go.

Lasting impressions: The gargoyles were fascinating. Mattie is the heart of the book, but the gargoyles are the soul. I didn't quite understand them, but their presence was always lingering at the back of my mind. The characters and the story are dark, dirty, and complex, but definitely compelling.

Negative impressions: There were a few missteps. I wasn't a fan of the love interest for Mattie, and the "sex" scene between them was awkward at best. I just couldn't get into a man and machine hookup. I also had a hard time following the action at times. I don't know if it was because I am new to the genre or if some scenes were intentionally vague, but I didn't always grasp everything that was happening.

Overall impressions: The best way for me to describe this book is strangely beautiful. Mattie is an automaton, considered a lesser class, despite her emancipated status from her creator. She works as an alchemist and is quite good at what she does, which is what earns her a special benefactor who employs her for complex tasks. It is through this relationship that Mattie is drawn into the political upheaval happening between the alchemists, mechanics, and gargoyles in this world.

Mattie is also recruited for a task by the gargoyles, and maintains a relationship with her creator and mechanic friend, so is necessarily involved with all of these rival factions vying for control of the city. The more she's drawn into the politics, the more involved her assignments, and eventually she has to make difficult choices about who she truly serves. The story unfolds quickly, and I finished this book in two sittings.

I thought Mattie was sweet and different, and tried to suspend my disbelief and avoid asking too many questions about how she was able to think and speak and remember (particularly when her memory becomes an important plot point later in the book). Instead, I just accepted the world as I was reading about it, and it became a really fascinating story.

This was my first exposure to steampunk, and I loved it. This tale was dark, dealing with issues of slavery, class struggles, independence, and abuse. Yet it also had touching moments between friends, and showed the value of sacrifice. Mattie has to endure cruelty and hardship, but she is self-assured and never gives up on herself. Though this certainly isn't a book for everyone, if you're looking for something different you should give it a try.(less)

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