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Angelmaker

Nick Harkaway (Goodreads Author)

3.93 · Rating details · 9,612 ratings · 1,376 reviews

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 Ma ...more

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Hardcover, 478 pages

Published March 20th 2012 by Alfred A. Knopf (first published February 2nd 2012)

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Mar 19, 2013 carol. rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: genre-busters

Shelves: thriller, humor

I opened Angelmaker with high expectations. I enjoyed The Gone-Away World a great deal, and admired the blend of characterization, humor, and social commentary with a solid underlying concept. While those elements are in place for Angelmaker, it was a struggle to read until it gained momentum halfway through.

It has been a challenge to figure out why, but I think at heart, the beginning reads a little like a collection of short stories or vignettes, which makes the thriller plotting drag. There i ...more

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Apr 24, 2013 seak rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2014, audio

Nick Harkaway is a genius. Be ready for a highly impartial (minus the im-) review...

I almost just left the review like that, but I guess I'll add a few more lines:

writing: beautiful.

I gave this to a friend who only reads thrillers and mysteries (Patterson, etc.) and it was too much for him in the prose department. This is a good sign for me. That means it wasn't garbage. Okay, that's not fair, but it does mean that it had colorful prose, which it does.

humor: hilarious.

It's just about perfect. M ...more

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Oct 11, 2012 Kinga rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: pub-2012

On paper it looks perfect. Steam punk, romance, spy novel, comedy, action. All the reviews promised something I would love. But I struggled through this ‘fun, thrilling yarn’ like I struggle through some dense academic volumes. There were just too many words. Harkaway goes on and on in that typical British style that’s funny for a page but then gets tiring and all the dialogues read like a Monty Python script.

“I shall now explain my plan. You may then speak, but only to amend the detail. The br On paper it looks perfect. Steam punk, romance, spy novel, comedy, action. All the reviews promised something I would love. But I struggled through this ‘fun, thrilling yarn’ like I struggle through some dense academic volumes. There were just too many words. Harkaway goes on and on in that typical British style that’s funny for a page but then gets tiring and all the dialogues read like a Monty Python script.

“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 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.”

My eyes are rolling so hard. Everything gets lost in that verbiage – the characters, the emotions, the plot. It’s all too self-indulgent to really pull me in. The descriptions are theatrically absurd and slow down the already meandering plot.

Someone in my book group pointed out that since the narrator is a clock maker that level of inane details in the narrative is somewhat justified and ‘in the character’. While that may very well be true, it was still mind-numbing to read. The hero was so non-descript that every reader could easily identify with him, whereas all the secondary characters were mere caricatures. Polly, despite her assertions, that she is not a Bond girl, a sidekick with boobs, is exactly that. She is a teenage boy fantasy girlfriend who is beautiful and witty, loves sex, but conveniently has no actual personality, so that she could fall in love with the narrator, no questions asked.

There is something very English about this novel, it’s mostly about people being pulled into this adventure without really wanting to but being too polite to refuse. And it’s a throw back to the times when England did big things. Joe Spork, the narrator, is expected to be a criminal extraordinaire like his father, but he rejects this legacy. However, there are certain things you can't escape, so Spork takes the crown eventually but does it on his own terms. It makes a lot more sense if you remember that Nick Harkaway is the son of John Le Carre.

All in all - others love ‘Angelmaker’, people I know personally love it with an astonishing fierceness and I'm confused because not only did I not love it I can't even use my usual 'But I see why other people might love it.' cop-out. All I'm going to say you might absolutely love it and reread it every year, like some people do. I will never know why but to each their own. ...more

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Jan 08, 2011 Paul Perry rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: english, british, sf, read-in-2012, fiction, male-author, baited-breath, 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. ...more

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Jun 09, 2013 Megan Baxter rated it it was amazing

This book is crazy. It is all over the place. And yet it hangs together, better than I thought Harkaway's previous book The Gone Away World did. I enjoyed The Gone Away World even though I didn't think the story, in the end, quite jelled. This one did, and I loved it.

Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.

In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook ...more

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May 09, 2012 Clouds rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, read-in-2012, pub-2010s, science-fiction, science-fiction-stand-alone, gifts, tentacle-red

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 AND GUILTY list.

Regardless of how many books are already queued patiently on my reading list, unexpected gifts and guilt-trips will always see unplanned additions muscling their way in at the front.

I have a friend called Justin (true story); a craz ...more

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Jan 12, 2012 Paula rated it it was amazing · 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 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 stand while surveying the fatness of Reamd.

Angelmaker is leaner, sprawls less, but is similarly packed with spies and murderers and gangsters who run and drive and use weapons, and they're all real people. Well. Some of them are not. A few of them are... but no, I'm not going to say.

It goes like this: in 21st century London, there's a guy who fixes clocks. Joe. Joe's father was a notorious gangster, but Joe is on the up and up mostly. Because of his talent with clockwork, Joe is recruited to play an unwitting part in a plot, activating a strange old machine. A machine which, regardless of the varied intentions of everyone ever associated with it, has the potential to kill everyone in the world. And let me interrupt myself for a second to say that as doomsday devices go, this one is not only one of the coolest I've ever read, combining the erudition of a Foucault pendulum with the charm of a cuckoo clock; but also the most chilling in its deadly effect.

But because Joe has this heritage of the cool criminal, and his father's friends, and some remnants of his childhood training in London's (literal) underworld, he has the ability to turn his role as unfortunate pawn on its head. Which he does, and oh it feels good. There's a tommy gun involved. You know what I'm sayin. In this way, Angelmaker is like a reverse coming of age novel. Like Updike, but more fun.

I have recently begun seeing certain adventure novels as daydreams. I read The Apothecary by Maile Meloy and I thought it was like the daydream of an imaginative American girl who is desperate for something INTERESTING to happen. Charlie Higson's zombie novels are the daydreams of bored poli sci students. Daughter of Smoke and Bone is what elementary school teachers dream about while cutting animal shapes out of construction paper.

I was almost all the way through Angelmaker before I read the passage that told me who was dreaming this novel. A night shift routing controller who works for the freight rail system is approached by an older gentleman who helps her change a tire. In the process, he tells her that he is working with a wanted criminal in order to save the world, and he bribes her handsomely in order to procure her assistance.

"It's probably because he is fixing her tyre, and in a position so absolutely compromised and vulnerable that it's clear he does not propose to do her harm. It might be because he's a bit like her older brother Peter, who died last year of cancer. Or it might be the feeling she has, that everyone has, that something is happening which is really important.
So Sarah Ryce says yes [...]
A few moments later, something passes her station going at what must be over a hundred and fifty miles an hour, and the old, rusted track protests, but holds. Sarah Ryce grins, secretly: whatever she's done, it's something big."

You hear that? You hear the old, rusted track protesting, but holding? It's England. England is dreaming this novel. Is something really important going to happen in the next year? Probably. In the next six months? Maybe. Will something big happen in the next decade? Surely. But will it happen in England? No. Will British people be involved? Probably not. Unless Hot Harry possesses unexpected depths. PLEASE let Hot Harry possess unexpected depths.

But really no. So far this century, important news from Britain has largely been to do with hats. What England would dream, if it could dream, would be for pre-Cold War-style field espionage, with its fake mustaches and poisoned cocktails, to suddenly become relevant again. England misses steam engines. Instead of blowup doll models on page three, England would prefer to see Ronnie Kray, his arm slung around a tipsy chorine. Like our man Joe, England looks its best reflected in polished brass, and yes, England would very much like it if hats came back.

That's what I think about Angelmaker. I liked it. There's more to say about it, of course - there are thoughts about our better nature, as implied by the title; there are unusually good women; there is lots about craft - but a discussion of that stuff is the review this book deserves, and I am not writing that.

One last thing: my husband spotted me reading this ARC, with its plain yellow cover. He wasn't wearing his glasses and misread the title, leading him to ask incredulously if I was really reading a biography of Angela Merkel. (I'm really NOT the type of person to read a biography of Angela Merkel.) So if you need a code name for this book, and it's the kind of book that might in some eventuality need a code name, you could do worse than Angela Merkel: a biography, by Nips Harpy. ...more

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Oct 19, 2012 TheBookSmugglers rated it did not like it

Shelves: did-not-finish

I was supposed to have written a review of Nick Harkaway’s Angelmaker for Kirkus last week but I just couldn’t finish the book.

In principle, I should have loved this – heck, I had hoped Angelmaker would be so good it would even feature on my top 10 this year. It’s an outlandish Literary Fantasy novel featuring automata, London-based gangsters, World War II shenanigans and espionage with a plot to destroy the world using clockwork bees.

But an extremely bloated plot with obnoxiously verbose descri I was supposed to have written a review of Nick Harkaway’s Angelmaker for Kirkus last week but I just couldn’t finish the book.

In principle, I should have loved this – heck, I had hoped Angelmaker would be so good it would even feature on my top 10 this year. It’s an outlandish Literary Fantasy novel featuring automata, London-based gangsters, World War II shenanigans and espionage with a plot to destroy the world using clockwork bees.

But an extremely bloated plot with obnoxiously verbose descriptions (of pretty much everything the main characters come across as they wander around) plus a recently discovered aversion for third person first tense narratives unfortunately kept me from finishing the book.

It was the toe you see, that eventually did me in.

At one point in the narrative, main character Joe Spork is about to leave a room when he is stopped in his tracks by a toe. What follows is an unbearably long description of said toe which is, if you care to know: pale and round and the perfect size to be sucked. Also, and I quote: “a toe which knows the world, which has done the wicked, secret things other toes only fantasise about”.

It is uncanny the amount of information one can gather from a simple toe. Said toe is of course, linked to other four toes which are in turn attached to a calf (slender) connected to a leg belonging to a woman called Polly (referred to as “Bold Receptionist” for far too long in the narrative after she is introduced) who has the dubious and eye-rolling ability to transform utterly innocent words like “sandwich” into erotic pronunciations (according to the hero’s point of view, of course).

It was exactly at that point that I had to leave to attend a talk at Anglia Ruskin University by Philip Pullman on his new book Tales From the Brothers Grimm (the talk has been recapped brilliantly by The Other Ana over at Things Mean a Lot).

Pullman’s new book is a collection of straightforward renderings (and not embellished retellings) of 50 Grimm tales and as Mr Pullman discussed the book one of the things he said struck me as quite interesting: the fact that in these tales the characters are not real people. The very nature of the tales, which are more preoccupied with what happens next rather than with the emotional background of said characters. These characters can be perceived as puppets, as creatures without any real depth because there is a shortness of description which leads to nonexistent characterisation. To be clear, this insight is not necessarily a shortcoming but rather, provided as a means to understanding this different type of narrative mode (and its motifs). The lack of internal characterisation is exactly what gives fairytales such a rich and lasting life because they are meant to be rearranged and retold according to each storyteller’s gifts. Because characterisation is not set in stone in those stories they can be elaborated on upon their telling.

It was then that I had a EUREKA moment about what exactly was bothering me about Angelmaker.

It was its over descriptive nature of the storytelling, that often veers into random territory and results in the complete lack of actual characterisation. Ultimately, this leads to the absence of any emotional resonance. Interestingly enough those are brought forth for the exact opposite narrative technique of that of a fairytale, one that is hurt by excess rather than dearth. There is an excess of description here and we end up being told rather than shown who the characters are and how they feel. It is not something that the author is completely unaware of, by the way, as his main character remarks about his extremely verbose friend: “sometimes the plumy, playful verbiage is obnoxious. It conceals emotion.”

Quite.

I put the book down around that time when Joe met Polly’s toe (about half way through). There was nothing for me there to make me want to continue and I was quite frankly bored out of my mind at that point. Not even the awesome 90 year old lesbian self-proclaimed kick-ass supervillainess (and former spy) whose story was a thousand times more interesting than Joe’s was enough to keep my interest. ...more

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Oct 15, 2012 JBP rated it liked it

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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Aug 07, 2013 Phrynne rated it really liked it

I had been looking forward to this book so much because his first book The Gone-Away World was one of my favorite reads last year. Sadly this one was not as good and for the first half of the book I did not like it at all. It floundered along in a mess of too detailed descriptions and overwritten back stories although the story was always good when he got back to it! And then around the half way mark the story took over, the author stopped meandering and everything got so much better. In fact I ...more

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Jan 11, 2012 Kara Babcock rated it it was amazing

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

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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Feb 06, 2012 David rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: lesbian James Bonds, sons of clockmakers who have to stop apocalyptic bees

Shelves: spy, world-war-2, england, science-fiction, thriller, audiobook, british-literature, martial-arts

Having enjoyed Nick Harkaway's debut novel, The Gone-Away World, very much, I looked forward enormously to Angelmaker, hoping to find a similar spirit of gung-ho up-against-it little people against a big evil world, with extra ninjas and doomsday weapons.

And he delivered. And the only reason I am giving this 4 stars instead of 5 is that he delivered pretty much the same package.

Nick Harkaway has a definite style, a very recognizable style, dialog full of clever banter and witty asides with even ...more

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Jan 17, 2012 Jason rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2012

5 Stars

While I am giving this book full marks I cannot help but feel like I was let down or that Angelmakers was missing that extra something. The Gone Away World, Nick Harkaway’s debut novel, was my favorite read of the year, on my all time favorite list, and one that I continually think about rereading. This book, his sophomore novel, has some very high points, is written extremely well, but to me it is missing the magic that I found throughout his first book. That being said, my expectations ...more

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Apr 07, 2017 Gabrielle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: weird, steampunk, uk, to-read-again, thriller, own-a-copy, mystery, read-in-2017, reviewed, favorites

British humor, steampunk automaton, government conspiracies, characters with Dickensian names, a mystery to solve, a family past to come to grips with, a grumpy retired spy and her grumpy pug. I mean, come on: this sounds too good to be true… And yet here it is! "Angelmaker" had everything it needed to intrigue me, and I had so much fun reading it. Let the gushing begin!

Classifying this book is very tricky: it reads like a spy thriller at times, like a noir detective story at others, and like a British humor, steampunk automaton, government conspiracies, characters with Dickensian names, a mystery to solve, a family past to come to grips with, a grumpy retired spy and her grumpy pug. I mean, come on: this sounds too good to be true… And yet here it is! "Angelmaker" had everything it needed to intrigue me, and I had so much fun reading it. Let the gushing begin!

Classifying this book is very tricky: it reads like a spy thriller at times, like a noir detective story at others, and like a surreal comedy the rest of the time. I enjoyed being surprised at every turn of page by the unexpected place "Angelmaker" took me to. I shelved it as steampunk because crazy clockwork automated... things are in the story, but it's not fantasy, not even a little. But it's also not every day that a thriller will demand that its readers consider the functioning of the human mind and how perception affects reality, the mathematical effects of truth and the real motivations behind moral relativity.

Joe is the son of a legendary gangster, and grandson of a clock-maker. He takes after his grandfather - or at least he did until he got himself tangled in a strange situation: a "friend" brings him a mysterious clockwork device to fix, but that device just might be more than it seems, and some really dangerous people might be looking for it. He will need to use some of the skills and contacts that his father left behind to get himself out of trouble, with increasingly surprising results.

Edie is a retired spy: pushing ninety, she lives alone with her blind doggie, and suffers the cruel disillusionment of people who set out to change the world and were let down by a world that simply would not get better. She might be old and crotchety, but she is extremely dangerous. As we explore her very eventful history, we come to realize that she is intimately linked with the pickle Joe is stuck in. She might also be the only one who can help get him out of it.

The slightly uneven rhythm and the non-linear narrative makes this a potentially confusing book: you have to be awake and focused to read it, lest you loose your way. But Harkaway weaves such a fascinating and intricate story that regardless of those little flaws, I found the book very hard to put down. I just wanted to read it in big gulps - but I didn't because if you read this book too fast, you will inevitably miss it's quirky humor and fascinating characters. The quintessential British tone made this a complete pleasure to read: Harkaway is an excellent, funny writer with a very unique voice.

I enjoyed watching Joe coming into his own and understanding his family's complicated patrimony: he starts out so quiet, always hesitant of everything and unwilling to take any risks and finds the confidence he needs to be assertive and transcend his idea that he is stiffed by his father's inheritance. His realization that crimes are sometimes committed for good reasons, and that following the rules doesn't work when the game is rigged was an amazing and satisfying ride. Parents may leave us a complicated heritage, but there is always something to be learned from it.

Can I just said that I loved, loved Edie?! That is exactly how bad ass I hope I'll be when I'm ninety - minus the people hiring assassins to kill me, of course. Harkaway's female characters are no push overs: Polly and Frankie aren't exactly maidens in distress either, and it was lovely to read about such unusual ladies. The supporting characters are also well fleshed out, and deeper than I expected from a book that starts off with such a pulpy premise. It is easy to get attached to all of them.

If you enjoy witty language, rollicking rides on roads littered with spies, mad scientists and super creepy monks, this is an incredibly fun book that will keep you reading until the wee morning hours. 4 and a half stars, rounded up. ...more

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Jun 21, 2012 RandomAnthony rated it it was ok

Sorry, Mr. Harkaway, I'm not finishing Angelmaker. I'm going two stars with a couple hundred pages left, full disclosure. While well-written in spurts, and with an interesting end of the world premise, Angelmaker reads like a book that's trying too hard and knows a little too much about how to insert cliches. Mysterious fat guy/skinny guy pairing? Check. Kind of hot but not taking any shit from the main character girl? Check. Goofy criminal friend getting the main character in trouble? Check. So ...more

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Jan 14, 2018 Derpa rated it did not like it

Shelves: dnf

Did not finish.
The book is so weirdly written that I had a hard time concentrating on anything. Verbose, like it swallowed a thesaurus, it just really killed the momentum. I mean many of you would probably like it, but I didn't feel like I was having fun when I had no idea where we were and where we were going. It also all sounded the same. Different characters' inner monologue sounded like the author, not like separate people.
Absolutely not for me. ...more

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Mar 25, 2017 Sara rated it really liked it

Shelves: thriller, quirky, everything-and-the-kitchen-sink, weird-and-wonderful

If ever there was a book that fit the "everything and the kitchen sink" shelf this is it. Nick Harkaway clearly has lots and lots and lots of amazing stories and characters running around his head and he certainly made every effort to put all of them in this psychedelic spy thriller. Fortunately with the help of an excellent turn of phrase and a gift for making the fantastical seem entirely possible he's left us with a cornucopia of literary delights rather than a garbage plate (upstate New York If ever there was a book that fit the "everything and the kitchen sink" shelf this is it. Nick Harkaway clearly has lots and lots and lots of amazing stories and characters running around his head and he certainly made every effort to put all of them in this psychedelic spy thriller. Fortunately with the help of an excellent turn of phrase and a gift for making the fantastical seem entirely possible he's left us with a cornucopia of literary delights rather than a garbage plate (upstate New Yorkers will get that joke).

Joe Spork is a taciturn, socially challenged clock maker. He learned the trade from his grandfather who passed his love of all things mechanical to his grandson when his own son turned to a life as a local crime boss. Now both men are dead and Joe is just trying to get by.

But even if you try as hard as you can to distance yourself from the crimes of your forbears, those crimes have a way of coming back to haunt you.

When Joe's friend Billy (whose last name is Friend just to get you hopelessly confused), a good guy who dabbles in a little bit of everything arrives in his shop with a mysterious contraption he will only refer to as a "doodah" Joe abruptly finds himself the focus of an international manhunt and discovers he is quite possibly about to become the person responsible for ending (or saving) the world. Caught in a maelstrom of religious cults, nefarious government agencies and the secrets hidden in his own past it quickly becomes apparent that Joe may not be getting out this alive.

That summary just barely scratches the surface of this immense, action packed novel. Seriously there are so many quirky characters, so much rapid fire dialogue and so many crazy action scenes I couldn't list them all if I wanted to. Therein also lies the reason for four stars instead of five. While I'd definitely label this a spy thriller it is not by any means a quick read. There's a whole lotta story here and I admit it takes a little while to get into. That's a pitfall in genre bending reads I find. You're doing so much zany world building that sometimes the story disappears. Fortunately for Mr. Harkaway it never gets too out of hand.

There is a great deal to love about Joe Spork's world. So if you're into nefarious bad guys you're gonna love the one in this book and if you like your lady sidekick's sassy with a side of hutzpah you're gonna love the one in this book. If you like tragic flashback sequences full of clandestine romance, science fiction submarines and a clockwork monstrosity known as the Apprehension Machine you're gonna love this book.

I mean who doesn't love Apprehension Machines? ...more

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Aug 05, 2013 Mish rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to Mish by: Michael

Shelves: humour, fiction, mystery, fantasy, thriller, favourite, hardboiled-noir, dystopia, science-fiction

Wow! Outstanding.

Over the top, fun filled adventure novel I’ve read in ages – and slightly on the verge of madness!!!

In this story we follow the life of Joe Spork, a maker and repairer of antique clockwork and does the occasional odds and ends for his clients. A trade taught and carried on by his late grandfather. Joe prefers the quiet and uncomplicated life; a life under the radar compared to his eccentric, loud father, Matthew ‘Tommy Gun’ Spork, a legendary gangster of the Night Market. Joe’ Wow! Outstanding.

Over the top, fun filled adventure novel I’ve read in ages – and slightly on the verge of madness!!!

In this story we follow the life of Joe Spork, a maker and repairer of antique clockwork and does the occasional odds and ends for his clients. A trade taught and carried on by his late grandfather. Joe prefers the quiet and uncomplicated life; a life under the radar compared to his eccentric, loud father, Matthew ‘Tommy Gun’ Spork, a legendary gangster of the Night Market. Joe’s life takes a disastrous turn when a devise he’s working on accidently activates a doomsday machine, setting off a swarm of mechanical bees into big wild world, which could potentially destroy civilization if not stopped. A series of events follow as Joe tries figure out exactly what he has unleashed; he’s life is threatened, friends are murdered, and he is wanted man by a corrupt British government.

While this is taking place, Joe’s client Edie Banister is also targeted and on the run. Edie is an 89-year-old retired spy and the activated doomsday machine has brought about enemies of her past to reappear.

It is mainly set in the present day but occasionally it shift to the past as we go down memory lane with Joe and Edie to learn of the purpose and creator of the doomsday machine, of family connections and secrets, and of love and revenge.

Prominently science fiction but it weaves espionage, adventure, historical and futuristic elements in its plot – a little of everything to suit all taste. There’s a vast range of expert characters that repair, modify or invent unusual devices and machines. For someone like me, who doesn’t read science fiction that often, the technical details (mechanical in’s and out’s and the tools used) seemed a little heavy to begin with and slightly intimidating. But once I realized it wasn’t necessary for me to comprehend every minor detail but to understand its purpose - what it is and its intended use – I then felt more at ease and could see the plot was taking shape.

It had the funniest dialogue and scenarios by far (coordinating the train timetable into the sex scene was my favourite), which was told effortlessly. The humour starts off subtle but gradually builds until it becomes so witty and outrageously comical, it had me in a full-grown belly laugh - I couldn’t get enough of it, it had me rereading chapters/quotes over and over again (and was part of the reason it took me so long to finish it). Even the characters names were all part of the humour and well thought out.

The visual aspect of this book was like a work of art. It’s set in modern day times but occasionally you’ll get glimpses of the Victorian with the antique clockwork, toys gadget, due to Joe’s occupation. And then it would switch back in time to Joe’s father and the night market, which had an underworld gangster style feel with guns and gambling. Splashes of gold from the mechanical bees gave you a feeling of the future. Beautiful, eye catching and you never know what you’re going to see as it continuously changes from scene to scene.

The casts of characters were excessive and most peculiar; crazed brainwashed monks, a deranged Asian ruler who thinks he’s god, a glass eyed pug with an attitude (and who has a thing for Joe’s testicles). But the women in this book is what I loved most, they have a great deal of spunk - Edie whom might be 89 years old but not what she’s seems; one sweep of a karate chop and she’ll have you knock down senseless. And Polly, Joe’s love interest, is intelligent, quick witted and full of sexual power, bewitched poor Joe in a good way.

Besides all the humour and outrageous scenarios it’s also a thought-provoking book on the different viewpoints on how science and technology can better or perhaps destroy our world if it’s control/ruled by the wrong people. And it also a story of newfound love, family values and loyalty, and of self-discovery. Brilliantly constructed and well thought out novel in every possible way. It’s fast paced, and can be a little complex at times, but a must read if you like a challenge.
...more

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Feb 06, 2012 Victoria rated it did not like it · 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 16, 2012 Rebecca rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed-bookkaholic, fantasy, laugh-out-loud

Silly, sarcastic and inventive. Lovable antihero Joe Spork is the grandson of a clockmaker and son of a mobster criminal – and in this unlikely caper he ends up taking after them both. His quiet life as a restorer of antique clocks is disrupted when he gets mixed up in the search for the secrets of the Apprehension Engine, a sort of apocalypse machine that is meant to dispense truth and godlike knowledge, but in reality seems only to release menacing swarms of golden bees.

In a series of flashbac ...more

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Apr 29, 2012 Chris rated it it was amazing · 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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Feb 22, 2014 ᴥ Irena ᴥ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: humour, mystery, science-fiction, thriller

First, this book is marvellously written. It follows two sets of events - the present belonging to our hero, Joshua Joseph Spork, and the past belonging to Edie Banister, now a ninety year old former spy. Their individual chapters switch until they come to a point where they become one extraordinary story. Some of them end in cliffhanger which would have annoyed me to no end if Joe or Edie hadn't been equally interesting.

Joe Spork promised his father, a criminal genius, not to be like him and he First, this book is marvellously written. It follows two sets of events - the present belonging to our hero, Joshua Joseph Spork, and the past belonging to Edie Banister, now a ninety year old former spy. Their individual chapters switch until they come to a point where they become one extraordinary story. Some of them end in cliffhanger which would have annoyed me to no end if Joe or Edie hadn't been equally interesting.

Joe Spork promised his father, a criminal genius, not to be like him and he honoured that promised until the world messed up his peaceful existence. His only wish was to be left alone to fix various clockwork items. He chose to be quiet and not to be noticed; but he still remembered his father's lessons.(view spoiler)
His best friend brings him a strange device to fix and you can say all hell breaks loose from that point on. What follows is what could be called Joe's awakening. He learns that his world is not black and white and what happens when the world crosses the line, when 'the gangster digs his heels in' and ' the craftsman rolls up his sleeves.'

Edie's story is historical part of the book. Edie became a very competent spy on WWII. She even got an enemy for life. Now she is almost ninety and she is mad at the world, mad at those stupid governments and, above all, she is mad because the world became worse when it should have been better. There isn't any character development in her case, but young Edie is interesting enough to have a great story. The older Edie is wiser, sadder and unexpectedly dangerous to anyone who tries to hurt her or her silly dog.

I loved so many things in this book. It has so many crazy, over the top characters that there would have to be a special review only about them. but most of all I love the way the women are depicted. Even stereotypes have character. Polly is my favourite. There aren't any damsels in distress here. If anything, they are the ones causing trouble. (view spoiler)

While it was slow for some reason, there are numerous gems scattered all throughout the book. Humour, wit, sarcasm, irony, you can find everything in this book. It made me cry, it made me happy, it made me think. The ending is not a fairy tale nothing bad happened type. Considering everything that happens in this book, it is close to a fairy tale ending as it can be.

There is one thing that I would have changed or shortened. It is more my personal preference than anything else. There is a part of the story (somewhere after two thirds of the book) when Joe finds himself alone. It was longer than I would have liked.

Besides the great story, this book will make you think about the absolute truth and its value in the world and in the lives of individuals. ...more

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Mar 22, 2012 Michael rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

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

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

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Oct 07, 2016 Abigail rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery, fantasy, read-in-2016, fiction, magic-realism, top-10-2016

I enjoyed Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway. I was immensely drawn in from the start, and continually intrigued by the paths the story was taking. Based on the first half (or more) of the book, I didn't necessarily expect the turn our protagonist Joe Spork took, and I'm still not sure how it felt to me - almost like two parallel story lines converging into one; a little unexpected, maybe a little clunky, but ultimately it ran smoothly. Joe Spork from two realities meeting and morphing into one like Fi ...more

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Apr 02, 2012 Kim rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Kim by: Michael

Shelves: black-humour, sci-fi, action, crime, alternate-history, conspiracy, male-author, mystery, spy, clockwork

This is a quite a strange book. It starts out as a mystery involving a mild-mannered clockmaker and it evolves and transforms through a World War II spy story, a bizarre psychoanalytical section and finally 50's/60's-style England gangster.

While it wasn't very engaging at first it slowly picked up steam especially once I got to Edie's back story. From there the story propelled on through twists and turns to the good, but inevitable, ending. Joe was a great character as he went through a transfor ...more

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Oct 31, 2012 Lea rated it liked it

Shelves: acquired-2012, read-2012, books-i-own, reviews

Oh my goodness. I should have LOVED this book -- and there was a lot about it that I really did like. But the length of it, my god, the length. The story goes back and forth between World War II and the present day -- while the backstory provided by the historical segments was necessary, it was all just too damn long, and it pushed me past my breaking point. So much so that I was literally struggling to finish the book by the final few pages -- pages that, under normal circumstances, would leave ...more

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Mar 02, 2013 nostalgebraist rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sf

Nick Harkaway is a puzzle. Does he write above his material, or below it? By his "his material" do I mean his ludicrous, pulpy, indulgent stories, or do I mean the joyous sense of humanity, camaraderie and good humor with which he tells them? Which of these is more fundamental?

In his very perceptive review of Harkaway's debut, The Gone-Away World, Jonathan McCalmont pinpoints what is offputting about Harkaway's characters:

When Master Wu dies, for example, we are expected to feel sadness and, to Nick Harkaway is a puzzle. Does he write above his material, or below it? By his "his material" do I mean his ludicrous, pulpy, indulgent stories, or do I mean the joyous sense of humanity, camaraderie and good humor with which he tells them? Which of these is more fundamental?

In his very perceptive review of Harkaway's debut, The Gone-Away World, Jonathan McCalmont pinpoints what is offputting about Harkaway's characters:

When Master Wu dies, for example, we are expected to feel sadness and, to a certain extent, we do. However, this is not because Harkaway creates well drawn characters who inspire empathy; rather it is because Harkaway has a gift for description and does not hesitate to preload all of his characters with the emotional responses he expects from us. Consider the above description of Master Wu as a spry, whimsical, jovial, and loveable old man. He is loveable because that characteristic is built into him from the start, along with the fact that he is an 80 year-old kung fu master. Harkaway does not show us his characters' natures; he tells us. In truth his characters are barely differentiated and are memorable only because Harkaway is particularly skilled in the art of what James Blish once called "substituting funny hats for characterisation." In effect, Harkaway relies exclusively upon his linguistic skill to do all of the book's heavy emotional lifting. This makes reading it much like watching a weakly written film with a magnificently moving score: it affects us, but once the experience is over we realise quite how manipulative and lacking in genuine emotional content the experience was.

This is harsh, but it's only one side of the story. The other side is that Harkaway writes his "score" very, very well. The standard Harkaway character is someone the protagonist already knows as of their first appearance in the story, and whose arrival on the page comes with a rush of associations and deftly selected memories. Harkaway's sense of human relationships is so finely honed that the reader feels, after receiving one of these brief packages of info, that they have been invited into the private texture of a real bond between two people. This is what McCalmont means by "preloading characters with emotional responses" -- but if the preloading feels authentic, what's wrong with it? Fiction by its nature has to abbreviate, and Harkaway's prodigious skill at the abbreviation of human life is something to be lauded.

A little bit of this kind of writing goes a long way -- and Harkaway never gives us more than a little bit. Having established one of these instant character studies ("just add reader!"), he considers his work done and moves on the next shiny plot destination. The reader wants to know more -- to spend more time in this new human environment that has been so promisingly sketched -- but no, it turns out this new character was just a plot device in the action-adventure story. They promptly disappear, possibly by dying, possibly just by getting put in the closet with all the other outdated toys. And then, just when the reader is wondering just what Harkaway's priorities are, Harkaway helpfully throws in some ninjas or zombies or world-destroying ultimate weapons to clarify that his first priority is always to be AWESOME!!!!!

It gets wearying, this AWESOME!!!!!ness. I don't read very much stuff like this, not because I'm opposed to AWESOME!!!!!ness per se, but because it tends to be badly written. Harkaway's books are not badly written, but I'm not sure that entirely solves the problem. Everything in these books is so damn fun, an atmosphere clogged with fun, fun ultimately a noxious gas that stifles the growth of those little sprouts of humanity that keep poking their heads up. One feels fond enough of these people to want to know what these people are like on an ordinary day, but Harkaway doesn't have time to tell your about that because he wants to tell you about the day his lesbian James Bond rescued her psychic French mad scientist lover from the Opium Khan. No one has room to breathe, or laugh, or break down, except in ways that aid the clockwork plot.

This review is basically a rewrite of my review of The Gone-Away World, because Angelmaker might as well be a rewrite of The Gone-Away World. I thought that one Gone-Away World was about the right number. The jarring qualities of The Gone-Away World are now jarring qualities of the Harkaway brand; you can't explain them away with reference to any of TGAW's particular themes or ideas, because now here is its brother, with totally different themes and ideas, with better pacing and characterization, leaner, more focused, but still with the same basic daftness. Every chapter, in both of these books, begins with a set of three mysterious italicized phrases which refer, often in oblique and/or witty ways, to the events one will read about in the chapter. (From the first chapter of Angelmaker: "The socks of the fathers; mammalian supremacy; visiting an old lady.") TGAW and Angelmaker are different books, not part of any sort of series, and yet those chapter headings -- along with numerous quirks of plotting and character -- link them together under one ominous aegis, the Harkaway brand which has now taken definite shape. I hope that Harkaway will one day write something without triune italic chapter headings, yea, without AWESOME!!!!!ness. Angelmaker does not inspire confidence.

Four stars? Wasn't this review kind of . . . negative? Well, yeah, but I rated The Gone-Away World five stars and that review was even more negative. As in that case, I feel a force pressing staunchly at the star rating from below -- the force of Harkaway's undeniable skill and the brute fact of just how much fun these books are to read. I would expect Harkaway to be more widely read than he is. Isn't there plenty of adventure/sci-fi writing out there that's just like this except worse and more popular? Maybe the problem is the warmth; maybe people who read this stuff want grit, nihilism and betrayal, not the chummy Harkaway world where everyone goes way back with everyone else. (The blurb describes Angelmaker as "blistering gangster noir," which is incredibly misleading, because these are about the cuddliest gangsters you will encounter in fiction.) I, anyway, had way too much fun with this one to go anywhere below four. You got me again, Nick -- you overachieving, underachieving bastard. ...more

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Mar 19, 2012 Rick-Founder JM CM BOOK CLUB rated it it was amazing

"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 "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 ...more

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May 12, 2012 William Thomas rated it it was amazing

Shelves: believe-the-hype, general-fiction, futurism, fabulism, metaphysical, absurdist, not-punk, shut-up-with-everything-being-punk

I'm a sucker for a great cover. The old adage about not judging only applies in its metaphoric sense. Anything with a phenomenal graphic design like 'Angelmaker' will make me wet myself with all of the aesthetic pleasure to be had. Reading the book is a very secondary pleasure. I collect books sometimes just for the cover and let them sit around the house as decration. The premiise of 'Angelmaker' was so intriguing that I didn't do the usual 'let-the-new-book-sit-around-for-3-years-before-I-read ...more

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Mar 08, 2012 J.P. rated it it was amazing

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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About Nick Harkaway

Nick Harkaway

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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

“I love you forever. I am sorry I cannot love you now.” — 67 likes

“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.” — 36 likes

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