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"Lively and thought-provoking...Lake effectively anneals steampunk with geo-mechanical magic in an allegorical matrix of empire building and Victorian natural science." --"Publishers Weekly" (starred review) on "Escapement"
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Paolina Barthes is a young woman of remarkable intellectual ability - a genius on the level of Isaac Newton. But she has grown up in isolation, in a small village of shipwreck survivors, on the Wall in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. She knows little of the world, but she knows that England rules it, and must be the home of people who possess the learning that she so desperately wants. And so she sets off to make her way off the Wall, not knowing that she will bring her astounding, unschooled talent for sorcery to the attention of those deadly factions who would use or kill her for it.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I picked up this novel's predecessor, Mainspring, after enjoying the "50s-style sf alien encounter with added Nazis/gangsters" that was Rocket science and a string of strong short stories (On the human plain, Last plane to heaven: a love story, Human error, The sky that wraps the world round, past the blue and into the black) that were evidence of a highly imaginative writer who could adopt different styles and modes with aplomb.
Imaginative certainly applies in spades to this series. The Earth and the other celestial bodies follow visible geared "tracks" through the solar system, with the connection points being at their equators. On Earth the equatorial track is an enormous uncrossable 'Wall' and divides the north and south hemispheres. The northern hemisphere is geographically identical to our Earth, but has a 19th century-level civilisation which is controlled by two mighty empires, British and Chinese, using flying ships and submarines in an alternate-world built around steampunk technologies. What lies in the southern hemisphere is unknown. Because the "machinery of existence" is so obvious, religion is powerful but changed: for Christians, for example, their 'Christ' died on a Wheel, not a Cross.
In Mainspring, Hathor, a lowly apprentice, is given a quest by an angel to find a 'Key' and rewind the 'Mainspring' of the world. Overcoming all sorts of opposition, from jealous, powerful rivals to a potpourri of strange creatures and landscapes, he achieves his quest. Hathor is absent from 'Escapement'. Its main characters are Yale University librarian Emily Childress and Chief Angus al-Wazir from the airship Bassett (both of whom appear in Mainspring), and Boaz the Brass Man (a robot), and Paolina Barthes, a child prodigy, who lives on the Wall itself. All these characters trace paths that eventually cross, and these paths illuminate more of Lake's strange clockwork universe.
As well as the clash of Empires, there is a struggle between two global secret societies who have different views on how to approach their strange world, either to accept it as it is, or try to control it. The two northern Empires, having reached a stalemate, are tring to find a way into the southern hemisphere, the British by means of a giant tunnelling engine, the Chinese via the excavation of old ruins of a city near Singapore, seeking lost knowledge. Paolina is sought by all these factions, as with a device she self-builds called a 'gleam', she can manipulate the workings of the world directly. Originally wanting to escape, she realises how wrong her view of things is: she wants freedom and wisdom but finds both where she least expects. Childress has to impersonate a 'Mask', a high-up in one of the secret societies, but achieves more by being herself. Chief Angus al-Wazir is an agent of the Queen but eventually realises that there are deeper loyalties. The most interesting character is Boaz, who seems to be an emergent AI from a machine civilisation. He is also from the Wall, which seems to house a multitude of races and wonders, like winged people that attack the British drilling expedition and an underground rail system that runs around the equator!
It is the sheer invention displayed that I think makes this novel worth reading. I wonder how all these ideas, threads and characters will converge and work out in 'Pinion' which recently came out in hardback.
Imaginative certainly applies in spades to this series. The Earth and the other celestial bodies follow visible geared "tracks" through the solar system, with the connection points being at their equators. On Earth the equatorial track is an enormous uncrossable 'Wall' and divides the north and south hemispheres. The northern hemisphere is geographically identical to our Earth, but has a 19th century-level civilisation which is controlled by two mighty empires, British and Chinese, using flying ships and submarines in an alternate-world built around steampunk technologies. What lies in the southern hemisphere is unknown. Because the "machinery of existence" is so obvious, religion is powerful but changed: for Christians, for example, their 'Christ' died on a Wheel, not a Cross.
In Mainspring, Hathor, a lowly apprentice, is given a quest by an angel to find a 'Key' and rewind the 'Mainspring' of the world. Overcoming all sorts of opposition, from jealous, powerful rivals to a potpourri of strange creatures and landscapes, he achieves his quest. Hathor is absent from 'Escapement'. Its main characters are Yale University librarian Emily Childress and Chief Angus al-Wazir from the airship Bassett (both of whom appear in Mainspring), and Boaz the Brass Man (a robot), and Paolina Barthes, a child prodigy, who lives on the Wall itself. All these characters trace paths that eventually cross, and these paths illuminate more of Lake's strange clockwork universe.
As well as the clash of Empires, there is a struggle between two global secret societies who have different views on how to approach their strange world, either to accept it as it is, or try to control it. The two northern Empires, having reached a stalemate, are tring to find a way into the southern hemisphere, the British by means of a giant tunnelling engine, the Chinese via the excavation of old ruins of a city near Singapore, seeking lost knowledge. Paolina is sought by all these factions, as with a device she self-builds called a 'gleam', she can manipulate the workings of the world directly. Originally wanting to escape, she realises how wrong her view of things is: she wants freedom and wisdom but finds both where she least expects. Childress has to impersonate a 'Mask', a high-up in one of the secret societies, but achieves more by being herself. Chief Angus al-Wazir is an agent of the Queen but eventually realises that there are deeper loyalties. The most interesting character is Boaz, who seems to be an emergent AI from a machine civilisation. He is also from the Wall, which seems to house a multitude of races and wonders, like winged people that attack the British drilling expedition and an underground rail system that runs around the equator!
It is the sheer invention displayed that I think makes this novel worth reading. I wonder how all these ideas, threads and characters will converge and work out in 'Pinion' which recently came out in hardback.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
11 reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
OK in its way
28 Aug 2009
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The book was at least 1/3rd too long. The story of Ms. Childress had very little to do with the resolution and while her adventures were mildly interesting they added nothing. Traveling around the world in a submarine might be interesting reading, but not here. The story of the girl who made the gleam was interesting while she was on the Wall, but her trip to Europe and Egypt could have been improved. I never had the feeling that the author had been to Europe or Egypt. The author enjoys throwing out inferences to shadow groups and conspiracies, but you have to do more than glimpse someone once in awhile having an obscure conversation. The story of the sailor was just repetitious, fight an overwhelming number of people, get wounded, wander on, fight an overwhelming number of people.
As for the resolution, it was rushed and unsatisfying. You never had the feeling that any of the three parts were in danger, so there was little suspense. I have spent hundreds of pages with these people and you want more than a page saying that she wandered off with a character who is minor if not completely unknown.
As for the resolution, it was rushed and unsatisfying. You never had the feeling that any of the three parts were in danger, so there was little suspense. I have spent hundreds of pages with these people and you want more than a page saying that she wandered off with a character who is minor if not completely unknown.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
A Great Book! Vastly Superior To Mainspring
25 Sep 2008
Format:Hardcover
Escapement is a great book. All of the good parts of its predecessor Mainspring are present with none of the bad parts. Because of Mainspring, I picked up and started Escapement with caution and low expectations. Now that I'm done, I can't wait for the next book in the series. This is some tasty fantasy!
My only complaint would be that we only got a glimpse of the many exciting and interesting locations and people our protagonists encounter. Hopefully Jay is planning to make this a long series with many installments, because he's created a world that deserves and supports many more adventures.
My only complaint would be that we only got a glimpse of the many exciting and interesting locations and people our protagonists encounter. Hopefully Jay is planning to make this a long series with many installments, because he's created a world that deserves and supports many more adventures.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Better than the first book -- but please read them in order!
20 Feb 2011
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I finished reading Jay Lake's "Escapement" this morning. I enjoyed the book, which I found to be richer and deeper than "Mainspring", the first book in Lake's Clockwork Trilogy. ("Pinion", the third book in the trilogy, is currently available in trade paperback.) I don't have time for a full review, but I do want to comment on three things that the existing reviews on Amazon.com appear to have gotten wrong:
1. Read "Mainspring" first. Most of the people who have reviewed "Escapement" on Amazon.com appear not to have read the first book in the trilogy, and I think that has affected both their understanding of and their emotional engagement with the second book. While it is possible to read and mostly understand "Escapement" on its own, the first book eases the reader into the spirit of Lake's work in a way that the second does not.
2. Don't expect a religious tract. This trilogy is a "what if?" story: What if the world was so obviously designed and built by an intelligent hand that nobody could deny the fact? Lake's answer is, essentially, that religion isn't about objective facts, it's about what people make of the objective facts, and even really big, obvious, objective facts can produce many distinct (and possibly warring) subjective interpretations. It's more difficult to say what Lake wants us to make of the magical (and possibly Divine) events that occur, such as the appearance of Archangel Gabriel to young Hethor in "Mainspring", but I (a) hope that he provides some clarification in "Pinion" and (b) think that he's mainly just playing around with his own authorial role as God the Creator of this fictional world.
3. Don't expect pure steampunk, pure clockpunk, or pure anything. I would describe these books as fantasy with steampunk/clockpunk trappings, religious interests, mildly archaic language, and picaresque tendencies, leavened with a bit of science fictional narrative distance and fascination with weird technologies. As a science fiction fan who sometimes reads fantasy and who has no special interest in steampunk or clockpunk, this is fine by me, but readers who are heavily invested in *punk subgenres may be put off.
Lake's Clockwork Trilogy does not represent a major breakthrough in fiction, and I doubt it will bring on many religious epiphanies, but it is (at least in the first two books) well-written, packed with adventure, spiced with nice bits of weirdness, and sufficiently thought-provoking to avoid being filed in the "empty escapism" bin.
1. Read "Mainspring" first. Most of the people who have reviewed "Escapement" on Amazon.com appear not to have read the first book in the trilogy, and I think that has affected both their understanding of and their emotional engagement with the second book. While it is possible to read and mostly understand "Escapement" on its own, the first book eases the reader into the spirit of Lake's work in a way that the second does not.
2. Don't expect a religious tract. This trilogy is a "what if?" story: What if the world was so obviously designed and built by an intelligent hand that nobody could deny the fact? Lake's answer is, essentially, that religion isn't about objective facts, it's about what people make of the objective facts, and even really big, obvious, objective facts can produce many distinct (and possibly warring) subjective interpretations. It's more difficult to say what Lake wants us to make of the magical (and possibly Divine) events that occur, such as the appearance of Archangel Gabriel to young Hethor in "Mainspring", but I (a) hope that he provides some clarification in "Pinion" and (b) think that he's mainly just playing around with his own authorial role as God the Creator of this fictional world.
3. Don't expect pure steampunk, pure clockpunk, or pure anything. I would describe these books as fantasy with steampunk/clockpunk trappings, religious interests, mildly archaic language, and picaresque tendencies, leavened with a bit of science fictional narrative distance and fascination with weird technologies. As a science fiction fan who sometimes reads fantasy and who has no special interest in steampunk or clockpunk, this is fine by me, but readers who are heavily invested in *punk subgenres may be put off.
Lake's Clockwork Trilogy does not represent a major breakthrough in fiction, and I doubt it will bring on many religious epiphanies, but it is (at least in the first two books) well-written, packed with adventure, spiced with nice bits of weirdness, and sufficiently thought-provoking to avoid being filed in the "empty escapism" bin.
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