- Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: Gollancz; New edition edition (17 Aug 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0575059176
- ISBN-13: 978-0575059177
- Product Dimensions: 17.4 x 11.2 x 3.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,074,971 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Pasquale's Angel
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
In his fifth SF novel, the versatile Paul McAuley turns from outer space to alternate history and a 16th-century Florence where many of the strange, wonderful devices sketched in the notebooks of the "Great Engineer", Leonardo da Vinci, have been built and made to work. The skies of Italy are darkened with sulphurous smog from Industrial Revolution factories, crude engines throb loudly everywhere, and steam-powered automobiles chug along the streets. Young artist Pasquale--threatened like other painters by Leonardo's latest invention of photography-- finds himself working hand in glove with cynical journalist Niccolo Machiavegli on the investigation of a locked-room murder which is one small symptom of the corruption at the heart of this transformed Florence. Michelangelo, Raphael, Aretino, Copernicus and other historical notables are entangled in events, while ancient Leonardo's now ageing toy-boy Salai plays a sinister part. War with Spain looms, and one particular creation of the Engineer must be kept out of enemy hands. This rearranged history is plausibly and cleverly developed, climaxing with a set-piece assault on the mansion of a supposed magician, using some eccentric state-of-the-art war machines. But Pasquale's art is more important to him than any technology, and McAuley persuades us to sympathize with his private goals. A satisfying read. --David Langford
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
A combination of thriller, historical novel and novel of ideas, which portrays the Italian Renaissance as it might have been if Leonardo had been employed as an engineer rather than an artist. The author wrote "Eternal Light" and won the Philip K. Dick Award for "Four Hundred Billion Stars".
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It's a neat idea. DaVinci puts all his energies into engineering projects, rather than art, and suddenly Renaissance Florence is full of dark satanic mills.
It's very well, and originally, thought out. McAuley eschews special effects and whizz-bang anachronisms (apart from a cheeky little car chase, bravo!) for clever social and political extrapolation, giving us a plausible picture of an unexpectedly industrialised Italian city state. In a pleasing twist, for example, the hi-tech, relatively secularised Italians get first dibs on America, ensuring more cordial relations with the native population, and hence a small dollop of Native American culture taking hold back home (while the rabidly Catholic Spanish froth desparately at the mouth to get some converting done).
All this is done subtly, through convincing, earthy dialogue and unobtrusive, passing details that never feel like the idea is being indulged at the expense of the story. However, it's that very story that undoes all this good work, a locked room murder that develops somewhat incoherently into a full blown MacGuffin chase.
McAuley introduces too many characters, a shame because his two central ones are so well-drawn that we could spend more time with them. He layers up the intrigue so heavily that I had to read certain chapters twice before I could figure out what was going on: not good in something that's supposed to be a ripping thriller.
The major problem, however, is the Big Red Herring. What are all these shady characters after? McAuley spends so much time misleading us on this, that when we finally discover the real object of desire, it feels perfunctory and irritating, like those bad detective shows where the murderer is always, by default, the one least likely to have done the deed. McAuley could, and can, do better.
Format:Paperback
IMHO "Pasquale`s Angel" is one of best novels by Paul J. McAuley. First of all it is very beautifully written, secondly - it is very interesting political criminal novel set in industrial Florence of the 15th century, where all technical inventions of Leonardo are used in everyday life.
The worst mistake of all alternative history novels - to use historical environment as rich decoration for modern story with contemporary minded heroes. Usually, by the way, the knowings of history by sci-fi authors who used to write such fiction are very poor. I`m a historian, so I don`t like the majority of such writings.
Paul McAuley deeply knows and understands the spirit of the Renaissance and the Mannerism culture, and because of it he gives to the reader lively 3D vision of this imagined world. So if you like the art and literature of the Renaissance - this novel would be a gift for you, you would meet there many familiar persons. And if "Da Vinci`s Code" - IMHO - with its stupid ideas - could only blur your vision of history and Leonardo`s art, this novel could help to understand Renaissance culture better (there were some dark aspects in this art and in the lifestyle of that epoch).
If you are lover of more hard sci-fi and fantasy - read "Confluence" by Paul McAuley.
The worst mistake of all alternative history novels - to use historical environment as rich decoration for modern story with contemporary minded heroes. Usually, by the way, the knowings of history by sci-fi authors who used to write such fiction are very poor. I`m a historian, so I don`t like the majority of such writings.
Paul McAuley deeply knows and understands the spirit of the Renaissance and the Mannerism culture, and because of it he gives to the reader lively 3D vision of this imagined world. So if you like the art and literature of the Renaissance - this novel would be a gift for you, you would meet there many familiar persons. And if "Da Vinci`s Code" - IMHO - with its stupid ideas - could only blur your vision of history and Leonardo`s art, this novel could help to understand Renaissance culture better (there were some dark aspects in this art and in the lifestyle of that epoch).
If you are lover of more hard sci-fi and fantasy - read "Confluence" by Paul McAuley.
Format:Paperback
I`m not agree with the previous reviewers. IMHO "Pasquale`s Angel" is one of best novels by Paul J. McAuley. First of all it is very beautifully written, secondly - it is very interesting political criminal novel set in industrial Florence of the 15th century, where all technical inventions of Leonardo are used in everyday life.
The worst mistake of all alternative history novels - to use historical environment as rich decoration for modern story with contemporary minded heroes. Usually, by the way, the knowings of history by sci-fi authors who used to write such fiction are very poor. I`m a historian, so I don`t like the majority of such writings.
Paul McAuley deeply knows and understands the spirit of the Renaissance and the Mannerism culture, and because of it he gives to the reader lively 3D vision of this imagined world. So if you like the art and literature of the Renaissance - this novel would be a gift for you, you would meet there many familiar persons. And if "Da Vinci`s Code" - IMHO - with its stupid ideas - could only blur your vision of history and Leonardo`s art, this novel could help to understand Renaissance culture better (there were some dark aspects in this art and in the lifestyle of that epoch).
If you are lover of more hard sci-fi and fantasy - read "Confluence".
The worst mistake of all alternative history novels - to use historical environment as rich decoration for modern story with contemporary minded heroes. Usually, by the way, the knowings of history by sci-fi authors who used to write such fiction are very poor. I`m a historian, so I don`t like the majority of such writings.
Paul McAuley deeply knows and understands the spirit of the Renaissance and the Mannerism culture, and because of it he gives to the reader lively 3D vision of this imagined world. So if you like the art and literature of the Renaissance - this novel would be a gift for you, you would meet there many familiar persons. And if "Da Vinci`s Code" - IMHO - with its stupid ideas - could only blur your vision of history and Leonardo`s art, this novel could help to understand Renaissance culture better (there were some dark aspects in this art and in the lifestyle of that epoch).
If you are lover of more hard sci-fi and fantasy - read "Confluence".
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Out of the Ordinary
After 4 fairly straight ahead hard-sf novels, Paul J McAuley makes a slight detour with this excellent historical thriller. Read more
Published on 26 Dec 2003 by Jane Aland
Not his best novel despite the compelling plot...
I read this after the absolutely fantastic "Fairyland" and was disapointed I'm afraid. The plot is compelling... Read more
Published on 4 Aug 2001 by Jess (jez@vesicapisces.fsnet.co.uk)
First Sidewise Award Winner
McAuley's Pasquale's Angel was the first winner of the Sidewise Award for Alternate History. It skillfully tells a story of intrigue in a Renaissance Italy in which Leonardo da... Read more
Published on 6 Nov 1998
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
