book review: Mainspring
Mainspring
by: Jay Lake
I have to say, the opening chapter put me off. Especially the last page or so, I was like really? Really? Not only do the apprentice’s master’s sons hate him, but one happens to beat him up and steal the last of his father’s money on the way out of town? Ugh. Are we back here again? I get that this is probably a retelling of the classic poor/apprentice/beggar boy rises to the task of being a hero via steampunk BUT don’t overdo it. Please. There are other ways to stack the deck that aren’t so obvious.
Anyway, that aside, I enjoyed the book. It wasn’t awesome, but it did pull me through it – and that’s the real test. The characters were engaging enough to keep me reading – although there was really only 1 actual character – the others all lacked in depth. We don’t even get a proper motivation for the semi-villain other than a general philosophy (an actual philosophy) that he ascribes to that, by definition, is against what the hero is trying to do.
The world Lake paints here though is crazy interesting. I mean, the Earth literally moves through space along a GIANT track….the gear teeth form a wall miles (?) high along the equator. That wall divides the Earth in half (how could it not?) – the north is the more “steampunky” side, complete with dirigible airships, clocks and a funky religion that’s a mashup up of Victorian Christianity and uhh… gears. Or something. And the south is the more “magical” side, peopled with a ton of not-exactly-human humanoids, functional magic and other bits and pieces. So yeah, very visually interesting.
There is a scene or two that wow umm, some people will not be cool with. Maybe because they are old fashioned or maybe because <SPOILER>. It surprised me, I’ll admit. But maybe I’m just a <SPOILER>. At the core, it’s a simple journey/quest story. That’s it. But the journey takes the lead through interesting terrain… potentially interesting terrain at least. Much of it is just skipped/skimmed/flown over and ignored. Lake throws out so much stuff here that the majority of it gets basically ignored, and we’re left none the wiser.
The ending was… to be expected I suppose given the angelic/deity involvement but still… it was kinda lame.
THREE STARS
I wanted more than it had to give, but what it had was ok.
[...] A reader reacts to Mainspring — Mixed review, generally positive. [...]
This is how I know we’re different types of readers. You say, the opening chapter put me off but. I say, the opening chapter put me off. And that’s it. I have no idea how the rest of the book went because the opening chapter put me off. Exception: I read Janet Fitch or Finch’s “White Oleander” because I really like the movie and I heard the movie “ruined” the book so I had to see how much I’d hate the book. And hate it I did. I’m glad she learned to write in a community college writing course, I really am. But I put that book down for three whole months in the middle of an “intense” period and I forgot I had the book until I found it lying around. Finished it so I could berate like I’m doing right now. The end.
Yeah, there’s maybe only one or two books that I have put down. And I’m glad I didn’t put this one down.
Why, because the author linked to your review? :P
Because the world was interesting, and I’ve got two other books from the semi-series (because the same characters don’t seem to carry over I’m not sure what to call it) in my to-read list… so I have something to look forward to as opposed to dread? Because yes, some of what I read is “genre research” in the sense that I’m curious what’s going on with modern works in that sub-genre…but I do still want to enjoy it.