Identify Books Supposing Mainspring (Clockwork Earth #1)
| Original Title: | Mainspring |
| ISBN: | 0765317087 (ISBN13: 9780765317087) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Clockwork Earth #1 |
| Literary Awards: | Sidewise Award Nominee for Alternate History (2007) |
Jay Lake
Hardcover | Pages: 320 pages Rating: 3.22 | 2161 Users | 287 Reviews
Define Out Of Books Mainspring (Clockwork Earth #1)
| Title | : | Mainspring (Clockwork Earth #1) |
| Author | : | Jay Lake |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 320 pages |
| Published | : | June 12th 2007 by Tor Books (first published 2007) |
| Categories | : | Science Fiction. Steampunk. Fantasy. Fiction. Alternate History |
Interpretation As Books Mainspring (Clockwork Earth #1)
Jay Lake's first trade novel is an astounding work of creation. Lake has envisioned a clockwork solar system, where the planets move in a vast system of gears around the lamp of the Sun. It is a universe where the hand of the Creator is visible to anyone who simply looks up into the sky, and sees the track of the heavens, the wheels of the Moon, and the great Equatorial gears of the Earth itself.Mainspring is the story of a young clockmaker's apprentice, who is visited by the Archangel Gabriel. He is told that he must take the Key Perilous and rewind the Mainspring of the Earth. It is running down, and disaster to the planet will ensue if it's not rewound. From innocence and ignorance to power and self-knowledge, the young man will make the long and perilous journey to the South Polar Axis, to fulfill the commandment of his God.
Rating Out Of Books Mainspring (Clockwork Earth #1)
Ratings: 3.22 From 2161 Users | 287 ReviewsCriticize Out Of Books Mainspring (Clockwork Earth #1)
I love cool ideas. Nothing excites me more than a really gonzo idea story. Jay Lake, a superb short-story writer, is the kind of guy who has a half dozen mind-blowing ideas before breakfast. (Which is one reason why I both admire and hate him. Also, he writes crazy fast, which is another reason for admiring and hating him.) The premise behind Mainspring is one of the coolest things I've encountered in a long time.I've heard it claimed that Isaac Newton changed the way natural philosophers viewedImagine a world in which god is the ultimate clockmaker, the pre-Einsteinian world of Newtonian physics, but taken literally: the solar system really is on a series of gears, the Equator is a brass gear miles high with miraculously-machined teeth meshing with the cog of the world's orbit, and imagine that the Earth is winding down and must be rewound. That is the mission given to Hethor, a clockmaker's apprentice in Victorian New Haven, by the archangel Gabriel. If you imagine this as a pocket
I have just finished rereading this book for the first time. On second exposure it is even better than I had remembered. It is both subtle and outrageous. It is a marvelous chance to step out of our own familiar world filled with marvels, into a world strange and steeped in the elements of our own, but rendered in strange hues, as if seen through the distorted lens of a funhouse mirror. It is more than Hethor's story, it is the story of the Brass Christ, and the mysterious sorcerer (or not)
Warning: Mild SpoilersFirst, I liked this book. It's an entertaining read.That said, I was disappointed with it. I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. That's not to say it's bad, because it's not. It's more a case of it's not anywhere near as good as it could be.The main problem I had with it is that Hethor, the book's protagonist, never does much of anything. The book sort of happens to him.In a way, instead of the Victorian Era flavor Lake was going for, he ends up invoking an
I really wanted to like this more, but it fell kind of flat to me. I love the literal clockwork universe, but unfortunately the main character was pretty standard and shallow. Just another naive fantasy chosen one. The conflicting ideologies the plot set up never really culminated into anything satisfying, either, and the [spoiler:]furry take on the fantasy hero discovering the joys of true love didn't work for me either.But I liked the world building. I just didn't get as much of what I really
A genre blending mix of magic and steampunk, Jay Lake takes on the creation of the world myth in a very alternate version of a Victorian Era world. I like the world building, but the main character himself tended to be a bit lackluster for most of the novel, haplessly falling into progressive worse situations. While it does represent a coming of age story, very little of it is a direct result of the main character himself. Rather, he is propelled to increasing challenging circumstance that he
UPDATE 6/1/2014: My blog about Jay Lake's death.It's time for the next review in my Jay Wake Pre-Mortem Jay Lake Read-a-thon! And today, Lake does what so few others in my 53 years have done: Used the word "God" and not made me screechingly furiously attack-mode angry. MAINSPRING, reviewed at Shelf Inflicted, is a good book for many reasons. That one is mine. Others include elegant phrasemaking, deft plotting, and a re-imagining of the laws of the Universe that's breathtaking.I'm very happy I've
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