jethrien

Title: Mainspring
Author: Jay Lake
Genre: Mystical steampunk
Thingummies: 4

Synopsis: The angel Gabriel appears to a clockmaker's apprentice in New Haven, telling him that the Mainspring of the world has wound down. The earth ticks along on the great brass rails that God laid in the heavens, but with each turn of the gear, the world is slowly shuddering to a halt. Now Hethor, no longer an apprentice, must make his way south, from Her Majesty's airships over the great equitoreal Wall, through mysterious jungles to the very bottom of the Earth, discovering a world that is more wondrous, perilous, and strange than he had ever imagined.

Thoughts: If you like your plots tidy, your devices explained, and your characters' motivations clear, this is not the book for you.

This does not proceed with the neatly explanatory logic we usually expect from fiction. It moves instead with the logic of dreams or fairy tails or scripture, where events happen simply because they must and not all questions are explained. Reading it requires a certain suspension of disbelief akin to walking across thin ice--if you pause to long or press too hard, the structure will shatter beneath you.

But it's oh, so very lovely.

Lake's world-building is, for the most part, fascinating. He takes certain archaic conceits--that the planets are hung as if on rails on a great orrery, that God is an absent watchmaker who set up the world and then wandered off, that the northern hemisphere is a bastion of civilization and logic as opposed to the southern hemisphere's magic, that the inhabitants of Africa are a different species of noble savages--and makes them quite literal. (I'm not sure how I feel about the last one. I can see how he's both lampooning and using the idea for his own ends, but the simple, primitive "correct people" skate too close to some racial stereotypes for me to be comfortable. I suspect he does not want me to be comfortable, but he's walking a fine line and I'm not sure he's one the right side of it.)

There's a lot about the world that is not fully explored (which is presumably why there are two "sequels", which are set in the same world but from the plot descriptions have little to do with the main events and characters of this book).

The tone here feels strangely distant, again more like a fairy tale or a religious parable than the immersion I usually prefer. Much remains unexplained. And I will admit, I'm not quite sure how Hethor takes as much physical damage as he does and still manages to stumble on to the end. Would I recommend it? Only with reservations and warnings. I actually quite loved it--I think it's hauntingly beautiful and incredibly imaginative. But there are racial and sexual attitudes that would be appropriate for a middle class Victorian apprentice that are only ameliorated and refuted so much, which may make some uncomfortable. And to enjoy this book requires a certain comfort with mysticism and ambiguity. If that sounds unappealing, steer clear.

But if such things seem intriguing, I think you will find this a deeply rewarding book.