I must say that I was quite surprised to check my page statistics this evening and discover that Jay Lake has read, and apparently appreciated, my review of Mainspring. Oh what a wonderful place this internet is, where author, reader, and self-styled critic are all just a few mouse clicks away from one another.
Cheerio,
-otto
Look upon this body as a machine made by the hands of God, which is incomparably better arranged, and adequate to movements more admirable, than is any machine of human invention.
-Descartes
Many people have used the analogy of a clock to describe the universe. For some this is an argument in favor of a loving God, intimately involved in the creation of this complex universe in which we live. For others the clockwork precision of physics argues against any such spiritual elements. In Mainspring, Jay Lake makes the analogy inarguably real and physical. From his first description of the majestic brass curve of earth’s track curving upwards into the morning sky, to the terrible precision of the twenty mile wide gears, milled to incalculable precision by God’s own hand, which grind intractably along their way, bearing the earth along its orbit, there is no doubt that Lake has reinvented our word in a radical way. Even the angel Gabriel is wrought of clockwork metals, from his finely scaled brass limbs to the razor edged feathers of his wings.
Mainspring tells the story of Hethor, to whom the brass angel Gabriel has given the task of saving the world. The mainspring in the heart of the planet is winding down and someone, some human, must find the Key Perilous and journey to the south axis of the world to re-wind the stalling planet. Of course, as a 16 year old apprentice clockmaker, Hethor has no idea how he will reach his destination, let alone find a clockwork-Christian relic that everyone he asks considers to be little more than a legend. Undaunted (and given a jump-start by being kicked out of his master’s house), Hethor sets out on his quest. Along the way he will encounter fantastic creatures, majestic palaces, noble savages, and more than his fair share of treachery.
Setting his story in an alternate history of America (and lands to the south) in 1900, Lake constructes a world where Queen Victoria rules over all of North America by the might of her fleets of majestic airships and through the administration of horology obsessed politicians and clerics. All technology, and even life itself, is ultimately based on clockworks, steam, and “electricks.” Even the wild, unfallen peoples of the south (who have never seen a clock in their lives) speak in a rhythmic language that echoes the ticks, clicks, and whirs of God’s gear-driven earth. The combination of curiously modern, old-fashioned technology and breathless descriptions of wonders is strongly reminiscent of a well translated Jules Verne novel.
Many of the most compelling passages in Mainspring consist of brief descriptions of clockwork-infused technology and history. Cory Doctrow called the book a “thoroughly engaging blasphemy” in his back cover blurb. Blasphemy? I wouldn’t go that far. Certainly the story touches upon the supernatural, and reworks history and Christian teachings to reflect its horological absolute, but there is nothing more blasphemous here than a vague conclusion, which affirms the God’s role in creation while leaving unanswered the question of his continued interest in his cosmic wind-up toys.
That ending, and indeed the concluding four or so chapters of the book, are the only flaws in an otherwise fantastic story. Perhaps I am missing the point, but I was quite disappointed when the story took a turn for the magical. It was not all bad, indeed the final 10 pages more than made up for any flaws in the preceding chapters, but some scenes had me scratching my head in puzzlement. The most notable of these are the re-appearance of the voiceless winged “savages” and the entire visit to the misty city of nightmares (seriously Lake, that felt like a bloodied-up trip to The Island Where Dreams Come True, not a steampunk adventure). And while I think it is sweet and all having Hethor fall in love with a hairy Pygmy woman in an Edenic land (indeed, their love turns out to be key in the conclusion) the page or so of sexual awakening felt perfunctory and did little to advance the story or characters.
Complaints aside, I certainly enjoyed reading Mainspring. Lake has created a truly interesting world, one that blends history, fantasy, and philosophy personified into a single, smoothly ticking literary machine.
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