Mainspring Review

Definitely a strange one, but by no means unappealing.

Let me just lay down an two immediate facts for you: Jay Lake is a weird ass dude… got that? Good. The other fact? He has an imagination that leaves me bordered between amazement and sheer envy. When not blogging about his battle with colon cancer (which is somehow not depressing), he’s racking up an absurd amount of short stories – over 250 strong according to his site – and still managing to publish some damn good work, like Mainspring.

The premise is brilliant in its simplicity: The Earth is (quite literally) a clock winding down, and a young clockmaker’s apprentice named Hethor must travel to its core to rewind the mainspring and save all that lives.

While it is interesting to look at an America still ruled by England, the first thing that is evident in Mainspring is the heavy religious tone of the novel. The catch here is, that while Christianity/Rational Humanism are the prevailing themes here, everything adheres to the concept of the earth – and the universe for that matter – being something akin to timepieces. The idea is that God is a master mechanical craftsman who has put the planets on tracks that orbit the earth; tracks that are frequently mentioned in the novel as being visible in the sky and made of brass. Jesus Christ is now known as the “Brass Christ”, sacrificing himself to save the world. Crucifixes are now “horofixes”, further emphasizing the bond between time and religion as one thing. It’s really refreshing to see in a steampunk novel, or just in general.

Being steampunk – a genre I never really can get on board and stay on board with –  made the going rough for me when I read Mainspring. What carried me through was the innovative and sometimes chilling storytelling, something Lake execute as if it were breathing. There were a few times where I actually shuddered reading this book, something I don’t normally do at all. I got over my anxiousness with the story once our hero, Hethor made it over The Wall – the brass boundary separating the world’s two hemispheres – and started experiencing new cultures. What I like so much about Lake’s writing is that he is able to make the simple into the complex and interesting, as he did with a race of overly hairy natives, calling themselves “the correct people”. Their carefree attitude when faced with even death was so clearly explained and felt so genuine I was actually sad to see them hurt during the story.

The characters are very well fleshed out as well. Hethor, timid and shy throughout the book, is powered by one thing: the appearance of the angel Gabriel at the beginning of the novel and the task appointed to him. Despite his absolute terror throughout the novel, he carries his task like a torch through the night, right to the very end of the story. Aryella, a member of the correct people, is a strong yet free character, making me at times forget that she was not a human woman, but a woman the size of a child with a body covered in hair. William of Ghent, a sorcerer is chilling and adds a much needed weight to the novel as the lurking antagonist, harrying Hethor’s quest to rewind the world’s mainspring.

Though Mainspring is a complete story in and of itself, it is the first book of a trilogy, one that I’m hoping to get to soon, provided I can muscle through the fall book releases – man, there are so many. If you’re big on steampunk, this book is definitely a fresh take on the genre and one worth the time to check out.