Alternative Worlds
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- Jun 20, 2015
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Jay Lake
Tor, Jun 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 9780765317087
God created the heavens so that those humans living on earth can witness the clockwork precision of the planets orbiting the sun. In the late nineteenth century in New Haven, Connecticut, clockmaker apprentice Hethor Jacques dreams of one day becoming a master clockmaker mentoring a young hopeful. However, his dreams change when the Archangel Gabriel visits him with a heavenly quest to find the Key Perilous and use it to rewind the Mainspring of the earth. To bond them, Gabriel gives Hethor a wing-feather which turns to silver and burns a key-shaped scar into the lad’s palm.
Feeling out of his league, Hethor turns to his teacher, Franklin Bodean for advice, but his mentor’s sons steal the feather from him and cause the youngster to be fired for lying. Distraught Hethor travels to Boston where he prays he can meet with His Majesty’s Viceroy’s associate the sorcerer William of Ghent. However the Viceroy and the sorcerer assume he is a lunatic or opportunist. Before he can recover from their scorn, Hethor is abducted into serving on the Royal Navy airship Bassett searching for a lost expeditionary force at the Equatorial Wall where the gears keep the earth on its path. Hethor continues his quest, but now realizes there are groups against rewinding the heavenly clock.
Combining an alternate historical setting with religious elements, MAINSPRING is a unique exciting thriller that grips readers from Gabriel’s initial visit and never slows down as the hero climbs the gears to enter the “mythical” (in New England that is) southern earth realm. Hether is a terrific lead character as he combines naive innocence with a deep belief. However, though well written and creative, Jay Lake’s fine tale is somewhat restricted by the underlying concept that everything is part of a God created precision with any mystery simply a lack of knowledge by humanity. Still Hethor’s quest makes for a fascinating fantasy.
Jay Lake
Tor, Jun 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 9780765317087
God created the heavens so that those humans living on earth can witness the clockwork precision of the planets orbiting the sun. In the late nineteenth century in New Haven, Connecticut, clockmaker apprentice Hethor Jacques dreams of one day becoming a master clockmaker mentoring a young hopeful. However, his dreams change when the Archangel Gabriel visits him with a heavenly quest to find the Key Perilous and use it to rewind the Mainspring of the earth. To bond them, Gabriel gives Hethor a wing-feather which turns to silver and burns a key-shaped scar into the lad’s palm.
Feeling out of his league, Hethor turns to his teacher, Franklin Bodean for advice, but his mentor’s sons steal the feather from him and cause the youngster to be fired for lying. Distraught Hethor travels to Boston where he prays he can meet with His Majesty’s Viceroy’s associate the sorcerer William of Ghent. However the Viceroy and the sorcerer assume he is a lunatic or opportunist. Before he can recover from their scorn, Hethor is abducted into serving on the Royal Navy airship Bassett searching for a lost expeditionary force at the Equatorial Wall where the gears keep the earth on its path. Hethor continues his quest, but now realizes there are groups against rewinding the heavenly clock.
Combining an alternate historical setting with religious elements, MAINSPRING is a unique exciting thriller that grips readers from Gabriel’s initial visit and never slows down as the hero climbs the gears to enter the “mythical” (in New England that is) southern earth realm. Hether is a terrific lead character as he combines naive innocence with a deep belief. However, though well written and creative, Jay Lake’s fine tale is somewhat restricted by the underlying concept that everything is part of a God created precision with any mystery simply a lack of knowledge by humanity. Still Hethor’s quest makes for a fascinating fantasy.