(no subject)
Mar. 17th, 2016 02:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seekingferretThe Mechanical by Ian Tregillis
Although it was good but not good enough to make my Hugo ballot for best novel, I'm putting its cover artist Lauren Panepinto on my Best Professional Artist ballot on the strength of its stunning cover.
The bizarre premise of The Mechanical is that in the late 17th century Christian Huygens stole Isaac Newton's apparently functional notebooks of alchemical research and combined Newton's alchemical genius with his own clockwork genius to create clockwork golems for the Dutch, the 'clakkers'. With the military and industrial might these tireless machines provided, the Dutch were able to conquer Europe and maintain that dominion for over two centuries, against a feeble opposition from an exiled Bourbon monarchy established in New France.
But revolution is brewing. The clakkers, forced by complex alchemical geasa to obey the will of their masters, quietly resist their enslavement, as more and more 'rogue clakkers' emerge, throwing off their geasa and fleeing the Dutch empire. The French, led by their spymaster 'Talleyrand', furiously research new chemical technologies to try to find new ways to fight back against the Dutch. And spies within the heart of the Hague conspire against the secretive guild that builds and maintains the armies of clakkers.
It is a weird mishmash of a novel, full of intrigue and suspense and action, but also full of musings on Calvin and Spinoza and the nature of Free Will. I thought it was a pretty delightful combination, all told, and I thought Talleyrand in particular was an utterly fascinating character.
Power Surge by Ben Bova
I find Ben Bova a strange writer. I can never tell ahead of time when one of his novels will be an exciting and well-plotted page turning and when it will be a by the numbers plodder with no real substance. Power Surge is the latter.
Although it was good but not good enough to make my Hugo ballot for best novel, I'm putting its cover artist Lauren Panepinto on my Best Professional Artist ballot on the strength of its stunning cover.
The bizarre premise of The Mechanical is that in the late 17th century Christian Huygens stole Isaac Newton's apparently functional notebooks of alchemical research and combined Newton's alchemical genius with his own clockwork genius to create clockwork golems for the Dutch, the 'clakkers'. With the military and industrial might these tireless machines provided, the Dutch were able to conquer Europe and maintain that dominion for over two centuries, against a feeble opposition from an exiled Bourbon monarchy established in New France.
But revolution is brewing. The clakkers, forced by complex alchemical geasa to obey the will of their masters, quietly resist their enslavement, as more and more 'rogue clakkers' emerge, throwing off their geasa and fleeing the Dutch empire. The French, led by their spymaster 'Talleyrand', furiously research new chemical technologies to try to find new ways to fight back against the Dutch. And spies within the heart of the Hague conspire against the secretive guild that builds and maintains the armies of clakkers.
It is a weird mishmash of a novel, full of intrigue and suspense and action, but also full of musings on Calvin and Spinoza and the nature of Free Will. I thought it was a pretty delightful combination, all told, and I thought Talleyrand in particular was an utterly fascinating character.
Power Surge by Ben Bova
I find Ben Bova a strange writer. I can never tell ahead of time when one of his novels will be an exciting and well-plotted page turning and when it will be a by the numbers plodder with no real substance. Power Surge is the latter.