a review by Jerry Robinette
Mainspring by Jay Lake (Tor, 2007, ISBN-10 0-7653,-1708-7) is the debut novel by a young writer who has established himself as a fixture in the field with his short stories and editing. Lake won the John W. Campbell Award as Best New Writer in 2004 and is co-editor of the highly-regard anthology series
Polyphony.
It's taken him a while to get his first novel on the shelves, but it was worth the wait. Mainspring starts as a highly-readable "steampunk" novel, set in a universe where the clockwork Earth orbits the sun on massive brass gears. The protagonist, Hethor, an apprentice clockmaker, receives a visit from the archangel Gabriel. It seems the Earth is winding down, and guess who has been chosen to find the Key Perilous and rewind the planet?
Ensuing adventures take Hethor across the world, including much time spent on a steam-driven zeppelin, across the great Equatorial Wall and, ultimately, to a host of unexpected lands and cultures, all drawn with Lake's considerable imagination and ingenuity. The storyline transforms in unexpected directions, but never loses its essential identity.
The jacket blurbs (John Scalzi, Greg Bear, Paul Di Filippo, among others) all play the dangerous game of comparing Lake's work to past masters, and all mention Edgar Rice Burroughs. There are elements of the novel which remind me of ERB. But to my taste, it feels more like a different Edgar -- undeservedly obscure master Edgar Pangborn. Lake draws his characters with clarity and writes of them with compassion that reminds me of
The Company of Glory. Which is not too shabby for a first-time novelist.
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