Mainspring / Jay Lake

During my workout this morning, I finished listening to the audiobook version of Jay Lake’s Mainspring.

The big selling point for Mainspring is the world Jay Lake has created. The world looks much like earth in the late 1800s. Earth is a mechanical world. Massive brass gears around the equator spin the Earth around the sun on a brass orbital track. Young Hethor of New Haven, Connecticut receives a visit from the Angel Gabriel, telling him that he has to save the world. What follows is a very by-the-book fantasy hero quest, other than the fine world that Hethor explores along the way. It has a somewhat promising beginning, but goes slowly downhill and more or less falls off a cliff by the end.

I thought Jay Lakes characters in Mainspring were pretty deficient. Other than Hethor and his lover Aurelia (sp?), none make more than passing appearances. The book never explains their motivation, and often they do things that make no sense whatsoever. Librarian Childress of Yale, for instance, decides to help Hethor in his quest when respected members of the University (namely the sons of Hethor’s master) accuse him of theft. Later she gives him a password to a secret society that helps him, though why this would be part of their charter remains unexplained. A female hearse driver makes a pass at Hethor, perhaps because he is naively innocent. Hethor declines and that’s the last we see of her. That’s perhaps the biggest drawback of the characterization. After grand entrances, most make quick and quiet exits. Librarian Childress, the hearse driver, a country farmer, numerous navy sailors, a Jade Abbott, numerous correct people and others. In and out.

Plot-wise, Mainspring is kind of a mess as well. While the world Hethor explores is fantastic, Hethor gets thrown into places it seems merely so Jay Lake can show it off. Early on, Hethor gets thrown into a dungeon full of candle people by the Viceroy. Locked underground, these folks make candles all day. Why? Who knows? Later on, after being press-ganged into a naval zeppelin ship, they explore a vertical city on the equatorial wall. An abandoned city. In this case, the explanation is that the ship chases after an a band of the Queen’s army that recently visited the city. No one is there, of course, and just as the army is about to be found, Hethor is snatched away by winged savages.

Are the winged savages, friend or foe? At first, they attack the zeppelin. A later attack has them kidnapping the navigator, and a still later attack they kidnap Hethor. At this point, I thought they might be under the control of the Jade Abbott. But why go to such bloody and elaborate lengths? Hethor’s kidnapping in particular. There is plenty of opportunity for them to get him without a fight. In later chapters, they attack Hethor’s party mercilessly.

Hethor himself is not very likable. He’s whiny. His thoughts are repetitive. Again and again the narrative of his thoughts has him recap events and mantras of the past. Midway through the book, Hethor gains magical powers. Not only does this subvert the mechanical world, but Hethor manages his escapes conveniently. Oh, they are still harrowing, but mostly because Hethor is obstinate and doesn’t think he’s worthy of his role. Until things looks really grim when he turns to his magic and his band survives (after losing a few more people each time). And for the life of me, I can’t tell what the beef is between William of Ghent and Hethor. Rule of thumb over rivalries based on obscure religious canon: use real religions rather than made up ones. It makes it super hard for this reader to care when the moral being fought over has no meaningful analog in my world.

Pretty damn unsatisfying, despite a promising beginning and what could be a fun world to explore.

Some other blogged reviews:

• Bibliophile Stalker
• Fascination Place
• Rev-e-rie
• jasondwittman
• Athenæum
• Orion’s Archive
• Lord of All Fools

Title: Mainspring
Author: Jay Lake
Cover creator: Stephan Martiniere
Series: Mainspring; 1
Imprint / publisher: Macmillan Audio via Audible.com
Format: Audiobook
Length: 13 h., 24 m.
Publication date: December 2007
LC classification: PS3612.A519 M35 2007