Mainspring

Mainspring is probably not the sort of book a steampunk would ever point to as the ultimate steampunk book. Through the airships and the clockwork world, there's just not the sense of true adventure I consider necessary for steam lit.

Our story goes like this: The main character, Hethor, receives a vision from the angel Gabriel that he needs to find the Key Perilous and rewind the Earth's mainspring (hence, the name). So our hero runs about 'Northern Earth' for half the book before crossing this absolutely enormous gear that runs all around the Earth (called the Wall for its vast height). Past the Wall is Southern Earth, which is completely different from its northern counterpart. Here Hethor meets the 'correct people' and ends up taking a great many of them on his way all the way to the South Pole, where he descends into the clockwork center of the Earth, winds the mainspring, and everybody lives happily ever after.

I'm no book reviewer, but I like to think I've read enough to form a reasonably educated opinion of a story. And I have to say, I'm not a huge fan of Mainspring here. The plot is sort of disjointed, like there were parts Mr. Lake wanted in the story, and he was just chaining them all together. The main antagonist, William of Ghent, shows up at seemingly random points, and the protagonist's sagely helper seems to hinder him just as much.

I could probably rant for a few minutes on the protagonist himself, Hethor Jacques, but I'll limit myself to a few sentences. Hethor is bland. He reminds me of Vaan from Final Fantasy XII, namely, he doesn't truly seem connected to the story. On top of this, there's the problem that Hethor is never really truly in danger of failing his god-given quest. Enemies save him, friends fall, and there's even danger of freezing to death, but Hethor is never really in danger.

I slogged through this book because I promised I would, but I have to say, I don't have high hopes for Escapement.

Literally,

Murphy