“"Mainspring" starts with a bang, and promises a lot of adventure and excitement down the line. Unfortunately, Mainspring's clock soon winds down, and all sorts of gears begin poking out of the work, until one is left with broken pieces of plot.
(SPOILERS: I discuss some specific plot points and themes of the story that will spoil it for you.)
The first half of "Mainspring" was an inspiring adventure romp. Unfortunately, the second Hethor passes the Equatorial Wall, and enters the Southern Earth, things take a turn for the worst.
I expected some Arthur Conan Doyle-style adventuring; what I didn't expect from Jay Lake's debut was embarrassing writing. In the heart of the jungle, Hethor encounters, wait for it, a tribe of ape-like pigmies who show him their prehistorical wisdom. Think it can get worse? You should read the furry fanfic-level erotica he gives us as the wise and wild woman of the tribe gives herself to him in all her furry glory. Ugh.
The further the book went, the less fine-tuned it became, until the writer pulled a Deus Ex Machina - literally; Hethor can change reality by seeing God in the clockworks. By then the novel had devolved to poor fanfic.
As for the big revelation at the end... I had it figured out in the first 20 pages, and hoped against all hope it wouldn't turn out to be true. Alas.
A fantastic setting that unwinds into meaninglessness. Perhaps the sequel tweaks the machine, but I won't be bothering with it.”
Daniel Roy wrote this review Thursday, September 24 2009.
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