The Mechanical (The Alchemy Wars, 1)

My first Ian Trigellis book was "Something More Than Night," which I liked quite a bit. There were two main POV characters in that book and they had distinctive and interesting voices. Plus, I loved the little bits of physics that were thrown in. But "The Mechanical" sounded like a very different type of book, and I was eager to see what Trigellis did with it.Turns out, this book is wonderful. This time, we have three main POV characters and they're easy to tell apart. (I've read several books lately where all the characters sort of blended together and didn't have truly individual voices. So when I encounter characterization done well, I feel the need to mention it!)A bit about the worldbuilding before moving on. This is steampunk, for sure, as well as alternate history. In the world of this story, Christian Huygens invented not only the pendulum clock, but clockwork men and women (called "Clakkers" in this book). Clakkers were used by the Dutch for all manner of things -- soldiers, rowing ships, servants' tasks around the home, pulling carriages. Their "consciousnesses" were even put into airships. Clakkers' prowess as soldiers led to Dutch domination of the world -- all except a tiny sliver in what would be Canada, today, known as New France, where a Pope and a French king (in exile) reside. The French don't know the secrets of Clakkers, but they are talented in chemistry/alchemy. We see one incident of Clakker violence directed at humans and it becomes easy to imagine a world where the Dutch have taken over. (In general, at least under normal circumstances in Dutch society, Clakkers are affected by a compulsion *not* to harm humans.) I think the alternate history aspect works wonderfully. It's the kind of event most authors wouldn't have ever even considered, let alone chosen to work with, but I think the implications are very well thought through.At any rate, back to the three main POV characters. Jax is an unusual Clakker in that he's an older model and he seems quite interested in the idea of having free will. Berenice is "Talleyrand," the French spymaster. And Visser is a pastor in the Dutch homeland as well as (secretly) a Catholic priest and a spy for the French. Jax is easy to sympathize with. He's intelligent and figures out quickly how to manipulate people to get what he wants, but generally good-natured despite the manipulation. Berenice is kind of unpleasant. She's good at getting ahold of information, but she makes a couple of extraordinarily bad decisions and we sometimes wonder how she earned her high-ranking position (though the book offers some clues). Visser is the most sympathetic human character, by far, and the most tragic. I do hope his situation gets sorted out in a future book.There's a philosophical conflict in this book, as well. On the one hand, the Dutch (who are Protestant) see the Clakkers as objects to be ordered around. The French, as well as the Catholic Church, don't approve of the enslavement of the Clakkers, whom the Church believes to have souls. There are several philosophical arguments and discussions of Free Will in this book and they're actually quite interesting (in addition to illuminating the feelings of the two sides).I love the writing here. It's a bit more descriptive early on, but the vocabulary is perfect for the setting and scenario. It's just fun to read. Be forewarned: when Berenice is angry, she has a pretty foul mouth. And there is some vivid (and disgusting) imagery during a battle. But it serves to make the scene feel more realistic. There are also lots of fun little details -- once, Jax goes in for repair. The technician is supposed to check his serial number against a file. But the technician just writes down the number on a paper, which he shoves in his pocket. This is something we were constantly warned against doing in grad school (with experimental data), and Trigellis has a PhD in physics, so I know he is pulling little bits of information from his own experience in science.The ending is something of a cliffhanger, which I'm not happy about, but I am also definitely eager to read the next book and will probably buy it the day it comes out.P.S. Thanks to Danica at BestFantasyBooks for getting this into my hands so I could participate in this month's book club!

Ian Tregillis proved with his Milkweed Triptych that he is uncommonly talented when it comes to blending science fiction and fantasy seemlessly. Well, that certainly hasn't changed with this book--in fact he proves it even better than before. The Milkweed Triptych is fantastic, don't get me wrong. While reading that series I was constantly amazed at how well paced, well plotted, and well written the books were--but with The Mechanical Tregillis quickly shatters any notion that he is the same writer he was before, even if this new story is still identifiably HIS.On the surface, there are many similarities between the two stories. The Milkweed Triptych was one part alternate history, one part science fiction, and one part fantasy. The Mechanical hits all three of those markers as well, and it does it EXTREMELY well. The author sticks to a formula with which he is familiar--two opposing world powers at war use the fantastical means they have available to them to get any sort of upper hand in the battle. Only this time, it is not Nazi supermen or British warlocks engaged in the battle. Instead, mechanical wind-up slave soldiers enchanted with the alchemy of life march against those who cannot hope to combat them, only delay them.In The Mechanical, the Dutch have conquered as much of the world as they have felt like conquering, all on the backs of their clockwork soldiers called Clakkers. The French, exiled from Europe and holed up in what we know as Canada, and with whom a shaky cease-fire has been negotiated, rely on their more advanced knowledge of chemicals, scientific discovery, and good ol' spycraft to combat these unstoppable metal armies. The Clackers, thinking beings and not at all simple man-made tools (though they are treated as such), desire their own freedom more than anything. And the French, knowing they cannot hope to hold off the approach of Dutch Empire for very much longer, may have found a way to grant that freedom and save themselves in the process.I won't spoil any of the plot--it's too good not to experience first hand. I was immediately intrigued by the premise of the book when I first read about it. It sounded promising. I hoped it would be a little like Octavia Butler's novels--full of wonderful imagination and deep, philosophical concepts about what it means to be free, what it means to be human... and yet still thrilling and not bogged down with preachiness or sadness. I was not disappointed. There is enough action in this book to keep the pages turning constantly, but there is also a substance here often missing from science fiction or fantasy. Where some stories rely on their intriguing concepts to carry the reader through, The Mechanical treats the amazing concept and world Tregillis has created as what it is--a backdrop. A backdrop for a very human drama, played out between men and their very non-human clockwork creations. It reminds me a lot of Octavia Butler, actually, who was so good at bridging the gaps of any culture, species, whatever and finding the common ground. But where Octavia Butler sometimes comes off as fatalistic, Tregillis does not. There is hope in his book, and a lot of characters to root for, even if you don't notice you're rooting for them until the end.Cracking open the first page, I was struck by how much Tregillis's CRAFT has improved. Good lord, it is just plain FUN to read the sentences and paragraphs he creates. And the way he introduced you slowly into the new world he is building seems so fluid, you hardly notice you are learning about it as you read.Basically, the writing is beautiful, the worldbuilding is on point, the characters are diverse and interesting, and the plotting and pacing are even better than Tregillis has given us in the past--which is saying a lot, in my opinion.DEFINITELY give this book a read. I hope the sequels follow soon, because the story is unbelievably gripping.

The concept of one nation ruling all through its use of mechanical people is a great one and there are some well written characters who will get your interest.In the beginning though, the cuts between these characters points of view seems clunky and fragments the tale unnnecessarily. This does settle down though.The final part of the book at "the Forge" is what lets it down for me though. I was confused as to what the plan was in even going there and the battle and its cataclysmic results was just written in a confusing way..I got the gist of it of course but, in film terms it was just a rush of images that was hard to make sense of...imagine one of those filmic fight scenes where the camera is too close in for you to get an overall picture of what's going on.Good enough though, overall, for me to get the next book.

The Mechanical by Ian Tregillis is an alternate history. In seventeenth century Europe, the Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens visits Isaac Newton in Cambridge, looks at his work on alchemy, and makes a massive breakthrough. The mysterious aim of alchemy, to win the ability to transmute matter and find a universal elixir of life, becomes a reality in the shape of clockwork robots imbued with the self-aware force of life. To maintain control of this technology, Dutch clockmakers build into their creations a ferocious sense of obligation that demands absolute obedience through pain. Using these robots Holland becomes the world’s leading power. Only the French hold out in eastern Canada. The story then follows the fortunes of a rogue "clakker" robot who goes on the run after coming into possession of a mysterious lens, freeing him from his internal compulsions.The story itself is rather James Bond in its feel. A French spymaster tries to help the freedom loving clakker. Her efforts end up, as usual, in an underground lair, the setting for fighting and explosions. Perhaps it is right that the story follows this highly conventional pattern, since it is really about how we might find freedom in a life that demands we follow a destined path. While the clakkers have an overwhelming internal obligation to do their masters’ bidding, there are also suggestions that humans have obligations of their own hard-wired into them. This human element of compulsion becomes overt when the Dutch secret police capture a priest, acting as a French spy. They place clakker controls within his brain, and send him off against his will to spy on the French in Canada. His only hope of escape is the lens in the possession of the rogue clakker.The freedom-offering lens is the work of a Dutch contemporary of Huygens, philosopher and lens maker Baruch Spinoza. Ironically, Spinoza's reputation as a philosopher is based on his Ethics in which he argues that all human life is destined. Famously in Ethics he says : 'the infant believes that it is by free will that it seeks the breast; the angry boy believes that by free will he wishes vengeance; the timid man thinks it is with free will he seeks flight; the drunkard believes that by a free command of his mind he speaks the things which when sober he wishes he had left unsaid. … All believe that they speak by a free command of the mind, whilst, in truth, they have no power to restrain the impulse which they have to speak."Given all this, why is it a lens ground by Spinoza offers the chance of freedom? Perhaps the answer lies in Spinoza's idea that we can become aware of the compulsions that drive us. We can detach emotions from their external cause and in this way master them.Whatever conclusion you might come to, the important thing is that Ian Tregellis gets you thinking. The book encourages a reader to explore all kinds of things. I was off reading about Huygens, Spinoza, Descartes and Newton. This is a very interesting book. I recommend it.

An original take on the themes of slavery, self-determination and the nature of existence. Do we have a soul? If so, what is it, and WHO has one? Politcal intrigue, with female leads that are ruthless, driven and not a little mad (think Spanish Inquisition crossed with the Borg Queen). This alternate history universe is also very well crafted, and thoroughly engrossing. Brutal and cruel in parts, but with unexpected glimpses of characters trying to rise above the stark reality of slavery and war.

You might imagine that a novel that has a clockwork man as its main character would soon crumple under the weight of a plot with no point of empathy. Extraordinarily, I found Jax to be a relatable, engaging character. That is just one of the major achievements of this masterful work of the imagination. Tregillis is adept at characterization and plotting. The story zips along but on the way, you are engage with and are moved by the personal travails of the three main protagonists: Bearnise, Jax and Visser. This has been one of the most affective pieces of fantasy that I have read and I earnestly recommend it.

This is a great novel. I agree with the most positive reviews here. Fascinating story, strong characters and some world class cursing!There's obviously so much more to come from this story. I look forward to the next book with relish.