Enter Joe Spork, a man trying to escape his father's criminal shadow by repairing clockwork and desperately seeking the quiet life. He is asked to repair a one of a kind, unknown device and is henceforth plunged into a world of violence, corruption and a plan to unravel life as we know it. Joe's tale is helped along by the back story of the mysterious and elderly Edie Banister, a woman with more to hide than your average pensioner. Throw in some hardy, golden clockwork bees, a disgruntled, blind pug and a crazed dictator seeking immortality and you have a tale that will stop you in your tracks and demand you read on.
This is the sort of novel that is almost impossible to review because of its ambitious scope and the achievement the author has made in writing such an intricate, involved novel. The story runs like one of the complex clockwork devices contained within.
It is easy to imagine that Nick Harkaway lives in the crazy world that is Angelmaker. Everything is beautifully (or gruesomely where necessary) imagined using realism sprinkled with the fantastic. You never doubt this world is real, and to be honest I really wished it was. I would have loved to travel on the Lovelace, a steam train that hits high speeds and is more advanced than any train you could possibly imagine and to travel to the depths of the ocean with a merry crew of Ruskinites. The world seems so real that time passes far too quickly when you are reading, this novel devours time because it is hard to put down and return to reality.
This is a tale that challenges the very notion of genre, as soon as you begin to think you are being submerged into a sci fi steampunk world you are swiftly whisked away by a thrilling spy novel and then smoothly dropped into a coming of age yarn. I loved this and it is perhaps why this is not a predictable tale, generic conventions get tossed away willy nilly. I also enjoyed the literary edge this novel has, it is not trashy in the slightest (an unusual choice for me).
The characters are a mixed bunch, all of them are well formed and believable and there are a hell of a lot of them as the novel progresses. Joe is the main focus and his journey alongside his personal development is brilliant. He unravels his true nature one small piece at a time and the end result is startling. Even though Joe's journey is fraught with torture, loss and corruption he comes out the other end as a powerful, terrifying man, as far from the life he thought he wanted as he can get. Edie also deserves a mention, she is, in the narrative present, an astute old lady with a past that is completely unexpected. Edie's troubled history of espionage and love is the driving force for Joe's present.
By far my favourite character is the barbarous Bastion, Edie's formidable pet pug. At first sight he is seemingly harmless, what with his two pink glass eyes and his one lonely tooth but anyone would be a fool to cross him. Bastion is loyal, ferocious and absolutely adorable. I was also taken with the baby war elephant, another mammal you would be wise to leave well alone.
Every madcap apocalyptic novel needs a super villain and Shem Shem Tsien is one of the maddest, baddest nut jobs to be set loose in the world of literature. He is cold, calculating and perversely cruel, Harkaway makes sure to give him not a single redeeming feature and he is easy to hate. Shem Shem Tsien is everyone's worst nightmare that keeps coming back for more. The battle of wills between him and Joe as the novel draws to a close is tense and gripping in a jaw dropping fashion.
I only have a single complaint, I struggled with one part of the narrative. Joe is imprisoned for a time in a ward where he is constantly tortured for information. I felt myself drifting off at points here, not because of the torture but because the writing wasn't quite so smooth and delightful as it is throughout the rest of the novel. But this is only a small chunk, pivotal to the story, so an easy niggle to overlook in light of its crucial relevance.
This is a long novel deserving of the commitment needed to finish it and upon completion I was delighted to discover that Angelmaker ties up every loose end neatly in a bow, an impressive feat considering the vast scope of this novel.
I can't recommend this enough as you can probably tell from my gushing review, I can appreciate this is not for everyone but it hit all of my sweet spots. It reminded me of China Mieville and Neil Gaiman in places so I would image if you are fans of these two sci fi/fantasy behemoths you are likely to enjoy this book as much as I did.
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