Escapement by Jay Lake
Tor Books
ISBN: 0765356376
Lake's Mainspring (2007) seemed an experiment in using clockwork alongside steam-technology in a Victorian world, a pioneering work in the steampunk sub-genre. His sequel Escapement is a more cohesive story set in a now more fully realized world. Whereas the equatorial "wall" in Mainspring seemed a wonderful hodgepodge of realms and peoples, it becomes an empire to be reckoned with in Escapement.
A Character-Shift From Hethor to Paolina in Lake's Sequel
Readers of Escapement will inevitably wonder, "Where did Hethor go?" And at first, his absence is almost painful. It soon becomes clear that this book, although technically a sequel, is really a tangential story to Hethor's adventure. Its main characters are minor ones from Mainspring, librarian Emily Childress, Chief Angus al-Wazir from the airship Bassett, Boaz the Brass Man, and Paolina Barthes, a young girl living in the shadow of A Muralha, the equatorial wall.
The story in Escapement further develops many of the subplots from Mainspring, too. The avebianca and the Silent Order, two secret societies vying for power and control of the world, were part of Mainspring, but are more fully fleshed out in this story, and the British Empire, a superpower in this Victorian fantasy, is set at odds against the "Middle Kingdom," Britain's theological and societal Chinese antithesis.
Short Plot Summary of Escapement
Both empires are trying to bridge A Muralha – Britain with it's steam-borer and China with its "golden bridge," a mysterious road from Chersonesus Aurea that becomes central to the end of the book. Chersonesus Aurea is an ancient ruin of a city located near Singapore, legendary home of an ancient bridge over the wall, and as the Chinese attempt to again traverse from northern to southern Earth, the British race to beat them there, going through the wall instead of over it. Both empires face struggles – the Chinese searching for answers in the ancient library in Chersonesus Aurea, and the British fighting off the attacks of the Brass Men, soldiers of the Solomnic Kingdom of Ophir, men like Talus born again.
Both empires, seeded with the secret societies of the Silent Order and the avebianca, also seek the girl Paolina, who wields the magical power of the gleam, her self made stemwinder that gives her power over machines and the elements. If they can capture her and the power she wields, the balance of power in the world would shift significantly.
Convergence in Lake's Fantasy Escapement
The idea of convergence has become commonplace in fantasy novels today, and Lake shows his skill in this book. As characters, subplots, and even geography approach convergence, the pace of this book quickens and the pages begin to turn faster and faster. As in Mainspring, the beginning is deliberate and a little tedious at times, but after the main characters are introduced and the subplot-jumping begins, the story intensifies until, at the end, when the characters are all in one place at one time, BOOM!
Through it all, the wanderers go on their own adventures that show the scope and measure of Lake's genius. In Mainspring, the wall was the focus of some of the best world-building available today; in Escapement, he builds in other locales – in China, in Africa, and in Britain. As Lake's imaginary steampunk world grows, so will his following. And if his concept of convergence holds true, maybe Hethor will come back to the story again.
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Ben Lingenfelter - As an intinerant writer, I've found freedom to write and learn about a variety of topics. That fits me perfectly. I've been an English ...
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