Clockwork Angels by Kevin J Anderson

[Zarathustra]

I just started reading this two days ago, so this won't be a complete review by any means. I just wanted to get the ball rolling on a discussion, and let those who aren't Rush fans in on it. [If you know about it already, you can skip down to the next section.]

This is a novelization of the concept album Clockwork Angels by the rock band Rush, lyrics written by drummer Neil Peart (who writes 99% of their lyrics). So the story is his, but the writing is Anderson's. I haven't read any other books by Anderson, but the prose so far is competent. The story is simple, but sweet. A small town young man can't help thinking big. He wants to explore the wider world around him, push back the boundaries of his existence, and challenge the preconceptions that rule his life. It's not big on character development, it's more about the allegorical themes. But those themes are extremely interesting, and the fast-paced story serves them well.

This is about Chaos vs Order, where order is strictly enforced throughout the country by an enigmatic Watchmaker who has brought a steampunk techno-alchemy to the people, which has made their lives easy, peaceful, and prosperous. However, as you can imagine, not everyone is happy with this enforced Order, especially the Anarchist, who schemes to undermine the Watchmaker's plans and control. He is a "freedom extremist," "terrorist," graffiti artist, and clock tamperer.

Caught between these two forces is the protagonist, Owen Hardy who is launched on an adventure to see the great capitol Chronos City, where his preconceptions about the goodness of Order are slowly eroded in a series of free-spirited adventures.

*****

Alright, for those of you who already know about the book, skip down to here.

What's amazing about this book, to me personally as a mega-Rush-fan, is the correspondence to the CD. I've never had an experience like this while reading a book. I got the CD weeks ago, read through the amazing lyrics, partially knew the story--the general shape--but the lyrics were cryptic enough, poetic enough, to hide the details so that reading the story isn't like (for instance) reading a novelization of a movie. It's a completely new, utterly surprising unfolding of events that already held enough shape in my mind to feel familiar. This unfolding-of-the-familiar connects me to the story in a way the imbues it with deeper meaning and emotion.

Part of that experience, no doubt, comes from the music running through my head while I read. Phrases from the Rush songs keep popping up in the narrative and the dialog, forcing moments of musical synchronicity with my own stored memories of those songs, and the emotional context surrounding them. It's like an extra dimension to the writing. A new toolkit for the writer. A book with its own damn soundtrack! And not just any soundtrack, but one from my favorite band, at the peak of their creative talents and musical dexterity. It's an unbelievable experience.

Imagine if Donaldson was a badass musician in your favorite band, had recorded his own Chronicles CD before the books were released, describing everything in poetic/cryptic form, and melded that with his own musical/emotional interpretation, so that when you read his books, you'd simultaneously experience this other dimension of musical emotion and lyrical convergence as you read. Whew! It's freakin' awesome.

There's a scene in the chapter where Owen sees the Clockwork Angels for the first time, and their "message" to him seems to contain more meaning than the words can possibly hold. I think Anderson is capturing this feeling right there on the page.

[I'm Murrin]

You might be interested in reading Anderson's "Big Idea" piece, on John Scalzi's blog, about the conception & creation of the novel:

whatever.scalzi.com/2012/09/06/the-big-idea-kevin-j-anderson/

[Zarathustra]

Cool, thanks. That was a good read. I notice that he also used the words "dimension" and "toolkit" in describing this experience. I think I must have gotten his point.

[Avatar]

I'm a fan of his Saga of Seven Suns series. Never read anything else by him, other than a couple of Star Wars extended universe novels.

--A

[Mortice Root]

Thanks for the link, Murrin. That was cool.

Av, that's interesting that you liked 7 suns. I tried the first several volumes of that and was completely turned off. I did enjoy some of the Dune prequesl that KJA wrote, though other of them were not real strong.

In any event, I really like Clockwork Angels. Without a doubt, this was the best book of KJAs that I've read. It's still clearly his style of writing - I guess a good word for it would be kinetic - but avoids some of the downfalls (large plotholes, cardboard characters) as some of his other works do.

I also really liked all of the Rush-isms thoughout the book. The fan in me was totally excited to read a book by someone who was clearly just as big a fan of the band as I was. I think it makes absolute sense to expect lyrics from the new CD - things like "All is for the best", "Can't stop thinking big" etc. to pop up, though I was surpirsed by it. But what was even cooler was how KJA worked in little snippets of lyrics from other Rush albums. I wasn't keeping track, but I think there was probably at least one line from every album (excepting maybe the first). And he used them in a really cool way, so that I didn't find them jarring - I think that if you're not a Rush fan, and weren't familiar with their body of work these lyrical quotes wouldn't phase you. They're integrated seemlessly into the prose. Very cool.

And I agree Z, that the familiarity with the music gives the prose added resonance. And of course, now that I've read it, the prose in the book gives added resonance to the music when I listen to it again. A unique and fantastic experience.

I also really like the way that KJA wove different characters into the novel. They all seemed very well developed and utterly believable, even the ones that appear for short periods and then don't recur. He managed to introduce minor characters in a way that made them seem fully realized, but yet didn't tell us everything about them - it was implied that they all had a full backstory but because Owen only meets them briefly, he (and we) don't get to know most of it. (I'm thinking of the characters from Posieden here.) Which of course, is the way things are in reality. Very well done.

[Avatar]

Won't do the Dune prequels...canonical violations...Seven Suns was just the sort of involved, intricate universe building I like.

--A

[Zarathustra]

Ugh, the book is certainly not well written. The extremely quick journey through the Seven Cities of Gold was a bit anti-climactic. Actually, that's how most of the book feels now that he's in his "adventure phase." It was fine for the first part to be simple, naive, and sweet because that was where Owen Hardy was himself as a character. But now that the book should be darker, more complex etc., the writing hasn't change at all. It seems to be speeding up and becoming even more superficial.

[I'm Murrin]

That's a shame to hear.

[Sorus]

That's a shame to hear.

Yeah. Just got my copy today. Was hoping for positive reviews.

[Mortice Root]

I agree that the 7 cities segment did feel a bit rushed, but I still found it enjoyable. The part where I felt the story was really poorly served was the segment with the confrontation between the watchmaker and the anarchist. That was quick! I would agree that this later section of the book should have more depth to it, but from past experience, I sort of was expecting the lack of depth from Anderson, and actually, he does better here than is typical for him.

The regrouping section at the end was a bit better though.

I came in to this book wanting to love it, and afraid I'd hate it. It end up better than I feared, but not as good as I hoped.

[Vraith]

But now that the book should be darker, more complex etc., the writing hasn't change at all. It seems to be speeding up and becoming even more superficial.

That is just the kind of writer he is, AFAICT. [I only know his Dune works and some [2 of the academy ones] Star Wars, and the first book of seven suns which I read cuz someone here said that's where he does his best]].
In the Dune books [the prequel trilogies] he somehow made Cyborgs boring, super AI moronic, and the Bene Gesserit absurd [[heh..."duude...it's maaaagic."]].

OTOH, I kinda want to read this book anyway, cuz I like album.