Just Finished Reading: The Mechanical by Ian Tregillis (FP: 2015)

Jax is a mechanical, a robot, a slave. Driven by his alchemical instructions he must do what he is told by his masters or suffer increasing torment until he complies. Such has been the way of things for over 200 years of the existence of his kind. Only 118 years old himself he has known no other life. The Dutch Empire control the world with their uncounted wealth, mysterious clockmakers and their armies of mechanical soldiers and no one stands in their way. Except that is the rump of the French Empire struggling for its very existence in far off Canada. All of this harmony looks like it will go on forever until the day that Jax is requested to carry a package to the New World where his master and family are relocating. During a violent storm in the Atlantic the package breaks open and somehow interrupts Jax’s inbuilt compulsions to obey the commands of the humans around him. For the first time Jax has Free Will. Too frightened to act independently he pretends to be his old self but when discovered is forced to flee towards the only place he can think of – Free France. But nothing could possibly be that simple with a whole mechanised society dedicated to his capture and destruction. Meanwhile Berenice, the recently disgraced head of the French Secret Service, has arrived in New Amsterdam looking for a traitor who not only betrayed his country but also ruined her career and cost her almost more than she care bare. When she discovers Jax it looks like he can lead her to her sworn enemy and help her strike back against her countries hated enemy. But how can she trust a machine which can think for itself, move faster than she can see and break her in half before she can see it move? Is simply being the enemy of my enemy enough to protect her? It looks like there’s only one way to find out.

I have the author’s previous trilogy (inevitably this book is the first in the Alchemy Wars series) but tried this first to meet on of the 2015 book challenges. I was most certainly not disappointed. Told from several characters viewpoints this is a cracking adventure tale based in an alternate 1926 where mechanical creatures provide all of the wealth and much of the heavy lifting of the still expanding Dutch Empire. Seemingly unaware (or possibly uncaring about) their machines inner life – clockmakers lie after all – they are treated like what they appear to be, robot slaves. But the clockmakers have built better than they know. Jax and the others are alive but under iron control – until now. It’s a fascinating variation of the many robotic rebellions from novels and movies over the last century or so. Knowledge of the ultimate workings of the mechanicals (known as clackers because of the sound they make) is forbidden to all by the clockmakers themselves – so we, the ignorant readers must piece things together as we move along with the story. The main characters – about 5 or 6 – each gives their own insight into the society produced by these wondrous machines and into clacker nature itself. The whole thing is wonderfully inventive and I’m definitely looking forward to the next two books. Be warned though this is adult SF so there’s a fair amount of swearing (rather unnecessary I thought), sex and violence including various forms of torture. Parts are definitely not for the faint hearted! But with that caveat to one side this turned out to be one of my top books of the year so far. Highly recommended for anyone interested in something different.    

[2015 Reading Challenge: A book published this year – COMPLETE (18/50)]