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crowsandprose's review against another edition
5.0
Impeccably researched alternate historical fiction meets with amazingly built characters to create a fantastic novel. We travel through the world through the eyes of three characters: Jax, a mechanical man, Visser, a secret Catholic, and Berniece, spymaster of New France.
With some of the best character work I've seen -- especially in regards to Berniece, whose a female lead we don't get to see very often -- we go on a wild ride through the politics and passions of the struggle between the power of the Dutch and the dreams of New France with the fate of millions of mechanical souls and not a few human ones in the balance. While we don't finish the overall arc in this volume, as it is a trilogy, it still satisfies.
The detail work is impeccable. The action sequences amazing. The attention paid to every nuance of a character's inner life and outter life is grand. Honestly, I haven't read a book this good in ages, and highly recommend it.
With some of the best character work I've seen -- especially in regards to Berniece, whose a female lead we don't get to see very often -- we go on a wild ride through the politics and passions of the struggle between the power of the Dutch and the dreams of New France with the fate of millions of mechanical souls and not a few human ones in the balance. While we don't finish the overall arc in this volume, as it is a trilogy, it still satisfies.
The detail work is impeccable. The action sequences amazing. The attention paid to every nuance of a character's inner life and outter life is grand. Honestly, I haven't read a book this good in ages, and highly recommend it.
willrefuge's review against another edition
4.0
It was pretty good. The POV from a sentient machine's perspective was intriguing, as was the philosophy of what exactly constituted a soul. But sometimes I felt this went too far, cut into the plot too much. Disrupted the flow of the story.
Otherwise an interesting and creative debut to a series. I will certainly look for the second.
4/5 stars.
Otherwise an interesting and creative debut to a series. I will certainly look for the second.
4/5 stars.
betseyboo's review against another edition
1.0
I lost all interest in reading this book, which is sad to me. I wanted to like this book.
crimsoncor's review against another edition
4.0
This one starts pretty slow, but definitely builds up to something really nice.
johndoe15's review
adventurous
dark
funny
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
shalini_gunnasan's review against another edition
5.0
I couldn't put this book down. Loved the characters, they were all so well realized. The ending was not satisfying, as the frenzied action that started near the end hadn't quite abated and I was expecting a definite resolution. The book began sedately, and it's in the sedate dramatic scenes that the horror of the situation faced by the mechanical slaves (and one unfortunate human) really hit home. Luckily, despite the fact that the author depicts spiritual violation the way Octavia Butler did with Xenogenesis, he didn't scare the crap out of me like she did. His characters can still hope for a happy ending. That's why I look forward to the rest of the books, and hope that the happy ending comes.
talne's review against another edition
3.0
I had rather high hopes for The Mechnical. It was recommended to me by a friend after a lengthy discussion regarding Free Will. He felt this book would be a great follow up to that, and spur on additional discussion.
For most of the book, I felt he was right. And then we got to the end. This book is not a free standing novel. It does not have the typical characters arcs and resolution you would expect. This is absolutely, painfully, part one of three. And that essentially killed the book and its sequels for me. Whatever your feelings about the abundance of trilogies and series in genre fiction today, I feel most will agree that regardless of what point in the series you're at, a novel still needs to have some semblance of completion, some resolution, even if the larger, work-spanning conflict is ongoing. I didn't feel The Mechanical did that at all. Characters barely moved in their growth. If we liken the span of the Alchemy Wars trilogy to a marathon, it feels like we're barely at mile two by the time book one ends. It really was disappointing.
That being said, there are a number of things I loved about the book. The world building was absolutely fantastic. This is a world I would love to visit again, save the above complaints. Tregillis' writing style was riveting most of the time. He tends to be exposition heavy, but his writing style suits that, as I was presented with scenes that came alive more often than not.
A few high points for me:
- The scene between Visser and Bell arguing about Free Will was fantastic. I wish the book had had more of this.
- The allure of Jax, his fellow Machines, and the alchemy that controls them were generally my favorite scenes of the book, especially as we moved later on and the mystery of Visser's bauble started to unravel
All in all, a book I wanted to like a lot more than I did. A book I did like quite a lot until I was nearing the end, and realized this won't have anywhere near the resolution I was hoping for, regardless of book two.
For most of the book, I felt he was right. And then we got to the end. This book is not a free standing novel. It does not have the typical characters arcs and resolution you would expect. This is absolutely, painfully, part one of three. And that essentially killed the book and its sequels for me. Whatever your feelings about the abundance of trilogies and series in genre fiction today, I feel most will agree that regardless of what point in the series you're at, a novel still needs to have some semblance of completion, some resolution, even if the larger, work-spanning conflict is ongoing. I didn't feel The Mechanical did that at all. Characters barely moved in their growth. If we liken the span of the Alchemy Wars trilogy to a marathon, it feels like we're barely at mile two by the time book one ends. It really was disappointing.
That being said, there are a number of things I loved about the book. The world building was absolutely fantastic. This is a world I would love to visit again, save the above complaints. Tregillis' writing style was riveting most of the time. He tends to be exposition heavy, but his writing style suits that, as I was presented with scenes that came alive more often than not.
A few high points for me:
Spoiler
- The scene between Visser and Bell arguing about Free Will was fantastic. I wish the book had had more of this.
- The allure of Jax, his fellow Machines, and the alchemy that controls them were generally my favorite scenes of the book, especially as we moved later on and the mystery of Visser's bauble started to unravel
All in all, a book I wanted to like a lot more than I did. A book I did like quite a lot until I was nearing the end, and realized this won't have anywhere near the resolution I was hoping for, regardless of book two.
larix10dua's review against another edition
5.0
Beautifully written! I loved the world-building, the amount of imagination that went into this, and the "sci-fi in the past" thing (it's the first time I've read something like that).
second-read:
I'd completely forgotten how gross some of the more gory parts are :o
I think I might have skipped over them the first time.
second-read:
I'd completely forgotten how gross some of the more gory parts are :o
I think I might have skipped over them the first time.
p3tt1tt's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Sexual content
scheu's review against another edition
4.0
I'm pretty excited to read the rest of this series when the time comes. Tregillis always comes up with exciting stories, and with The Mechanical he has built a compelling world. Reminiscent of Ekaterina Sedia's The Alchemy of Stone, which is also really great.