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calbowen's review against another edition
1.0
Let me preface stating that I love RUSH and I have for the past 25 Years. I enjoy steampunk and I have been reading Fantasy for at least 30 years.
So it pains me to say that this book is an utter waste of time, space, energy, and any other descriptors of your choosing. The Clockwork Angels album is a great listen, and the story is not the problem here. I have even read the afterward with Neil Peart complimenting Kevin Anderson on a job well done. Sorry Neal, but an excellent job was NOT achieved.
this story to me reads as someone retelling Gulliver’s Travels in a steampunk world all while quoting Rush songs and lyrics. I understand that this is a companion to Clockwork Angels, and as such will have references to the album, but Kevin Anderson adds OTHER references, which was annoying. It was a cacophony of randomly thrown in titles and lyrics, forced into the form of this poorly realized story. By trying to take this concept album, other Rush albums, and as unoriginal approach, Kevin Anderson succeeds in his failure to force Square, Triangular, and Hexagonal pegs into the simple round holes that would have done so well.
Concept is excellent, but the story, the execution, and the overuse of Rush lyrics not from the album make this a horrible idea for anyone, Rush fans, Fantasy fans, or people with any taste at all for story-telling.
So it pains me to say that this book is an utter waste of time, space, energy, and any other descriptors of your choosing. The Clockwork Angels album is a great listen, and the story is not the problem here. I have even read the afterward with Neil Peart complimenting Kevin Anderson on a job well done. Sorry Neal, but an excellent job was NOT achieved.
this story to me reads as someone retelling Gulliver’s Travels in a steampunk world all while quoting Rush songs and lyrics. I understand that this is a companion to Clockwork Angels, and as such will have references to the album, but Kevin Anderson adds OTHER references, which was annoying. It was a cacophony of randomly thrown in titles and lyrics, forced into the form of this poorly realized story. By trying to take this concept album, other Rush albums, and as unoriginal approach, Kevin Anderson succeeds in his failure to force Square, Triangular, and Hexagonal pegs into the simple round holes that would have done so well.
Concept is excellent, but the story, the execution, and the overuse of Rush lyrics not from the album make this a horrible idea for anyone, Rush fans, Fantasy fans, or people with any taste at all for story-telling.
timinbc's review
3.0
2.6 stars, rounded up. Peart says in the Afterword that Anderson sometimes dictated book chapters while mountain climbing. I'm not surprised. I've read other books by him that left the impression he wasn't giving it all his attention.
The book is a collection of Young Adult adventure tropes, stitched together over Peart's frame. I remembered Mieville's Railsea, and a whole bunch of other "young man talks his way onto a ship" books.
I've started thinking of Anderson as more of a carpenter than a craftsman. He can whip out a reasonably competent story as fast as anyone this side of Isaac Asimov. But they leave the impression of a fireside storyteller.
He can get repetitive (porkpie hat, porkpie hat) and I suspect his characters come out of a catalogue of stock characters.
OK, it's an allegory, so maybe cardboard characters are allowed. And maybe it's OK for our hero to go in a random direction - twice! - and JUST HAPPEN to encounter the very thing the author needs him to encounter.
A character is introduced in a bookshop. Throughout the events of the next few pages, I skimmed a bit, because it was clear that this whole scene was the setup to put Owen with this character. Yup.
As perhaps his role in the story demands, Owen is a cretin. He heads into a large city with empty pockets. He heads into a desert with very little water. But I will admit that he develops a bit as the story goes.
Why did I know that as soon as he left his village, it wouldn't be more than a few dozen pages before he met a circus? And only a couple more before he fell in love with the pretty girl? Sigh. Will someone write one where the kid falls for the Bearded Lady?
This is a not-bad light read. It's interesting to read the Afterword to understand what the project was. The artwork is excellent.
You want a YA quest story? Go find a copy of Avram Davidson's Peregrine: Primus, or John Myers Myers' Silverlock.
The book is a collection of Young Adult adventure tropes, stitched together over Peart's frame. I remembered Mieville's Railsea, and a whole bunch of other "young man talks his way onto a ship" books.
I've started thinking of Anderson as more of a carpenter than a craftsman. He can whip out a reasonably competent story as fast as anyone this side of Isaac Asimov. But they leave the impression of a fireside storyteller.
He can get repetitive (porkpie hat, porkpie hat) and I suspect his characters come out of a catalogue of stock characters.
OK, it's an allegory, so maybe cardboard characters are allowed. And maybe it's OK for our hero to go in a random direction - twice! - and JUST HAPPEN to encounter the very thing the author needs him to encounter.
A character is introduced in a bookshop. Throughout the events of the next few pages, I skimmed a bit, because it was clear that this whole scene was the setup to put Owen with this character. Yup.
As perhaps his role in the story demands, Owen is a cretin. He heads into a large city with empty pockets. He heads into a desert with very little water. But I will admit that he develops a bit as the story goes.
Why did I know that as soon as he left his village, it wouldn't be more than a few dozen pages before he met a circus? And only a couple more before he fell in love with the pretty girl? Sigh. Will someone write one where the kid falls for the Bearded Lady?
This is a not-bad light read. It's interesting to read the Afterword to understand what the project was. The artwork is excellent.
You want a YA quest story? Go find a copy of Avram Davidson's Peregrine: Primus, or John Myers Myers' Silverlock.
matosapa's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
greaydean's review
2.0
An interesting story of coming of age and learning about what it means to actually live. Some of the wisdom seems a bit forced, perhaps as it seems overly familiar as I am have listened to Rush a lot. I am glad I read it and enjoyed reading it. Pictures are only okay (sometimes don't exactly reflect what is being described in the story).
duparker's review against another edition
2.0
So, I didn't have high expectations for this, because the friend that lent it to me, didn't praise it too highly. It was fine. Not memorable or good even, just fine. The writing didn't excite me and the story was mediocre. The best part was the afterward by Neil Peart discussing the genesis of the book. Peart is a great writer and he conveys the emotion and intelligence that his music consists of. This book did neither.
jp99's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
5.0
19artemis92's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Throughout the book I greatly enjoyed the relationships built with the main character, and I liked how the main character's story ended.
I wish there had been more time spent in the experiences for Owen outside of Crown City / Albion. We'd spent so much time there that it seemed we rushed through some of the other experiences. We also don't know what happened to a lot of the main characters at the end, if they don't interact with the main character I would've loved an afterword saying where they are / what they're doing.
I wish there had been more time spent in the experiences for Owen outside of Crown City / Albion. We'd spent so much time there that it seemed we rushed through some of the other experiences. We also don't know what happened to a lot of the main characters at the end, if they don't interact with the main character I would've loved an afterword saying where they are / what they're doing.
dhlunique's review
3.0
It was interesting, but I thought the steampunk tropes were stretched too far. The characters were interesting, and learned much along their life-arcs, but their situations and locations and mechanisms were too "fantastic" for this engineer.
wncowling's review
5.0
Wow! I loved this book. It was anawesome incredible coming of age novel set in an incredible steampunk universe. The characters are rich and I loved the imagery involved.
branch_c's review
3.0
It may not be true that "the joy and pain that we receive must be what we deserve" as is mocked in the song BU2B, but I think it may be true that this book is what we Rush fans deserve.
The thing is, we aren't known as connoisseurs of great literature - beyond the obligatory Ayn Rand novels, we dabble in SF and fantasy and that's as far as it goes. We're known instead as geeky obsessives who analyze Neil's lyrics (well, some of us do), talk about "Rush references" in pop culture and mention "2112 sightings" everywhere from odometer readings to hotel room numbers.
And Kevin J. Anderson, it seems, is one of us - a geeky obsessive Rush fan who also happens to be an accomplished author. His friendship with Peart is based on his having been inspired by Rush lyrics to write a book (Resurrection Inc) So what we have in Clockwork Angels is exactly what we'd expect - a story developed in collaboration with Peart that expands and fleshes out the story told by the lyrics of the album of the same name. And significantly, it is absolutely filled with Rush lyric fragments, not only from CA, but everything from "the breath of a sleeping white dragon" to "coldfire," "dreamline," "a conquering hero," and "anywhere but here." Like I said, it's probably what we deserve because we've shown ourselves to delight in exactly this kind of game. The problem is that for me, all these references actually made it a bit less enjoyable to read - each lyric dropped into the narrative was the author winking at the reader, and it jarred me right out of the story every time.
The writing, to me, was just okay. I've never read anything else by Anderson, so I don't know if this is in keeping with his usual style, but I found the phrasing a bit clunky and repetitive. It's certainly not terrible, and some parts are well done, but on the whole I just wasn't blown away.
As for the story itself, I'd say it was fairly good - in fact there were a few long stretches without lyric fragments that went so smoothly that the reader could actually be immersed in the world the way it was intended, and these were the best parts of the book for me.
So I guess I'm in the unexpected position of actually having to recommend this book more highly for non-Rush fans than for those of us who are intimately familiar with the band. Since the non-fans won't catch all the lyric references they should be able to enjoy the book without distraction.
The thing is, we aren't known as connoisseurs of great literature - beyond the obligatory Ayn Rand novels, we dabble in SF and fantasy and that's as far as it goes. We're known instead as geeky obsessives who analyze Neil's lyrics (well, some of us do), talk about "Rush references" in pop culture and mention "2112 sightings" everywhere from odometer readings to hotel room numbers.
And Kevin J. Anderson, it seems, is one of us - a geeky obsessive Rush fan who also happens to be an accomplished author. His friendship with Peart is based on his having been inspired by Rush lyrics to write a book (Resurrection Inc) So what we have in Clockwork Angels is exactly what we'd expect - a story developed in collaboration with Peart that expands and fleshes out the story told by the lyrics of the album of the same name. And significantly, it is absolutely filled with Rush lyric fragments, not only from CA, but everything from "the breath of a sleeping white dragon" to "coldfire," "dreamline," "a conquering hero," and "anywhere but here." Like I said, it's probably what we deserve because we've shown ourselves to delight in exactly this kind of game. The problem is that for me, all these references actually made it a bit less enjoyable to read - each lyric dropped into the narrative was the author winking at the reader, and it jarred me right out of the story every time.
The writing, to me, was just okay. I've never read anything else by Anderson, so I don't know if this is in keeping with his usual style, but I found the phrasing a bit clunky and repetitive. It's certainly not terrible, and some parts are well done, but on the whole I just wasn't blown away.
As for the story itself, I'd say it was fairly good - in fact there were a few long stretches without lyric fragments that went so smoothly that the reader could actually be immersed in the world the way it was intended, and these were the best parts of the book for me.
So I guess I'm in the unexpected position of actually having to recommend this book more highly for non-Rush fans than for those of us who are intimately familiar with the band. Since the non-fans won't catch all the lyric references they should be able to enjoy the book without distraction.