Angelmaker

Character development is very important to me and this author does this very skillfully. There are flawed heroes, criminals with a moral code, strong women, brilliant scientists, spies and a very evil character with a god complex. The story unfolds in the present, but it is revealed as a continuum of a battle between good and evil that began long before the birth of the protagonist. While struggling to define himself somewhere between the brilliant criminal world of his father and the humble but creative life led by his grandfather, Joe finds himself immersed in a struggle to save the world from a disaster initiated by his ancestors. In times of crisis, we may find that we are not whom we thought we were (or should be), and that things don't always go like clockwork. You will probably also look at your grandmother in a different light.

Fans of The Gone-Away World won't be disappointed with Harkaway's second novel. I'll admit to some confusion as the plot unfolded -- who's doing what to who and why? But it all came together. Like The Gone-Away World, there are digressions, but also like The Gone-Away World, the digressions were always interesting and thought-provoking.

At times, Harkaway's writing reminded me of someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder: He has something to say about even the most obscure things -- you wonder "how will this fit the story?" -- and he doesn't always say it simply. There were paragraphs and pages that required a re-read, but I put that down to my own intellectual failings, not the author's. And in the end, all those asides fit the story, built the characters, made me go "Aha!" and put me firmly in his world.

Put simply, Joe Spork is a tinkerer who accidentally unleashes a doomsday machine. I don't want to give away more of the plot. The joy of the book is following Joe as he uses his mechanical and scientific skills, and his intuition -- especially his intuition -- to figure out how to prevent the end of the world.

Setting, characterization, dialogue, pacing -- all the hallmarks of a good read. While I never doubted that Joe would prevail, there were times when I held my breath. Loved this book.

Nick Harkaway's first book, "The Gone-Away World", was a blockbuster tour-de-force that defied categorisation and displayed a unique combination of a versatile, far-ranging imagination, with a highly developed sense of storytelling which made the incredible seem more than plausible and the impossible almost mundane. His second book, "Angelmaker", feels to been quite a long time in coming. Happily, it has been well worth the wait and the author's fans will be relieved to know that it is every bit as wild and wacky (and yet just as utterly believable) as the earlier work.

In a change from the futuristic setting of "Gone Away World", "Angelmaker" is a contemporary tale of terrorism, counter-terrorism, fanaticism, organised crime, state-sponsored paranoia and plain, honest horology, tempered with family issues, romance, religious fervour, psychotic mass murderers, more fanaticism, honour, love and the triumph of good over evil (eventually). It features the most amazing contribution to Britain's secret service ever to appear in literature anywhere (Nick Harkaway's parentage notwithstanding). Oh yes, and of course, an elderly and bad-tempered (mostly) toothless pug (which gives new meaning to the word "pugnacious") and a tremendous quantity of clockwork golden bees, out to alter the human race's receptivity to truth.

In short, "Angelmaker" is yet another blockbusting tour-de-force, guaranteed to blow the mind and captivate the reader through every single one of its 570-odd pages and still leave you begging for more! The writing is, if anything, even better than in "Gone Away World", the characters even more loveable and laudable, and the plot even more convoluted and bizarre. (Although, be warned, it is also more brutal and savage, especially in its portrayal of scenes of torture and human abuses which, while sickening, add to the poignancy and power of the protagonist's eventual realisation and acceptance of his inheritance. So don't let it put you off!)

This is definitely my book of the year so far and I cannot believe there will be anything along to rival it for a very long time -- probably not, in fact, until Nick Harkaway writes his next book!

Like Gary Shteyngart's the Russian Debutante's Handbook, this book is such a pleasure to read. It is the Cary Grant, Lawrence Olivier and Alec Guinness of action novels -- classy, outstandingly well written, intelligent. I felt I needed a good brandy and a roaring fire to go with it.

The plot and subplots are intricate and interesting, but to me it's the way the author weaves the character descriptions, and above else, how he tells the story (not only the prose, at times a tad overdone, but otherwise refreshing to read someone that doesn't need a constant use of swear words in their sentences; to the contrary, the words, paragaphs and pages are masterfully crafted, and at times a joy).

A great book and an easy recommendation. Buy, read, enjoy.

Readers with patience for the surreal and a taste for absurdist fiction are those most likely to enjoy reading the 500 pages of Nick Harkaway's novel, Angelmaker. I found great pleasure in Harkaway's fine use of language in this novel, and I found myself amused often by his choice of just the perfect word or phrase. There's a great cast of machines and villains, heroes and genuine eccentrics. I found myself surrendering to Harkaway, and letting him lead me along wherever he chose to go. By the end, I was satisfied with my journey into Harkaway's creation. Read a sample before plunging in. Chances are if you like a selection, you'll enjoy the whole piece, and vice versa.

Rating: Four-star (I like it)

"From the acclaimed author of The Gone-Away World, blistering gangster noir meets howling absurdist comedy as the forces of good square off against the forces of evil, and only an unassuming clockwork repairman and an octogenarian former superspy can save the world from total destruction.

Joe Spork spends his days fixing antique clocks. The son of infamous London criminal Mathew "Tommy Gun" Spork, he has turned his back on his family's mobster history and aims to live a quiet life. That orderly existence is suddenly upended when Joe activates a particularly unusual clockwork mechanism. His client, Edie Banister, is more than the kindly old lady she appears to be--she's a retired international secret agent. And the device? It's a 1950s doomsday machine. Having triggered it, Joe now faces the wrath of both the British government and a diabolical South Asian dictator who is also Edie's old arch-nemesis"

What an amazingly unique rollercoaster of a ride ANGELMAKER is!! This is a very hard novel to categorize as it contains so very much in the way of plot, characterizations and wit. I suppose if you take a dash of Dickens, add a spoonful of HG Wells, a sprinkle of Pratchett and a tumbler of Spillane- you might have a general idea of this utterly original novel. While I have named several legendary writers, ANGELMAKER is all Nick Harkaway..and what a creative, sharp-witted and skilled writer Mr. Harkaway is!

Joe Spork is very happy with his nice quiet life working with antique clocks. An existence forever changed by the arrival of one of the most endearing and surpising characters you will meet- Edie Banister- who is nothing like the nice old lady she first appears as!! She is a standout amonst a book chock full of wonderful and eccentric characters! She is also the reason that nice, quiet Joe Spork is forced to undertake the journey of a lifetime- a journey the reader is lucky enough to be a passenger on...and a journey one is not likely to forget anytime soon!!!

A JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB MUST READ

RICK FRIEDMAN
FOUNDER
THE JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB

Nick Harkaway can write.(Understatement) is what I discovered after reading Angelmaker The prose is top notch. The characters are brilliant.
There is Joe Spork, good son of gangster who turns bad. Edie Banister was a world war two spy but is now an octogenarian and it is her world war adventures that are narrated with the most verve and panache. There is Frankie the crazed french woman scientist and of course the villain is the best of the lot.
The passion Nick Harkaway has for steampunkish machines just shines through. There are passages of such brilliance describing a mundane detail that you wonder how he managed to put so much life into the object.
The trailer should tell you all you need to know about the plot. Its simple on the surface but there are many subtle reveals along the way which should not be spoilt.
Its just a brilliant read full of inventive wit.

There are so many positive well written in depth reviews about this book that I could not and would not attempt to add anything. Okay, well maybe just two cents worth ... I was not too sure about what was happening in the beginning. Then, I got interested and thought this is good, I like Joe (the main character.) Bees? The author lost me for awhile. Then found me with a resurgence of a story line I could understand (sort of) and, more great characters. Bees? At one point I was brought back in time to a wild and crazy segment of the story where there was a lot of what the? And huhs? But then and, thank you so very much I was finally gathered up in the author's oh so capable writing hands and carried swiftly to a satisfying and exciting conclusion. What do I say? Oh yes, read this book. Nick Harkaway is a talented wordsmith with a huge vocabulary, a huge imagination, who tells a remarkable, fascinating story. Stick with it (I was glad I did.) It proved to be a great ride.

REVIEW SUMMARY: Gangster noir meets clockwork-punk and spy thriller in this captivating genre mash-up.

MY RATING: Four Stars

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Clock repairman Joe Spork finds himself pitted against seemingly insurmountable odds when he unwittingly activates a doomsday weapon.

MY REVIEW

PROS: Original, humorous, lovable characters, and charmingly quaint.

CONS: Takes some time to build up steam and ends rather weakly.

BOTTOM LINE: This is a delightful genre mash-up, the likes of which you are unlikely to find anywhere else.

Joe Spork is a clock repairman, working out of his grandfather's old warehouse and hiding from a criminal legacy. Joe's father was the most notorious gangster in all of England in his day, a King of Crooks. Joe has chosen a different path, the path of his grandfather the clock repairman. All his adult life Joe has followed the law and tried to be as inconsequential as possible. But when Joe inadvertently starts the apocalypse it seems as though the universe is conspiring against him. If Joe is to survive and escape the clutches of violent monks and determined government agents operating in the legal grey he will need to fall back on the heritage he has tried so desperately to bury.

Angelmaker is the second novel of Nick Harkaway. The novel comes much lauded, with praise from such authors as William Gibson and Patrick Ness. Angelmaker is a curious sort of book, a conglomeration of multiple genres and the product of intricate plotting and deep characterization. It is very much so a "literary" sort of novel but remains enjoyable throughout and stays true to the pulp roots which no doubt inspired it. I was so impressed with Harkaway's writing that halfway through reading Angelmaker I threw down real money to order a copy of his first novel, Gone-Away World. This is the type of fiction that makes you appear smarter for reading. Pulp for the discerning literati in us all, as it were.

Joe Spork is a wonderful character. With a name like that how could you expect any less? Joe is on the wrong side of age thirty-five and still has little idea of who he is as a person. Joe has forsaken his criminal legacy in an attempt to emulate his grandfather. He lives a normal, if somewhat boring, life. As a clock repairman Joe has skills that were marketable a hundred years ago but are now quaint and more than a bit sad. It is these skills however that land Joe in the most dreadful of situations. Joe unintentionally fixes and activates a clockwork doomsday weapon at the behest of his less-than-legitimate friend Billy. This act sets in effect a series of events that will not only change the world, but will also transform Joe. I really appreciate this. I love characters that develop and Joe is no exception. The conversion Joe must make in order to defeat evil and save the day is very well written. Joe is a sympathetic character but a bit of a door-mat to begin with and it is nice to watch him grow into the man he was always meant to be. Angelmaker is a coming of age story in a sense. It is also a story of family.

Joe Spork isn't the only lovable character within the pages of Angelmaker. Edie Bannister, the octogenarian former spy is also quite enjoyable. The story is split between the perspective of both characters, with Edie's WWII flashbacks filling in much of the story. The next best character is probably Polly, perhaps the most forward woman ever born. Edie and Polly join the ranks of literature's best strong females, women of consequence. Mercer Cradle is just the sort of fellow to finally give lawyers a good name. There are more colorful heroes that form an adoptive family of sorts, really strengthening the familial theme of Angelmaker. . The villains are also fun, from the duty bound Rodney Titwhistle and Arvin Cummberbund to the nefarious Opium Khan Shem Shem Tsien.

The plot is as colorful and intricate as the people that inhabit it. The emphasis on clockwork in a modern world populated by laptops and iPhones is charming. I experienced a bout of nostalgia for the days of handmade machines and I wasn't even alive during that period. This is the beautiful frame for the gangster noir and espionage elements. All the gears move in unison, and support each other with unexpected grace. There are certainly some fantastical elements. The doomsday machine, the Apprehension Engine, is a whimsical weapon of mass destruction that utilizes mechanical bees. There are cultists, criminal empires, zombies, and witches but despite Angelmaker being dubbed an "absurdist comedy" none of these things are as silly as you might expect. Granted, there is a good dose of amusing English comedy, it's just that there is a lot of serious to accompany the laughter.

Though I did like the chapters told from Edie's POV they did tend to be long and sort of broke up the flow. I much preferred Joe's POV which was far more linear and direct. As I mentioned earlier, the plot is intricate and this is pro as well as a con. The pro is that all the gears function appropriately and the end result is a story that bespeaks of proud craftsmanship. The con is that the gears are of varying sizes, some turning faster than others, resulting in a story that requires time to build momentum. Then again, once the plot gets moving you better grab hold tight because you are in for a crazy ride. That is until the finale. The final confrontation is very intense and exciting but over far too quickly given the build up and the resolution isn't entirely satisfying.

Angelmaker is a beautiful chimera, the sort of pulp fiction novel you can show your snobby literati friends and not fear criticism. This is a thoroughly English novel, from the humor to the characters. Harkaway channels the darkness of that post-9/11 espionage but lightens it with good old fashioned, wholesome British crime. This is a story about coming of age and family, told in a unique voice. Pick this one up, you won't regret it.

Nick Sharps
SF Signal

I never know how to categorize Nick Harkaway. The jacket copy calls Angelmaker "a riveting new action spy thriller, blistering gangster noir, and howling absurdist comedy." Yes, I suppose. I want to call it a fantasy, but there's no magic, no dragons. There are fantastic elements. The book is set mostly in contemporary England, but Harkaway's is a heightened reality. It's a world in which a post-WWII era doomsday device can be accidentally (on purpose) activated in our day. And that doomsday device, the Apprehension Engine, is based on clockwork technology, so there are elements, or perhaps echoes, of steampunk in the tale. Mostly, Angelmaker just defies classification.

At the heart of this epic adventure is Joe Spork. He's the grandson of a clockmaker and the son of a gangster. He's an unassuming man who's rejected his father's teachings and lives a quiet, honest life. At one point, a friend describes him thus: "You're one of the good `un's... You're a good neighbor, Joe. Decent man. One day the scales will fall from your eyes. There's not many like you round here. Or anywhere in the world, come to it." So, it's no wonder that he makes such an appealing protagonist.

Around Joe is a sprawling cast of eccentric characters, both good and evil. The worst of the lot is an enemy from decades past, Shem Shem Tsien, the Opium Khan, an Asian dictator with dreams (or perhaps delusions) of grandeur. Fighting him throughout the years and across continents is British intelligence operative Edie Banister. In the present day, she's a retired nonagenarian, living with a ferociously ugly and equally decrepit pug named Bastion. One of Joe's staunchest allies is his super hero-like attorney, Mercer Cradle. It must be Mercer who gets the best dialogue in the book, launching into breathless speeches like:

"Joshua Joseph Spork, by all that's holy! Good gracious, you've been bound, what appalling brutality! A client of mine... I'm shocked. And you've been so cooperative in the face of such gross provocation. In this age of chat-show rage, Joseph, I believe that makes you a paragon of virtue. Isn't he a paragon of virtue, Mr. Titwhistle? How do we spell that, by the way, for the writ? `Titwhistle' not `paragon'. Joe, congratulations, you're rich. Rodney here is going to give you all of his money, or at least, all of his organization's money. What organization is that again? I suppose, ultimately, the Treasury? Well, then there'll be plenty, won't there?"

It goes on and on. Don't go up against Mercer Cradle. Reading back over what I've written so far, I realize this makes no sense. That is always the dilemma with a Harkaway novel. I think, in the end, you just have to give in and trust him as a storyteller. And he is a brilliant one. His tales are weird and convoluted. They are long, dense, challenging, and smart. Readers must pay close attention. And as previously mentioned, the world his characters inhabit is heightened. Their dialogue sparkles more. They're cleverer. They're very, very British. Part of me never knows what the hell I'm reading when immersed in one of his books, but mostly I just want to keep inhabiting the world he's envisioned.

In Harkaway tales, the good guys sometimes win. By the end of this one, Joe Spork will have fully embraced his heritage, for better or worse. And I shall continue to embrace whatever weirdness Nick Harkaway bestows next. True love defies categorization.

Nick Harkaway burst on to the scene with The Gone Away World, in 2008 with what many considered one of the best debuts of year. We had to wait 4 years for his next book Angelmaker. People cry afoul when authors don't get a book out a year or even every two years, but many times those are the books worth remembering for the long term, which is the case here. Meet sensible Joseph Spork, careful Joseph. Then young and adventurous Joe. And finally crazy Joe along the way.

Angelmaker is part Spy novel, part family legacy, part end of the world, and just plain crazy. Well plain may not be right, but you get the idea. This is a melding that in most writers hands would fall apart, but Harkaway has the indelible skills to bring them together in a most satisfying way. Each and every character from the top down to those who only get a few pages are brought to life, right down to the little dog too.

"The dog's name is Bastion, and it is without shame or mercy. Any dog worth the name will sniff your crotch on arrival, but Bastion has buried his carbuncled nose in the angle of Joe's trousers and shows no inclination to retreat. Joe shifts slight, and the dog rewards him with a warning mutter, deep in the chest: I have my mouth in close proximity to your genitals, oh thou man who talks to my mistress over coffee. Do not irk or trifle with me! I possess but one tooth, oh, yes, for the rest were buried long ago in the flesh of sinners."

This could be considered Steampunk to a certain degree for those who don't think they like Steampunk. Yet it isn't exactly Steampunk, but it does take the most beautiful elements of the genre and incorporates them in a gorgeous fashion at the heart of a Spy/Adventure story. The story flips between present in London following around Joe Spork, who fixes clockwork devices while lamenting his family's lurid past along with the adventures Edie, a female secret agent more than fifty years before in her glory days. And when the two stories collide things just start exploding.

There are many flashbacks, which at first seem a bit much, but you just have to go with. They almost always payoff. The language is quite endearing even when it goes off the rails a bit. Harkaway isn't one adverse to a bit of slapstick as evidenced by character names such as Rodney Titwhistle. But there is a lot of beauty is the story. Especially, the artisan devices that proliferate this world and the characters love for each other shines through amid all the hi-jinks and capering. This is very much a kitchen sink book with every back story told and every mystery explained even when you don't think there will be time.

If Opium Khans, horny secretaries, crazy cultists, mechanical doomsday devices, and shady underworld dealings sound at all intriguing then Angelmaker is a can't miss story. Just don't expect to be entirely sane at the end. The characters certainly aren't. Angelmaker is definitely one to savor and not push through. As of right now it's my favorite new book this year and it will take a doozy of a story to knock it off that perch. Despite some sluggishness at the start it turned out to be a rip-roaring adventure I'd have love to be stuck in the middle of.

His father was a legend of the London underworld, an infamous criminal called "Tommy Gun" Spork. But Joe Spork is a quiet, average sort of guy. Instead of following in his father's footsteps, Joe specializes in clockwork repair, with a special interest in Victorian era automata. One of his clients, a sweet but rather dotty old lady, gives him a particularly unusual clockwork device, which sets off a doomsday device from the 1950s. It doesn't matter that Joe didn't mean to trigger the end of the world. The British government wants him locked up *now* for terrorism. His client, it turns out, is a retired secret agent who has spent years preventing a South Asian dictator from getting his hands on the doomsday machine and destroying the world. But now that the clock is ticking and Joe's life has been turned upside down, it's up to him to somehow save the world.

This densely-packed novel hits the ground running during the first couple of chapters, and never really lets up. It is exciting and energetic, full of vim and vigor - a thriller of the first rate. Not a thriller in the James Patterson/Dan Brown style, of course. It is as if the worlds created by Neil Gaiman slam-crashed into the absurdity of Christopher Moore and fused into a mutant behemoth of a novel. (At over 550 pages, it's a hefty tome.) There are killer clockwork bees, secret agents, crazy killer monks, sexy femme fatales, and, of course, Armageddon just around the corner.

When I first began the book, I thought it was some sort of dystopian future or alternate universe in which the world had morphed into a Neo-Victorian dream of steam-powered clockwork. Nope. It's our world, and the initially steampunk elements stem more from Joe's specific line of work than London around him. But there's an appreciation for the handmade and the beautiful in a maker's craft that I think is integral to the whole steampunk movement, so it still seems very much a steampunk novel. (How many times can I say `steampunk' in a paragraph?)

In the book, there's an order of monks called the Ruskinites, who seek evidence of the divine in the details of human labor. They're artisans, but over the decades they eventually evolve into something far more sinister when a charismatic but dangerous man becomes the leader of the order. I thought this was a cool sort of religious order - useful and meditative - but their path shows how dangerous such an organization can be when it falls into the wrong hands.

This is a book with complicated characters and intricate connections built up over generations. It's difficult to classify into a genre, so I won't even try. It was a fantastic book, though. I wish I could read it for the first time again.

The world is in danger. Our hero, Joe Spork, will have to do something about that. Does it matter that he set that whole end of the world thing into motion? Or, that, in years gone by, his family may have been intimately involved? There it is. All the rest is in the details.

Those details include a lots of violence, intrigue, and things that go boom, bang, and maybe even beep. There are things to laugh at. There are things to flinch from. Then there are groups of people and near-people and sorta-people and some other somethings. Those people work together in opposing groups to do different things to reach similar but one-hundred eighty degree apart ends. Confused? So was I until I read the book.

I recently read and reviewed Harkaway's "The Gone-Away World"; giving it five stars. Quite simply, though that one stays at five, this book is even better. There are so many things going on at once that you have to pay close attention. There are so many interesting characters that you want to meet many of them. But not all. Definitely not all. Please, please, please, not all.

There are so many genres combined here, that there are few who wouldn't find this to their taste. I was reminded of several authors, including China Mieville for the quirky situations, Neal Stephenson for the depth and subtle humor, and Malcolm Pryce (unfortunately little known in the USA) for that UK style of noir.

This is a very well written book. This is a book rich in detail. This is a book with an unbelievable mix of characters. This is a very funny book. And, I read this too quickly. And, I couldn't stop reading it that quickly. He needs to publish another book - Now would be good.

Joe Spork fixes clockwork mechanisms like his grandfather before him. He is trying to live down his father's reputation as a gangster and stay out of a life of crime. An elder lady named Edie Banister draws him into a world of intrigue. Edie isn't the doty old woman she seems. She is an ex-spy who is using Joe to unleash a doomsday machine.

This was an extremely well written novel. The plot is very simple, but the author weaves a strong backround story full of meditations on the meaning of family, lost love, and the search for truth. The characters lives are all intertwined and the author reveals this slowly through memories and flashbacks. We get to know each character intimately especially Joe and Edie. I liked Edie's character and that of her dog Bastion the best. Bastion is a pug with pink marble eyes and one tooth, yet he is a warior and his thoughts are very Shakespearian.

The world building is outstanding. This novel turns steampunk on it's ear. Instead of advanced technology in the Victorian era, we have antiquated technology in our time that is actually more advanced and dangerous than computers or atomic bombs. The elegant machinery is described eloquently. I could see exactly what the author was expalining in detail. The users and promoters of this clockwork technology are the Ruskinites, a religious cult built up around the British art critic John Ruskin. Ruskin viewed a conection between nature, art and society. He influenced the Pre-Ralphaelite school of painting which believed in painting nature as truthfully as possible.

Even with all this going for it, the plot loses it's way near the end when one of the more promenent characters dies and the true villain is revealed. I still whole heartedly recommend this book. I looked forward to reading it each day because I cared about what was happening to the characters. This kept me reading even though it is quite a weighty tome.

I loved this story. Im not doing a synopsis, because there is so much that happens that I don't even know if I could. It's dense - the pace is steady, but not fast - but it is incredibly interesting and worth the time it takes to read. The sort of steampunk sci-fi mystery combination works here, and it was very satisfying.

I approached Angelmaker with some reluctance. When offered to review it, I almost passed. I read Nick Harkaway's debut novel, The Gone-Away World...well, okay, I read about half of it. That was a book that plodded along, contained some of the most verbose passages I've read this side of Victor Hugo and was too tangential in its story-telling to really keep me involved. I eventually caved and chose Angelmaker because of the synopsis (which was exactly why I chose his debut).

Basically, Angelmaker is about an antique clock fixer named Joe Spork. His father was an infamous criminal nicknamed "Tommy Gun," but Joe turned his back on the mobster family history to live a quiet life. One day, he activates an unusual mechanism for his client, Edie Banister, a retired international secret agent. Long story short, the mechanism is an old doomsday machine that Joe has trigged and now is being chased by the British government and a dictator who also happens to be Banister's arch-nemesis. Mix in a side story romance and other crazy shenanigans and you have Angelmaker.

First a couple pluses: I actually finished this one. And I found it to be pretty darn entertaining. Much like Gone-Away World, Harkaway can writes scenarios that are both witfully entertaining and exciting. But he can also get so bogged down in his own inventiveness and literary-mindedness that he rambles. His story, again like his debut, flits around between time periods and characters that don't seem even remotely connected, before tying it all together in the end. Inventive and fun, but needlessly padded.

For those who want to expand their reading beyond a single genre, Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway may be the solution: it fits into no one category, unless that category happens to be Screwball Gangster Sci-Fi Spy Thriller.

The hero of the book is Joe Spork. Like the utensil that shares his name, Joe is a hybrid, a mix of two ancestral callings. Although he has professionally followed the footsteps of his watchmaker grandfather Daniel, he also can't escape his ties to his father, the arch-criminal Mathew. A job referral from his friend Billy Friend (there's a lot of surnames that are also common nouns, including Cradle, Cummerbund and Banister) exposes Joe to a mysterious clockwork device of seemingly impossible complexity, one that when triggered, unleashes intricate mechanical bees.

These bees are an important component of a doomsday weapon that is being sought by a Fu Manchu-like villain bent on world conquest. Also trying to stop the villain is his nemesis, an old woman who was a secret agent in World War II and still has some fight left in her.

This book has a touch of the absurd (in a good way) and is complicated enough to try the patience of some readers. I was almost one of them: I found the first quarter of the book to be a slow read and it took a while to figure out where the plot was going. Eventually, the story did pick up and I could appreciate how well written it was. Stick with this book and you may be pleasantly surprised.

On paper, absurdist comedy mixed with gangster noir wouldn't seem to work so well, but books are not written on paper, wait a minute...Anyhow, The Angelmaker by Nick Harkway blends these two seemingly contradictory worlds together to create a gripping page turner. Joshua JosephSpork is the son of a London gangster and the grandson of a clockmaker, who seems disillusioned with both the life of his father and the profession of his grandfather, which he has entered. Enid Webster is an old school secret agent who asks Joshua to repair a bizarre looking clock. Little does he know that repairing the clock will set off a bizarrely absurd course of mad monks, Southeast Asian dictators, secret agents, and a far more shadowy underworld than even Joshua had known.

Even though the book has lively prose and tends to suck the reader in, I feel like it could've been done a little tighter (400 pages instead of nearly 600 in the ARC.) But then again, maybe you would've lost some of the absurdist element had you done this, which the many plot twists are part of. Readers may need a flow chart or something to keep everything straight, but despite my early consternation Harkway gets the reader to a highly satisfying conclusion where shockingly all the pieces seem to fit together. If your into fast paced political thrillers with a eye towards suspense then the Angelmaker is a wonderful choice.

For those who want to expand their reading beyond a single genre, Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway may be the solution: it fits into no one category, unless that category happens to be Screwball Gangster Sci-Fi Spy Thriller.

The hero of the book is Joe Spork. Like the utensil that shares his name, Joe is a hybrid, a mix of two ancestral callings. Although he has professionally followed the footsteps of his watchmaker grandfather Daniel, he also can't escape his ties to his father, the arch-criminal Mathew. A job referral from his friend Billy Friend (there's a lot of surnames that are also common nouns, including Cradle, Cummerbund and Banister) exposes Joe to a mysterious clockwork device of seemingly impossible complexity, one that when triggered, unleashes intricate mechanical bees.

These bees are an important component of a doomsday weapon that is being sought by a Fu Manchu-like villain bent on world conquest. Also trying to stop the villain is his nemesis, an old woman who was a secret agent in World War II and still has some fight left in her.

This book has a touch of the absurd (in a good way) and is complicated enough to try the patience of some readers. I was almost one of them: I found the first quarter of the book to be a slow read and it took a while to figure out where the plot was going. Eventually, the story did pick up and I could appreciate how well written it was. Stick with this book and you may be pleasantly surprised.

On paper, absurdist comedy mixed with gangster noir wouldn't seem to work so well, but books are not written on paper, wait a minute...Anyhow, The Angelmaker by Nick Harkway blends these two seemingly contradictory worlds together to create a gripping page turner. Joshua JosephSpork is the son of a London gangster and the grandson of a clockmaker, who seems disillusioned with both the life of his father and the profession of his grandfather, which he has entered. Enid Webster is an old school secret agent who asks Joshua to repair a bizarre looking clock. Little does he know that repairing the clock will set off a bizarrely absurd course of mad monks, Southeast Asian dictators, secret agents, and a far more shadowy underworld than even Joshua had known.

Even though the book has lively prose and tends to suck the reader in, I feel like it could've been done a little tighter (400 pages instead of nearly 600 in the ARC.) But then again, maybe you would've lost some of the absurdist element had you done this, which the many plot twists are part of. Readers may need a flow chart or something to keep everything straight, but despite my early consternation Harkway gets the reader to a highly satisfying conclusion where shockingly all the pieces seem to fit together. If your into fast paced political thrillers with a eye towards suspense then the Angelmaker is a wonderful choice.

I almost stopped reading a few pages in, the prose was too heavy, trying to be too clever. Books that start this way typical drag on and ultimately fail. This one, though, delivers, and goes far beyond reasonable expectations. The pleasure in following the stories unfolding and in experiencing an absolutely exceptional and extremely precise use of language at the same time is remarkable. I indebted to the author and about to start on his other works. Must read.

"Angelmaker" by Nick Harkaway is such a densely written and intricately plotted work that my feelings about it are nearly exclusively positive (glowing, even), but I did find myself somewhat frustrated on occasion at its verboseness--the only negative I found within this novel. But there's no denying Harkaway is a gifted author and storyteller.

One of the many things that make this book not just your average spy thriller is that although it takes place primarily in contemporary London, all the gadgets and doo-dads are from an older time and they're clockwork-driven mysteries unto themselves. There are no James Bond-sey gadgets that will seem ridiculous in fifteen years. The mystique of the Apprehension Engine and all the rest is they are already far-fetched, but they're somehow believable because they are call backs to a time when things like craftsmanship and artisanship meant something. Not to be down on technology-age devices, but there's an allure to those things that had no microchips or electronics, things that someone made with delicate instruments they themselves also made. How did anyone get anything done back them? This book captures these ideas wonderfully, like clockwork.

From Joe Spork, the protagonist, to supporting characters with names like Rodney Titwhistle, Clarissa Foxglove, Arvin Cummerbund and Edie Banister, it's the little details in this book that truly give it shape. I kept expecting to turn the page and be introduced to a character named Fotheringay, perhaps a kindly, grey-haired, bespectacled old boy stuck at a middle rank in Her Majesty's Secret Service or something (sorry, but I love "The Prisoner").

The humor in this book, often delivered sharply and without any real setup, at times is very obvious and is at other times so sly, you'll find yourself thinking back on it a paragraph or two later with a chuckle. The back stories of the characters and Joe's family lineage were page-turning and the ramp up in action at the end of the book was thrilling.

If you made it this far in the review, I hope you'll take my praise for "Angelmaker" to heart and consider giving it a read.

I received this book at no cost as a member of the Vine Program.

Just when you know where this is headed, it jukes back another way in a wonderful surprise. Part of that is the amazing plot and characters. Yet, the crisp and at times beautiful writing is the core of this novel's power.

Many times, Harkaway tiptoes atop the absurd but in a delightful way. Separate all the parts, and none of the plot or characters are believable. However, as a whole, it comes together with a force that keeps you turning page after page. It's weird, inventive, fun, and a pleasure to read.

The blurb for this book uses phrases like "blistering gangster noir" and "howling absurdist comedy". That got my hopes up. Imagine my surprise as i slogged through the very, very slow first 300 pages of this book.

We meet Joe Spork, son of a mobster, grandson of a clockmaker. He's socially inept, self-conscious about the fact that he's on the straight-and-narrow despite his father's lifestyle, and generally a recluse. For pages and pages on end, we get a tour of his workshop, a tour of the literal underground world to which he has access, and so on.

We meet Edie Bannister, a crazy old lady who may or may not be setting Joe up for something nasty.

Then, of course, we spend a great deal of time on Edie's back story, part cliche secret agent schlock and part smut, with enough gears and trains to lure in the steampunk fanboys.

Eventually past and present run together, we understand why Edie is doing what she's doing, and the plot actually starts rolling. But it takes an awfully long time to get there.

So where is the 'blistering gangster noir'? Was it in Joe's various memories of his father? Is it in his own sparse dealings with the criminal element of London? Actually, it's pretty much nowhere. As for the 'absurdist comedy', i guess that was when the guy who failed to notice a woman was flirting with him when she took his hand and put it on her chest suddenly catches the eye of a gorgeous hottie.

This book tried to cater to a variety of audiences. It has secret government agents, criminals and crime of all shapes and sizes, madmen, pseudoscience, improbable technology, humble men just trying to keep their head down but inevitably getting swept up in the machinations of others, and gorgeous, intelligent, well-endowed women who want to sleep with them. A lot. The plot, such as it is, is mostly a mechanism for stringing these together. Some intriguing philosophical discussions regarding the nature of the device at the center of all the convoluted machinations are set aside in preference for discussions of tiny gears, underground passageways, and the occasional gunfight.

For all the pretense of depth, this is really just a James Bond-esque thwart-the-mad-criminal story. The rest is window dressing.

Remember Graham Joyce's The Silent Land? Last year, it was the book I anticipated more than any other. I wanted it. I had high expectations. Then I read it and all of that came crumbling down around me. The book failed to live up to those expectations and my reaction was decidedly negative. People, myself included, tend to go on and on about hype and how damaging it can be to a reading experience because it inspires high expectations, but anticipation is rarely brought into focus. Perhaps because hype can be blamed on others, but anticipation falls directly on the reader--face it, we don't like to be wrong. More often than not, those high expectations don't work out in our favor and we are left with something either mediocre or just plain bad. Then there are those other books, the rare sort that come along every so often and not only meet our expectations, but shatter them. Angelmaker is one of those books.

In the first chapter, we are introduced to Joe Spork and the cat he has gone to war with. This is relatively sane. In fact, this is about as sane as this book gets. It is downhill crazy from here on out. The book is, for a lack of better explanation, distinctly Harkaway. There is something about his voice, his prose, the style of his writing that gives him away. Angelmaker and Edie Investigates have nearly the same narrative voice as The Gone-Away World and if you read his blog, you can see elements of it there. Perhaps if I were less of a fan, I would take this for a negative. After all, two books with separate narrators and perspectives that sound so alike should probably trigger the notion that the writer is not developing as best he could. However, I find that I enjoy the rambling, digression-packed narratives that seem more akin to oral storytelling than written. Plus, there's the meta connection between The Gone-Away World and Angelmaker to consider, which could explain the similarities.

The characterization among the primary characters and even a smattering of the secondary is well done. Spork's entire story is one of growth and transformation and we get a good deal of exploration into his past to show us how he came to be a cat-battling horologist. Edie, our second point of view character, is almost entirely exploration of the past--of her extraordinary life and the lost love that have left her a lonely nonagenarian with an ugly dog, great deal of spite, and the knowledge that the end is not far off. Though her life is summarized throughout the novel, I find myself wanting to read more of her early years. Especially if there are more Women of Consequence to be found within them. Some characterization could be better. Our villain, Shem Shem Tsien is murderous psychopath with a flair for the dramatic. And he's Asian. Not the most original super-villain and perhaps a throwback to pulps, but still problematic because even when we do get to know the character better and learn of his motivations, there is no depth to it. He is just insane. In a similar fashion, there is Polly Cradle. While I do like the character, she seems to have been assigned the role of designated love interest. She makes strides toward becoming a realized character, but the relationship feels shoe-horned and sudden and the character never really rises above that.

Now, The Gone-Away World was something of a mess. The majority of the narrative was an extended flashback, the digressions and asides were many and lengthy, and thought I loved every minute of it, even I could see that it would probably have benefited from some stricter editing. It was a lovable mess, but one nonetheless. Angelmaker is a more polished book. The plotting is tighter, the asides and digressions reigned in somewhat to avoid straying to far away from the matters at hand. The flashbacks are present, of course, but are more compact and slotted into the point of view chapters as needed instead of leaving people to dangle for hundreds of pages while some terrible thing threatens to destroy the world. There is no doubt in my mind that Angelmaker is the better written of the two and shows clear growth as a writer.

Granted, I wouldn't say that it is the better of the two books because that would be silly and not worth comparing. Angelmaker is a fantastic read in its own right and definitely one of the better books that I have read this year. In fact, I have already read it twice this year and came away happy and positive both times. It met my high expectations and then took a hammer to them. All I can say at this point is I hope Harkaway keeps up the good work.

I am generally not prone to unmitigated and spontaneous squeeing except on rare occasions or when presented with almost anything that may be described as "adorable." Since "adorable" is what I use to describe baby octopi and itty bitty corn snakes as well as my chinchilla, you can take that as you will. Nevertheless, I was in a major tizzy of anticipation over this book. Quite possibly my biggest book tizzy of the year.

Angelmaker centers around one Joe Spork who in addition to having an awesome name to start with, also has his father's legacy of crookery to live down as well. While trying to get by as a clock and antique repairman, he is given an unusual piece with some minor connections to his respectable grandfather. Things take a rather remarkable turn for the worse, the secretive, the extremely dangerous, and the strange shortly thereafter.

I seriously enjoyed the style of writing. Since it's all written in the present tense, there is a certain sense of immediacy to it, but strangely, when the story was focusing on Joe being quiet and contemplative the prose managed to mirror that without an inadvertent feeling of urgency attached to it. It was a joy to read through. There's a lot more focus on how characters perceive the things and people around them instead of just what they look like. The descriptions can be as hilarious as they are evocative. I found the theme running through the book particularly relevant given how many people have to cheat "the rules" in some way to get by and many reasons that we do so, both good and bad.

Actually I ended up with only a fuzzy idea of what some of the characters looked like, but I don't care because they were entirely awesome. Joe Spork's transformation and realizations through the novel matched up well with the action line of the story and yet left plenty of time at the end for a thoroughly satisfying and delightful conclusion after all the messes had been mopped up Prohibition style. I really really enjoy how the story is pieced together into an ever accelerating crescendo with a free fall and landing at the end.

While Joe Spork becomes a better and better character as the novel progresses, then there are the others. Or to use Angelmaker's phrasing, the Women of Consequence, Polly, Edie, Frankie and Dotty Catty. Especially Edie since she provides nearly all of the background for the psychopathic villain and the abstract reason for fighting Shem. And she's a gun toting, super spy great-auntie who carries her explosives in Tupperware. Her flashback scenes initially felt a bit jarring in the beginning of the story, but as it progressed those flashbacks became more and more important to Joe's present and the awakening of the Apprehension engine. It's through Edie's relationship with Frankie that the small differences between the lady inventor and the nasty villain Shem become apparent to the reader. Then there's Polly. Joe has to develop a lot as a character to get up to Polly's level of awesome. She's clever, determined and knows how to get what she wants out of people and doesn't necessarily need to use large amounts of explosives or tommy guns to do so.

I loved this book and will read the covers off of it for a long time to come.

As a daydreaming exercise, I sometimes ponder what I would do if aliens showed up at a doomed Earth and allowed me to choose five national populations to save in addition to my own. Do I go for numbers? Compatibility? Diversity? Significance of history? Stage of development? Regardless of the criteria, my first choice is always the U.K. I mean, they've brought us Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Bond, and Doctor Who. That oughta be rewarded. And works by authors like Harkaway simply help justify my choice.

"Angelmaker" is the sort of multi-stranded madcap adventure at which the British in particular excel. It's packed with flashbacks, gangsters and grifters from the London underworld, a sociopathic serial killer, a society of undertakers, a secret government intelligence agency, steampunk-ish trains and Nemo-ish submarines, a decades-old conspiracy, a degenerate order of quasi-monks, and heroic dogs--just to name a few. Half of it is basically a Boy's Own Adventure, albeit starring a lesbian schoolgirl, one who soon earns an arch-nemesis in the person of a Fu Manchu-like potentate and uber-man. The other half tells the story of Joe Spork, repairer of watches and gearwork gadgets, and son of a long-dead criminal kingpin. Despite his strenuous efforts to life a quiet and obscure life of virtue, he finds himself dragged into a caper that soons becomes deadly not only to those around him but to the entire world.

This is wildly imaginative stuff that goes shooting off in all manner of unexpected directions. It's stacked with twists and turns and revelations, and as backstories get slowly revealed, we begin to see how apparently unrelated events are in fact all tied together.

There's plenty of adventure and derring-do and quite an interesting cast of characters, several of whom are explored in some depth. My major complaint is that the secondary female protagonist, who takes up with Joe Spork in a moment of crisis, is essentially yet another Manic Pixie Dream Girl. There are reasons for her alliance which make eminent sense, but she partakes too much of a wish-fulfillment character--a gorgeous woman who shows up suddenly and asks for nothing but constant sexing-up. I mean, sure, that kind of thing happens all the time in MY life, but I'm given to understand it's comparatively rare for other folks.

The climax also is a mild letdown, not in terms of the staging of the multi-tiered and quite entertaining action setpiece, but because of some aspects of the protagonist's ultimate choices. They're solidly justified, and for them to have been made otherwise might not actually make sense, but somehow they seem a bit unsatisfying.

With this and his previous "The Gone-Away World", Harkaway has shown himself to be amazingly imaginative and to be supremely gifted at coming up with richly detailed worlds and unusual characters. I already consider him a major talent, and look forward with anticipation to his next work.

Nick Harkaway's "Angelmaker" is not the noir that is part of the blurb. It does have gangsters in it. And spies. And a doomsday machine. And a lot of really bad people.

But it isn't noir. It isn't like any particular genre yet a lot at the same time. It is alternate history. Sort of. Spy thriller. Crime bosses and a bit of politics. Very funny.

Joe Spork is a guy with the face of a bouncer who is fixes/winds clocks like his WW1 vet grandfather. He's nothing like his charming gangster father. Yet, he's still linked to his father's gangster world yet it is his grandfather's legacy that also draws him into the adventure.

"Angelmaker" is populated with colorful characters. Some who bite the dust pretty quickly. Others who aren't even human. It takes awhile to determine who to care about and who is there for color.

I really liked the book. Once I got rid of my expectation that it was a noir and more of an alt-reality-fantasy world that is kind of mod-England and kind of steam punk, I was fine and enjoyed the adventure of the reluctant Joe (pun intended) saving the world.

That said, I've seen a bit of criticism that Harkaway does go on a bit much and I would have to agree. The book is long and a lot of it is because Harkaway has a lot of filler asides. Humorous but after awhile it can get tedious and meaningless. The prose is just there for humor or color or an ode to an inside joke that the reader may or may not get and may or may not find irritating.

If one is a reader that hates that kind of storytelling, then this may not be the book for that reader. It isn't a streamlined narrative. Harkaway definitely meanders at times but for me, I rather enjoyed the asides because I liked the overall story but I would caution a reader to expect many passages to feel like it is a trip around the world when really the reader just wants to get to the nearest market.

But again, I really liked the story of Joe, Edie, Polly and others. It was a fun yarn in a very interesting world.

ANGELMAKER is the ridiculous story of Matthew Spork, a self-effacing clockmaker who has spent his whole adult life trying to escape his deceased gangster father's criminal ways. But there's a lot more to his past than he knows, and he's soon tricked into some very criminal activities indeed, including possibly destroying the whole world. He's going to need to remember everything his father and criminal uncle-types ever taught him, and more.

Like Harkaway's THE GONE-AWAY WORLD this is a dizzying mixup of different genres. It's complicated, witty, hilarious, and full of great characters. Despite the many flashbacks, the pace remains quite fast and the plot is fun and engaging. Edie is one of the best old lady characters ever written. And the superhero lawyer Mercer Cradle is fantastic. Trust me on this.

So, what's with the four stars you ask? Well, once an author heads into favorite-realm, I get picky. There are no actual flaws in ANGELMAKER... but... Personally, I wanted more depth. Some profound issues are raised in the novel, like the nature of identity and the effects of unfiltered truth... but they're just plot devices. We get no exploration or insights. Now, I realize, I'm looking for more than was ever indicated. I mean, the protagonist is named Spork. This doesn't scream deep philosophical treatise. Everything stays on a light, irreverent level, and that's all that was promised in the opening. But, a touch more depth would have made the story perfect, for me. For missing perfection that closely, you lose one star. Sorry.

Still, it's a FANTASTIC novel, and I fully intend buy every book Harkaway writes. He spoiled me for reading anything else for weeks. Nothing was remotely as good.

The novel 'Angelmaker' by Nick Harkaway is an amazing work. Its quite a read, at about 500 pages, and it took a bit before I finally 'got into' the storyline and the characters, but when I did it was well worth it.

The story deals with a 'doomsday device' created during the 1950s by the British Government with help from others, and how it has been triggered endangering the entire world. The cast of characters that form this novel are brilliant, all with backgrounds that make them interesting and connect them in certain ways. The main character, Joe Spork is a humble clock repairman, son of a notorious mobster. He gets drawn into things by being hired to fix what he thinks is a time-piece, but is really part of the mechanism for said 'doomsday device'.

Due to Joe's repairs, the fixed the machine is triggered, putting all life in danger. He is then drawn, very much against his will into the battle between the people who want the machine for their own. In this process we see Joe Spork go from his humble, boring, false self into the man he was always meant to be but held back for all his life. Joe is assisted by and battled by an amazing cast of characters that keeps things going strong until the very end.

This is a great book. It may not be for everyone, it is in a genre that is very hard to describe, but if you like wild tales with amazing characters then you have the book you are looking for right here.

His father was infamous felon Mathew "Tommy Gun" Spork; his grandfather repaired clocks. Joe Spork admires his dad but fixes antique clocks. His current client, Edie Banister is a gentle elderly woman. When he repairs her clock, Joe inadvertently activates a Post WWII early Cold War era doomsday clock as Edie is a retired secret agent.

Joe becomes the target of the British government, John Ruskin's warrior-monks and a psychopath Asian dictator with robotic bees. On his side he has geriatric Edie, Frankie and most important his receptionist Polly. Though he prefers flight, he knows there is no place to hide. Thus he must fight in order to survive. Joe assists Edie complete her 1950s mission.

This is an engaging steampunk thriller in three parts as Joe becomes embroiled in the doomsday clock countdown, followed by a side trip (by the audience) into Edie's past (that never fully meshes with the rest), and brought back together by the fight or flight finish. Fast-paced but over the top of Big Ben, fans who appreciate something different will want to read Angelmaker.

Harriet Klausner

This novel deceives you. It masquerades as a slow vocabulary lesson with patches of UK slang mixed in. Surprise! You find yourself on a fast moving train, traveling at 200 miles an hour to a very explosive ending. I'm glad I took the ride.

While Angelmaker didn't have the same impact as The Gone-Away World, but it's probably a better example of craftsmanship.The balance is imperfect and some aspects could have been better developed but the ride is well worth it. If you like books about clockmakers, spies, criminals, cults, mad dictators, lawyers, corrupt bureaucrats, war elephants, secret societies, bees and the end of the world, then you need to read this one. There's a lot to like in Angelmaker. William Gibson proclaims on the dust jacket, "Its like Dickens meets Mervyn Peake in a modern Mother London" and that is surprisingly accurate. Nick Harkaway seems to share my fascination with London's history and the world of London Undeground. He uses enough magic realism to stretch the boudaries of believability and get away with it, but not quite enough that the characters and the story don't have the opportunity to connect with us all. This is another excellent work by the son of infamous John le Carre!

My eyes bulged and my jaw hinges squeaked. This book needs a warning label--"Do not attempt to leave your seat until the ride has come to a full stop.". Read this book. Not in public. You will have a wonderful time, and never forget some of the characters. Really.

Harry Potter for adults. Charming, funny, beautifully written. Can't wait to read more by Mr. H. Last third drags a bit (I'll blame the editor) but a wonderful book nonetheless.

If anyone is turned off by sci-fi references and supposed similarities, please plunge onward. I loathe sci-fi. This book transcends the genre.

It takes someone special to come up with a completely new idea, and this is what Harkaway achieved here. The central premise of the the book is original, smart and well executed. And his characters are well written and structured.

I Just finished Nick Harkaway's brilliant "Angelmaker" on audiobook. If you like any of the following genres, then you will love this book:
*Mystery
*Suspense
*Sci-Fi
*WW II
*Geopolitics
*Super-spies (ie James Bond)
*Steampunk
*Gangsters
*Fantasy
*Monomaniacal bad guys
*Clocks
*Bees

I'm withholding the 5th star because of the parts of the book that dragged a bit, but the overall accomplishment is amazing. I cared deeply about Joe Spork and the cast of characters that shaped his life. The story telling reminds me of Neal Stephenson's work (which I offer as a high compliment.) Please read and pass on; I think this is only the author's 2nd book and Mr. Harkaway should be encouraged to keep on writing!

Anglemaker is about a clockmaker, the son of a notorious criminal, who has tried to live a straight life but gets sucked into a plot to destroy the world using a device his grandmother, a mathematical genius, created (with the idea that it would save the world) and hid. He gets tricked into turning it on, mayhem ensues. It's nearly 600 pages and the first ~125 are really rough/slow going, but if you can push past that and hang through a few other slow bits, the last ~200 pages are a great read and make it worthwhile. (That said, I don't know that I'd spend money on it, but I might look for it in the library.)

Overview:

When I heard that Nick Harkaway had another book coming, after the wonderful The Gone-Away World, I was delighted. It was, and always has been, one of my favorite books that I have ever gotten from Vine. I was overjoyed to get a chance at this one, as well. If I hadn't, I would have purchased it, before it came out, because it is the awesome-sauce.

A. Plot/Backstory

The plot weaves back and forth between two times. The current plot involves the unfortunate Joseph Joshua Spork, who has taken up his grandfather's business of clockwork-tinker, his friend, Billy Friend (Did I mention that I love the names of the people in this book?), and the lawfirm of the Cradles. His pal Bill brings him an...object to repair. And then his life goes to shambles. In virtually no time, he is visited by two very dangerous men who claim to be from a museum (but clearly are not). His next visitor comes from a delightful sect called the Ruskinites, acolytes of the now deceased John Ruskin. (Likely the cult was based on the Guild of St. George, but it is wildly exaggerated and characterized much differently.) Very, very quickly, Joshua Joseph must figure out what is going on and what Billy's gotten him into. In short order, the plot becomes quite complex, as the players start to multiply, and people on both sides of the line (those trying to use the Angelmaker, those trying to take it, and those trying to turn it off), make things complicated very fast. What the Angelmaker does, precisely, is something that I will leave to the reader to discover, lest I spoil too much of the plot. I will only say that the name was chosen perfectly.

Meanwhile, there is another, interwoven plot that surrounds a British spy (Edie), a French polymath (Frankie), and a drug lord/king (Shem Shem Tsien). The importance of those events ramifies through time until the present, where it becomes much clearer toward the end of the book.

The plot is dense, interwoven, and very, very well plotted. It never drags on, and it all wraps up nicely at the end, making a firm and well-polished conclusion.

B. Characters

Where to begin, the living or the dead?

The dead, I guess. In addition to the characters mentioned above, there are the ghosts of the past, including Frankie, the inventor of the Angelmaker; Daniel Spork, Joshua Joseph's grandfather who was a clockwork-tinker; and Mathew Spork, Joshua Joseph's gangster father. All three ghosts play an important role in the story.

Mr. Titwhistle. Mr. Cummerbund. Mr. Spork. The names, man, the names. I love the names in this book.

All of the characters are interesting. They undergo development as the story goes on (particularly our narrators, Joshua Joseph Spork and Edie), and they seem like REAL people. Even the characters that appear only for brief periods of time are interesting and well-developed. It's not too often that you find characters that are as well conceived as this, and when you do, it's important to treasure them.

C. Setting

The main part of the story is set in a London of the present, just not OUR London of the present. (At least I don't think so.) The remainder is set in England of the World War II era. In both cases, the setting is well integrated into the flow of the story, and, especially in the case of the present, where the Night Market (which is an incredibly cool and intriguing place, where I'd pay to spend lots of time).

D. Themes

What is truth? What is it worth? Would knowing the truth make us better people? Would it stop war? Betrayal? What would people do to know truth?

E. Point of View

The point of view is generally third-person, limited omniscience from the point of view of Mssr. Spork. Occasionally, it is from the perspective of a different character, usually to propel the plot. The jumps are never disconcerting or overly intrusive, though, so it is pretty well done.

F. Aesthetics

Class all of the way. The grammar and language speaks of Britain, and it is welcome. There is nothing in this that is poorly worded, nothing that is poorly chosen. Everything is solid, well-done, beautiful.

Conclusion:

Overall, the book is exceptionally well-written. I will be recommending it to many people, virtually anyone who I think would like a well-written book. (Believe it or not, there are people out there that this description does not apply to.) I will also be telling them, over and over, that they need to read it, because it's pretty awesome. In fact, the only bad thing about it is...it will be a long time until Nick Harkaway writes another book for me to enjoy. Buy it. Read it. Enjoy it. And then tell other people to do it, too.

Well done, Mr. Harkaway. Well done. Bring us another. Please.

A

Harkius

I had high hopes after reading Harkaway's premier novel The Gone-Away World and Angelmaker more than met them. After intermittently reading to the middle of the book over the course of several days I then read almost through the night to finish it. Tremendous read.

This book was one that sounded so interesting from its description. I wasn't sure what to expect, but "noir" is not an accurate description. It is more of a pseudo-fantasy, steampunk urban London, and this is a genre that simply does not hold much appeal to me. There are moments when the story and its characters utterly sucked me in - especially Bastion the pug, but the style of the novel as a whole just couldn't captivate me. The meandering style that shifts abruptly over time left me in a fair amount of confusion and consistently pulled me out of the story itself. The chronology was too hard to hold onto, and while I did like Edie, I just couldn't muster up much sympathy for Joe neither-Spoon-nor-Fork, but entirely useless Spork. And while that was part of the point, and moments were quite amusing, the hero of this novel just never raised enough my interest above utter apathy as to his future.

This version of London and the characters simply weren't constructed firmly enough that the meandering intrusions did not completely frustrate me. Constant tangents and dull, droning prose just couldn't get me through to the end of this rather weighty tome. I just lost interest completely. So, I did not finish it. And while I may return to it someday, and then update this review, at this point, I am not going to force myself to read a book that after 200 pages I could care less whether they all live or die. It really is too bad, because there are definite moments of wit, charm and maybe even a hint of brilliance, but the interspersed drivel just weighs it down too much to allow this reader to have any connection to the book or its characters.

I am usually a very forgiving reviewer, always trying to give the author the benefit of the doubt when I have some problems with the book. This one, however, strained my ability to review it in a positive way.

I can tell that I'm not enjoying a book when I keep inventing excuses not to read it. Believe me, I tried my best, getting through about 1/3 of the book before I finally gave up on it. To me it made no sense whatsoever, and the writing was a bit too arch for my taste. I like a book that has some kind of plot, but this one escaped me. There are a bunch of seemingly unconnected scenarios, and some extremely strange people. That's about it, in my estimation.

Perhaps at some further time in the book all of the nonsense comes together and makes sense. Unfortunately, after reading the book doggedly I just gave up. My interest, what there was of it, just flagged and I couldn't convince myself to keep turning the pages. Apologies to those readers and reviewers who liked the book. I didn't, but I respect your opinions.

Very enjoyable. Excellent all round--except for the ending. I'd much rather have seen the bad guy vanquished by some clever trick...by turning his own creation against him or in some other way outsmarting him. (I'm trying to say this without any spoilers!)

I also listened to the audiobook. What an exceptional narrator Daniel Weyman is!! This is among the few audiobooks I will definitely listen to again.

The novel 'Angelmaker' by Nick Harkaway is an amazing work. Its quite a read, at about 500 pages, and it took a bit before I finally 'got into' the storyline and the characters, but when I did it was well worth it.

The story deals with a 'doomsday device' created during the 1950s by the British Government with help from others, and how it has been triggered endangering the entire world. The cast of characters that form this novel are brilliant, all with backgrounds that make them interesting and connect them in certain ways. The main character, Joe Spork is a humble clock repairman, son of a notorious mobster. He gets drawn into things by being hired to fix what he thinks is a time-piece, but is really part of the mechanism for said 'doomsday device'.

Due to Joe's repairs, the fixed the machine is triggered, putting all life in danger. He is then drawn, very much against his will into the battle between the people who want the machine for their own. In this process we see Joe Spork go from his humble, boring, false self into the man he was always meant to be but held back for all his life. Joe is assisted by and battled by an amazing cast of characters that keeps things going strong until the very end.

This is a great book. It may not be for everyone, it is in a genre that is very hard to describe, but if you like wild tales with amazing characters then you have the book you are looking for right here.