Book Review: The Clockwork Dynasty by Daniel H. Wilson

This is an engaging fantasy with strong history and clockwork elements.
The Clockwork Dynasty
by Daniel H. Wilson

File Size: 3835 KB
Print Length: 322 pages
Publisher: Doubleday (August 1, 2017)
ASIN: B01LXFO711
Genre: Clockwork, Fantasy, Sci Fi
My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0

An ingenious new thriller that weaves a path through history, following a race of human-like machines that have been hiding among us for untold centuries, written by the New York Times bestselling author of Robopocalypse.
Present day: When a uncovers a terrible secret concealed in the workings of a three-hundred-year-old mechanical doll, she is thrown into a hidden world that lurks just under the surface of our own. With her career and her life at stake, June Stefanov will ally with a remarkable traveler who young anthropologist specializing in ancient technology exposes her to a reality she never imagined, as they embark on an around-the-world adventure and discover breathtaking secrets of the past…
Russia, 1725: In the depths of the Kremlin, the tsar’s loyal mechanician brings to life two astonishingly humanlike mechanical beings. Peter and Elena are a brother and sister fallen out of time, possessed with uncanny power, and destined to serve great empires. Struggling to blend into pre-Victorian society, they are pulled into a legendary war that has raged for centuries.
The Clockwork Dynasty seamlessly interweaves past and present, exploring a race of beings designed to live by ironclad principles, yet constantly searching for meaning. As June plunges deeper into their world, her choices will ultimately determine their survival or extermination. Richly-imagined and heart-pounding, Daniel H. Wilson’s novel expertly draws on his robotics and science background, combining exquisitely drawn characters with visionary technology—and riveting action.

Review:
June learned to love old trinkets from her grandfather. He had a special relic that she inherited upon his death. Now June is an anthropologist specializing in ancient technology and making old clockwork pieces work. Her services have been funded by a special company but each time she reaches a new destination it appears that someone has been one step ahead, taking the relics and sometimes destroying the evidence.

The most recent stop at an ancient monastery reveals a beautiful clockwork doll. It is missing its innards but June is able to jerry rig power to get it operating long enough to write a secret message before the building begins to collapse around them. Suddenly her guide announces that her funding has been withdrawn and her job is over.

Soon the guide and June are facing attack by a dark man with super human strength. June tries to escape but it doesn’t look good. Then another super human man steps in between. June isn’t sure if he is trying to save her or also trying to take her family relic.

The current day events alternate with events from history beginning in 1709 and moving forward. These chapters introduce and follow a clockwork man, Peter, and his child-like beautiful ‘sister, Elena.’ Peter and Elena were created for a specific purpose and centered with an internal “word” that shapes their actions. Peter seeks Justice in all things while Elena pursues logic. Although they have a close relationship it is strained by their different goals.

I really enjoyed the automated characters, particularly Peter who shares the story lead with June. The history detail that is shared is fascinating. Parts of the story were a tad slow but these are offset by good action and intrigue. There is a dark tone and images that brought thoughts of the Terminator.

The plotline runs with a metaphysical twist as it moves to a tense and explosive climax. I thought the writing was crisp and the story creative. I recommend this to readers who enjoy clockwork or cyborg stories with great historic detailing.

I received this from NetGalley and it adds to my NetGalley Challenge.

Book Review: The Sleepwalker: A Novel by Chris Bohjalian

This psychological mystery pulls you to the twist at the revealing conclusion.
The Sleepwalker: A Novel
by Chris Bohjalian

File Size: 1066 KB
Print Length: 304 pages
Publisher: Doubleday (January 10, 2017)
ASIN: B01FPGY5TK
Genre: Mystery
My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Guest Room comes a spine-tingling novel of lies, loss, and buried desire—the mesmerizing story of a wife and mother who vanishes from her bed late one night.

When Annalee Ahlberg goes missing, her children fear the worst. Annalee is a sleepwalker whose affliction manifests in ways both bizarre and devastating. Once, she merely destroyed the hydrangeas in front of her Vermont home. More terrifying was the night her older daughter, Lianna, pulled her back from the precipice of the Gale River bridge. The morning of Annalee's disappearance, a search party combs the nearby woods. Annalee's husband, Warren, flies home from a business trip. Lianna is questioned by a young, hazel-eyed detective. And her little sister, Paige, takes to swimming the Gale to look for clues. When the police discover a small swatch of fabric, a nightshirt, ripped and hanging from a tree branch, it seems certain Annalee is dead, but Gavin Rikert, the hazel-eyed detective, continues to call, continues to stop by the Ahlbergs' Victorian home. As Lianna peels back the layers of mystery surrounding Annalee's disappearance, she finds herself drawn to Gavin, but she must ask herself: Why does the detective know so much about her mother? Why did Annalee leave her bed only when her father was away? And if she really died while sleepwalking, where was the body?
Conjuring the strange and mysterious world of parasomnia, a place somewhere between dreaming and wakefulness, The Sleepwalker is a masterful novel from one of our most treasured storytellers.

Review:
Lianna is a young college student home during summer break when her mother disappears one night. Her beautiful mother, Annalee, is a sleepwalker who has had dangerous walks in her sleep before. Neither the search party nor the police have found a body and Lianna and her younger sister, Paige, don’t want to believe their mother is dead. But time keeps passing.

A day or two into the investigation Lianna meets Gavin, a 30ish detective who happened to know Annalee through a sleepwalker treatment program. He admits that he met Annalee outside the program for coffee and to compare notes. Lianna is drawn to Gavin but not sure if she can trust his attention and their attraction. Could his connection with her mother have been more than casual?

Lianna stays home from college while she runs the household trying to make things as normal as possible for her father and sister. She begins to secretly date Gavin. She doesn’t want her father to know and Gavin agrees to secrecy because of his connections to the case. Lianna continues to probe into her mother’s past and presses Gavin for details. Along the way she looks with suspicion upon her father, her neighbors, husbands and wives, as well as Gavin.

The story is written from Lianna’s first person voice which is done well. The reader is drawn into her turmoil, loss, puzzlement and confusion. The author weaves in details about parasomnia and the phenomenon of sleepwalking by means of discussions and journal entries from a sleepwalker.

I liked the writing style although, since I tend to like stories with action, this one was a bit different as it moves more slowly in a social, emotional drama mode. Still, the author does a good job at hooking the reader as I was invested in wanting to know what happened. There are some tense moments and a (possibly foreseeable as there are clues) twist at the point of reveal.

Readers who find family dynamics interesting should like this. I also recommend it to readers who enjoy a more psychological mystery.

I received this from the Publisher through NetGalley. It qualifies for my 2017 NetGalley Challenge.