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juushikaTitle: The Alchemy of Stone
Author: Ekaterina Sedia
Published: Prime, 2008
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 301
Total Page Count: 74,278
Text Number: 219
Read For: interest in the author/reading steampunk, borrowed from the library
Short Review: Mattie is an emancipated automaton and an alchemist, commissioned by the city's gargoyles to extend their short life spans. Her research draws her into a conflict between gargoyles, Mechanists, and Alchemists, but Mattie's attempts to help are hampered by her lingering ties to her creator. A steampunk fantasy novel, The Alchemy of Stone has a fun magical setting and a wonderful protagonist, but overhasty pacing leaves too much of the book undeveloped. The potential here goes unfulfilled, and it's simply disappointing. I don't recommend it.
The Alchemy of Stone is an indulgent steampunk fantasy that tries to do a lot but doesn't do it very well. The setting is a delight: automatons and alchemy, steampower and atmospheric detail all paint a storybook-vivid steampunk landscape. It's magical and colorful and just a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the book often fails to go past storybook depth, and that's mostly the fault of pacing. Scenes are so short that if you blink you may miss them. There's no time to for character motivation, and so Mattie's wanderings between settings and characters seem random. Nor is there time to build relationships between characters, and the reader doesn't care about anyone but Mattie. There's no time for the reader to pause and meditate on the story, denying foreshadowing and much of the book's greater meaning. All told the pacing makes the plot feel unfocused and superficial, and it leaves little time for the sort of detail that could give the storybook setting some meaning and life.
The book goes places—in fact there's almost an excess of plot: back story, power struggles between Alchemists, Mechanists, and gargolyes, civil war, and always Mattie's search for identity and community. But the journey is one of swift jumps and starts that seem random and underdeveloped, and the conclusions feel haphazard, more stumbled upon than created. And so The Alchemy of Stone is promising but dissapointing. The setting is a fun playground, and Mattie is an interesting character; her struggle for self-identity is the book's strongest aspect, a touching story of humanity and displacement told through an unusual, animatronic protagonist. But the rest of the book is too swift and too haphazard, leaving everything from supporting characters to plot woefully undeveloped and making the conclusion seem more or less random. The setting drew me in and there's a lot of potential here, but it's unexplored and I didn't enjoy the book. I don't recommend it.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
Author: Ekaterina Sedia
Published: Prime, 2008
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 301
Total Page Count: 74,278
Text Number: 219
Read For: interest in the author/reading steampunk, borrowed from the library
Short Review: Mattie is an emancipated automaton and an alchemist, commissioned by the city's gargoyles to extend their short life spans. Her research draws her into a conflict between gargoyles, Mechanists, and Alchemists, but Mattie's attempts to help are hampered by her lingering ties to her creator. A steampunk fantasy novel, The Alchemy of Stone has a fun magical setting and a wonderful protagonist, but overhasty pacing leaves too much of the book undeveloped. The potential here goes unfulfilled, and it's simply disappointing. I don't recommend it.
The Alchemy of Stone is an indulgent steampunk fantasy that tries to do a lot but doesn't do it very well. The setting is a delight: automatons and alchemy, steampower and atmospheric detail all paint a storybook-vivid steampunk landscape. It's magical and colorful and just a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the book often fails to go past storybook depth, and that's mostly the fault of pacing. Scenes are so short that if you blink you may miss them. There's no time to for character motivation, and so Mattie's wanderings between settings and characters seem random. Nor is there time to build relationships between characters, and the reader doesn't care about anyone but Mattie. There's no time for the reader to pause and meditate on the story, denying foreshadowing and much of the book's greater meaning. All told the pacing makes the plot feel unfocused and superficial, and it leaves little time for the sort of detail that could give the storybook setting some meaning and life.
The book goes places—in fact there's almost an excess of plot: back story, power struggles between Alchemists, Mechanists, and gargolyes, civil war, and always Mattie's search for identity and community. But the journey is one of swift jumps and starts that seem random and underdeveloped, and the conclusions feel haphazard, more stumbled upon than created. And so The Alchemy of Stone is promising but dissapointing. The setting is a fun playground, and Mattie is an interesting character; her struggle for self-identity is the book's strongest aspect, a touching story of humanity and displacement told through an unusual, animatronic protagonist. But the rest of the book is too swift and too haphazard, leaving everything from supporting characters to plot woefully undeveloped and making the conclusion seem more or less random. The setting drew me in and there's a lot of potential here, but it's unexplored and I didn't enjoy the book. I don't recommend it.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
