The Mechanical (The Alchemy Wars)
Ian Tregillis
Language: English
Pages: 480
ISBN: 0316248002
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
My name is Jax.
That is the name granted to me by my human masters.
I am a slave.
But I shall be free.
Set in a world that might have been, of mechanical men and alchemical dreams, the new novel from Ian Tregillis confirms his place as one of the most original new voices in speculative fiction.
PRAISE FOR IAN TREGILLIS
"A major new talent." George R.R. Martin
"Tremendous." Cory Doctorow
"Addictively brilliant." io9
"Exciting and intense." Publishers Weekly
"Eloquent and utterly compelling." Kirkus
Rotterdam harbor a much larger portion of the labor was human, as the income raised by mooring and other fees enabled the harbormasters to retain expensive Clakkers only for the most menial and/or backbreaking tasks. As Jax and Vyk settled under the yoke to begin the long haul to the house, Clip and a porter descended a gangway to the pier, each carrying a pair of Madam Schoonraad’s chests. The porter greeted Jax and Vyk. Clockmakers lie. Jax responded in kind. (Yes, they do, he thought. I’m
the crowded, uneven streets of New Amsterdam, Jax told the story (pausing as necessary while Vyk navigated) of Adam’s execution and final words. The cobbles here were rougher and more irregular than back home, the gaps wider. It took considerable strength to get the wagon going again each time they stopped for cross traffic. The manure scattered here and there apparently came from horses. Jax saw more of these here in New Amsterdam than back in The Hague. Draft animals weren’t uncommon back home,
social ladder, on a chill but sunny autumn day. Not a bit like the chief of the Empire’s secret police. If not for the pendant one wouldn’t know her for a Guild member at all. Visser’s tongue had cleaved to the roof of a dry mouth. The saliva he worked up tasted as though he’d spent the night sucking on a kwartje. “One of us is not dressed for the occasion.” She smiled as though he’d just said something exceptionally clever. It even crinkled the corners of her eyes. “Please relax. I’m not here
Knowing the dark lengths to which his former masters would go to capture, even demonize, Jax and knowing the pain of geas intimately, he realized the airship might even hurl itself into the ground to prevent his escape. The metageas would force it to destroy itself rather than let a rogue ride free. The leviathan would rail helplessly against fate while hastening its own destruction. Jax climbed. He scrambled hand-over-hand up the tattered and rain-slicked canvas. Buffeted by the wind, it
creature? For God’s sake, why are you doing this to us?” The centaur escorted Visser to his cell as though nothing had happened. His hands received close scrutiny. The attacker hadn’t broken his skin, nevertheless they slathered his fingers with ointment and wrapped them in bandages. That evening, en route to the washroom, he saw a Clakker tromping through the garden carrying a shovel and a large burlap sack. He did not sleep that night. Each time he closed his eyes he saw the slobbering wretch