Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Prime Books (2011), Edition: Second Ed, Paperback, 320 pages
Description
"Outside any city still standing, the Mechanical Circus Tresaulti sets up its tents. Crowds pack the benches to gawk at the brass-and-copper troupe and their impossible feats: Ayar the Strong Man, the acrobatic Grimaldi Brothers, fearless Elena and her aerialists who perform on living trapezes. War is everywhere, but while the Circus is performing, the world is magic. That magic is no accident: Boss builds her circus from the bones out, molding a mechanical company that will survive the unforgiving landscape. But even a careful ringmaster can make mistakes. Two of Tresaulti's performers are trapped in a secret stand-off that threatens to tear the Circus apart, just as the war lands on their doorstep. Now they must fight a war on two fronts: one from the outside, and a more dangerous one from within..."--P. [4] of cover.… (more)
Media reviews
[I]n a highwire act of her own, Valentine still raises the novel above the ordinary through her ability to convey the richness of the circus performers’ emotional lives, coupled with impressive writing. . .
Genevieve Valentine's Mechanique, a steampunk/post-apocalyptic/magical-realist/paranormal adventure, is one of those rare books that will transform your understanding of genre. It's a genuinely literary book that uses the elements of genre to tell the truth about people. Fittingly for a book about
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acrobats and tumblers, this book both soars and confounds your expectations. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member psutto
Brilliant
THE MECHANICAL CIRCUS TRESAULTI
FINEST SPECTACTLE ANYWHERE
MECHANICAL MEN beyond IMAGINATION
Astounding feats of ACROBATICS
The Finest HUMAN CURIOSITIES
The World has ever SEEN
STRONGMEN, DANCING GIRLS
& LIVING ENGINES
FLYING GIRLS, LIGHTER than AIR
MUSIC from the HUMAN ORCHESTRA
BARGAIN
Our story opens with a second person introduction of you visiting the circus and continues with several changes of POV and tense which could be jarring but is very much at the service of the story and the beautifully drawn world building. This is an achingly good story, told with an expert voice. We follow several characters and grow to live and love with the circus which is like a large dysfunctional family. This is a steampunkeqsque world, set post collapse, where the circus travels the country but tries never to revisit places, or at least not within living memory. As we progress with the circus we are embroiled in the petty politics of the performers and gradually learn more about the world, getting back stories of the performers. I read this is in one sitting, picking it up in the morning and not able to put it down until it was finished, and what a read it was! Highly recommended.
Some parts of the past cannot be reclaimed, he knows. Better not to raise ghosts.
Overall – Beautiful, painful, joyous, adventurous tapestry to be savoured and devoured and thrust into the hands of all those who share your reading tastes…
THE MECHANICAL CIRCUS TRESAULTI
FINEST SPECTACTLE ANYWHERE
MECHANICAL MEN beyond IMAGINATION
Astounding feats of ACROBATICS
The Finest HUMAN CURIOSITIES
The World has ever SEEN
STRONGMEN, DANCING GIRLS
& LIVING ENGINES
FLYING GIRLS, LIGHTER than AIR
MUSIC from the HUMAN ORCHESTRA
BARGAIN
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ENTERTAINMENT for ONE and ALLOur story opens with a second person introduction of you visiting the circus and continues with several changes of POV and tense which could be jarring but is very much at the service of the story and the beautifully drawn world building. This is an achingly good story, told with an expert voice. We follow several characters and grow to live and love with the circus which is like a large dysfunctional family. This is a steampunkeqsque world, set post collapse, where the circus travels the country but tries never to revisit places, or at least not within living memory. As we progress with the circus we are embroiled in the petty politics of the performers and gradually learn more about the world, getting back stories of the performers. I read this is in one sitting, picking it up in the morning and not able to put it down until it was finished, and what a read it was! Highly recommended.
Some parts of the past cannot be reclaimed, he knows. Better not to raise ghosts.
Overall – Beautiful, painful, joyous, adventurous tapestry to be savoured and devoured and thrust into the hands of all those who share your reading tastes…
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LibraryThing member ladycato
This is a weird book. I struggled to finish it, and pushed onward because 1) it was on the Nebula shortlist and 2) simple curiosity about how it would end. I should also add that I have always gotten a weird vibe from circuses, so this wasn't a book I would have selected on my own, despite my
Oddly enough, I could readily except some of the stranger elements of the circus. The ringmaster, Boss, has a peculiar talent to grab souls on the brink of death and reconstruct them into partly metal bodies. This is never explained or understood by the characters, Boss most of all, and that was fine by me. The weirdness of the creations incorporated well with the vibe of a circus, especially against an already-bleak dystopian backdrop.
The thing that ended up jolting me the most was the fluctuating structure of the book itself. There are various story threads going on at once--past and present--told by different characters, in different perspectives, and with omniscient add-ins in parenthesis. The cast of characters is wide and even at the very end, I was confused about who many of the minor characters were. I can't say that the story lacked a logical flow, as the author was obviously very skilled, but at the same time it was an unusual flow and that made it a challenging read.
The characters themselves are intriguing and complex. Boss and Elena struck me as especially vivid. Even the darker characters are portrayed well. There's nothing black and white about them, even if they do terrible things.
In the end, I would say this is a book for those who like an experimental structure and a creepy vibe. It's not my sort of thing, but I see why it made the Nebula ballot.
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interest in steampunk.Oddly enough, I could readily except some of the stranger elements of the circus. The ringmaster, Boss, has a peculiar talent to grab souls on the brink of death and reconstruct them into partly metal bodies. This is never explained or understood by the characters, Boss most of all, and that was fine by me. The weirdness of the creations incorporated well with the vibe of a circus, especially against an already-bleak dystopian backdrop.
The thing that ended up jolting me the most was the fluctuating structure of the book itself. There are various story threads going on at once--past and present--told by different characters, in different perspectives, and with omniscient add-ins in parenthesis. The cast of characters is wide and even at the very end, I was confused about who many of the minor characters were. I can't say that the story lacked a logical flow, as the author was obviously very skilled, but at the same time it was an unusual flow and that made it a challenging read.
The characters themselves are intriguing and complex. Boss and Elena struck me as especially vivid. Even the darker characters are portrayed well. There's nothing black and white about them, even if they do terrible things.
In the end, I would say this is a book for those who like an experimental structure and a creepy vibe. It's not my sort of thing, but I see why it made the Nebula ballot.
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LibraryThing member AltheaAnn
There were things I liked about this book... and there were things that annoyed me about this book.
I felt as if any Readers Advisory Service out there would say? What? You loved China Mieville's 'The Scar?' and you loved Erin Morgenstern's "The Night Circus?" Well then, HAVE I GOT A BOOK FOR YOU!
This book does indeed have many of the elements that I've loved from both of those books. Grotesquely mechanically enhanced people. A circus with performers who do not die. A land torn by conflict. Lots of ambiguity, lots of metaphor.
But somehow, it just didn't come together for me, emotionally or intellectually, like the other two books. (This book was actually published slightly before The Night Circus, the authors were probably working on the books at the same time, so I do not actually think one imitated another; they just happen to have many of the same elements and themes.)
I've spent some time now thinking about why it didn't wholly come together for me.
Part of it was aesthetic. I really did not like how the author keeps taking time out to refer to the reader as "you." I felt like it was a device intended to lure me into the story; which had the opposite effect, and pushed me out of the story... with feelings of aggravation.
The other thing was that: Mechanical enhancements are usually about ingenuity, technology, the uses and misuses of physical ability. Here, they are not. The enhancements/mutilations as they function in this story, are fully and completely magical. There is no reason, plotwise, for them to be mechanical; they don't actually function as if they are mechanical.
I also was just not drawn in by the love/hate conflict over "who gets the wings." I didn't feel it. Many of the characters were too vaguely drawn. (For example: we know Elena is a cruel bitch, because we are told how mean she is ad infinitum. But I did not once notice, or feel, her being particularly cruel.) I wanted to know the characters as people; to know what drove them to their extreme decisions. Instead they felt like stock characters in fairy tales. The time and place are ambiguous - and I liked that - but I felt like it needed some sharply human figures to anchor it.
On the other hand, there were things about the book I liked very much. I thought that the war-torn land, in near-eternal conflict, with the circus endlessly making its circuit, worked very well. I ended up really liking the Boss - and the thwarted feelings of her musician for her were understated and effective. Nice themes of dependency, independence, sacrifice, oppression, responsibility, loyalty. And the final conflict, where it comes down to a choice between letting herself and those who personally depend on her die... or potentially destroying all of her larger dreams - it's horribly effective.
I felt as if any Readers Advisory Service out there would say? What? You loved China Mieville's 'The Scar?' and you loved Erin Morgenstern's "The Night Circus?" Well then, HAVE I GOT A BOOK FOR YOU!
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And I have to say... "but...no."This book does indeed have many of the elements that I've loved from both of those books. Grotesquely mechanically enhanced people. A circus with performers who do not die. A land torn by conflict. Lots of ambiguity, lots of metaphor.
But somehow, it just didn't come together for me, emotionally or intellectually, like the other two books. (This book was actually published slightly before The Night Circus, the authors were probably working on the books at the same time, so I do not actually think one imitated another; they just happen to have many of the same elements and themes.)
I've spent some time now thinking about why it didn't wholly come together for me.
Part of it was aesthetic. I really did not like how the author keeps taking time out to refer to the reader as "you." I felt like it was a device intended to lure me into the story; which had the opposite effect, and pushed me out of the story... with feelings of aggravation.
The other thing was that: Mechanical enhancements are usually about ingenuity, technology, the uses and misuses of physical ability. Here, they are not. The enhancements/mutilations as they function in this story, are fully and completely magical. There is no reason, plotwise, for them to be mechanical; they don't actually function as if they are mechanical.
I also was just not drawn in by the love/hate conflict over "who gets the wings." I didn't feel it. Many of the characters were too vaguely drawn. (For example: we know Elena is a cruel bitch, because we are told how mean she is ad infinitum. But I did not once notice, or feel, her being particularly cruel.) I wanted to know the characters as people; to know what drove them to their extreme decisions. Instead they felt like stock characters in fairy tales. The time and place are ambiguous - and I liked that - but I felt like it needed some sharply human figures to anchor it.
On the other hand, there were things about the book I liked very much. I thought that the war-torn land, in near-eternal conflict, with the circus endlessly making its circuit, worked very well. I ended up really liking the Boss - and the thwarted feelings of her musician for her were understated and effective. Nice themes of dependency, independence, sacrifice, oppression, responsibility, loyalty. And the final conflict, where it comes down to a choice between letting herself and those who personally depend on her die... or potentially destroying all of her larger dreams - it's horribly effective.
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LibraryThing member dwarfplanet9
Unexpectedly strange, creepy, and enthralling.
LibraryThing member BrewsterKitteh
The book captures the sweet sorrow of a circus. In theory the circus should be happy and thrilling but more often seems sallow and frail. The story unfolds in a non-linear fashion, shifting time and place and between narrators. In a lesser skilled writer this might be jerky and annoying. Ms.
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Valentine does it fluidly. It reminded of printing b/w photos, staring intently at paper watching the image emerge. I hope this is the first of many Circus Tresaulti books. Show Less
LibraryThing member gsmattingly
I just finished "Mechanique - A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti" by Genevieve Valentine. I enjoyed this book. It was rather dark and depressing. If you are interested in scientific accuracy, um, this might not be your best bet. As noted in the attached review, sort of a mashup of steampunk romance,
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fantasy and a bit more. I must admit skimming a bit near the end. Could just be my current mood though. Show Less
LibraryThing member MarFisk
I taught a class called Ideas to Outlines, or Outlining for Organics. As part of the process I presented, I tried to cover all the possible starting points for a novel. The hardest for me was a mood story, because I hadn’t actually encountered one with that focus. I’m all about story, and in
Mechanique proved me wrong in the most delightful way. This is not a book for the plot-driven, straight-forward reader, but if you’re willing to lay yourself open to a twisted, tangled journey that often reminded me of an Escher painting, Mechanique will surprise and awe you.
This novel does not hold to point of view conventions, uses second person and intrusive narrators at times, gives no warning when thrusting you into past events, and the story unfolds in glimpses, just enough to have you thinking you’ve found the main point only to lose it again.
At the same time, there is a clearly defined story. Well, actually several of them. This is not a naval-gazing, stream of consciousness novel. Valentine knows exactly where it’s going and how all the pieces fit together, or at least that’s how it comes across.
The characters are compelling, each with their own story and their own reasons behind what they do. The world itself is introduced bit by bit until you get a surreal picture that is so concrete it becomes real. But the strongest part of this novel is the mood. It’s hard to explain because it’s part the world, part the language, part how the story unfolds, and part how everything comes together. I recommend Mechanique wholeheartedly. It’s more than just a read. It’s an experience.
I’ve talked about what made Mechanique special, but neglected the basics. It’s a steampunk apocalyptic novel about a traveling circus. However, the feel of the novel is more important than the genre in this case. It’s worth giving a read.
I got the title from NetGalley or I might not have come across it, but I’m glad it caught my eye.
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most modern novels at least, that means plot-focused.Mechanique proved me wrong in the most delightful way. This is not a book for the plot-driven, straight-forward reader, but if you’re willing to lay yourself open to a twisted, tangled journey that often reminded me of an Escher painting, Mechanique will surprise and awe you.
This novel does not hold to point of view conventions, uses second person and intrusive narrators at times, gives no warning when thrusting you into past events, and the story unfolds in glimpses, just enough to have you thinking you’ve found the main point only to lose it again.
At the same time, there is a clearly defined story. Well, actually several of them. This is not a naval-gazing, stream of consciousness novel. Valentine knows exactly where it’s going and how all the pieces fit together, or at least that’s how it comes across.
The characters are compelling, each with their own story and their own reasons behind what they do. The world itself is introduced bit by bit until you get a surreal picture that is so concrete it becomes real. But the strongest part of this novel is the mood. It’s hard to explain because it’s part the world, part the language, part how the story unfolds, and part how everything comes together. I recommend Mechanique wholeheartedly. It’s more than just a read. It’s an experience.
I’ve talked about what made Mechanique special, but neglected the basics. It’s a steampunk apocalyptic novel about a traveling circus. However, the feel of the novel is more important than the genre in this case. It’s worth giving a read.
I got the title from NetGalley or I might not have come across it, but I’m glad it caught my eye.
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LibraryThing member JanaRose1
Circus Tresaulti, set in the distant future, features an odd assortment of mechanical people. Boss has replaced bones, organs and various bits and pieces of the human body with mechanical and medal parts. This is a very odd book, but I found myself unable to put it down. The people and their lives
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were fascinating. I do wish the book was a bit more chronological, it skipped all over the place, but at times that did serve the author well. Overall, this is definitely a book worth checking out. Show Less
LibraryThing member VikkiLaw
Picked this up after reading Valentine's amazing short story in After. Wasn't sure how much I'd like it, but the imagery is amazing. Stayed up til 1:30 am reading it. I like that the circus performers are definitely not all white.
LibraryThing member raschneid
Post-apocalyptic/fantasy/steampunk, beautifully written, told in part as a series of vignettes.
Captivating, until the last third or so, when I became uncaptivated and dragged my heels finishing it - I think because the characters were vignette or short-story size and most stopped changing or
Captivating, until the last third or so, when I became uncaptivated and dragged my heels finishing it - I think because the characters were vignette or short-story size and most stopped changing or
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surprising me by the halfway mark. Show Less
LibraryThing member JeremyPreacher
Mechanique is full of beautiful imagery and tragic characters, set in a world that has, as King put so aptly, moved on. It's magical realism with a steampunk aesthetic, sort of, and the combination is vivid.
It doesn't quite sit easily with me, though - I was a little disappointed when it became
There are some purely mechanical problems, too (no pun intended.) Point-of-view switches are abrupt and somewhat arbitrary, from second person to first to third, covering perhaps more characters than would have been ideal. And while the superficial plot works fine, the emotional payoff didn't really hit me - I was invested in the wrong characters, maybe.
All that said, it's lovely and thought-provoking, and I wouldn't disrecommend it, especially if you are into steampunk and tragedy.
It doesn't quite sit easily with me, though - I was a little disappointed when it became
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clear that this is more fantasy than soft sci-fi. Maybe it's more literary than anything - which, for me, is usually a condemnation, one I'm not sure Mechanique quite deserves - but it just doesn't totally hang together.There are some purely mechanical problems, too (no pun intended.) Point-of-view switches are abrupt and somewhat arbitrary, from second person to first to third, covering perhaps more characters than would have been ideal. And while the superficial plot works fine, the emotional payoff didn't really hit me - I was invested in the wrong characters, maybe.
All that said, it's lovely and thought-provoking, and I wouldn't disrecommend it, especially if you are into steampunk and tragedy.
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LibraryThing member GirlMisanthrope
One of the blurbs on the cover calls this book a 'brutal gem'. That, without hyperbole, is an excellent description of this unique book.
The Circus Tresaulti is hundreds of years old and has maintained itself despite wars, despite performers coming and going, despite the centuries.
The ringmaster,
This novel is brutal, and hard, and luscious. It is a steampunk bon-bon. (And kudos for no captive animals in this circus!)
The Circus Tresaulti is hundreds of years old and has maintained itself despite wars, despite performers coming and going, despite the centuries.
The ringmaster,
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Boss, has found a way to enhance some of her performers with copper mechanisms and metal pipes. Some of the performers have Boss' mechanics while some still have their own bones. The first half of the book is expositional, setting up the Circus' history and each performer's history. I admit I was getting impatient and finding it a slog. BUT you need this background once the action starts, when a Government Man (no, they're not any better in this world) visits the Circus with his own agenda for the performers.This novel is brutal, and hard, and luscious. It is a steampunk bon-bon. (And kudos for no captive animals in this circus!)
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LibraryThing member ChanceMaree
This is perhaps my first steampunk novel, so it was novel to me. I loved it. I suspect my admiration goes more towards the author than the genre. The writing was top notch, as were the characters and the plot. My only criticism was the end fight scene, but then fight scenes aren't my favorite
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reads. The conclusion of the novel itself was spot-on. Immensely enjoyable. I don't hand out 5 stars easily, but I enjoyed the read so much, I felt compelled to rate it highly. Show Less
LibraryThing member glitrbug
Just finished "Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tressaulti by Genevieve Valentine and loved it. As a kid in school I hated it when I read a good book with a great story and then the teacher ruined it by saying this man represents the king and these people societies restraints and Blah Blah Blah.
Interesting story. Lot's great characters and things to think about. That's the highest praise I have for a book.
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How many authors write books as propaganda? I'm sure some do, but I like a story like those old sermons that teach without smacking you across the face with a dead fish. This is the only book I can remember reading and wondering if there were allegories, what did the circus represent, and why copper........ I still don't want anyone to spell it out for me and tell me there is only one meaning to the book and I darn well better knuckle under and accept that. I'll ponder the book for awhile and decide for myself, thank you.Interesting story. Lot's great characters and things to think about. That's the highest praise I have for a book.
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LibraryThing member rrainer
I don't think I've ever read anything quite like this book. I was entranced by the prose and the language and the descriptive passages, and by the interesting way she unfolds the narrative--while there is a narrative arc and a shape to the book, it's not strictly linear or chronological. There's
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something about the interrupted prose, the asides and the jumps in POV to provide character sidenotes that reminds me of Michael Ondaatje's The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, which is an entirely different sort of book that is more poetry than prose, but I think in that small way it shares a sensibility. (Also, it is one of my favourite books, so any comparison is overwhelmingly positive.) Though in terms of genre this book is certainly both post-apocalyptic and steampunk, it also isn't limited by those descriptions and in many ways stretches our ideas of those genre. Really, I was just enthralled by all of it. Show Less
LibraryThing member lovelylime
This had a lot of potential, I think. The plot is sufficiently engaging but nothing happens until further into the book. It turns into some sort of rescue novel at the end, where the first part of it is mostly discussing circus life and Alec.
For one thing, I didn't enjoy the point of view. It's
I don't think I'm going to comment on the steampunk aspect. It was different.
thanks to netgalley for a copy!
For one thing, I didn't enjoy the point of view. It's
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very distant, so you never get a feel for the characters. It's like you're watching them from a neutral party and a lot of the time the characters come off as emotionless, or even if they don't, I still didn't feel connected. It just wasn't handled in a way that I find particularly good.I don't think I'm going to comment on the steampunk aspect. It was different.
thanks to netgalley for a copy!
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LibraryThing member thatotter
Dark and tense and powerful. One of very few contemporary novels that didn't have any missteps for me. Every plot point and characterization felt inevitable and right.
The writing is gorgeous--lyrical and dramatic without being overwrought. Every so often there is a phrase that makes you feel like
If you think you might like this, you probably will. But I'd also recommend this to people who aren't particularly interested in steampunk, or fantasy, or circuses, or post-apocalyptic fiction, so long as you really like elegant prose and are willing to try something different.
The writing is gorgeous--lyrical and dramatic without being overwrought. Every so often there is a phrase that makes you feel like
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you've just been punched...in a good way. The characters are compelling, tough, and vividly drawn.If you think you might like this, you probably will. But I'd also recommend this to people who aren't particularly interested in steampunk, or fantasy, or circuses, or post-apocalyptic fiction, so long as you really like elegant prose and are willing to try something different.
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LibraryThing member NineLarks
I really do have a soft spot for circuses. Something about the images of fantasy and impossible stunts coming to life, the anticipation and excitement of an outing, aerial feats, show of strength, the whole shebang. Beautiful.
I loved this book with its eclectic motley of circus, both those who are
Many times I found the point of view and construction extremely clunky. The excessive usage of second person and parenthesis is unwieldy. You don't always know who is talking (or the importance of what is between these two brackets). Most of the time it wasn't a problem, just when the chapters were too short and the plot keeps bouncing around. I liked that sort of usage in the beginning and the end of the book, it was just the middle.
Honestly, the middle was the weakest part. I fell I'm love in the first 30 pages, but then things got a little tedious, and the end was good, but not great. And if you really think about it, this book had very little plot. That's why it got a tedious at some points.
The beginning and the premise of this book is just beautiful. Dangerous, but beautiful. I love the idea of a mechanical spine, hollow bones, clockwork lungs, and wings that chime out a chord when the copper feathers brush against each other. And each of the character with their own reasons and motives for lying under Boss's hands. I rather loved the characters, but wished Valentine gave us a little more. As the book went on, I found myself nodding with understatement whenever Elena, the cruel one, spoke. But there just wasn't enough. The love hate between Bird and Steson was not explained as well it should have been. I am not against the reader finding it out slowly by their own conclusions, but the strange motivations were just not explained clearly enough.
Similarly, I did not like the explanation behind Boss's gift. It was a little too mundane, not enough explained. The ending was abrupt and the transition of ringmasters was not explained thoroughly enough. And don't tell me it's meant to be mysterious because it was more confusing than mysterious.
All in all, a most beautiful book that I would read again. There were many moments that I've found myself forgetting that I was in my own room because I was seeing brass legs and flying acrobats dancing to the tempo of a majestic waltz.
3.5 beautiful stars rounded down because of construction issues.
Recommended for those who love a bit of fantasy and have a soft spot for circuses.
I loved this book with its eclectic motley of circus, both those who are
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metal and those who still have flesh, blood, and bone. Many times I found the point of view and construction extremely clunky. The excessive usage of second person and parenthesis is unwieldy. You don't always know who is talking (or the importance of what is between these two brackets). Most of the time it wasn't a problem, just when the chapters were too short and the plot keeps bouncing around. I liked that sort of usage in the beginning and the end of the book, it was just the middle.
Honestly, the middle was the weakest part. I fell I'm love in the first 30 pages, but then things got a little tedious, and the end was good, but not great. And if you really think about it, this book had very little plot. That's why it got a tedious at some points.
The beginning and the premise of this book is just beautiful. Dangerous, but beautiful. I love the idea of a mechanical spine, hollow bones, clockwork lungs, and wings that chime out a chord when the copper feathers brush against each other. And each of the character with their own reasons and motives for lying under Boss's hands. I rather loved the characters, but wished Valentine gave us a little more. As the book went on, I found myself nodding with understatement whenever Elena, the cruel one, spoke. But there just wasn't enough. The love hate between Bird and Steson was not explained as well it should have been. I am not against the reader finding it out slowly by their own conclusions, but the strange motivations were just not explained clearly enough.
Similarly, I did not like the explanation behind Boss's gift. It was a little too mundane, not enough explained. The ending was abrupt and the transition of ringmasters was not explained thoroughly enough. And don't tell me it's meant to be mysterious because it was more confusing than mysterious.
All in all, a most beautiful book that I would read again. There were many moments that I've found myself forgetting that I was in my own room because I was seeing brass legs and flying acrobats dancing to the tempo of a majestic waltz.
3.5 beautiful stars rounded down because of construction issues.
Recommended for those who love a bit of fantasy and have a soft spot for circuses.
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LibraryThing member Xleptodactylous
Another day, another YA dystopian piece of crap trying to be vogue. I didn't find it poetic, I found it frustratingly badly written in a voice that seemed skitzophrenic at best. A hint at mystery from a Government Man (capital letters so you know he means business) and an obvious collection of
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circus "freaks" with some steampunk bits glued to them. Possibly an interesting premise but with writing and a POV like that, who can really tell. Show Less
LibraryThing member Herenya
A steampunk fantasy about a circus which travels across a post-apocalyptic landscape plagued by war and political instability.
It is easy to describe Mechanique is about: the circus and its secrets, about how various characters came to join it and how they work together, about happens when things go
Mechanique can be dark and unsettling and cold. The mechanical alterations the Boss makes to people - alterations which save them, yet come at a cost - are eerie. The people who join the circus often do so in desperation, because they don't have many other options. The circus offers the security of a home and a job - yet it's a precarious just-scrapping-by and accepting-there-are-risks sort of security. There's warmth and camaraderie, but there's also grief and bitterness.
And it's obvious, from the very beginning, that things go wrong.
The story holds the reader at a distance: because there are so many characters and it is impossible to get to know all of them; because much of the story is told from Little George's perspective, and he is often an observer who doesn't understand the circus he has grown up with (to be fair, George is also a happy, hopeful filter to watch the circus through).
A powerful, evocative story. I admired it more than I enjoyed it, but I think I'm glad I read it.
Boss always tells the rubes that her late husband made us all.
"Oh lord," she says when they wonder about our mechanicals. She lifts her hands and trills. "I can barely oil the things, let alone!"
She doesn't say what she lets alone, and no one asks. [...] I think she says it so they get the feeling we could break at any moment. It's always more exciting to watch something you know could backfire. [...] (I didn't understand her. I had been with the circus too long: I felt too safe to know why it was better to make some thing seem breakable and frail. I didn't know how might come looking for us. If they thought we were strong enough to take hold.)
It is easy to describe Mechanique is about: the circus and its secrets, about how various characters came to join it and how they work together, about happens when things go
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wrong. But that doesn't capture what it is like.Mechanique can be dark and unsettling and cold. The mechanical alterations the Boss makes to people - alterations which save them, yet come at a cost - are eerie. The people who join the circus often do so in desperation, because they don't have many other options. The circus offers the security of a home and a job - yet it's a precarious just-scrapping-by and accepting-there-are-risks sort of security. There's warmth and camaraderie, but there's also grief and bitterness.
And it's obvious, from the very beginning, that things go wrong.
The story holds the reader at a distance: because there are so many characters and it is impossible to get to know all of them; because much of the story is told from Little George's perspective, and he is often an observer who doesn't understand the circus he has grown up with (to be fair, George is also a happy, hopeful filter to watch the circus through).
A powerful, evocative story. I admired it more than I enjoyed it, but I think I'm glad I read it.
Boss always tells the rubes that her late husband made us all.
"Oh lord," she says when they wonder about our mechanicals. She lifts her hands and trills. "I can barely oil the things, let alone!"
She doesn't say what she lets alone, and no one asks. [...] I think she says it so they get the feeling we could break at any moment. It's always more exciting to watch something you know could backfire. [...] (I didn't understand her. I had been with the circus too long: I felt too safe to know why it was better to make some thing seem breakable and frail. I didn't know how might come looking for us. If they thought we were strong enough to take hold.)
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LibraryThing member kmajort
Deeper than expected.. still doesn't beat out Something Wicked or Night Circus (who knew I'd like so much circus fiction? {I dislike clowns... very much.})
I want to watch Carnevale again.
I want to watch Carnevale again.
LibraryThing member Readaba
I feel that it is very important to point out that this novel is a true work of art. Of course, as with all works of art there will be those who are fascinated by it and others who are dissatisfied with what they find before them. As for me, I’m caught up somewhere in the middle.
I could
The opening scene is about “you” visiting the circus and admiring the marvels that are to be found there. It was so uncannily similar to the opening of The Night Circus that I wasn’t sure what to make of it at first. It turns out that both books are copyrighted to 2011 – in fact, Mechanique was published some 6 months before The Night Circus – so it’s just two different authors who came up with very similar ideas (albeit following completely different plot veins) at around the same time.
It took me a while to really get used to the narrator jumps. Sometimes it would be in the second person, sometimes third person omniscient and others in the first person. It took me a fair while to get used to the flow of this. It didn’t help that the plot took a long time in getting anywhere at all: it wasn’t until the 10-15% mark that the threads of a plot started to weave together beyond the confusion of seemingly random, unconnected scenes that had come before then, and it wasn’t until the 50% mark that the plot itself took precedence over anecdotes from various characters’ pasts.
That was what I didn’t really like about the book – how things seemed to yo-yo a lot between relevant scenes and what were really just scenes to flesh out the history behind the story. When things focused on the plot, though, I found it to be 100% original and absorbing. I loved the steampunk idea it all of a woman somehow endowed with the ability to sustain a person’s life indefinitely through metal contraptions. I liked the idea of a travelling circus moving through the wasteland of a country brought to its knees by constant wars, unable to pull itself back together. This was a fascinating setting, especially as we have no real idea of when it could possibly be as the chronology even within the story is very vague, or even where, though I pictured it being in North America.
I didn’t really buy the hatred behind Stenos and Bird, which was the main motivation for tension within the circus itself. I enjoyed the descriptions of their encounters but to me it always seemed that they were balanced very precariously on that fine line between love and hate, especially Stenos. They were certainly obsessed with each other either way.
They and Boss made a good foundation to build the circus up from but, with the exception of Elena, none of the other characters were quite as dazzling. Still, it presents a very interesting position to pick things up from in the second book.
All in all, I can appreciate that this author is a master weaver of the craft who has great vision but this particular structure didn’t work very well for me personally, which detracted from my enjoyment of the book.
I could
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appreciate the novel for the craftsmanship that went into it but at the same time the very original construction didn’t really appeal to me. The narrative jumps around both in point of view and chronologically. I assume that these jumps are marked by chapter breaks in the physical copy of the book but in my PDF-to-mobi copy only a handful of these breaks were marked. Sometimes a paragraph would start in the third person, present tense and suddenly switch to first person, past tense and be following a different plot point. This got to be very confusing at times; I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it affected my enjoyment of the story.The opening scene is about “you” visiting the circus and admiring the marvels that are to be found there. It was so uncannily similar to the opening of The Night Circus that I wasn’t sure what to make of it at first. It turns out that both books are copyrighted to 2011 – in fact, Mechanique was published some 6 months before The Night Circus – so it’s just two different authors who came up with very similar ideas (albeit following completely different plot veins) at around the same time.
It took me a while to really get used to the narrator jumps. Sometimes it would be in the second person, sometimes third person omniscient and others in the first person. It took me a fair while to get used to the flow of this. It didn’t help that the plot took a long time in getting anywhere at all: it wasn’t until the 10-15% mark that the threads of a plot started to weave together beyond the confusion of seemingly random, unconnected scenes that had come before then, and it wasn’t until the 50% mark that the plot itself took precedence over anecdotes from various characters’ pasts.
That was what I didn’t really like about the book – how things seemed to yo-yo a lot between relevant scenes and what were really just scenes to flesh out the history behind the story. When things focused on the plot, though, I found it to be 100% original and absorbing. I loved the steampunk idea it all of a woman somehow endowed with the ability to sustain a person’s life indefinitely through metal contraptions. I liked the idea of a travelling circus moving through the wasteland of a country brought to its knees by constant wars, unable to pull itself back together. This was a fascinating setting, especially as we have no real idea of when it could possibly be as the chronology even within the story is very vague, or even where, though I pictured it being in North America.
I didn’t really buy the hatred behind Stenos and Bird, which was the main motivation for tension within the circus itself. I enjoyed the descriptions of their encounters but to me it always seemed that they were balanced very precariously on that fine line between love and hate, especially Stenos. They were certainly obsessed with each other either way.
They and Boss made a good foundation to build the circus up from but, with the exception of Elena, none of the other characters were quite as dazzling. Still, it presents a very interesting position to pick things up from in the second book.
All in all, I can appreciate that this author is a master weaver of the craft who has great vision but this particular structure didn’t work very well for me personally, which detracted from my enjoyment of the book.
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Awards
Nebula Award (Nominee — Novel — 2011)
Locus Award (Finalist — First Novel — 2012)
IAFA William L. Crawford Fantasy Award (Winner — 2012)
Language
Original publication date
2011
Physical description
320 p.; 5.51 inches
ISBN
1607012537 / 9781607012535