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In this stunning follow-up to his acclaimed debut,Thunderer,Felix Gilman’s brave hero returns from one thrilling and dangerous quest only to confront another. In a magical landscape where time is meaningless, reality precarious, and countless selves work toward countless possible futures, one man must seek a city’s truth—and rediscover his own. Imprisoned with a prophetic half human, half beast, the lost man learns his name:Arjun. Slowly the terrible memories emerge, and at last he show more remembers where—and when—he has been. . . . In the last days of the once great city of Ararat, Arjun is just another ghost lost in the shadows of the Mountain. To some, the Mountain is a myth, to others, a weapon. Above all, it is a dark palace leaving its seekers to wander the city below. For no matter how far one walks, the Mountain never draws closer, and time itself becomes another trap. Rescued by two sisters from the mindless Know-Nothings who erode what’s left of the city, Arjun volunteers to retrieve their long-lost third sister from a ghost like himself: Brace-Bel, another man out of time. It will require a perilous trek through ruins to a decadent mansion—one surrounded by traps and devices that could not possibly exist yet. And what awaits Arjun inside is something he could not possibly have imagined. As he struggles to recover the lost girl and piece the fragments of his life back together, Arjun knows he must finally return to the beast to hear the rest of its prophecy. But each step is more treacherous than the last . . . and the beast who knows his fate may pose the most deadly trial yet. A spellbinding novel of imagination and intrigue,Gears of the Citywill propel you into an adventure like no other, in a world like no other. From the Hardcover edition. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
I gave up after 55 pages. It has an evocative title and and the author knows how to turn a phrase, but the main character is a blank slate who is difficult to care about: no memory, no family, no friends, and no motivation. He simply runs from various dangers, meets random people, and wallows in his problems.
Granted, I didn't read the first book in this series. Perhaps those who did will enjoy this more. Personally, as a SF fan, I get tired of never being able to pick up a book that interests me because it's book 3 of 7 or some such. I've decided to rebel by treating all books as stand-alones. Apparently, my rebellion was ill-advised.
I gave it two stars for the beautiful writing style, but unfortunately I can't enjoy a book for style show more alone. show less
Granted, I didn't read the first book in this series. Perhaps those who did will enjoy this more. Personally, as a SF fan, I get tired of never being able to pick up a book that interests me because it's book 3 of 7 or some such. I've decided to rebel by treating all books as stand-alones. Apparently, my rebellion was ill-advised.
I gave it two stars for the beautiful writing style, but unfortunately I can't enjoy a book for style show more alone. show less
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Arjun arrives at the foot of the Mountain at the end of the life of Ararat, still seeking his God in a world deserted by all gods.
MY REVIEW:
PROS: Full of dark, haunting, horrific imagery, Gears of the City grips the imagination and doesn't let go.
CONS: While Gears of the City is stronger on plot than was Thunderer, plotting is still Gilman's weakness.
BOTTOM LINE: Gears of the City is a wonderful achievement that extends the promise of Thunderer, but we have not yet seen the full flowering of Gilman's talent.
Please read the rest of my review here: http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2009/01/review-gears-of-the-city-by-felix-gilma...
MY REVIEW:
PROS: Full of dark, haunting, horrific imagery, Gears of the City grips the imagination and doesn't let go.
CONS: While Gears of the City is stronger on plot than was Thunderer, plotting is still Gilman's weakness.
BOTTOM LINE: Gears of the City is a wonderful achievement that extends the promise of Thunderer, but we have not yet seen the full flowering of Gilman's talent.
Please read the rest of my review here: http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2009/01/review-gears-of-the-city-by-felix-gilma...
I picked this up as soon as it was available at my local bookstore because I was a huge fan of Thunderer. I really felt Thunderer was excellent but a bit rushed at the end. I was hoping the author was going to expand on what he had started with the first book. He does in a way, but goes about it in a very odd manner. I was extremely disappointed to say the least. The pacing of this book is awful, and his writing style seems to have changed drastically. This book was terrible and for almost five hundred pages of total material it really went nowhere. I can't imagine that very many people who were fans of the first book are going to be very happy with this.
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ThingScore 50
The narrative jumps around a bit in both books, especially at the beginnings. Felix Gilman's imaginative writing often leaves a lyrical waxy buildup that could have been tempered by his cast of dozens of creatively flamboyant or frightening characters. Unfortunately, most of them are so driven by their own particular obsessions that they come off as rather flat. Gilman may have tried to cram show more too much into these novels. There's a lot of "weird for weirdness' sake", and too many of the plot threads and Big Secrets have predictable resolutions. Felix Gilman has a great deal of vision, and hopefully we will see better and more focused work from him in the future. show less
added by PhoenixTerran
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New Weird Fiction
69 works; 12 members
Author Information
7+ Works 1,779 Members
Felix Gilman is a LibraryThing Author, an author who lists their personal library on LibraryThing.
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Distinctions
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Gears of the City
- Original publication date
- 2009-01-06
- People/Characters
- Arjun
- Important places
- Ararat (fictitious city)
- First words
- For six months, give or take, he lived with the people of the Bright Towers, and he was happy enough there.
- Publisher's editor
- Ulman, Juliet
- Blurbers
- Bowling, Drew; Buckell, Tobias S.; Sanderson, Brandon; Keck, David
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 123
- Popularity
- 264,444
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.71)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 3
- ASINs
- 2
