Customer Reviews

God of Clocks (Deepgate Codex (Numbered))

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The trouble and delight of reading Alan Campbell is you're never sure why he includes anything. While he avoids the downfall of so many authors, where you can tell who will live/die/emerge as a secret villian, Campbell spends too much time in this book distracting you with imaginative but pointless side stories. The real questions go unanswered: What is Rachel and Dill's relationship? What is Basilis? What is Ayen? While Campbell has done this before, introducing characters and plots then summarily abandoning them, this time he does not provide a compelling central storyline to follow.

In both books Campbell has delivered a satisfactory ending where although the reader is sad and only understands 60% of what is said, they are connected with the characters and are glad for those who made it out alive. In this book the reader understands 20% of what goes on, and only Rachel Hael is a fully developed person. John Anchor is turned from a tragic, saddened hero to a bloodthirsty avenger who's best friend is Cospinol. Harper serves no purpose and Mina is something of an empty person.

While Campbell once again brings mind-bending ideas to his world (the River of the failed, and the Temple Obscura) his conclusion almost insults the reader for being drawn in. The main events at the culmination of the book are not described (as in the previous two books), but are bypassed and then alluded to in the fashion of a very self-serious piece of literature. While Campbell may be trying to prove that life is conducted without omniscience and does not contain storybook endings, using the conclusion of a three book series to do that is a little selfish.

I enjoyed the book but it may take a while for me to stop resenting the ending.

Twelve powerful arconites walk the earth, preparing to bring about the destruction of humanity and bringing its souls under the command of Menoa, Lord of Hell. Ahead of their advance, assassin Rachel Hale, blood-witch Mina Greene, the angel Dill and the god Hasp retreat towards the castle of Sabor, god of clocks. Meanwhile, Cospinol, god of brine, decides that he must mount a direct assault on Menoa and orders his slave-champion, John Anchor, to pull him and his immense vessel into Hell, for a very strange voyage indeed...

God of Clocks is the final volume of The Deepgate Codex (possibly the most misnamed trilogy ever: the titular codex is mentioned a couple of times and plays no substantive role in proceedings at all). It picks up after the cliffhanger ending to the second volume and expectations were for a big, epic climax. Instead, we get something different.

This is an odd book. Campbell's grasp of character and plot remains strong, and the revelations of backstory mysteries are mostly effective. But there are long diversions and side-plots that ultimately don't seem to go anywhere. The introduction of time travel is intriguing - fantasy typically doesn't touch it with a bargepole - and there's a lot of humour going on, but ultimately the narrative becomes confused and self-destructs towards the end. Time travel is often used as a get-out clause for lazy writers, something I'd never have pegged Campbell as (based on the strength of his first two novels), but here it fulfils its all-too tempting deus ex machina, narrative-crutch role. Simply put, the revelation that there are billions of alternate timelines in which every possibility is played out does make the reader wonder why he should be caring about this particular timeline and story. Even worse is the danger that time travel can be used to undo all the events of the story so far, meaning that the losses and prices that our heroes have paid are simply wished out of existence. Whilst the ending doesn't quite go that far (it's ambiguous what does get changed and what doesn't), it's still a bit of a cheat.

God of Clocks (***) is a disappointing finale to the trilogy, which started out superbly but seemed to lose focus and cohesion as it went along, before ending on a decidedly anti-climatic note. There's enough interesting characters and ideas here for the book to be worth reading, but ultimately this is a trilogy that does not deliver on what it promised in the first book. It is available now in the UK and USA.

A definite improvement over Iron Angel, but not as strong as Scar Night or Lye Street, God of Clocks brings the Deepgate Codex to a pretty rousing conclusion. Minus Deepgate, of course.

Campbell's world grows ever more inexplicable, with a return to the bizarre hell of Iron Angel (more convincing and less self-indulgent this time, although not without those truly peculiar moments that make you think "...why? what's the point?"), and time paradoxes galore.

This time, the story is tighter and more focused, and thankfully, the angel Carnival - in my opinion this series' most fascinating character - has a role much expanded from her disappointing cameo in Iron Angel. The setpieces are as cinematic and unhinged as ever, the pace breakneck (I read this in three short sittings), and the humor as twisted as ever.

Said setpieces can be a little over-the-top at times: one example being when cheerful giant John Anchor runs across a ghost-collecting little girl living in a grass-and-pony-filled submarine and working for the remains of an old series villain who is now in a box on wheels, leaving you to wonder what goes through the author's head - particulary when most of this weirdness is just taken in stride by the characters. Still, its all part of that deranged Deepgate charm that has really grown on me, and that I will certainly miss now that its over.

The ending, unfortunately, felt very rushed, though I find this is a fault of many series' in their final act.

All in all, unsatisfying ending aside, I found this to be much a much stronger and more involving entry in the series than Iron Angel. Alan Campbell is a highly original voice in fantasy, and I will definitely be following his post-Deepgate career eagerly.

The worldbuilding in this series is absolutely brilliant, but unfortunately the most important part of this book, the ending, absolutely fails.

Characters

The book follows the same characters that ended the second book in the series. They are split into two different groups that we follow throughout the story, the first group being Dill, Rachel, and Mira, and the second being Alice Harper and John Anchor. The characters were better in this book, but that's probably mostly due to this book ending the trilogy and the characters not needing to undergo any kind of development (not that they really did in the first two books). For my last comment on the characters, the author brings Carnival back for the third book. I hated the fact that she was thrown aside in the second book, but I think I hated the fact that she was brought back even more. The characters in this book were an improvement, but still not great.

Setting

The high point of this series and the only reason that I would suggest anyone read the series. It's obviously the same from the first two books, although Hell is explored a little more in this book, as well as looking at some more of the magic that inhabits this world. I've also said that I like the names of the gods in this book, and I don't think it describes her in the first two books but it mentions Ayen, the goddess of Light and Life. The setting in this trilogy is truly original and in truth the only reason I think anyone should read the series.

Plot

In the first two books I said that the plot seemed forced and the characters were just following along. In this book the author actually did a much better job of letting the characters behave in believable ways that you think they would do. I was really starting to enjoy this book until about 2/3 of the way through. The characters meet the God of Clocks, and proceed to go back in time to try and fix their problems. I HATE time travel in stories as it is completely illogical and never makes sense. In this story there are probably 2 or 3 different timelines by the end, and none of them are resolved effectively. Anytime time travel is used in a story it creates a paradox. This is bad enough on its own, but when the characters then point out that it's a paradox that they can't even explain beyond just saying "It's a paradox, just keep going," the book becomes a parody of itself and becomes a jumbled mess.

Enjoyment

The first two books of the series were alright, not overwhelming, but readable. I was starting to enjoy this book far more than the first two, until the time travel paradox destroyed it for me. While this may be a bit of a personal pet peeve, it ruined the series for me. The ending of a books or series is what should sell you on the next book by that author, prior to reading this book, I was looking forward to more of Campbell's work, after this book, I can't imagine reading another of his books again.

Overall Grade

I very rarely put down a book without finishing it. For me to stop reading a book I have to be either bored to tears or seriously offended by the book. If this book hadn't been the third book of a trilogy, I would have put it down. Based entirely upon this book, I can't suggest this series to anyone.

2/10

Man, what most reviewers are saying is true, there is no ending to this SERIES, much alone just the book. It's like he'd building up, and building up and building up, and then WHAM the book is over. Not cool. I mean, it's his book, so I guess he can end it however he wants, but when you ask me to care about these characters (even though, he details one timeline that is a complete dead end---why?) but at the end, there's no great battle. The antagonist of the story just walks off with his mother and brother. The author never explains how certain characters got free from their prisons, how the antagonist got to the place he was, and the whole time travel thing weakened the entire story. (Although it was handled in a fun manner).

Oh, and one more thing, there's a scene near the beginning of the book, where he ends on a chapter cliff hanger, and moves to another group of characters...but when he comes back to the hero hanging from the cliff, she JUST WAKING UP FROM A NAP!!! SHEESH!

I am still torqued about that ending though. It was flaccid, weak, and made me want to throw my Kindle across the room.

The God Rys is dead, killed by angels from hell set within mechanical giants. Now, Hell is chasing down its last opponents...including another angel-equipped giant contraption, and a huge airship supported by divine will and pulled by a mortal man equipped with an incredible will and countless thousands of soul pearls. No man can stand against the angels. Even the remaining gods, exiled sons of the goddess, seem powerless.

While John Anchor pulls his airship to a doomed assault on Hell, assassin Rachel Hael plots an attack on Heaven. Perhaps they can awaken Ayen the goddess. Perhaps her power could rid the world of Menoa, the God of the mazes, ruler of Hell. Or perhaps they'd only bring destruction even more quickly.

Author Alan Campbell creates a rich world and sets it with intriguing characters and interesting paradoxes. The God of Clocks, namesake for this book, for example, controls elements of time, allowing him to send people in loops where they'll meet up with one another, be able to work together, or even fight. But each change he introduces brings a new universe into being, and each universe offers new threats to the castle of time he guards. Campbell's concept of hell as a place built by lost souls of themselves is weird and wonderful. John Anchor, Carnival the fallen angel, and Maybe John, the boy who would be a sword, make for fascinating and twisted characters.

I spent the first half of this book trying to figure out what was going on, who I should care about, why things were they way they were. (Okay, perhaps I should have read the earlier books in the series rather than picking it up at the end). But somewhere along, the story caught me and swept me up. I ended up staying up late because I couldn't stand going to sleep without seeing how it all worked out.

Throughout this trilogy I have always wished to see more the angels, but God of Clocks still doesn't deliver. The book started off alright, but then towards the middle the story lines get very confusing and seem to serve no purpose. The time paradoxes that develop do not help matters.

Overall the ending to this trilogy was a big disappointment. As I was reading I was thought there was no way that this was the last book in the series, because I felt Campbell couldn't tie up all the loose ends then there was only 50 pages left, and in that respect I wasn't disappointed. When I turned the last page all I could think was: what...? how...? what about....? I wanted to know what happened to Dill, Carnival, Rachel, Hasp, and so on. I wouldn't recommend this book to any one unless they are compelled to finish the series.

God of Clocks is Alan Campbell's third (and I believe final) book in his Deepgate Series. If you check my reviews of the first two, you'll see I found Scar Night (book one) to be solid but not wholly successful and failing to meet its potential, while Iron Angel (book two) was many times better, though not without some flaws. The good news on God of Clocks is that it is (save for the ending) better than Scar Night, but nowhere near as strong as Iron Angel.

For the plot summary, I'm just going to use names and assume you know who these are since this is book three and you have to have read books 1 and 2 (if you need a refresher, skim my first two reviews). In Clocks, the Spine assassin Rachel is reunited with the young angel Dill, though his soul is now enhoused in a monstrously tall (400' I think) mechanical construct of an angel. They are joined by the thaumaturge Mina Greene (still w/ her strange dog) and the god Hasp, who like Dill is also transformed (though in much different fashion) and who unlike Dill is carrying a mind-controlling parasite that allows him to be ordered by any of a group of people to do whatever they tell him to, making him an untrustworthy ally to say the least. They are pursued by 12 other "archonites" (creatures like Dill) as they try to reach the castle of the god of time Sabor in order to find a way to defeat King Menoa of Hell (who has just killed one of Sabor's brothers). Meanwhile, John Anchor, joined by Alice Harper--former minion of Menoa-- pulls Cospinol's ship into Hell to try and reach Menoa's citadel to stop him there. Carnival plays her usual important role, as do several other characters, including a little girl with a submarine, a talking box, and several time-copies of the main characters.

One of the aspects that made Iron Angel so strong was its vivid imagination and originality. We see flashes of that here--the aforementioned talking box for instance, as well as a living river and a castle whose rooms exist in different times--but they don't permeate the book as much as they did in Iron Angel. John Anchor is still a great character, but he's really the only standout one. Sabor's assistant adds some welcome humor and a sense of individuality, but he's relatively minor. The problem, which has been a steady one over the series, is that many of the main characters just don't breathe fully--Rachael, Dill, Menoa. Alice Harper and Carnival have potential, and some fine moments, but their potential isn't fully realized (the same holds true for a few others). And Mina Greene is washed out a bit compared to her appearance in Iron Angel. Hasp, who had one of the greatest moments in Book Two, here is just repetitive and mostly unlikable. His situation should have made him the most compelling character, but instead you eventually dread almost any scene with him in it.

Campbell still does a good job mixing in some humor. And certainly the big picture story is a strong concept--a war of gods, humans caught between Hell and Heaven, a bold attempt to bring Heaven into the mix. And there are some wonderfully single scenes, especially those involving Carnival and Anchor (separate or together). But it starts to bog down in the final quarter once time traveling makes a major appearance (I should confess I tend to have a bias against time-travel--it's seldom done well in my mind and is often used as an easy out). It began mildly enough, became a bit annoying, then turned into a bit of a deus ex machina (somewhat literally) Where Iron Angel ended with a great bang, this one petered out I thought, ending too abruptly and too easily. To be honest, I wasn't even sure this was the actual ending to the series, it felt so incomplete.

In the end, a disappointment, but not really until the last part of the book. I'll just repeat what I said about the series as a whole in my review of Iron Angel. Based on the solid Scar Night, the very strong Iron Angel, and the bit of a letdown though still decent God of Clocks, the Deepgate Trilogy is a recommended read. It has many flaws, maybe even more flaws than strengths, but there are enough good moments to earn it a read, even if it shouldn't go to the top of the To-Read-List.

If you've read the others you have to finish the series, but I was a bit disappointed with this last book. The author seemed to leave several things hanging. Overall a decent book though, and I had no difficulties with the condition of the book itself.

What a disappointing end to a series. Things start off well enough. It begins after the rather mess of a novel that Iron Angel was.

If you are looking for the same magic that existed in Scar Night or Lye Street, you will be sadly disappointed. Many of the characters have become cliches in and of themselves. Its hard to care about any of them given how poorly they are fleshed out.

The second half of the book, without giving away anything, becomes a mess. The book tries to become a bit more epic than I think it can handle. You begin to lose interest in anything and an entire chapter is devoted to a dead end storyline.

The whole book could of easily used more focus. The ending itself was a travesty. It felt incredibly rushed, silly, and left many questions unanswered. Some plots are left hanging almost in mid-sentence.

I'd only recommend this book if you want to finish the trilogy but don't expect much.