Tinker [Hardcover]

Wen Spencer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 4, 2003

DESCRIPTIONInventor, girl genius, Tinker lives in a near-future Pittsburgh which now exists mostly in the land of the elves. She runs her salvage business, pays her taxes, and tries to keep the local ambient level of magic down with gadgets of her own design. When a pack of wargs chase an Elven noble into her scrap yard, life as she knows it takes a serious detour. Tinker finds herself taking on the Elven court, the NSA, the Elven Interdimensional Agency, technology smugglers and a college-minded Xenobiologist as she tries to stay focused on what's really important--her first date. Armed with an intelligence the size of a planet, steel-toed boots, and a junk yard dog attitude, Tinker is ready to kick butt to get her first kiss.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Wit and intelligence inform this off-beat, tongue-in-cheek fantasy from Spencer (Alien Taste, etc.), set in near-future Pittsburgh-or rather, the part of Pittsburgh that's been translated to the Faerie world of Elfhome by a faulty hyperphase gate created by the Chinese. After 18-year-old tech genius Tinker saves Windwolf, the elven governor of North America on Elfhome, from a pack of nasty wargs, Windwolf in gratitude turns her into an elf and makes her his consort. In her new and important position, Tinker becomes the target for a conspiracy of humans, elves and oni (Japanese demons that control their own part of Faerie) who are trying to build another gate for use in conquering Earth and Elfhome. Furious action, including a memorable car chase, good characterization, playful eroticism and well-developed folklore all help lift this well above the fantasy average. The routine jacket art, of an elven biological dirigible, probably won't help, but Buffy fans should find a lot to like in the book's resourceful heroine. FYI: Spencer has won the 2003 John W. Campbell Best New Writer Award.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Spencer's latest novel is as imaginative and weird as usual for him, and it makes the same effective use of her old hometown, Pittsburgh, as a setting. This time a part of early-twenty-first-century Pittsburgh is taken through an interdimensional gate into Elfland. Tinker, a young orphan who runs a salvage yard in the city, rescues the local elvenlord from assassins, and thereafter finds herself entangled in a magnificent web of romance; plots involving humans, elves, and oni (Japanese demons); and a race to build another gate by means of which the oni can conquer both Earth and Elfland. Spencer's intertwining of current Earth technology and otherworldly elven magic is quite ingenious. But the whole novel possesses ebullient humor, and even the sex is entertaining, though there may be rather a lot of it for some readers' taste. The book ends with a cliffhanger, so Spencer is clearly kicking off another series. Most readers of this book will consider that good news. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Baen; First Edition edition (November 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743471652
• ISBN-13: 978-0743471657
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #668,904 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Wonderful - I Loved It!, January 29, 2004

By 

Silmarwen (Huntington Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tinker (Hardcover)

It's shutdown time again and part of the city of Pittsburgh has once again been returned to Earth. For most of the year, it resides on the planet of Elfhome or the Faerie World where all of the human inhabitants have come to rely on magic instead of science. Most elves were not really interested in the short lived humans and none of them wanted to be stuck on Earth during shutdown time, even though it was only for 24 hours. That is why it was so unusual to see an elf running through Tinker's scrapyard. Tinker immediately recognized him as Windwolf, the elf who had saved her life several years ago. Windwolf placed what Tinker assumed was a life debt on her and who knew how that linked them together? Fearing that, if Windwolf died, she would die, Tinker heroically battles the terrifying wargs and manages to get rid of them, but Windwolf is gravely wounded. With no magic to heal him, Tinker must use all of her scientific know how and intrinsic genius to get him through the rest of Shutdown. Unfortunately, Tinker's problems don't end when she is finally able to get Windwolf to an elvish hospital...

Tinker and her cousin Oilcan are attacked by some random suits who try to kill Windwolf and any witnesses to the attack. Then there is the NSA and EIA, both organizations very curious as to what is going on in the elvish power structure and wanting to know a little bit more information about the scientific genius who just happens to be Tinker. Turns out that the feds have finally caught up with her and know that she has the mental ability to construct another gate, like the gate that links Earth to Elfhome. But humans aren't the only ones who know that Tinker has this ability - the oni, or Japanese demons, are determined to conquer Earth & Elfhome and are trying to use Tinker to do it! Windwolf is determined to protect Tinker from these people, but Tinker isn't sure if she agrees with his methods. After all, wasn't turning her into an elf and marrying her a little too drastic? Perhaps they should get to know one another first, like a date or something...

Tinker was an absolutely wonderful romantic fantasy that was also refreshingly original. I love Wen Spencer's Ukiah Oregon series and so was thrilled when I saw that she was writing something new because I knew that it would be different and I knew that I would love it! Tinker is such a great heroine - she is young and has many flaws and has a lot of growing up to do, but she is also very mature in some ways and a very smart, eccentric genius. I know that many readers have complained about the hero, Windwolf, in that he seems to perfect, but, heck, so long as we're going to be reading fantasy, lets go all the way! I loved him as a hero and thought that he matched Tinker perfectly. The villains were suitably evil and thus worthy of hatred and yet, you still felt sorry for them and could understand their motives. The plot is very fast paced and I just gobbled this book up - I couldn't put it down! If you haven't read Wen Spencer before, what are you waiting for? She is fabulous!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wen Spencer can write!, November 4, 2003

By 

"read_er" (Vancouver, BC, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tinker (Hardcover)

European Elves, Japanese Oni, the city of Pittsburgh spending 1 day a month on earth and 30 days on the world of Faerie, and an eighteen year old girl who makes Eienstein look mentally challenged. These are the elements that Ms. Spencer weaves into a highly entertaining tale.
Tinker is an inventive genius, born ten years after her father died, who has spent all of her eighteen year growing up in this strange/familiar city of Pittsburgh. Brilliant, inventive and brave it developes that she is the pivot upon which the fate of worlds turns.
These elements could have been put together into a terrible book. But Wen Spencer's supurb writing turns them into a wonderful romp. The only disappointment was that the story ends far to soon. One can only hope that Ms. Spencer plans to revisit Tinker at some time in the future.
Read this book. Then if you have not read her first three books, get your paws on them and read them.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wild fantasy joy ride around Pittsburgh, November 6, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tinker (Hardcover)

On the Rim of Elfhome in Pittsburgh, business owner Tinker and her cousin Oilcan are moving around wrecks that temporarily reside in her Pittsburgh Scrap and Salvage yard to makes room for the influx of new vehicles that Shutdown Day always brings to her. However, a power failure leads to her gadgets inability to keep out the local flow of magic that jumps sky high when a pack of wargs chase an Elf into her scrap yard.

Preferring to literally mind her business, Tinker laments that the prey has to be Windwolf, an arrogant noble who saved her life five years ago from a saurus, but placed a life debt on her that forces her to help. Not long afterward every official from the NSA to the EIA (Elfin Interdimensional Agency) make demands of Tinker. Even those not officially officious want a piece of her. All Tinker desires is to remain in Pittsburgh wanting her first kiss on her first date, but alas even the city will not cooperate as it is no longer earth tied.

Anyone who thought Pittsburgh was Steelers, Pirates, and Penguins, oh my, will quickly change their mind with Wen Spencer's wild fantasy. The story line is as fast as a novel can go yet the key players seem genuine. Readers will adore the harried heroine, an ingenious tinker who has never been kissed (but is standing on an Elven mound not a pitcher's mound). Windwolf lives up to his clan's reputation for inhuman haughtiness though this human has breeched his soul. Amusing, ironic and loaded with daring and dastardly deeds, TINKER is a wonderful tongue-in-cheek fantasy joy ride around the city by the three rivers.

Harriet Klausner