Newton's Cannon (The Age of Unreason, Book 1)

by Greg Keyes and J. Gregory Keyes

Book Overview

In this stunning new novel, acclaimed author J. Gregory Keyes charts a course sideways through time. Come with him to a world both deeply familiar and wondrously strange. Lose yourself in a fantasy... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345433785
• Release Date: March 1999
• Publisher: Del Rey
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.0" x 1.3" x 4.3"

Customer Reviews

What if Alchemy worked?

What if Newton - who was interested in such things - deduced the rules for it as here he did for physics? And what if this new science created new weapons for the wars of the 18th century? That's the basic premise of the "The Age of Unreason" series. All four books are out now and my basic review is that the series has been excellent, and I highly recommend it! Keyes has an excellent book here. In many ways, it is similar to "Celestial Matters," where Richard Garfinkle took the idea of "What if Aristotelian physics was real" and ran with it, creating an alternate world where that science ruled, creating an Earth - and a history - wildly different from our own. Here, Keyes is asking "what if the alchemists were right?" - but unlike "Celestial Matters," the POD is close enough to the current events of the story that the world, while changed, is still recognizably our 18th century world. And because it is recognizably our world, Keyes gets to use real historical figures as his characters - Franklin, Newton, Louis XIV, etc. - and he does so very well. He also seems to have a good grasp on the changes his POD would render to the world. The new alchemical miracle machines (such as ever-glowing lights, the aetherscreiber, and even a steam-engine of a sort) are just beginning to make their way into common use. There are groups (mostly religious) opposed to them as "magic," there are others - such as Franklin - fascinated by the new "science" and it's possibilities. And it seems that along with the Philosopher's Mercury, "demons" may walk the Earth... I loved the book. If it's got any real problem, it's that it's the first book of a series - and because of that Keyes is introducing almost too much stuff to us, stuff that will be useful in the rest of the series, but here make the book a little cluttered. We've got the primary story of Louis, Franklin, and the weapon (of which I will only say the primary creator of which - Fatio - chuckles when he thinks how appropriate it is to call it "Newton's own cannon"), but then we've also got a secret society of women - the "Korai" - playing their little power games with some of the main characters, "demons" running their own mysterious plans, and - heck - even a brief walk-on by Blackbeard the Pirate, of all people (well, "limp-on," actually). It's all just that close to being too much. However, as I said, I loved the book and read it and all the rest of the books in the "Age of Unreason" series. This is Alternate History writ very large - and very strange...

Excellent alternative history

Fantastical history taking a very real fascination of Netwon with Alchemy and twisting in on its head. We have to remember, at the time of Newton alchemy was seen as a very real and possible scientific area of investigation - its only seen through our historical filters that we view it as 'occult'. This takes the truth of this and weaves a very engaging, well written and believable tale of mystery, magic and science.One of the best suprises i've had in some time (I picked it up in the bargain bin - a definite read!)

Very well crafted.

As I read this book, I noticed threads that reminded me of the best moments in "The Eight", "Lucifer's Hammer" and Harlan Ellison's "Flop Sweat". I found it to be a marvelous and original story, easy to get swept up in, and full of subtle "aha" moments for the omnivorous reader.

Wow!

I'm not into alternative history at all. As a matter of fact, I normally would have found the subject matter very boring. However, this book was awesome! I'm not a huge fantasy fan, I dabble in it here and there. I actually had to read this book so I could write a book review on it for a newspaper internship I had. But once I started it, I couldn't stop reading. The characters were well develpoed and exciting. There was even a great female character (and that's rare when the author is male). This is a must read.