Angelmaker

By: Nick Harkaway

Narrated by: Daniel Weyman

Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Joe Spork repairs clocks, a far cry from his late father, a flashy London gangster. But when Joe fixes one particularly unusual device, his life is suddenly upended. Joe's client, Edie Banister, is more than just a kindly old lady - she's a former superspy. And the device? It's a 1950s doomsday machine. And having triggered it, Joe now faces the wrath of both the government and a diabolical South Asian dictator, Edie's old arch-nemesis.

With Joe's once-quiet world now populated with mad monks, psychopathic serial killers, scientific geniuses, girls in pink leather, and threats to the future of conscious life in the universe, he realizes that the only way to survive is to muster the courage to fight, help Edie complete a mission she gave up years ago, and pick up his father's old gun.

©2012 Nick Harkaway (P)2012 AudioGO

Very different, but very entertaining

This one was hard to get into at first. I was on the fence for the first few hours but then the story started to pull me in as I became used to the off kilter setting of the book. As others have mentioned, it has a decidedly Steampunk flavor to it. As my first experience to this genre, it took a bit, but the end result was pleasing.

The story uses a Victorian era to WW II backdrop and characters that blend spies, gangsters, and villains. All told, a wonderful melange that the author used to create an entertaining if unbelievable story. Daniel Weymans narration enhanced the experience and he did a good job with a large cast of characters.

I can therefore recommend this to those who have a solid imagination and enjoy stories that are slightly off center.

Fabulous Dialogue, Predictable Plot

The writing here is fast paced, the characters really quirky and well drawn. And the dialogue between some of those characters is laugh out loud fantastic. The main character, however is a bore, even, (spoiler alert!) no especially, after he makes his big transformation. From that point on it was guaranteed that good would prevail over evil.....yawn. And the story starts off with all those strong, funny and smart women, but it all collapses into a good guy killing off a bad guy with blood, guts and bargain basement irony ...yawn. If you're going to use a beehive for a metaphor, and you're going to have irreverence around every corner, you might as well throw in few double entendres about queens. (He did want to be head bee after all.) The performance, especially with all that great dialogue, was over the top teriffic! That was the thing that got me to finish this. Took a week long break at the 2nd to last chapter, though, because it was all just so predictable.

Sweeping and Unique, It's Well Worth the Ride

Angelmaker is a strange book to be sure. It creeps in on you from the edges, folding and unfolding in new and unexpected ways. It is both sweeping and uniquely personal, and it is all but impossible to know what lies within the last chapter when first peering over the precipice of the first. This, I pray, should not dissuade you.

Leap into this book with an open mind and a large dictionary, for the language is lush and rewarding, the narrator is both giving and precise, and the characters will have you searching (alas, in vain) for sequels. This is a puzzle box of a book whose strange rhythms and seemingly byzantine turns come together in a dazzling finish that will leave you yelling the name, "Joshua Joseph Spork" with glee and delight.

Unique story, but weak protagonist

Would you consider the audio edition of Angelmaker to be better than the print version?

I have not read the print version, so can't say.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

It ended pretty well, it was interesting how they incorporated things from when everything was put into motion. However, the characters don't really change from the beginning to the end. The story is good, but the main characters seemed somewhat lacking.

Have you listened to any of Daniel Weyman’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not heard other performances by this narrator.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not particularly.

Any additional comments?

It's an excellent story, and that alone might warrant it a listen. I don't think I've every heard or read another book that grows from historical events in such a way (sorry, trying to refrain from spoilers!). However, as much as I liked the story, the protagonist continuously annoyed me. His actions are sometimes ridiculous or foolhardy, he seems to be in a constant state of "woe is me," and relies constantly on everyone around him. I don't mind group work and protagonists getting help, but he almost seemed irrelevant to the story with exception that he knew clockwork and gears.

The Maze goes On.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, this is an attention capturing book. It is very compelling and holds your attention and interest. The charactor development is complete and very interesting.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Haven't completed the book yet, so the most or least is not attainable yet.

What about Daniel Weyman’s performance did you like?

This was a wonderful performance, I liked the style and accent very much.

Amazing writing, bad editing

Angelmaker may be one of the best stories I've heard on Audible. The voice of the narrator is fantastic , and the story is so imaginative, engaging, and detailed. The turns of phrase are delicious.
But, whoever edited this thing should be flogged. Too many gaps with sound missing and breaths that are cut together. Boo! What a terrible thing to do to a story this good.

Brilliant performance!

What wild ride! Harkaway takes the reader on an amazing journey through the fantastic world of Angelmaker. Weymen is absolutely brilliant and brings so much to the story I can’t imagine reading it without him. Highly recommended.

Unique, entertaining, and vivid story telling

I loved the narrator especially! He didn’t just read it, he acted it and made each character feel unique. This book is a masterpiece and it will keep you laughing all the way through.

Harkaway Delivers Again

Nick Harkaway, son of John le Carré (author of the "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" series), became my favorite author when first I picked up a copy of his debut novel, "The Gone Away World", and his second addition to the literary world is, if anything, better than the first. I could honestly talk for hours about the man's skill with prose and his pithy turns of phrase. The way he writes, the descriptors he uses are so unique and abstract, and yet convey his meaning so precisely that there is no room left for ambiguity.

The style and genre are difficult to capture in a single category. It is literature, because it is smart--not only smart, but wise. It carries deeper meaning, the characterizations are superb (even of the most minor characters, and even when we are given only glimpses into their lives, the way in which Mr. Harkaway describes them lends to the reader the most absolute clarity in not only who they are, but why they are, and how they will soon be).

At the same time, this book is much more than literature. It is science fiction, as the protagonist races to unravel the mysteries surrounding his grandparents and a doomsday machine from the 1950s. It is adventure, as we follow Edie Bannister through her initiation into the secrets of a World War II-era cloak-and-dagger group of Britain's most forward-thinking masters of subterfuge. Suspense keeps you hanging on every word of every battle--and Harkaway's master wit leaves you giggling with glee only a paragraph after he has brought you through very meaningful and heartfelt mourning. Sword fights, shoot-outs, and explosions are brilliantly twined with romance, childhood anecdotes, smart humor, and harried escapes, with miraculous victories and devastating defeats.

A more ill-suited narrator could easily have made chaos out of the quick pace of Harkaway's prose and his tendency towards the occasional off-shoot of narration (and typical British only-somewhat-relative-digressions into exaggeration and polite melodrama). Daniel Weyman goes beyond doing the narrative justice. His voice is perfect, his accents spot-on, and the rhythm of his speaking matches perfectly to Harkaway's prose. There is nothing lost in translation, so to speak. He reads with emotion, and carries the listener with him. He hits the passion, the raw feeling that Harkaway's narrative inspires, and easily guides one back to the quiet when heavier consideration is due.

In short, I cannot recommend this book enough--and if you like it, do definitely check out Harkaway's other works as well. He is a truly gifted author who deserves a great deal more attention than he has received.

Fun steampunkish story, well read

A clockwork repair guy trying to live a quiet, below-the-radar life in an alternate-present London gets embroiled in a quest to save the world from a doomsday device that works by causing people to experience existential despair.

This is a swashbuckling, steampunkish story, with a lot (but not too much) complexity and Daniel Weyman performs it very well. It's a little like a Neal Stephenson novel, but not nearly so thoughtful. That's why I've given the story three stars. It seemed like too intelligent of a construction to end by romanticizing gangsters and a climax that's an explosion of gleeful violence. Harkaway tries to fudge the issue by making the villain ridiculously evil and his minions a sort of automaton, but you can't have your cake and eat it, too. Either you're smarter than the average action movie, or you're not, and ultimately, Angelmaker isn't. Still, I enjoyed it.