The Falling Machine
The Society of Steam, Book 1: The Falling Machine
By Andrew P. Mayer

The Falling Machine Falls Short....

The premise of Steampunk super heroes in New York in Andrew P. Mayer's debut novel, The Falling Machine had me salivating. Sadly, Mr. Mayer does not deliver on that sense of excitement. While not a bad book – in fact Machine is a solid first attempt -- there is simply too much lacking to push the novel into the realms of excellent or amazing.

The story has all the makings of an excellent yarn, but there are serious flaws in the execution of the story which make it flat, trite, and mediocre. The plot is formulaic, complete with a mysterious villain, an unknown traitor, and a protagonist fighting not only the antagonists but also society. There is nothing new in the story, simply repeats of characters and ideas that have been seen before.

The interlacement of the sub-plots is weak, leaving a feeling of stutter-stepping through the story's time line instead of seamlessly transferring from one character to another. Using the device of each chapter focusing on one or two main characters takes a level of authorial skill that Andrew P. Mayer cannot reach in his freshman endeavour. The prose is adequate, but does not induce a desire to never put the book down; nor does it inspire a feeling of being drawn into the story.

There is a vast and immediate change in the tenor of the second half of the book, where the action sequences come successively and with great violence. If Mr. Mayer used the same passion, creativity, camp and over-the-top violence throughout the story that infuses his combat scenes, this book would have been truly great.

Mayer also falls short in the area of character development, falling back on tried and true archetypes for the main characters and all but forgetting to detail his villains. An “unofficial” suffragette, the main protagonist Sarah is, at best, a standard Victorian-era girl with an independent streak. She chafes at the strictures placed upon her by society – especially the fripperies required of a woman of the upper classes – and those further enforced by her arrogant and over-protective father. It is not until the very end of the book that we see her start to become a character with depth.

Sadly, Mayer makes a habit of killing off his best developed characters, such as Sir Dennis Darby. Darby, a likeable, older gentleman with an exceptionally brilliant mind, is known only briefly to the reader, yet he is central to the entire yarn. Darby is the leader of the Paragons, New York's Victorian-age Justice League-esque squad of “super heroes” and has discovered something known as 'fortified steam'. Fortified steam is produced from the mysterious “Alpha Element,” which gives massive amounts of power from something akin to, if not identical, to a nuclear reaction. This element, wrought in the shape of a key, becomes the crux of the story, and what all the characters should be striving to attain. However, fully half the characters know nothing of the element, and only the villains seem to be interested in it.

Sir Dennis' greatest invention, the Automaton -- Tom for short – is a fortified steam-driven, mechanical man who is ripe for personal and character development, but sadly spends much to the book being beaten, shot or blown up or in the resultant state of repair. In the end, the alpha element that powers Tom is stolen, leaving his heart (a glass sphere that sits in his chest) an empty shell and leaving the reader feeling adrift.

The same lack of depth holds true for the remaining characters, especially the vaunted Paragons, who range like an international smorgasbord of upper-class arrogance and self-importance, and who, for one reason or another, fall far short of the title 'Paragon'. There are no true super powers in this group, simply brilliant devices from the mind of Sir Dennis, which run on fortified steam and make the Paragons who or what they are.

The notable exception to this rule (there is always one, isn't there?) is Peter Wickham, known by his Paragon name, The Sleuth. Wickham is rounded, full of interesting facts and uses only his keen intellect to sniff out the resolutions to mysteries and to defeat his enemies. Of an age with Sir Dennis (and painted as a possible lover of the late leader of the Paragons), Peter is likable and puissant, carrying only that innate arrogance of the British. Sadly, the reader loses this true Paragon just as the story starts to pick up.

Adding to the list of caricatures and not characters are the villains, from the Bomb Lance, a harpoon shooting Irishman, to Lord Eschaton, an irradiated megalomaniac bent on world destruction and reformation. All of them remain firmly two-dimensional and lacking, making them more like afterthoughts than integral parts of the plot.

Mayer manages to touch on some social issues, such as the repression and liberation of women and the plight of New York's lower classes, but it is only in passing. His focus remains on Sarah and Tom and the burgeoning friendship between them.

The book ends on a brutal cliff-hanger. Tom has been smashed to bits by Lord Eschaton, Sarah has run away from her life and her father, and the Industrialist stands alone, with a possible career-ending injury. This ending only adds to the sense of the book being half-finished.

In the end, The Falling Machinerates a solid two and a half out of five. It is not a book I am inclined to re-read out of idle curiosity or in the hopes that I have missed something. It really could have been so much more and so much better. I get the feeling the book was heavily edited and sliced down in order for the publisher to get their three-book deal out of Andrew P. Mayer. However, I do look forward to the second installment in The Society of Steam trilogy, if only to see how the author grows in his skill and how his various mysteries are resolved or heightened.

This will certify that the above work is completely original,

Diane Elizabeth Roberts
erminefae@gmail.com
Brandon, FL 33511
410-903-8526
Pen Name: Zora E. Sternbilt

Book Review: The Falling Machine
The Society of Steam, Book 1: The Falling Machine
Copyright: 2011, Pyr, imprint of Prometheus Books
Author: Andrew P. Mayer
Cover Illustration: Justin Gerard
Interior Illustration: Steven Sanders
ISBN: 978-1-61614-375-6 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-61614-376-3 (e-book)