A review by jfrotz
Clockwork Angels by Neil Peart, Kevin J. Anderson

5.0

While steampunk isn't my normal genre, I found this book to be a reasonable read that bloomed wonderfully by the end. Well written and paced. I struggled with the blind character optimism at first, but enjoyed the Rush lyrical references throughout the book. I highly recommend listening to the entire Rush portfolio if you read this incrementally. Kevin Anderson does a masterful job taking Neil Peart's lyrics and folding it seamlessly into the dialog and narrative. The surprise "pop" of music and lyric as you read floated from interesting artifact to highly enjoyable as bars of music float through your head while the context of the story shape a new image in your head.

Though not referenced explicitly in the appendix it seemed clear to me that Clockwork Angels was a thematic homage to Hemispheres with the Watchmaker (Apollo) and the Anarchist (Dionysus).

I look forward to listening to Clockwork Angels again and see if what I'd been missing has been filled in by having read this book. (Certainly the enumeration of lyrics from the album in the appendix made total sense after immediately finishing the book.)

Looking forward to reading the sequel and see what surprises lay in store...