The Escapement brings the story of Ziani Vaatzes to a close. It also brings the terrible, multi-nation war between the Mezentines, the Eremians, the Vadanis, and the Aram Chantat. And, thankfully, it brings the Engineer Trilogy to a close as well. These were three big, fat books and I found myself growing progressively more disappointed as I read.When an author builds an alternate world, I expect it to make a certain amount of sense. And I just couldn't buy the conclusion of the Engineer trilogy. After waging a war of extermination against first the Eremians then the Vadanis, killing the last Aram Chantat heiress, the allies finally besiege the Mezentines and slaughter tens of thousands of the hapless defenders. At this point, the author wants me to believe everyone just says 'oops' and turns around and heads home? No. I don't buy it - neither party was truly defeated. There was too much death, too much blood. It wasn't like the Germans at the end of WWII, or the Confederacy at the end of the US Civil War. These were absolutely beaten powers that lacked the will to resist. Neither the Mezentines nor the allies were 'broken.'Along these lines, although I like twists and turns and plats within plots, there were too darn many in this book. Ziani betrays everyone. Darenja betrays Ziani and Duke Valens. The Allies betray the Aram Chantat - who also betray the other allies. No one is that smart, and collectively I don't think it is realistic to have that many brilliant plotters in one place at one time. Oh, and for a war to a great extent started over love the Duke's wife decides she is not in love with him, and Ziani's wife, we discover, was never in love with him. Argh! Too much. I don't think I liked any of the characters by the time this book was done. This all sounds overly negative (and it is) but there are some really good parts to the story that redeem it somewhat. I like the world. It is very gritty and 'real.' There is no magic that I can tell. Instead there is technology. This war is really an arms race between the Mezentines and the allies. In fact, Darenja and Ziani labor long and hard to bring a new super weapon (a canon) against the Mezentines. Sigh. Two stars. I had high hopes for this book and this series.
I find this third book in the Engineer Trilogy unsatisfactory. The writing is good, and the central motif of a single intelligence manipulating human beings as cogs in a large machine to achieve an end is ingeniously applied.What I find unsatisfactory is the morality of this world and the characterization of women within the book. No female has a major role in the trilogy; the two main female characters —Veatriz and Ariessa— are present merely as love objects which compel the action. Both of these women are immoral, charmless, selfish, empty, useless enigmas.The morality is even worse. The trilogy concludes that there is no good or evil but only actions which we do by compulsion, and since we are compelled to these actions (and have no choice in the matter) then they are free of conventional moral standards. "Necessary evil" is the phrase the trilogy uses to describe this behavior, and the behavior is given allegorical shape in the form of a repulsive character named Daurenja, whom everyone in the book finds disgusting but who is tolerated by all because he is useful in achieving their ends.Only one character seems to be able to make a decent moral judgment, but I may be reading too much into it because he never really states his opinion aloud. Interestingly enough, this character — a humble clerk named Psellus— is the only male in the trilogy who "To the best of his knowledge" has never been in love (The Escapement). The message of the book is clear: loving a woman leads to evil, and the women are unworthy vessels of this kind of devotion.
What do You think about The Escapement (2007)?
Having read the engineer Trilogy in total I really enjoyed K.J. Parker and would read more. It is similar to Stephenson's Trilogy, except that it doesn't involve a historical setting. I look forward to reading the other series this author has written, so rich in technical details. The setting is the cusp of gunpowder technology and is very interesting with details of hunting, early armaments, castle design, etc. But it is also very psychologically intricate, with complex motivations. The arch villain, the engineer is an interesting study in inflexibility and rigid motivations. The trilogy does have historical feeling with echoes of Helen of Troy, the position of Alexandria in the ancient world and many other fascinating things. Thought provoking.
—Lissa Notreallywolf
Two stars for this is generous, and not just based on this particular book. It's a big disappointment after 800-odd pages of buildup, and to read another 400 to find that the great crux of the story is "evil is necessary", and that this necessary evil negates personal responsibility for the actions of all the characters, is a big fat let-down. Not to mention trite, overwrought and completely off the mark. Parker needs two things: an editor to clip out the unnecessary length and a better idea of where he's going, because he has Stephen King syndrome.
—Christa
This whole novel felt like a really bad M. Night Shyamalan movie. You remember the movie The Village that came out a few years ago, where the twist ending revealed that the creatures threatening the villagers were really just people dressed up in costumes? (Sorry to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it, but it sucked anyway) You either loved that ending or like me, you felt betrayed by sneaky ol’ Shyamalan for tricking you. Well that’s kind of how this novel was for me. The whole time I was thinking the ending was going to make up for all of the slow buildup, (remember books 1 and 2 are 600+ pages) but man was I wrong. I hate to report that book 3 of the Engineer Trilogy was just as disappointing as book 2. I can’t remember the last time I was so happy to close a book. Some people might enjoy this one, especially those who have any interest in detailed accounts of siege warfare, or the anatomy behind medieval weaponry. If those two things don’t really tickle your fancy, then I’d suggest you avoid this trilogy entirely.What bothered me about this concluding novel was the promise that something major was going to happen. In books 1 and 2 we saw great conclusions that were shrouded in mystery and these cliffhangers led me to believe that all of my questions would be answered in book 3. When the novel comes to a close you can’t help but feel disappointed, even cheated. Several characters that played such crucial roles in books 1 and 2 come across as unimportant and their story arcs seem to just flat line. Now I wasn’t asking for a huge shocker of an ending where the bad guy reveals himself to be the main characters father, but to see everyone essentially just “go home” felt like a huge middle finger from Parker. As I said in my review for Evil for Evil, Parker excels with standalone novels, so if you’re interested in giving K.J. Parker a shot, then try The Company or The Folding Knife, but steer clear of this one. (Sincere Apologies to any M. Night Shyamalan fans)
—Ross Evans
