Clockwork Angels, (Conclusion)

I must admit to being pleasantly surprised at just how well this book wrapped up.  Although it covered a lot of territory – story-wise and song-wise as well as geography-wise! – it didn’t feel rushed at all.  To take considerably more time to tell the remainder might well have become tedious, and perhaps a good editor helped out here.  Owen’s lone trek through the wastelands to find the Seven Cities of Gold was covered well in only one medium length chapter.  His revelations upon finding what he sought were also well wrought. Mr. Anderson’s prose takes on an almost allegorical cast, which fits very well, here. 

For this reader, the prose was greatly improved, or perhaps just more fitting to the scenes throughout this entire quadrant.  The battle between the Wreckers and the Regulators was told at just the right pace and pitch as well.  Owen’s escape was quite cleverly designed into the plot, with a nice touch of inventiveness.  His difficulties finding his way back to land and to the carnival crowd were well depicted, too.  Perfect pacing throughout this section, as far as I’m concerned, though it seemed a more demanding task than those posed by the plot line earlier in the book. 

Throughout the story, the lyrics and the plot linked up very well, with a little give and take in sequencing.  Too much alignment with the sequencing might have been awkward.  The consistent sprinkling in the text of lines from the lyrics never became boorish (though some might not agree, I acknowledge!) and the inclusion of lines from other Rush songs on other albums became almost amusing.  I’m pretty sure I caught them all, though my knowledge of Rush lyrics on the whole isn’t quite as encyclopedic as some. 

Owen’s reuniting with the carnival people, especially with Francesca, was poignant enough to moisten the eyes, maybe more than a little, and was a very fitting emotional climax to the story as a whole.  The Garden, which is the last song on the album, is one of Rush’s most beautiful songs ever.  Getty Lee spoke of it in an interview I saw online as an important departure from the band’s normal musical approach and he seemed excited and proud of what they had done with it.  The book plays it up very nicely to conclude things. 

The text even fleshes out the ideas in the song somewhat, especially pointing out the importance of both Love and Respect, in combination: “…everybody wants to be loved and respected.  And neither is any good without the other.  Love without respect can be as cold as pity; respect without love can be as grim as fear.”  Anyone with a familiarity of Neil Peart’s lyric-writing isn’t too surprised at something as profound as this line – and yet I have to wonder if this one is Kevin’s?  My hat is off to both these fine gentlemen for treating us to such a meaningful experience.  Thank you, sirs!



February's book: Bloodland: A Family Story of Oil, Greed, and Murder on the Osage Reservation, by Dennis McAuliffe!  First segment, Part One on Feb. 1.