ISBN: 0-345-40609-5 Order from: Amazon.com
This unusual alternate history continues with battles, politics, occasional historical in-jokes, amid the devasted world where Man fights for survival.
Reviewed by David on July 15, 2000
Genre: Fantasy (Weird Science, Alternate Reality, Intrigue, Historical, War, Conspiracy Theory, Demons)
Synopsis: In the beginning of 18th century, the world has taken a left turn: just 50 years previously, Sir Isaac Newton has discovered not only modern calculus and the laws of motion, but also the foundations of Alchemy. In the middle of an "industrial revolution" driven by rapid advances in alchemy, the history has diverged drastically from our own.
Through the new sciences, Man discovered the shadowy world of supernatural beings, previously glimpsed only by the delirious seers. The disturbed beings—masquarading as demons or angels in the past—change from subtle manipulations to outright intervention. Seemingly bent on utter extinction of the human race, they employ tools from deception and bribery to outright murder to plunge the nations into chaos.
After a devastating weapon destroys much of Europe, the Russian Empire becomes the main tool of the "angels". Only a few humans can fully perceive the supernatural beings, and provide effective resistance against them: Benjamin Franklin, a colonial inventor and inexperienced but clever politician; Adrienne de Mornay de Montchevreuil, a brilliant French mathematician on the edge of despair after the loss of her son and her country; and Red Shoes, an Indian shaman fighting a war against the spirits bent on stealing his soul.
Full Review: Newton's Canon introduced a fascinating but plausible world where the basic laws of Alchemy have been discovered, and new marvels are created not through blind experimentation but through mathematics and engineering. The alchemy is powerful but obeys certain Aristotelian laws, much like the Art in Melissa Scott's excellent The Roads of Heaven.
This book takes place nearly ten years after the previous one. Settled somewhat into post-England world, the human politics get a jolt as several factions of the supernatural beings embark on the next phase of domination and destruction. As the humans struggle, still mostly in the dark about the angels, both sides prove surprisingly engenious. However, as the angels have millenia of experience in manipulating people, the humans end up on the losing side. Together with portents of complete eradication of humans, as well as political infighting among the angels glimpsed through layers of deception, the series is building toward a crucial struggle.
Unusual and original in the setting, with moderate view-hopping, colorful characters, historical snippets and real peril, this is alternate history at its best.
Overall: 6.5; Plot: 5.5; Characters: 6.5; Style: 6; World-building: 7; Originality: 7;
Copyright date 2000, Ballantine Publishing Group (Del Rey), May 2000, Trade paperback, 358 pages
ISBN: 0-345-40609-5 Order from: Amazon.com