Daniel H. Wilson (Robopocalypse) looks to the past in a novel about a race of robots more ancient and yet more advanced than humans can comprehend, hiding in plain sight among us.
Years ago, June Stefanov's grandfather opened a locked box in his shed and showed her a "crescent-shaped slice of metal the size of a seashell" with "a labyrinthine pattern of grooves--a language of bizarre angles." Before he immigrated to the United States, he told June, he fought in World War II and witnessed a man of supernatural strength withstand a hail of bullets and turn back a German tank singlehandedly, speaking to no one and leaving behind the metal artifact. He called the man an angel of justice, something old and alien and able to appear human, and entrusted June with the relic upon his death.
June, now a grown woman, spends her life in pursuit of the mystery behind the story and the relic. An anthropologist specializing in ancient technology, she hunts across the world for examples of antique automatons, complex clockwork dolls she believes may hold the key to the secret of the relic. However, her investigations have been noticed by the very beings she seeks out, a handful of sentient automatons who call themselves the avtomat and want the relic back. When two of them catch up to her, June gets caught in their centuries-old feud. Her only hope for survival is to trust Peter, an avtomat whose current memories date to the court of Peter the Great in 18th-century Russia.
The Clockwork Dynasty is a hybrid: engrossing historical fiction starring ancient androids and mile-a-minute present-day action thriller. Wilson's novel sweeps readers from imperial courts to blood-soaked battlefields and tinkerer's workshops both futuristic and arcane. June's mad dash to flee a secret society bent on taking her knowledge and her life evokes the best moments of Dan Brown. Peter proves to be the unrivaled heart of the story, with his steadfast devotion to truth and his sometimes overprotective concern for his "sister" Elena, a brilliant strategist avtomat fashioned in the shape of a fragile young girl. Genre readers will detect homage to classics such as Interview with the Vampire and Blade Runner, especially in its explorations of isolation and otherness. Although the ending gives some closure, Wilson allows gears of mystery to tick away, leaving the reader hopeful for a sequel exploring the workings of the clockwork angels. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads
Shelf Talker: An anthropologist digs too close to the truth of an ancient race of alien robots still walking among humans, and must solve their mystery to save her life.