Overview
A dazzling quest whose outcome will raise humanity to unparalleled heights of glory--or ring down a curtain of endless night . . .1681: When Sir Isaac Newton turns his restless mind to the ancient art of alchemy, he unleashes Philosopher's Mercury, a primal source of matter and a key to manipulating the four elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Now, as France and England battle for its control, Louis XIV calls for a new weapon--a mysterious device known only as Newton's Cannon.
Half a world away, a young apprentice named Benjamin Franklin stumbles across a dangerous secret. Pursued by a deadly enemy--half scientist, half sorcerer--Ben makes his fugitive way to England. Only Newton himself can help him now. But who will help Sir Isaac? For he was not the first to unleash the Philosopher's Mercury. Others were there before him. Creatures as scornful of science as they are of mankind. And burning to be rid of both . . .
Synopsis
A dazzling quest whose outcome will raise humanity to unparalleled heights of glory--or ring down a curtain of endless night . . .
1681: When Sir Isaac Newton turns his restless mind to the ancient art of alchemy, he unleashes Philosopher's Mercury, a primal source of matter and a key to manipulating the four elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Now, as France and England battle for its control, Louis XIV calls for a new weapon--a mysterious device known only as Newton's Cannon.
Half a world away, a young apprentice named Benjamin Franklin stumbles across a dangerous secret. Pursued by a deadly enemy--half scientist, half sorcerer--Ben makes his fugitive way to England. Only Newton himself can help him now. But who will help Sir Isaac? For he was not the first to unleash the Philosopher's Mercury. Others were there before him. Creatures as scornful of science as they are of mankind. And burning to be rid of both . . .
Publishers Weekly
Enlightened science is transformed into blackest magic in the opening volume of Keyes's (The Waterborn) 18th-century alternative history, The Age of Unreason. Sir Isaac Newton turns alchemist to obtain Philosopher's Mercury, the key to cosmic end-of-the-world weaponry. Stolen by a philosopher-mage of France's King Louis XIV to use against the invading English, the hellish device threatens to obliterate London unless two unlikely young geniuses can defuse it. Alternating chapters trace the pair's discrete stories, as American icon Ben Franklin, here portrayed as a randy adolescent, and the toothsome Adrienne de Montchevreuil, Louis's latest mistress, separately wield fearsome theorems against supernatural forces manipulating humanity. Clearly enamored with the glories of Versailles, Keyes writes passages of swordplay and foreplay that fitfully flare into life, but the novel is ultimately foiled by muddy secondary characterizations and a finale that fizzles. (May)