Tinker: Imaginative setting with some issues

Tinker by Wen Spencer

Wen Spencer’s Tinker (2003), the first book in her ELFHOME series, presents a unique mix of urban fantasy and science fiction. The premise, which is the series’ best feature, is imaginative — due to a glitch with an interdimensional gate, the city of Pittsburgh (but not the rest of the United States) exists in Elfhome, an alternate dimension inhabited by elves. Once a month the gate is powered down and Pittsburgh returns to Earth for one day to get resupplied. Pittsburgh is so weird that it doesn’t really interact with the rest of the U.S.

Tinker, the titular protagonist, is a short, 18-year-old, orphaned, genius inventor with an appealing mix of courage and resourcefulness. She runs a junkyard and thinks of herself as a “junkyard rat.” In the opening scenes, she bravely rescues an elf who happens to be an important prince. This elevates her status immensely and changes her life forever. She doesn’t know if she wants this new life but, like it or not, now she’s involved in the elves’ war with an unknown enemy. She has a lot to learn about the other races that call Pittsburgh home, but she also has a lot to contribute to Pittsburgh’s destiny.

While Spencer’s world is unique and her writing is solid, several issues detract from the experience. Perhaps most important is that despite the interesting world, with Pittsburgh spending most of its time in another dimension, we don’t spend enough time exploring its weirdness. Spencer doesn’t (at least yet) capitalize on that fascinating setting. I wanted more weird Pittsburgh.

As for Tinker, she’s a Mary Sue – a genius, improbably skilled, irresistibly attractive, and universally adored, save for a jealous antagonist. Yet, for someone so smart and savvy, she’s annoyingly naïve when the plot demands it. She readily accepts symbolic gifts and participates in rituals without understanding their significance. This advances the plot but doesn’t seem to fit her character.

The story also contains heavy-handed infodumps, some of which clog the opening chapters, and uncomfortable themes and situations such as domineering and creepy male love-interests, rape (and other non-consensual activities), torture, cultural stereotypes, and references to human breeding programs. The “ick” factor was high for me and seemed incongruent with the often humorous tone of the novel.

I listened to the audiobook of Tinker which was produced by Audible Studios and read by Tanya Eby. She did a fine job with the narration. I had already purchased all the sequels before starting Tinker, so I’ll read them and hope they address these issues I’ve mentioned and do more justice to the promising premise.