The Bookman

Lavie Tidhar

Language: English

Publisher: Random House, Inc.

Published: Sep 28, 2010

Description:

Review

"Readers will enjoy watching Tidhar's imagination throwing off sparks like a Roman candle." - Publishers Weekly

"_The Bookman_ pokes at the fat and waddled body of steampunk with its walking cane and leaves it on the roadside with its fresh take on Victorian London without loosing any steam on its way." - Loudmouth Man

"_The Bookman_ is a delight, crammed with gorgeous period detail, seat-of-the-pants adventure and fabulous set-pieces." - The Guardian

"This is a steampunk gem... Bring on a sequel, Tidhar! I'm craving to know what happens after the ending!" - _SFF World
_
"An emerging master" _- LOCUS Magazine

_Praise for Lavie Tidhar's Previous Works:

"Tidhar beautifully evokes the power of technology " - The Fix (reviewing "The Dying World" from _Clarkesworld Magazine_)

"...richly detailed characters in a well paced and well thought out story" - Tangent (reviewing "The Pattern Makers of Zanzibar" from Murky Depths)

"Tidhar's story reads like a drug-infused John Le Carre novel, if Le Carre wrote science fiction and dropped LSD as he pounded on the typewriter... an amazing accomplishment, and highly recommended." - The Fix (reviewing "The Shangri-La Affair" from _Strange Horizons_) 

"It's stomach churning and very sweet at the same time, bizarreness and beauty like most of Tidhar's stories." - The Fix (reviewing "The Butcher and The Flykeeper - A Christmas Love Story" from Murky Depths)

"The strength of this work is the setting. It is incredibly inventive and fun... a wonderful story, especially for those who enjoy the more surreal edges of speculative fiction." - Tangent (reviewing "High Noon in Clown Town" from Postscripts)

"Tidhar's story is classic noir, but with its tongue firmly in its cheek from beginning to end. A very enjoyable read." - The Fix (reviewing "Hard Rain at the Fortean Cafe" from Aeon)

Product Description

LATE EXTRA!
BOMB OUTRAGE IN LONDON!

A masked terrorist has brought London to its knees -- there are bombs inside books, and nobody knows which ones. On the day of the launch of the first expedition to Mars, by giant cannon, he outdoes himself with an audacious attack.

For young poet Orphan, trapped in the screaming audience, it seems his destiny is entwined with that of the shadowy terrorist, but how? His quest to uncover the truth takes him from the hidden catacombs of London on the brink of revolution, through pirate-infested seas, to the mysterious island that may hold the secret to the origin not only of the shadowy Bookman, but of Orphan himself...

Like a steam-powered take on V for Vendetta, rich with satire and slashed through with automatons, giant lizards, pirates, airships and wild adventure. The Bookman is the first of a series.

File Under: Steampunk [ Alternate History! | Reptilian Royalty! | Diabolical Anarchists! | Extraordinary Adventure! ]