Bookman [Paperback]

Lavie Tidhar (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 7, 2010

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? 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 [Serial killer | Alternate Victorian London | Exploding Books | Historical Crime]

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An emerging master" -- LOCUS Magazine Praise for Lavie's short fiction: "Tidhar beautifully evokes the power of technology " - The Fix, reviewing The Dying World (Clarkesworld Magazine) "richly detailed characters in a well paced and well thought out story" - Tangent reviewing The Pattern Makers of Zanzibar (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 (Strange Horizons) "Sultry and crackling, Lavie Tidhar's prose intimately evokes Ethiopian [?] weather and the high-running emotions of his characters." - Tangent, reviewing What The Thunder Said (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 (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 (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 (Aeon)

About the Author

Currently based in Laos, in South-East Asia, Lavie is an Israeli who has lived in places as exotic as Vanuatu, South Africa and Britain. As well as a clutch of highly regarded short stories and novellas, his website World SF has attracted much attention for focussing specifically on the SF and fantasy produced in non-English speaking countries of the world.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins Pb (January 7, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0007346581
• ISBN-13: 978-0007346585
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,782,736 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not For Everyone, October 5, 2010

By 

Nickolas X. P. Sharps "Fleet Strike 13" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bookman (Angry Robot) (Mass Market Paperback)

I really have difficulty reviewing this book. It was a struggle for me to read The Bookman all the way through, only having spent money on it persuaded me to continue. Let me say that I don't think this is a bad book by any means, in fact it might be a good book. The Bookman just isn't the book for me. I didn't much care for Orphan, he never seemed to be his own man, as a character he was just a pawn in everyone else's game. He undertakes the adventure to save his beloved but the path from beginning to end is so convoluted that I found it hard to follow. There are a lot of literary references and historical figures which would probably be of great enjoyment to some readers. I personally felt like The Bookman tried to be too clever for its own good. The whole book felt really superfluous, the pseudo-steampunk setting was intriguing at first but it never really developed into a fully realized idea.

I feel like I should have more to say about this book after giving it a 2 star rating but I'm at a loss for words. The Bookman probably offers a unique experience to a different type of reader but to me reading it felt like a hassle.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing and Enjoyable, March 7, 2011

By 

Amber Marie - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bookman (Angry Robot) (Mass Market Paperback)

I first started this book with rather low expectations. It had several mixed reviews on Amazon, and I wasn't so sure about some of the concepts, such as lizards as the current royalty. However, I ended up really enjoying this book!

It was an strangely absorbing take on a revolution, complete with robots fighting for independence and equal rights, alien invaders, a love story, and strange but enjoyable appearances of well known people and characters. Jules Verne, Karl Marx, and Moriarty all show up, to name a few. The plot is, to put it bluntly, extraordinarily weird at parts, but somehow that doesn't get in the way of the story (which, by the way, is wonderfully full of twists and turns). Plus, Tidhar writes beautifully, with a distinct and very refreshing style. I disagree with another reviewer who said that Bookman was 'nothing new'. I thought it was very original. I read a lot a books, and I've never read one like this. While that's normally a bad thing, it was a great thing here.

I'd recommend it to steampunk fans and fantasy fans alike.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Strange & Not Rewarding, August 19, 2011

By 

John J. Browne "bookaholic" (Brooklyn, New York United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bookman (Angry Robot) (Mass Market Paperback)

I had high hopes that I would enjoy this book when I began reading it but at the end I can not give it more than two stars. The author has created a rich if rather strange world but overall it sometimes felt like it was written by committee and without discussion. The hero is an extremely passive figure who is a pawn in intertwining schemes by various factions and the reader is often just as confused as he is. The "lizard villians" are never really fleshed out. There are many enjoyable historical and literary references which will bring a smile to the knowledgeable reader's face but which also appear thrown in as an after thought. The conclusion seems patched together at the last minute and not well thought out. We are expected to believe that a human royalist underground just springs up without any prior discussion. I also found the overall "feel" of the book to be difficult. It is clear that Mr. Tidhar is not an American writer. This is not an objection. He is enormously imaginative and skilled but I think I am more comfortable with a more linear and direct writing style.