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Bookman (2010)

by Lavie Tidhar(Favorite Author)

3.31 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

3492702422 (ISBN13: 9783492702423)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Piper

series

The Bookman Histories

review 1: The Bookman is a book with a lot going on. That is both part of its charm and a drawback to a full recommendation.I really liked a lot of the not-so-subtle touches - place names, character names, events, etc. It seemed as though the author tried to cram as many literary allusions between the covers as possible. So, both a pro (charming when it works) and a con (arch when it doesn't).I liked the character of Orphan, grumbling that he lived in an age of myths and having to live out everyone else's stories but his own.The story was quite enthralling for the first half, and then, just when you think the story should really get going (pirates! ships! lost islands! mysterious origins!), it seems to dissolve into a bit of mush. The forward momentum of the story just stops. Events... more happen, things occur, but they lack an overarching narrative that until that point had been very strong.Orphan is definitely best in the city and while I thought London could actually have received more attention, I thought it was fascinating back drop and in the city is where the characters really shone.
review 2: Disclaimer: this was my first steampunk.I don't seem to have strong feelings for or against this book. It was fun - there was adventure and pirates and weird side journeys that were apparently actually related to the main story. I didn't mind the steampunk qualities. It was a nice coincidence to have so many Sherlock characters present after finishing Doyle's complete works. It was a little distracting to see names that I recognized, but it was also like having an exhilarating dork moment every couple of pages. Some of the historical character references, though, I didn't know and therefore felt I missed some of the punch. What was problematic, I think, was that the book seemed so scattered across the steampunk genre and all the plot points it just never seemed to settle down into something that was wholly gripping. And so while I found this book enjoyable, it was mildly so. Not writing off steampunk, though! less

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