The Bookman

The Bookman
by Lavie Tidhar

Lavie Tidhar's The Bookman, first in a trilogy from this author, falls squarely in the hot current fiction category of Steampunk -- a fusion of science fiction, fantasy, adventure and romance. In The Bookman, the hero is a young poet named Orphan, living in an alternative Victorian-era England that's dystopian in nature...with alien lizards sitting on the throne. A rebellious terrorist, the Bookman, is striking fear into the populace with boobytrapped books, hoping to disrupt a major project to launch a satellite into space. Orphan, with friends and allies he meets along the way, is sucked into a wild and bizarre adventure, involving self-aware automatons, pirates at sea, a drunken Jules Verne and a secret Caribbean island where the descendants of the British Royal family are being kept prisoner. The pacing of the story is fast and exciting. The crazy technological devices at play are inventive. And the supporting cast is engaging and colorful. The only drawback is that Orphan himself is rather bland as a hero. Fortunately, the subsequent volumes in this series, though set in the same world and same time period, feature different casts of characters. [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to check out the Thrilling Airship Adventures: The World of Steampunk booklist from my Nov/Dec 2012 booktalk at Bethany and Gere branches.] -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library [Subscribe to Scott's monthly booklist newsletter It's All Geek to Me! - on the Books, Movies & More newsletter sign-up page].

[Also available in combined anthology with the other two books in the trilogy.]

[ official Lavie Tidhar blog ] | [ Publisher's official The Bookman web page ]

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