“Lavie Tidhar's "The Bookman" is a work of steampunk fiction gone tragically wrong. Set in Victorian England, the story centers around a young poet named Orphan who works at a second hand bookstore, rubbing shoulders with historical and literary figures both real--Jules Verne, Lord Byron, Karl Marx--and imagined--Captian Nemo, Professor Moriarty, Irene Adler. In this world, the British Empire is ruled by 'Les Lizards' a repitilian race that crashed on Earth centuries ago and have made the best of a bad situation. Still there is trouble affoot in the Empire--the nefarious anarchist and terrorist known only as "The Bookman" is waging a campaign of terror against the Lizards and their human collaborators. Orphan pays little heed to the Bookman (he regards him as little more than a political boogeyman created by the toffs in Whitehall) until one day his lover Lucy is killed in one of the Bookman's bomb attacks on the eve of the Martian space probe launch. Thereafter, Orphan embarks on a journey to avenge his Lucy but eventually finds himself being used as a pawn in one of the Bookman's plots. While all of this may sound exciting, the sad truth is that it's not. Although Tidhar does some wonderful things combining history and literature--Professor Moriarty being Prime Minister for instance--the novelty soon wears off in the face of Tidhar's tedious prose. Tidhar reveals little information on 'Les Lizards' and indeed they are quickly relagated to a mere plot device (despite being presented as possible antagonists early on). He also has a habit of having the main character recount events that occurred mere moments ago in his head with the reader never actually 'seeing' the events unfold as they happened--the literary equivalent of having some action occur off camera with the viewer seeing it only in flashbacks. This little trope gets old quickly and makes for slow reading. Overall, there are some really great ideas presented in "The Bookman" but they never seem to gel into a coherent plot. Those looking for a great work of steam punk fiction are advised to look elsewhere. ”
DOC-209 wrote this review Thursday, October 20, 2011.
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