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The Bookman
Steampunk is a difficult category to get to grips with sometimes, a spec fiction take on Victorian England with added fantasy elements. The Bookman
Orphan, who really is an orphan and knows no other name, lives in a different Victorian London that is ruled by Les Lézard – the aristocracy is a race of reptiles! The city is peopled by a wide range of characters, both fictional and real, but also simulacra and automata abound. Moriarty is Prime Minister, Isabella Beeton is a freedom-fighter, and Byron is a machine so real it can fool nearly anyone. So you can see that fact and fiction are entirely entwined. The Mechanical Turk, by the way, was a chess playing robot con invented in the late 1700s, (it had a real chess player hidden inside), but here he is a real automaton and oracle.The author also shoehorns in many, many literary references – from the Person from Porlock (a mysterious visitor who stopped Coleridge from finishing Kubla Khan), to much of Jules Verne – the mushroomed island comes from Journey to the Centre of the Earth
I wanted to really like the book for it was full of good ideas, but the plot was too convoluted – there were far too many different factions involved. Orphan was also a very passive hero – had he done more of the swashing and buckling, it would have been much more fun. Primarily though, I was too busy playing spot the reference all the time during its 395 pages. I’ve read a few steampunk novels before though, and rather liked them… I’d recommend The Difference Engine
I love a mixture of history and fantasy so the premise of this book sounded so good. Especially the idea of Moriarty as PM! It’s a shame that you didn’t like it so much. I really enjoyed The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters and have been meaning to read it’s sequel.
I loved the Glass Books too, and its sequel The Dark Volume is in my TBR pile – should have read that. The Bookman wasn’t bad, but there was just too much to it, and not enough action to make it the big adventure it could have been.
I love the title its been intriguing me for some time, sadly sounds like I might not be a fan of steam punk or maybe just not this one.
You should try a different one – The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters was brilliantly bonkers!
Oh, sad! This sounds so promising and then ultimately disappointing. I am glad you enjoyed Glass Books of the Dream Eaters. I have that, but have heard some really negative things about it, so haven’t really thought about picking it up. I hear it’s quite repetitive.
I read it in monthly installments – as Penguin did a ltd edition subscription to get it in ten parts, that really worked for me, maybe if I’d read it all in one go, I’d have found it repetitive too, but I mostly thought it was racy and pacy fun.
Meant to say I was describing the Glass Books of the Dream Eaters above, not the Bookman.