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94th out of 142 books
—
285 voters
The Great Game (The Bookman Histories #3)
by
Lavie Tidhar
When Mycroft Holmes is murdered in London, it is up to retired shadow executive Smith to track down his killer - and stumble on the greatest conspiracy of his life. Strange forces are stirring into life around the globe, and in the shadow game of spies nothing is certain. Fresh from liberating a strange alien object in Abyssinia - which might just be the mythical Ark of th...more
Paperback, 416 pages
Published
February 2nd 2012
by Angry Robot
(first published January 31st 2012)
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Conclusion of madcap Victoriana alien invasion trilogy. In 1899-ish, Agent Smith has retired to a backwater village -- no points for guessing the number on his door. Then he gets a message: Mycroft is dead. The message is closely followed by a horde of Hapsburgian assassins. The Great Game is afoot, as Mycroft's brother (also retired) might have said.
Everyone then spends a satisfying number of pages chasing around after the mysterious murderer. The book's cover shows Martian tripods devastating...more
Everyone then spends a satisfying number of pages chasing around after the mysterious murderer. The book's cover shows Martian tripods devastating...more
A fun read! I picked this book without having read The Bookman or Camera Obscura, but I had no problem understanding what happened either (it's part of a continuity, but it works perfectly as a standalone). The world-building was dizzying and the dozens of cameo appearances of Victorian fictional and historical characters lots of fun. I enjoyed seeing Lucy Westenra, Miss Havisham and Phileas Fogg in a new light, as well as the new take on the War of the Worlds.
That being said, I'd call this a d...more
That being said, I'd call this a d...more
Last book of a trilogy which started brilliantly--but I don't think the rest of it holds up to the first chapter of the first volume, The Bookman, which promised so much. A main problem is the one that these books won't seem very original if you've read the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Not that unoriginality is necessarily a problem, since this is a pastiche (of pastiches, in some cases) after all, but my main problem is that none of the re-purposed characters were quite as cool as Alan Mo...more
This is the final book in one of the odder trilogies I've read. One of the ways this trilogy is unusual is that it's very nearly a fresh set of characters in each book -- there are only a few cross-over characters. The setting is an alternate Victorian England where the royalty has been replaced by alien race of lizards. Some characters argue that it's been for the better, other characters argue that they shouldn't be governed by an alien race. The Great Game has three major protagonists, and, l...more
I enjoyed the first two books in the series a great deal but this one gets 3 rather than 4 stars because of the disjointedness to the storyline. There are some good characters and the start is very reminiscent of a cold war thriller - which is good in my books - but the characters don't get developed enough and the pace drops considerably in the Harry Houdini sections, when I had hoped they might pick up. The Steam Punk/Noir feel that the first two books create so well could have continued beca...more
The number of literary references dizzy and delight me, but somehow don't make up for the fact that I'm still left with so many questions. This trilogy is a lot of fun, quick-paced and full of allusions and minglings of history and fiction and a possible future. There are some great kickass female characters (and I don't just mean Lucy Westenra, Action Heroine, I mean Havisham as well, and Irene Adler, and Queen Victoria).
It's hard to take it seriously, though, partly because it's such a mass o...more
It's hard to take it seriously, though, partly because it's such a mass o...more
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The Bookman-series took a turn for the (even) better with this third entry. At this level I look forward to stay with it and I am happy to give four stars to The Great Game because it's fun, thrilling and entertaining all the way through.
It's not so much the story, but Lavie Tidhar is getting better as a writer. I would still call him 'talented' and 'promising' though, because he is not 'there' yet. When he gets there, I hope there is a there there. Sorry - I couldn't resist. Seriously: When Ti...more
It's not so much the story, but Lavie Tidhar is getting better as a writer. I would still call him 'talented' and 'promising' though, because he is not 'there' yet. When he gets there, I hope there is a there there. Sorry - I couldn't resist. Seriously: When Ti...more
This ain’t your granddaddy’s steampunk, if in an alternate time-line your granddaddy had steampunk. The marvelous and oddly disturbing mind of Lavie Tidhar has once again cranked out an awesome steampunk novel.
The pace is fast and the book is packed with action. I loved the interaction with the historical and fictional characters. As with Bookman and Camera Obscura, The Great Game is a standalone novel. Having said that, treat yourself to all three.
I highly recommend The Great Game to steampunk...more
The pace is fast and the book is packed with action. I loved the interaction with the historical and fictional characters. As with Bookman and Camera Obscura, The Great Game is a standalone novel. Having said that, treat yourself to all three.
I highly recommend The Great Game to steampunk...more
Each of the Bookman Histories books have had a different central figure. This one is focused on an old spy who does not much like living in the retirement village for old spies - a lovely idea in its own right.
There is plenty of action and intrigue and a delightfully well constructed literary Steampunk environment. I felt in this one maybe (if you are looking for something to criticize) he was trying a little too hard on the literary front and was a little less tantalizing than before. I don't...more
There is plenty of action and intrigue and a delightfully well constructed literary Steampunk environment. I felt in this one maybe (if you are looking for something to criticize) he was trying a little too hard on the literary front and was a little less tantalizing than before. I don't...more
So many unanswered questions!! But I preferred this one over the 2nd one and the end to this trilogy was good enough for me. Particularly liked how everything came together throughout the three books through each new character. The mentions too. I wonder what actually became of that strange creature The Bookman at the end. Or Lucy...
Another series ending (maybe?) and again I plan to talk later more and have a full review, but in short i would say two things:
- first 3/4 (more or less) of the novel are awesome and i thought this would be a top 25 of mine, but the ending is a bit disappointing and this is why i hope for more; it will be a major spoiler to say why but essentially it suffers from the "great tension, great danger, way too easy out" syndrome
- i realized why I love so much this whole series - nostalgia - as somethi...more
- first 3/4 (more or less) of the novel are awesome and i thought this would be a top 25 of mine, but the ending is a bit disappointing and this is why i hope for more; it will be a major spoiler to say why but essentially it suffers from the "great tension, great danger, way too easy out" syndrome
- i realized why I love so much this whole series - nostalgia - as somethi...more
The problem with the Bookman series is that it never quite lived up to the blurbs on the back cover, and of the three only the first was enjoyable to me. This-the last in the series-seemed ambitious in cover art, and jacket synopsis and after a particularly disappointing second installment I was hoping that this would in effect redeem the trilogy, and at first it did. Smith's narrative, and Lucy's narrative proved particularly exciting, the pages flew, but towards the middle the story began to d...more
The author "jumped the shark" on this one. I enjoyed the first two books in the series, but I abandoned this one. It's great that the author knows his Victorian history, but I don't need him to prove it to me - I just want a good read.
An exciting end to the trilogy. Again, the author adds new main characters but again it works. The action comes thick and fast, and while the twists aren't too unexpected, the ending is satisfying.
Though still enjoyable, this third book in the series dragged along at times. It is a classic espionage plot, which means there's a slow build and not a lot of action until approaching the climax. But there are so many recognizable characters here, some of whom carried over from the earlier novels. But not just characters from the author's imagination - we're talking Houdini, Holmes, Bram Stoker, Dr. Jekyl, Viktor Frankenstein and more. The situations that Tidhar has put these people in througho...more
Simply a great read - I really enjoyed it!
What does Harry Houdini (and his many copies), Bram Stoker, Van Helsing, Quasimodo, Jekyll & Hyde, Pavlov, Moriarty, Oscar Wilde, Sitting Bull and a lizard Queen Victoria all have in common? I am still not really sure and still trying to untangle everything about the trilogy in my head.
A bit messy and scattered, hard to follow. Nice imagery, though.
May 20, 2013
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Lavie Tidhar grew up on a kibbutz in Israel, lived in Israel and South Africa, travelled widely in Africa and Asia, and has lived in London for a number of years. He is the winner of the 2003 Clarke-Bradbury Prize (awarded by the European Space Agency), was the editor of "Michael Marshall Smith: The Annotated Bibliography" (PS Publishing, 2004) and the anthology "A Dick & Jane Primer for Adult...more
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