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29th out of 199 books
—
97 voters
Salamander
by
Thomas Wharton (Goodreads Author)
Nicholas Flood, an unassuming eighteenth-century London printer, specializes in novelty books -- books that nestle into one another, books comprised of one spare sentence, books that emit the sounds of crashing waves. When his work captures the attention of an eccentric Slovakian count, Flood is summoned to a faraway castle -- a moving labyrinth that embodies the count's o...more
Paperback, 400 pages
Published
August 20th 2002
by Washington Square Press
(first published 2001)
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This book is hard for me to rate. I want to give it 2 stars, because that's how I feel, it was ok; however, I'm giving it 3 because it was more ok/like than ok/didn't like, and I've given lesser books 3 stars for various reasons, so 3 it is for now at least.
Why the indecision? On one hand, Salamander had a lovely multi-layered story in a whimsical world. On the other hand, it never really sucked me in. The characters had cool names, but I didn't care that much for any of them. The author had man...more
Why the indecision? On one hand, Salamander had a lovely multi-layered story in a whimsical world. On the other hand, it never really sucked me in. The characters had cool names, but I didn't care that much for any of them. The author had man...more
Salamander was so nearly a really good book. It falls away a bit in the second half, occasionally returning to form with scenes like Djinn (I think it was him) walking through the forest as the automaton. There were some beautiful passages of prose, very poetic at times. He is undoubtedly a very good writer. I just felt that the story lost its way in the sedcond half.
However, the first part of the book is as good as anything I have read. Wonderful descriptions of the mechanical castle. It is li...more
However, the first part of the book is as good as anything I have read. Wonderful descriptions of the mechanical castle. It is li...more
I felt a bit heartless giving this book 1 star, so I wanted to supplement with a review.
I read Salamander many years ago. I was 14 or 15, I think, and I picked it out for the title and cover, then was enchanted by the synopsis. It started out incredibly well, and I was gearing up to fall hopelessly in love with this book that had amazing potential. But as I read on, the story fell so short of my expectations, it actually broke my heart. I think that's my primary reason for giving Salamander suc...more
I read Salamander many years ago. I was 14 or 15, I think, and I picked it out for the title and cover, then was enchanted by the synopsis. It started out incredibly well, and I was gearing up to fall hopelessly in love with this book that had amazing potential. But as I read on, the story fell so short of my expectations, it actually broke my heart. I think that's my primary reason for giving Salamander suc...more
I wanted to like this book much more than I actually did, as the story had the potential to be so good. I liked the way that the setting was just far enough removed from the recognisable historical past that it feels uncanny and strange rather than totally different; the ideas the novel has about books are intriguing and enjoyable; and some of the descriptive passages are excellent. Unfortunately, it just didn't quite live up to the expectations of the blurb or of the beginning of the book.
The b...more
The b...more
This book managed to drop a cerebral bombshell unexpectedly: I enjoyed reading it, but it wasn't extraordinary.
In fact some of the narrative was a bit higgeldy-piggeldy: It veers off-course after a thumping good start and then nevermore regains its spark.
The premise was a fairly straightforward one: Young printer is summoned to clockwork castle inhabited by a rigid count and his beautiful, elusive daughter, inevitable hanky-panky occurs. An outraged count thwarts the brittle idyll, the young hea...more
In fact some of the narrative was a bit higgeldy-piggeldy: It veers off-course after a thumping good start and then nevermore regains its spark.
The premise was a fairly straightforward one: Young printer is summoned to clockwork castle inhabited by a rigid count and his beautiful, elusive daughter, inevitable hanky-panky occurs. An outraged count thwarts the brittle idyll, the young hea...more
Jan 19, 2008
Donna
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
canlit,
sci-fi-fantasy
Yet another example of a great five-star beginning, followed by a frustrating one- or two-star end. The first 200 pages or so I was absolutely *enthralled* with what promised to be a fascinating modern-day fairytale. I so loved this great castle the characters lived in, that was perched precariously on the border between two countries, in both yet in neither, with mechanisms that caused the walls, floors, and entire rooms to be in almost continuous motion. As one arose in the morning, the bed wo...more
When his 18-year-old son dies mysteriously in battle, a Slovakian Count retires from the field and returns home to indulge his love of puzzles. He designs his castle so that walls continually appear and disappear, furniture is on tracks and moves to different places, and bookshelves descend from the ceiling or rise, phoenix-like, from the floor. While cataloging a new set of books, the Count’s daughter finds one that has been created to be a riddle. Her father is intrigued and invites the printe...more
Totally unexpected. Not going to be most people's cup of tea, but i truly enjoyed and finished it. Incidently it is my most annotated book (obviously not library stock!). 'Nobody knows what's next. Nobody has a clue. We live in a murky ambiguity lit by occasional flashes of utter incomprehension'. This quote sums up. A great book to get lost in whilst debating the limitations of mankind.
I love books about books, and despite the fact that this falls squarely in the realm I most abhor of magic realism/fantasy, it is an adventure tale that offers a history of bookmaking, papermaking, printing and ancient forms related to those arts that are no longer with us. A first rate effort by Wharton.
[Dutch]
Een zoektocht naar het oneindige boek in een boek over boeken, boekdrukkunst en uiteraard liefde. Dat moet haast wel literaire hoogstandjes opleveren, maar is dat ook zo?
Lees meer op 8WEEKLY
Een zoektocht naar het oneindige boek in een boek over boeken, boekdrukkunst en uiteraard liefde. Dat moet haast wel literaire hoogstandjes opleveren, maar is dat ook zo?
Lees meer op 8WEEKLY
I'm almost certain this is a very good book and I just under-appreciated it. It's entirely my fault. I read it too slowly. I left big gaps between reading sessions. I kept forgetting what had transpired. I didn't follow it closely enough.
I'm so relieved that it's over though.
I'm so relieved that it's over though.
I began to read Salamander without knowing what I was getting into. I thought it might be a "useful" book, an apt vehicle for my concluding marks in my thesis.
Little did I know that the adventures (barely)contained in Salamander would spill all over my argument's cleanly delineated thematic areas, running at will up and down the narrow plane of my thesis. Like the adventurer who dreams of infinity, I too was caught up in the majesty of the tale, the unpredictability of the proceedings. Beautiful...more
Little did I know that the adventures (barely)contained in Salamander would spill all over my argument's cleanly delineated thematic areas, running at will up and down the narrow plane of my thesis. Like the adventurer who dreams of infinity, I too was caught up in the majesty of the tale, the unpredictability of the proceedings. Beautiful...more
It is an infinite book. Stories evolve, devolve, revolve.[return][return]The setting seems to be Slovakia, but it is never actually defined as such. I can almost imagine the exact hrad (castle), Oravsky set high above the Orava River.
A silly nonsensical story set in Slovakia where a writer is set the task of making an infinite book. In a castle with moving floors and automatons, the writer sets about this dull task.
I found this book by accident in a charity shop and absolutely loved it! The author bring the story full circle in a way that completely absorbs the reader. A real gem!
must read. gorgeous book about finding yourslef, love, ahurt, the history of the printing press, and the infinite search for the infinate book.
An absolutely lovely book. A dreamy, beautiful tale that takes you outside of reality and into a fairy tale land where anything is possible.
This book was pretty interesting. The main premise is a printer trying to print a book with no end. There are a lot of interesting takes on the nature of books and what they represent to the readers that read them. The language got a bit lofty and hard to follow, but I think that was just to promote the reader to try to ruminate on the meanings. The best part was the settings- an ship with uncountable hidden rooms, a mechanical castle that was always moving, a tiny jail cell with nothing but an...more
Feb 03, 2010
Deb
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people who like reading books about books
Shelves:
fiction
Once upon a time, there was a count who lived in a mechanical castle run by automatons. This count has a fancy book collection made of every sort of novelty book, but he craves more. So, he hires a publisher specializing in art books to create a never-ending story.
One of my favorite parts of this book was the traveling beds.
This is going in my re-read pile soon, I'm mainly just glad I own a copy--Wharton's books are ridiculously difficult to find! I lucked out and dug it out of one of the Univer...more
One of my favorite parts of this book was the traveling beds.
This is going in my re-read pile soon, I'm mainly just glad I own a copy--Wharton's books are ridiculously difficult to find! I lucked out and dug it out of one of the Univer...more
This book is filled with all kinds of lovely things: it's clearly influenced by Borges (only a full-length narrative), Eco (only characters that the reader can warm up to), has a touch of steampunk (only eighteenth century), and a whole lot of metanarrative (the central plot impetus is the creation of an infinite book, and there's lots about the nature of books). Oh, and female pirates (servants girls and slaves, secretly destined for colonial prostitution, who've rebelled), a clockwork castle,...more
i liked the settting and the characters!
A remarkable novel, but feels as though it could have been so much more. Fascinating and fun, but promised a depth that it didn't quite deliver.
Mar 22, 2009
Michael Harrel
marked it as to-read
Recommended by Hannah
Reading this book was like listening to a story with many stories woven into it, told by fire- and starlight. It has the feel of a myth--of folklore or fairy tales. There are castles and improbable tasks and people that are all puzzles in their own way, deciphering the puzzles of their lives and fates. It will be too precious for some, but those who will love it...well, you'll know who you are. (We can smell each other, right? Those of us who have actually *named* our inner-child? :) Who stare a...more
Well it was strange- I read it but I am still trying to figure it all out- the basics of the story I got but the whole infinate book thing I have no clue...
Not exactly fiction, not exactly fantasy, Thomas Warton's Salamander is an interesting story about the very essence of books. First examining the type and the bindings, and then travelling deeper in to the hidden meanings and mysterious places locked within books, Salamander will ensure that you never look at a book in quite the same way again.
Read this as a girl, found the story stayed with me even though the title did not. I have been looking for it since. I can't review it properly since I haven't read it in so long however I do remember it to be set in a rather long time line and was quite an adventure, never thought the characters would be where they are at the end given the beginning.
Wonderfully inventive (for example, a castle built on the border, with every room on the move, so that you never know in what country you are, and never have to pay taxes...) but unlike say the Alchemist or the Little Prince, it is just imagination for the sake of imagination, and so detailed that no contribution is needed from the reader.
Enjoyed it, different than what I usually read.
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About Me
I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and I write books for grown-ups and kids. The Shadow of Malabron, the first volume in my trilogy The Perilous Realm, is available now in Canada, the UK, and the US.
More about Thomas Wharton...
I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and I write books for grown-ups and kids. The Shadow of Malabron, the first volume in my trilogy The Perilous Realm, is available now in Canada, the UK, and the US.
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