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Horrible Stories for Terrible People, Vol. II - Obscura

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Top Reviews Most recent Top Reviews. There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. Mass Market Paperback Verified Purchase. This book is pulp fiction at its worst. For instance, he uses a device where you only read one side of the conversation. Usually this is implemented when one person is observing someone on the phone as a writing device to possibly hide information. Tidhar uses it in the second half of a conversation and hides what the protagonist is saying. The transition in styles felt abrupt and unsettling.

I can only guess this is to make Lady seem that much more awesome since the reader would mentally insert the greatest interrogation they could come up with, but it just felt fake and more like the author was incapable of coming up with something on their own. Also starting all of the dialogue with '[name] said " I realize that the author is trying to stand out, but being unique doesn't mean being better.

In this case, it means being worse. The story itself was pretty lacking and Lady was frustrating to follow. She has a problem with authority figures when she's the biggest authority figure in the entire book. It's just insane to try to watch a character as crazy as her go about her detective work when her flaws never make any sense.

I mean flaws make someone more human, but these never felt internally consistent with her character. And as another critic pointed out, there seemed to be a lot of missing information about places and settings. Bottom line, it was tough to get through because the story was pretty terrible and the atrocious writing didn't help matters. The novel felt rushed, incomplete, and that the author had no idea what style to write in, so why not try them all.

I have a few problems with an otherwise strong story. First--de Winter is not a very likable character. She callously bullies her way through murder investigations she may or may not even have jurisdiction over. She threatens people, she destroys evidence, and is so intent on getting answers she has the body of one of the murder victims mutilated and forces the dead woman's daughter to look at it to shock her into coughing up what she knows.

She never shows any remorse for these actions. Therefore, when Milady is brutally tortured later in the story, I did not feel bad for her. Also, the exact nature of the Council she works for is never explained. They clearly wield power of some kind but Tidhar doesn't let us in on it. From start to finish they are mostly a group of amoral Illuminati types barking orders. The story is told from the point of view of their best agent, so I don't see why she couldn't take a paragraph to sum it up for us.

Another problem, albeit one that is not directly tied in with the plot, is Tidhar's habit of having the next character speak while still on the same paragraph. Milady will finish speaking, and another person will immediately say something on the very same line. Since you can still tell when another character begins speaking, it's not confusing so much as jarring.

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Still, it comes off as unprofessional at least, to me. If you can get past all that, you'll find an engaging narrative filled with colorful characters. Throughout her journey, Milady encounters, in one form or another, a spattering of historical and literary figures, such as Victor von Frankenstein, Nikola Tesla, the Marquis de Sade, Dr. Moreau and Buffalo Bill Cody.

The locales in the story are even more compelling. From 19th century Paris, to an underwater city, to the Chicago World's Fair, I'd say these places are the real star of the book. One person found this helpful. Before reading The Bookman, I have heard of Lavie Tidhar in connection with his short fiction published in various places, so the fact that I enjoyed quite a lot his debut novel of last year was not surprising.

When the second novel in his steampunk alt-history milieu was announced with totally different characters and set mostly in France this time, I was a bit apprehensive since I really liked Orphan and the cast of The Bookman. I liked the author's debut The Bookman for its many references to popular 19th century culture, the imaginative steampunk setting and the main character Orphan, though I found it lacking balance on occasion. Camera Obscura which is set in the same milieu some 3 years later but features mostly completely different characters and takes place largely in France's sort-of republican society as opposed to the Imperial Britain of Les Lesards - sort-of since AI's as embodied in the Council lead there after the Quiet Revolution.

The references naturally are Dumas first and foremost - Milady as agent of the Council, the Gascon - aka D'Artagnan as police officer of all things - the Monsignor aka the Cardinal as a Council AI - but also Poe's Rue Morgue locked room mystery and oddly enough, Winnetou makes an unexpected appearance later as agent of the Vespuccian state whose president is Sitting Bull. The Island of Dr. Moreau - though the doctor is in retirement for now - and the in famous Marquis de Sade - sort of but with all his parts intact as he points out to Milady - are among other attractions as is the Chicagoland fair in Vespuccia and much more.

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Although I recommend reading The Bookman first simply because it is one great Steampunk novel , it is not essential for understanding Camera Obscura. Fictional and historical characters from various times are blended into the story in a most delightful, and in some cases rather unexpected way. The main protagonist is Mylady De Winter. Camera Obscura once again published by Angry Robot starts in Asia, in best Wuxia fashion and quickly turns into a murder mystery set in Paris. The novel contains two converging and intertwined narratives.

The main story line is centered around Mylady De Winter , the second follows an Asian boy named Kai who is in possession of a strange alien figurine. Mylady de Winter is one of these, others are the Marquis de Sade a very steampunked version of him and a certain Teutonic fringe-scientist whose first name is Viktor.

Through these meetings we learn a lot about the world Lavie Tidhar has invented, it becomes significantly more substantial. Here too, we meet an ensemble cast of historical and fictional characters. The story itself is told in very much the same style The Bookman was. Occasional flow-of-consciousness brings some flavor and insights into the minds of the main characters. The plot also never stops moving and there are some dark surprises and twists along the way.

These concern the plot and the protagonists, although many of the characters will be familiar to the reader, their role might be not. At some not clearly definable point, a new element enters the tale and all of a sudden the reader gets the sense of a terrible urgency, a vast and heavy shadow looming over everything… But I shall say no more about this. All these elements make Camera Obscura an incredible hard book to put down. A colorful cast of characters, a gripping tale of loss, gain, secrets and cosmic dread, all woven into a hauntingly familiar and yet very strange steampunk version of earth.

Camera Obscura is also much darker than The Bookman, the abysses of human and near-human existence are explored and are a major force driving the plot. Possession of one kind or the other , artificial extension of life, and certain vile things only possible with advanced technology, all play a part. Camera Obscura shows the reader some inner and outer demons. It is quite a different reading experience than The Bookman. Since I am a big admierer of Lovecraft, I obviously think this is a positive development. A few weeks back I was wondering if Lavie would manage to dethrone himself and make Camera Obscura my new favourite Steampunk novel.

Sep 28, Mfred rated it it was ok Shelves: Lavie Tidhar gives good setting. His descriptions of a Steampunk Victorian Age, ruled by Lizards, populated with historical and literary minor characters— Sherlock Holmes and his gang, a Lizard Queen Victoria, a nicely creepy Dr. But does he write good story? In The Bookman , the poet Orphan finds himself at the center of a vast conspiracy and is dragged all around the globe, beat up, and almost killed, numerous times. In Camera Obs Lavie Tidhar gives good setting.

In Camera Obscura, the main difference seems to be that it is a woman, Milady, who is beat up, conspired against, etc. Well ok, there is a second difference.

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Milady is also supposed to be a police woman, carrying a big gun and intimidating all of the criminals in Paris— unlike our somewhat nebbish everyman, Orphan. But Milady, she is a badass with a big gun from the page one. Employed by the Quiet Council, the shady cabal of automatons ruling France, Milady just swaggers all over town, covering up crimes, collecting clues, fingering her gun in menacing ways… Once the story gets going, however, Milady starts to get beat up, a lot.

And every time she is conspired against, beat on, horrifyingly tortured, etc. Her truthfulness as a person began to ring false the worse the story treated her. Bring em low, I say! Bring em down to my filthy, violent level! With every new twist of the plot? All the while also telling me just how tough and smart she is, always hinting at some dark past filled with clever and crafty misdeeds?

In a fantasy England populated by walking and talking man-sized lizards, whales that roam the Thames, and a real, live Captain Nemo? I give the Bookman three stars for being inventive and fun. Camera Obscura, however, gets two. Nov 21, Tim Hicks rated it did not like it Shelves: For the first third of the book, I thought I had a decent steampunk noir going. Not great, but worth reading. And I've read a LOT of steampunk.

Obscura by Jaden Wilkes

Then I started noticing the lack of a copy editor. And I started wondering why no one in lates Paris thinks there's anything unusual about a 6-foot Dahomeyan woman with two guns. Then it occurred to me that a few real-life characters are interesting, but is she going to meet EVERY famous person who lived in that era? And then the author has the first of several insane players view spoiler [gleefully hacking our heroine's arm and leg off with a cleaver and poking out an eye.

I've read LOTS of steampunk and action and whatever, and I prefer my violence and gore a little less direct. This is just a graphic novel converted to text. This being steampunk, I never doubted that Milady would end up stronger as a result of the above. I was OK with that, but that's when the author lost me.

She gets a Gatling gun for an arm. Then puts her jacket on over it effortlessly, and a few pages later falls asleep in the bath WITH her Gatling gun arm. Lookit, in a Gatling barrel gun at 0. All Gatling models — could be mounted on an armored field carriage. And Milady has one as her forearm. And what about ammo? But an Gatling could fire rounds a minute, so 40 cartridges would last no more than three seconds. She'd need to carry at least pounds of ammo along with her pound arm.

OK, OK, these are more or less the same guns action heroes have used for years.

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Schwarzenegger holding a field piece one-handed while riding a motorcycle; Rambo ditto, with an inexhaustible ammo case. And for all I know, the author did that before the end of the book, which I didn't reach. May 25, Cathy rated it liked it Shelves: Tidhar based this story more on movies than novels for his references, so I missed most of them, but the book was still enjoyable. Milady was a more compelling character than Orphan had been in the first book.

And it was more fast-paced and had more action. Not that that means better, it was just a different style for a change. I read one review just now that said that he wrote the same story twice but it didn't seem like that to me. The first book was all about Orphan's personal journey, figuri Tidhar based this story more on movies than novels for his references, so I missed most of them, but the book was still enjoyable.

The first book was all about Orphan's personal journey, figuring out who he was and what he was willing to do, the whole hero's journey thing. Milady knows exactly who she is and she isn't planning on changing for anyone, no matter what they want, where they send her or what they do to her. That's the difference between a twenty-ish kid I don't remember it saying how old he was, my impression was early twenties and a forty-ish woman again, it didn't say, just my impression.

Anyway, I found the secondary story with Kai and the artifact intriguing and the resolution at the end was both satisfying and, as appears to be as usual for Tidhar now based on a whole two novels, left some pieces intriguingly open ended. The books was bigger than life and flashy just like the movies he based it on see the intro to the omnibus edition if you can but if you know that was his intention than you many take it in stride better.

It's supposed to be fun, though it's also quite dark at times as well. How can you not enjoy a world populated by Dr. Frankenstein, Quasimodo, Houdini, Toulouse-Lautrec and many others? I won this on GR's give-a-ways. I usually do not read this genre, but this book sounded good. I was not sure if this was set in the future, past or present but it is clear that the book spans years. At times it was a bit confusing and there are many characters and bizarre creatures in this story. BUT it did hold my attention , and I found I could not put it down. Milady De Winter, an ex circus worker, now an agent in the quiet council is investigating the death of a man in a locked room.

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Milady travels many places, over the years to try to find the murderer. Complex story with lizard creatures, automatons robots , circus folk, goblins, and phantom. She comes across so many obstacles and enemies along the way, not knowing who or what to trust. A unique adventure for sure. I feel the need to read the previous book, to help understand the story more clearly. Fast paced kept me on the edge of my seat.

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Apr 04, Nikki rated it liked it Shelves: Camera Obscura is another fun action-filled story -- gore-filled, too. Milady De Winter is a more compelling character than Orphan: Still, both of them are at the mercy of the plot: So I can't say it impresses me or is likely to stick in my mind. But it's also not to be totally dismissed. It really is fun , and the world Lavie Tidhar has created is bizarre and Camera Obscura is another fun action-filled story -- gore-filled, too.

It really is fun , and the world Lavie Tidhar has created is bizarre and colourful and fascinating. Apr 01, Gary rated it really liked it. Excellent follow up to the Bookman! So steampunk you won't believe it - masses of fictional and historical figures included in the cast and a kick ass heroine and bad guy. If you liked the Bookman then you'll like this a lot. Tidhar has a lovely trun of phrase from time to time and he keeps the action coming thick and fast.

Highly recommended, but read the Bookman first. Recommended to Colleen by: I want to like it much more than I did. Jan 27, Liviu rated it it was amazing Shelves: Before reading The Bookman, I have heard of Lavie Tidhar in connection with his short fiction published in various places, so the fact that I enjoyed quite a lot his debut novel of last year was not surprising. When the second novel in his steampunk alt-history milieu was announced with totally different characters and set mostly in France this time, I was a bit apprehensive since I really liked Orphan and the cast of The Bookman.

I liked the author's debut The Bookman for its many references to popular 19th century culture, the imaginative steampunk setting and the main character Orphan, though I found it lacking balance on occasion. Camera Obscura which is set in the same milieu some 3 years later but features mostly completely different characters and takes place largely in France's sort-of republican society as opposed to the Imperial Britain of Les Lesards - sort-of since AI's as embodied in the Council lead there after the Quiet Revolution.

Camera Obscura is much tighter than The Bookman and has the essential structure of a steampunk thriller with its McGuffin - the object that will change the world as the heroes know it, etc, etc - and for which brutal murders are committed and agents from everyone who is anyone in the world compete. So we have the Chinese Imperial court represented by polite Colonel Xing and striking Madame Linlin, Les Lezards represented by Mycroft Holmes, rogue Council agents, Vespuccian agents, mystic Chinese triads, though of course our heroine, the Dahomey former circus girl that is now known as Milady de Winter - after her last sadly deceased husband - and who is a rough and tough agent of the Council is leading the charge to get to the magic piece of jade that is our McGuffin here and she is mostly irresistible.

While starting as a murder investigation - of course a locked room mystery as the Rue Morgue hint makes it clear, and to top it all for those who read the original Poe, the ape possibility is mentioned too here - Camera Obscura picks up speed soon and becomes a really thrilling adventure in which you got to buckle up and enjoy the ride with the occasional over the top moments just adding to the fun.

Sade at Charenton and Ampere's "toys" are among other highlights of the first half beside the ones mentioned earlier. The context above which fits very well the story the author tells and the characters he uses for it, took the novel one level above the usual fast and fun adventure and the flamboyant Milady made as great a lead as Orphan in The Bookman.

Camera Obscura raised the Lesards series to a must for me since now with more backstory and higher stakes I am truly curious where Lavie Tidhar will take it next. Mar 25, Karissa rated it it was amazing. I got an e-galley of this book through NetGalley. I was drawn to the interesting description and the mysterious title of the book. This was an absolutely fantastic book, but definitely not something everyone will enjoy.

Those who like quirky characters and worlds that are gritty and a bit ambiguous will find a lot here to love. Those who like their stories happy with well-defined storylines should probably look elsewhere. I didn't know it when I picked this up but this is the second book in I got an e-galley of this book through NetGalley.

I didn't know it when I picked this up but this is the second book in this series: This book seemed to provide a good stand alone story; but I am sure I missed some background by not reading the first novel in the series. Her current assignment is to find the whereabouts of a jade statue for them.

Camera Obscura

But then people start turning up dead and DeWinter is being hunted by shadows. There are a lot of factions in town looking for this jade statue and none of them are afraid to kill for it. When the Phantom a fellow agent gone serial killer starts on the trail he may be the biggest and deadliest thing standing between DeWinter and her goal. This book is set in a Victorian like France, where a lizard-like people rule Great Britain, and automatons roam the streets. There are small sections of the book that are told from a boy named Kai's point of view; he is the one who originally has the jade statue.

The book moves quickly and is incredibly engaging; it was very hard to put this book down and I found myself staying up way too late reading it. Tidhar does an excellent job with description; making the surroundings and characters easy to picture. The world built is incredibly interesting.

You have Great Britain occupied by a race of lizard people and complex politics woven around all of that. The action scenes are plentiful and exceedingly well done. The characters are all quirky, unique and very interesting. That being said there isn't a lot of emotion in this book; DeWinter never really has a love interest and that is just not what this book is about. This book is more about the investigation going on and finding deeper hidden truths beneath all of the layers of deceit that DeWinter comes up against.

It is also about creating a unique and intriguing world. People who are very into emotionally driven stories may not enjoy this book as much. The setting throughout the novel is very dark and gritty. DeWinters is constantly scrapping through the underworld and in a state of almost being completely run down. Again this dark style may be a turn off to some. The plot is very complex involving multiple factions and layers of intrigue and I really enjoyed it. The book ends well and wraps things up nicely.

In general this is a strange book, but midway through it gets even stranger. This is the only part of the book that gave me pause. Midway through our heroine goes through massive destruction; I am not sure why this had to happen. I do believe DeWinter came out the other side of it all more interesting, but the emotional damage she would have gained from that trauma wasn't represented all that well as I said not an emotional book. Things get even stranger toward the end and start involving alien space travel and gates to other realities.

I really like weird books; but towards the end this book bending towards the too weird region of weird for me. It was getting to the point where the story was a bit contrived and outlandish Some readers may not enjoy the absolutely strange twists and turns; but if nothing else the book will keep you guessing.

Overall I really, really enjoyed this book. The completely unique world and the crazy twisting plot really pulled me in. The characters are interesting and unique if never really emotionally involved and the mystery and action absolutely spot on. The dark tone to the book and the strangeness of it all towards the end of the book may be a turn-off for some readers. If you like dark stories, with a little ambiguity, and a lot of strange this is definitely the book for you.

It was very well done and very well thought out. I will definitely be picking up more books by Tidhar in the future. Nuns with guns and postulants thereunto. Recommended to Alan by: Shorter works from the author; the buzz around his name; a striking cover. Lavie Tidhar had me hooked from the title of the Prologue to his novel Camera Obscura: And I was not disappointed. Tidhar's kitchen-sink approach to steampunk means he sometimes stomps gleefully over all credibility—in a world where Queen Victoria, the British Empire's current matriarch, is the green-skinned brood-mother to a dynasty of humanoid lizards, all bets are off—but his stuff's such great fun to read that I could forgiv Lavie Tidhar had me hooked from the title of the Prologue to his novel Camera Obscura: Tidhar's kitchen-sink approach to steampunk means he sometimes stomps gleefully over all credibility—in a world where Queen Victoria, the British Empire's current matriarch, is the green-skinned brood-mother to a dynasty of humanoid lizards, all bets are off—but his stuff's such great fun to read that I could forgive him the unlikeliest parallels, and the most ludicrous differences, between his world and ours.

Lavie Tidhar also deserves credit for writing a sequel that stands so well on its own that I didn't even realize it was the second book in a trilogy for at least a hundred pages—and even then I didn't mind. The tantalizing hints Tidhar dropped about The Bookman only served to whet my appetite for that first volume, in fact, and after that there's The Great Game to look forward to. The novel takes a grim turn about midway through, with violence committed against a major character that I found very difficult to read despite thinking myself hardened to such things.

Camera Obscura is not divided so simplistically into a fluffy start and stolid ending, though—reversals of fortune abound, and whimsy vies for attention with sheer terror all the way through. As she ran ghostly figures materialised at the end. My running across Camera Obscura when I did was a matter of such luck, perhaps—but when I read more of Tidhar's work, it will be a matter of intent. Apr 27, J. Hart rated it really liked it. I was drawn in by the blurb, and the cover, which I just adore. The opening scene is really intriguing, and I was really interested to see where it would go.

The first time the lizard queen was mentioned I raised an eyebrow and wondered if I had read incorrectly. But that is one of the good things about this novel — you are never given all the information. You are dragged along on this journey, learning things about the world, left in the dark about the details and history. And I liked that. After the beginning, I thought it was just a murder mystery, waiting to be resolved. Over time, you find that this is not the case, in fact the mystery is much bigger, much deeper than you imagined.

Some amazing world building has been done here, it draws from so many cultures and backgrounds, and lumps it all into the same novel. I loved the worldly feel this achieved, as if anyone, from anywhere, might crop up in the novel — ranging from actual historical figures, to invented ones. There are so many interesting characters, with interesting pasts, all converging eventually into the main story line. Until you get to that point, it seems a little disjointed at times, but in my opinion, worth pushing on until you get to the good parts.

I would give this book a 3.