Reviews

The Great Game by Lavie Tidhar

jeansbooks's review against another edition

Started and realized it was book 3. Need to read 1 and 2 :(

applecarts's review

4.0

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...

danjefboy's review

1.0

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.

gnostalgia's review

5.0

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 fans!

woodge's review

3.0

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 The setting is an alternate Victorian England where the royalty has been replaced by alien race of lizards.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, like in the previous books, you may recognize some of the names. They are: Smith (an erstwhile retired operative called in to investigate the death of Mycroft Holmes), Lucy Westenra (headstrong operative working for Mycroft), and Harry Houdini (recruited by Mycroft). Part of the fun of these books is catching all the literary references within. Ideas and character names are freely borrowed from such sources as Doyle, Stoker, Dickens, Hugo, etc. The story careens from one scene to the next -- which keeps the pages turning swiftly -- but, like in the first book (The Bookman), I was often confused by what exactly the characters were doing. And, like the characters, often wondered exactly what was going on. That was annoying. Regardless, I enjoyed this trilogy but I must say that I liked the middle book, Camera Obscura, the best.

grimread's review

3.0

I'm not sure how to review this book because I'm not sure where this story was going. I get this is supposed to be an espionage theme but it's a Great Game that everybody seems to know they are playing a part and maybe only a few characters really see the big picture of it but it certainly doesn't answer any questions. Mainly what what the actual point of the game? Did this game even end? And if so, who was the real winner?