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Loading... The Somnambulistby Jonathan Barnes
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.  paradoxosalpha | Nov 15, 2009 |  I read some other reviews where people complained that the ending was too far out in fantasy land...but I have to disagree. Actually, I can't disagree with that precisely, instead it's more about highlighting the ending as too fantastic. The whole novel was way out there. But that's not a bad thing. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and maybe it's just the fact that I read [The Good Thief] and [Fragile Things] recently, but I felt there were close similarities with those works. For the first, Gibson's and Tinti's character choices and development were both well-done, but oddly similar. Gibson also echoes Gaiman's dark gothic atmosphere well in this novel. In all, if you've read and enjoyed Tinti or Gaiman, you'll probably enjoy this book. (  ) Sean191 | Nov 4, 2009 | The story of magician/detective Edward Moon and his nearly indestructible companion, the Somnabulist. They are hired to investigate a bizarre murder and in the course of that investigation find a plot to bring down the entire city of London. The whole books is pretty odd. It seems as if the reader has picked up the book in the middle (or near the end) of a series. Frequent references are made to Moon's previous cases and characters are brought in that there is an unexplained background with. In spite of that, I really enjoyed the book. It is full of eccentric characters and rich atmosphere. I recommend it! ( ) Abbyroad909 | Oct 23, 2009 | The narrator of this tale is as amusing and enigmatic as he is self-effacing. He tells us the tale of one Edward Moon, a magician and detective, and his assistant, The Somnambulist, who can be run through with swords yet does not bleed. We never learn why The Somnambulist is called this and the narrator doesn't seem to care. This is just one of many "implausible" things that we are expected to accept in this bizarre tale. Moon is bored and so agrees to join a murder investigation after he is approached by Inspector Merryweather of Scotland Yard. Strangely, he is propositioned at the same time by a secret government agency, The Directorate, and is asked to figure out the origins of a mysterious plot against all of London. It turns out that the murder is the tip of the iceberg in a wholly bizarre scheme to bring down the city. This book succeeds because of the light way in which it was written. It's true that most of it is strange and unbelievable but it doesn't attempt to be serious and dark. It was written as entertainment and it is, in fact, highly entertaining. It's one of those books that you start casting for the movie in your head while you are reading it. http://webereading.com/2009/09/be-war... ( ) klpm | Sep 9, 2009 | I snagged this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviews Program, and I was terribly excited to be receiving a copy. The ER blurb compaired the style of The Somnambulist to the style found in Neil Gaiman's books. I'm a big fan of Gaiman, and I did not see a great deal of similarity upon reading the book. I have found Gaiman's books to be rich and lush, with incredibly multifaceted characters that make me wish to keep reading about them long after the plot of the book has concluded. The Somnambulist was nowhere near like this. The main characters were irritating (Edward Moon) and underused (the Somnambulist). Secondary characters would be introduced for a few chapters, then disappear for two-thirds of the book, only to be brought back briefly as the tail-end of the plot wrapped. I didn't find the plot to be interesting-enough on its own merit to carry the book along, and I also found the writing style to be too melodramatic for my tastes. The author, Jonathan Barnes, has a gift for imagery, but he doesn't seem able to yet use this talent to his best advantage. Certain scenes in this book (specifically regarding the odd folk and carnivale members) were delightful and vivid, but they failed at supporting the entire book. This is a first novel for Barnes, and I'm hoping his story-telling skills will improve with some polishing. I'd be interested in reading a second book of his, but not one that would sequel The Somnambulist. (  )1  MyriadBooks | Aug 4, 2009 |  no reviews | add a review
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| Book description |
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Be warned. This book has no literary merit whatsoever. Needless to say, I doubt you'll believe a word of it.
Once the toast of good society in Victoria's England, the extraordinary conjurer Edward Moon no longer commands the respect or inspires the awe that he did in earlier times. Despite having previously unraveled more than sixty perplexing criminal puzzles (to the delight of a grateful London constabulary), he is considered something of an embarrassment these days. Still, each night without fail, he returns to the stage of his theatre to amaze his devoted, albeit dwindling audience with the same old astonishments—aided by his partner, the silent, hairless, hulking, surprisingly placid giant who, when stabbed, does not bleed . . . and who goes by but one appellation:
The Somnambulist
On a night of roiling mists and long shadows, in a corner of the city where only the most foolhardy will deign to tread, a rather disreputable actor meets his end in a most bizarre and terrible fashion. Baffled, the police turn once again in the direction of Edward Moon—who will always welcome such assignments as an escape from ennui. And, in fact, he leads the officers to a murderer rather quickly. Perhaps too quickly. For these are strange, strange times in England, with the strangest of sorts prowling London's dank underbelly: sinister circus performers, freakishly deformed prostitutes, sadistic grown killers in schoolboy attire, a human fly, a man who lives backwards. And nothing is precisely as it seems.
Which should be no surprise to Moon, whose life and livelihood consists entirely of the illusionary, the unexpected, the seemingly impossible. Yet what is to follow will shatter his increasingly tenuous grasp on reality—as death follows death follows death in the dastardly pursuit of poetry, freedom, utopia . . . and Love, Love, Love, and Love.
Remember the name Jonathan Barnes, for, with The Somnambulist, he has burst upon the literary scene with a breathtaking and brilliant, frightening and hilarious, dark invention that recalls Neil Gaiman, Susanna Clarke, and Clive Barker at their grimly fantastical best . . . with more than a pinch of Carl Hiaasenesque outrageousness stirred into the demonically delicious brew.
Read on . . . and be astonished!
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:25 -0400)
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As I saw the lackluster reviews from other early reviewers come across my screen, I got even less interested. Now, having moved apartments in the interim, I can't even say where the damned thing has got to. If I wanted to read the book, I'd go check it out of the public library. But the experience soured me, and I don't.
Postscript: These remarks should not be taken as any sort of indictment of the LT Early Reviewer program, which is great.