Camera Obscura

Camera Obscura by Lavie Tidhar
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A man is found dead in a locked room on the Rue Morgue, the mysterious object he was transporting cut from his abdomen. Milady de Winter investigates and uncovers a fiendish plot. Can de Winter figure out who killed the man and still retain her sanity?

In this sequel to The Bookman, Lavie Tidhar crafts a steampunk noir tale with many wrinkles. As with the first book, Les Lizardes are in the background the entire time. De Winter follows a trail of clues and battles other agents of The Council as she tries to piece together what happened.

Honestly, I have mixed feelings about this one. While I liked it, I don't think it was anywhere near as good as The Bookman.

The stuff I liked: Milday De Winter was a much more compelling protagonist than Orphan from the first book and kicked multiple truckloads of ass. The ninjas from the Far East were cool and I liked the intrigue involving the Council. Viktor Frankenstein was an interesting supporting character. The villain of the book and what he does to de Winter about two thirds of the way through the book was really unexpected. As with the last book, it was fun trying to spot the Easter eggs in the text. The plot involving the lizards advanced a bit.

The other bits: It just wasn't as good as The Bookman. There weren't as many Easter Eggs, the plot was a little out of control, and it just wasn't as engaging. I found myself a little too eager to do housework or watch Doctor Who instead of reading.

Closing remarks: While I didn't enjoy it as much as The Bookman, it was still a fun read at times. I'll definitely be buying more Lavie Tidhar books in the future.

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