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The Escapement

By Lavie Tidhar
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3.69 goodreads logo

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Check link for latest rating. ( 448 ratings, 134 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Escapement by Lavie Tidhar is a surreal journey through a magical, Western-inspired desert landscape, following a character known as The Stranger on his quest to find the elusive Flower of Heart. Inhabited by peculiar clowns and bizarre phenomena, this world intricately blends reality and fantasy, inviting readers to explore deeper themes of memory and mortality. The book balances a dreamlike atmosphere with action and adventure, offering a unique twist on a quest narrative.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book may appeal to you if you enjoy surreal adventures blending reality and imagination with an intriguing mix of the fantastical and the macabre. Fans of vivid, dreamlike worlds and stories that challenge conventional narratives might find it particularly captivating.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Nominated for 2022 Phillip K. Dick Award

In this dazzling new novel evoking Westerns, surrealism, epic fantasy, mythology, and circus extravaganzas, World Fantasy Award winner Lavie Tidhar (Central Station) has created an incomparable dreamscape of dark comedy, heartbreak, hope, and adventure. Chronicling a lone man's quest in parallel worlds, The Escapement offers the archetypal darkness of Stephen King's The Gunslinger within the dark whimsy of a child's imagination.

Into the reality called the Escapement rides the stranger, a lone gunman on a quest to rescue his son from a parallel world. But it is too easy to get lost on a shifting landscape full of dangerous versions of his son's most beloved things: cowboys gone lawless, giants made of stone, downtrodden clowns, ancient battles, symbol storms and more shadowy forces at play.

But the flower the stranger seeks still lies beyond the Mountains of Darkness. Time is running out as he journeys deeper and deeper into the secret heart of an unforeseen world.

'A delightfully cacophonous novel, teeming with character.' - Kirkus Reviews

'Lavie Tidhar is a voice to be reckoned with. With The Escapement, he fearlessly crests the wave of the New-New Weird with a wild, decadent hybrid of The Dark Tower and Carnivale.' - Catherynne M. Valente, author of Deathless

'Dazzling...Filled with contorted fairy tales, myths, and familiar stories, Lavie Tidhar's latest novel is both a fantastical diversion and a moving articulation of deep parental love.' - Foreword

The Escapement is an original masterpiece that is all Tidhar, full of echoes of his earlier stories and novels.' - SciFi Mind

'For such a short read, this highly intellectual bizarro western packs one hell of a wallop...truly gorgeous detailed oddities everywhere.' - Bradley Horner

'If you're a fan of bizarre fantasy world, absurdist stories or even magical realism, I think this book is perfect for you...The writing is very fluid, beautiful and fever dream-like.' - The Ink Slinger

'Tidhar masterfully weaves all sorts of different things together that make the reader's brain explode, or at the very least make readers shake their heads in bewilderment, but, ultimately, wonderment.' - Mt Void

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

The Escapement by Lavie Tidhar has been praised as a spellbinding and surreal novel, blending elements of fantasy and science fiction in a unique and imaginative way. Critics highlight its vivid prose and the author's ability to create a whimsical yet poignant narrative centred around a father's love and impending grief. The book's creative landscape, filled with fantastical elements, has captivated readers, drawing comparisons to works by authors like Philip K. Dick and Lewis Carroll, and described as both gripping and deeply moving.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781616963279

Publisher: Tachyon Publications

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 06 November 2020

Country: United States

Imprint: Tachyon Publications

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 139.0mm

Height: 215.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 256

Collections

Fantasy Fiction General Fiction Lavie Tidhar Sci-Fi & Fantasy

About the Author

Lavie Tidhar (A Man Lies Dreaming, Unholy Land) is an acclaimed author of literature, science fiction, fantasy, graphic novels, and middle grade fiction. Tidhar received the Campbell and Neukom Literary awards for his breakout novel Central Station, which has been translated into more than ten languages. He has also received the British Science Fiction, British Fantasy, and World Fantasy Awards. Tidhar's recent books include the Arthurian satire By Force Alone, and the series Adler. He is a book columnist for the Washington Post, and recently edited the Best of World SF anthology. Tidhar has lived all over the world, including Israel, Vanuatu, Laos, and South Africa, and he currently resides with his family in London.

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