Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable
Ebook417 pages5 hours
Salamander
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
Spellbinding, original, Salamander careens through a world of ideas and stories in which the transforming power of books, the thirst for knowledge, and the pursuit of immortality become erotic. It is also a universal story of love and obsession.
Set in the eighteenth century, the narrative revolves around a world-spanning quest for the infinite book. Along the way the novel gathers stories that range from a Chinese tale of jealousy and lost love to the remarkable history of Alexandria’s other great library and to epoch-making moments on the battlefields of colonial America. At the centre of the novel’s unforgettable cast of characters is the London printer Nicholas Flood, a dedicated craftsman who is unprepared for all that awaits him when he accepts an unusual commission. Intricate, humane, infused with humour and pathos, Salamander is an exhilarating, elegantly crafted novel.
Set in the eighteenth century, the narrative revolves around a world-spanning quest for the infinite book. Along the way the novel gathers stories that range from a Chinese tale of jealousy and lost love to the remarkable history of Alexandria’s other great library and to epoch-making moments on the battlefields of colonial America. At the centre of the novel’s unforgettable cast of characters is the London printer Nicholas Flood, a dedicated craftsman who is unprepared for all that awaits him when he accepts an unusual commission. Intricate, humane, infused with humour and pathos, Salamander is an exhilarating, elegantly crafted novel.
Unavailable
Related to Salamander
Related ebooks
Salamander Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Thrill Book: Collection Volume II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFate in Your Hands: A Modern Myth Short Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Digital Wall: The Red Bandit Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Book that Dripped Blood: 10th Anniversary Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Distant Hours: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mosquitoes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBards and Sages Quarterly (January 2014) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Haunted Bookshop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hope Between the Pages Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Lover's Kiss Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Sword of Justice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Spine Tingler Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Nowhere Emporium Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vampire Librarian: The Shadow Order: Vampire, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Other Side of Como Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMosquitoes: Modernist Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPerfect Gallows: A Crime Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Inexplicable Affair of the Mesmerising Russian Nobleman Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Novel of the Black Seal Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Journal of Harry Somerville Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSir Gibbie Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsScorpions' Nest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Red House Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Scarlet Day Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSherwood, Special Preview: The First 7 Chapters (A Robin Hood Time-Travel Romance) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBizarre Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGrail of the Summer Stars Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All Things Unholy: An Ikaros Crux Case, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn Search of Scandal: The London Explorers, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Fantasy For You
The Priory of the Orange Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tress of the Emerald Sea: Secret Projects, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stories of Ray Bradbury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Piranesi Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is How You Lose the Time War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Picture of Dorian Gray (The Original 1890 Uncensored Edition + The Expanded and Revised 1891 Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Assassin and the Pirate Lord: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The City of Dreaming Books Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Talisman: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Phantom Tollbooth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Assassin and the Empire: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Assassin and the Desert: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don Quixote: [Complete & Illustrated] Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Immortal Longings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wizard's First Rule Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fairy Tale Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Assassin and the Underworld: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Titus Groan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Eyes of the Dragon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nettle & Bone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Salamander
Rating: 3.860824735051546 out of 5 stars
4/5
97 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5There were elements of this novel that I absolutely loved, but others that just didn't work for me very well. There's some great stuff here about book history and printing, but it gets lost as the plot gets pretty all over the place.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When his 18-year-old son dies mysteriously in battle, a Slovakian Count retires from the field and returns home to indulge his love of puzzles. He designs his castle so that walls continually appear and disappear, furniture is on tracks and moves to different places, and bookshelves descend from the ceiling or rise, phoenix-like, from the floor. While cataloging a new set of books, the Count’s daughter finds one that has been created to be a riddle. Her father is intrigued and invites the printer, a young Londoner named Nicholas Flood, to the castle to discuss a commission: an infinite book. Nicholas accepts the commission and the rest of the book is devoted to his quest to fulfill his commission. The road to Flood’s eventual fate does not run smoothly, and before the journey is over we’ve traveled the world and met a family of tumblers, a Sultan who wishes to die, a printing press that sets its own type, a lady pirate, and scores of other memorable characters.
Salamander is a quest book: everybody is looking for something, both physically and emotionally. It’s amazing that Wharton manages to weave all of their diverse searches into the one Grand Search: the never-ending book. It’s that one goal that brings all of the characters together, and that occasionally tears them apart. I’ll admit, I’m biased; I love books, and the descriptions of the various papers and inks and the workings of the printing press were fascinating. But the wonderful thing is that all of that detail isn’t just sitting there, waiting for the book geek to stroll by. The search for all of the physical trappings of the infinite book gives us a touchstone for all of the characters: WHY someone is searching for the perfect paper is just as important as how the search is conducted, or where the search leads.
Wharton has given us a gift: a magical, mysterious, marvel of book. The characters are strange, yet believable. The story takes many odd twists and turns and never ends up quite where you expect it to. The narrative flows like spilled ink, covering everything and forcing the reader into some unexpected corners. Mr. Wharton cleverly sets the reader on just as much of a quest as the characters are on; the reader who perseveres will be greatly rewarded. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wharton weaves a wonderful tale that wanders it's way to a utterly satisfying conclusion getting there by strange castles that move, type that sets itself, and an odd girl wrapped in metal. All in search of the book with no end. Highly recommended for a night when you want to lose yourself in ideas, but don't feel like reading journals!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5While wandering through the ruins of the abandoned city, a captain happens upon a partially destroyed bookshop. Intrigued, he wanders in, to discover its very arresting, female proprietor. Amongst the literary debris and in the candlelight they begin talking, about books, naturally enough. When the conversation turns to favourite books, she begins her amazing story.Her grandfather, Count Konstantin was obsessed by riddles and puzzles. Having given up his military career on the death of his son, he set to their pursuit in earnest. His whole castle became an amazing mechanical puzzle and within its walls he collected unique books - often riddles in themselves. One day they happen upon a very intriguing book indeed, the work of one N. Flood of London. Summoning him to his castle in Bohemia, he entrusts him with a very special and challenging task - to create the infinite book with no beginning and no end. Scarcely has he begun this endeavour, however, than he falls in love with the Count's lovely daughter, Irena. The Count soon finds out and banishes Flood to his dungeons. Flood only escapes following the Count's death when his daughter, Pica comes to rescue him (having herself escaped from the orphanage in which she had been placed). He sets off with her, his printing assistant, and a family of acrobats in the Count's old ship on a voyage around the world in search of this elusive book. But will he at last succeed in this quest, and will he again see his beloved Irena who disappeared shortly after giving birth to Pica?This is a quite entrancing tale, but I do have a few niggles. In the first place, it is difficult to work out quite how Flood survived his 12 year imprisonment both physically and psychologically given the death of the Count and subsequent fleeing of his staff. Secondly it can feel a little disjointed, and it does seem to lose its momentum once they leave behind the castle walls.However, these are only little concerns, for in the Salamander, Thomas Wharton has created a magical fairytale for grownups. Told in the third person, it would not have harmed it for it to have begun 'once upon a time'. It is charming and beguiling, beautifully written, laced with much wit and intelligence.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I need to come back and post a review when I can think of something more coherent than **loves**Fantastic read. Highly recommended.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It is an infinite book. Stories evolve, devolve, revolve.The setting seems to be Slovakia, but it is never actually defined as such. I can almost imagine the exact hrad (castle), Oravsky set high above the Orava River.