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The Escapement
2022 Philip K. Dick Award Special Citation, Best NovelIn 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.“Comic, tragic, and utterly magnificent.”—Samantha Shannon, author of The Priory of the Orange Tree“A wild, decadent hybrid of The Dark Tower and Carnivale.”—Catherynne M. Valente, author of DeathlessInto 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 cowboys gone lawless, giants made of stone, downtrodden clowns, ancient battles, symbol storms, and 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.In his most compelling work to date, Lavie Tidhar has delivered a multicolored tapestry of dazzling imagery. The Escapement is an epic, wildly original chronicle of the extraordinary lengths to which one will go for love.
235 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 21, 2021
About the author
Lavie Tidhar
364 books716 followersLavie Tidhar was raised on a kibbutz in Israel. He has travelled extensively since he was a teenager, living in South Africa, the UK, Laos, and the small island nation of Vanuatu.
Tidhar began publishing with a poetry collection in Hebrew in 1998, but soon moved to fiction, becoming a prolific author of short stories early in the 21st century.
Temporal Spiders, Spatial Webs won the 2003 Clarke-Bradbury competition, sponsored by the European Space Agency, while The Night Train (2010) was a Sturgeon Award finalist.
Linked story collection HebrewPunk (2007) contains stories of Jewish pulp fantasy.
He co-wrote dark fantasy novel The Tel Aviv Dossier (2009) with Nir Yaniv. The Bookman Histories series, combining literary and historical characters with steampunk elements, includes The Bookman (2010), Camera Obscura (2011), and The Great Game (2012).
Standalone novel Osama (2011) combines pulp adventure with a sophisticated look at the impact of terrorism. It won the 2012 World Fantasy Award, and was a finalist for the Campbell Memorial Award, British Science Fiction Award, and a Kitschie.
His latest novels are Martian Sands and The Violent Century.
Much of Tidhar’s best work is done at novella length, including An Occupation of Angels (2005), Cloud Permutations (2010), British Fantasy Award winner Gorel and the Pot-Bellied God (2011), and Jesus & the Eightfold Path (2011).
Tidhar advocates bringing international SF to a wider audience, and has edited The Apex Book of World SF (2009) and The Apex Book of World SF 2 (2012).
He is also editor-in-chief of the World SF Blog , and in 2011 was a finalist for a World Fantasy Award for his work there.
He also edited A Dick and Jane Primer for Adults (2008); wrote Michael Marshall Smith: The Annotated Bibliography (2004); wrote weird picture book Going to The Moon (2012, with artist Paul McCaffery); and scripted one-shot comic Adolf Hitler’s I Dream of Ants! (2012, with artist Neil Struthers).
Tidhar lives with his wife in London.
Tidhar began publishing with a poetry collection in Hebrew in 1998, but soon moved to fiction, becoming a prolific author of short stories early in the 21st century.
Temporal Spiders, Spatial Webs won the 2003 Clarke-Bradbury competition, sponsored by the European Space Agency, while The Night Train (2010) was a Sturgeon Award finalist.
Linked story collection HebrewPunk (2007) contains stories of Jewish pulp fantasy.
He co-wrote dark fantasy novel The Tel Aviv Dossier (2009) with Nir Yaniv. The Bookman Histories series, combining literary and historical characters with steampunk elements, includes The Bookman (2010), Camera Obscura (2011), and The Great Game (2012).
Standalone novel Osama (2011) combines pulp adventure with a sophisticated look at the impact of terrorism. It won the 2012 World Fantasy Award, and was a finalist for the Campbell Memorial Award, British Science Fiction Award, and a Kitschie.
His latest novels are Martian Sands and The Violent Century.
Much of Tidhar’s best work is done at novella length, including An Occupation of Angels (2005), Cloud Permutations (2010), British Fantasy Award winner Gorel and the Pot-Bellied God (2011), and Jesus & the Eightfold Path (2011).
Tidhar advocates bringing international SF to a wider audience, and has edited The Apex Book of World SF (2009) and The Apex Book of World SF 2 (2012).
He is also editor-in-chief of the World SF Blog , and in 2011 was a finalist for a World Fantasy Award for his work there.
He also edited A Dick and Jane Primer for Adults (2008); wrote Michael Marshall Smith: The Annotated Bibliography (2004); wrote weird picture book Going to The Moon (2012, with artist Paul McCaffery); and scripted one-shot comic Adolf Hitler’s I Dream of Ants! (2012, with artist Neil Struthers).
Tidhar lives with his wife in London.
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December 2, 2021Send in the clowns.
Tidhar's novels burst with imagination. They give you the best feeling a book can give you: that you are only looking at a tiny corner of a world and there is much more to be found. The Escapement is a portal fantasy laced with grief, a Western mixed with Weird elements... with clowns. This unlikely cocktail works because of the dizzying zest with which is told. Although it is not exactly the material that could be called commercial or easily summarized --I mean, just like at the description I typed, it sounds I did way too many drugs-- it's the sort of novel that will delight aficionados of fantastic fiction who remember Mervyn Peak fondly. It has that eccentric touch, but with a Sergio Leone twist.
Tidhar's novels burst with imagination. They give you the best feeling a book can give you: that you are only looking at a tiny corner of a world and there is much more to be found. The Escapement is a portal fantasy laced with grief, a Western mixed with Weird elements... with clowns. This unlikely cocktail works because of the dizzying zest with which is told. Although it is not exactly the material that could be called commercial or easily summarized --I mean, just like at the description I typed, it sounds I did way too many drugs-- it's the sort of novel that will delight aficionados of fantastic fiction who remember Mervyn Peak fondly. It has that eccentric touch, but with a Sergio Leone twist.
June 25, 2021
"At night, hospitals feel like shadowy, desert wastelands inhabited mostly by machines...in this twilight empty world the man walked, his feet treading the parquet floor. They made a little squeaking sound...like a clown." He remembers taking his son to the circus, buying him a red balloon. The boy in the hospital bed is sleeping with his stuffed toy clown.
The Stranger had been traveling a long time, on a quest to find Ur-Shanabi, the Flower of Heartbeat, found in the Mountains of Darkness. Having entered a parallel reality, he must cross the Escapement. His journey starts in Clown Country. "Clowns were...indigenous to the Escapement, while people were not. And there was just something about clowns that people inherently [disliked]." The Stranger felt that clowns brought joy. "...somewhere, elsewhere in that other place, there lay a boy who had loved clowns." In the Escapement, "the clouds in the sky resembled clown's balloons...".
Many roads in the Escapement, subject to external forces, would loop upon themselves or terminate abruptly-leading to nowhere...". "Mazes...were not always static-a maze could shift unexpectedly around a traveler." "...Time was not neatly homogenous...but could flow, like hot and cold currents, which sometimes overlaid each other."
The Stranger's path crossed with a bounty hunter, a conjurer, bank robbers and aerialists. Many of them ingested "substance" or drank a pearly white drink called Sticks. One aerialist describes a visit to the other place where she was a teacher living in the city, a reality change that rapidly faded. The man lying on his couch, clutching a stuffed clown, frequented the Escapement. He traveled through symbol storms and witnessed war where a woman's head was turned into a flower with roots growing inside her. Throwing caution to the wind, the Stranger must reach the Mountain of Darkness despite the warning, "Do not seek the Ur-Shanabi...For the Plant of Heartbeat brings only heartache when it flowers."
"The Escapement" by Lavie Tidhar is a wildly, original work of science fiction/fantasy. In Spaghetti Western style, The Stranger, a lone gunman, enters a parallel reality and encounters mysterious creatures, circumvents battles and experiences ghostly apparitions. He will ignore the ever changing dangerous geography to search for the delicate flower, a final act of desperation, an act of love. A colorful cast of characters populate the circus-like Western as the Stranger braves the rugged topography that is the Escapement. Highly recommended.
Thank you Tachyon Publications and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The Stranger had been traveling a long time, on a quest to find Ur-Shanabi, the Flower of Heartbeat, found in the Mountains of Darkness. Having entered a parallel reality, he must cross the Escapement. His journey starts in Clown Country. "Clowns were...indigenous to the Escapement, while people were not. And there was just something about clowns that people inherently [disliked]." The Stranger felt that clowns brought joy. "...somewhere, elsewhere in that other place, there lay a boy who had loved clowns." In the Escapement, "the clouds in the sky resembled clown's balloons...".
Many roads in the Escapement, subject to external forces, would loop upon themselves or terminate abruptly-leading to nowhere...". "Mazes...were not always static-a maze could shift unexpectedly around a traveler." "...Time was not neatly homogenous...but could flow, like hot and cold currents, which sometimes overlaid each other."
The Stranger's path crossed with a bounty hunter, a conjurer, bank robbers and aerialists. Many of them ingested "substance" or drank a pearly white drink called Sticks. One aerialist describes a visit to the other place where she was a teacher living in the city, a reality change that rapidly faded. The man lying on his couch, clutching a stuffed clown, frequented the Escapement. He traveled through symbol storms and witnessed war where a woman's head was turned into a flower with roots growing inside her. Throwing caution to the wind, the Stranger must reach the Mountain of Darkness despite the warning, "Do not seek the Ur-Shanabi...For the Plant of Heartbeat brings only heartache when it flowers."
"The Escapement" by Lavie Tidhar is a wildly, original work of science fiction/fantasy. In Spaghetti Western style, The Stranger, a lone gunman, enters a parallel reality and encounters mysterious creatures, circumvents battles and experiences ghostly apparitions. He will ignore the ever changing dangerous geography to search for the delicate flower, a final act of desperation, an act of love. A colorful cast of characters populate the circus-like Western as the Stranger braves the rugged topography that is the Escapement. Highly recommended.
Thank you Tachyon Publications and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
December 24, 2021
“Stories. Stories are all we have, really, in this world or the other.”
The Escapement by Lavie Tidhar was a fantasy story set in an American western. The writing style was different and magical which suit to the narrative. The characters and the new circus world were well-drawn. A heartbreaking story with humor and adventure that was dark for me.
In the Country of Clowns,
The Kid and the Stranger exchanged a glance,
The Stranger and the Conjurer exchanged a glance.
The Stranger looking for the Ur-shanabi, the Plant of Heartbeat, the healing plant which can cure even time; in the parallel world. In the Escapement, there was nowhere to escape to, only the mountains, the clowns, and death on every side. Clowns were indigenous to the Escapement, while people were not and nobody really liked clowns.
The Stranger journey was with three main companions, the boy who had become the Conjurer, the Kid that was not a kid anymore, and let's do not forget Temperanza,
“The more I see of men, the more I like dogs.”
Many thanks to Tachyon Publications and NetGalley for giving me the chance to read The Escapement by Lavie Tidhar, I have given my honest review.
Pub Date 24 Sep 2021
The Escapement by Lavie Tidhar was a fantasy story set in an American western. The writing style was different and magical which suit to the narrative. The characters and the new circus world were well-drawn. A heartbreaking story with humor and adventure that was dark for me.
In the Country of Clowns,
The Kid and the Stranger exchanged a glance,
The Stranger and the Conjurer exchanged a glance.
The Stranger looking for the Ur-shanabi, the Plant of Heartbeat, the healing plant which can cure even time; in the parallel world. In the Escapement, there was nowhere to escape to, only the mountains, the clowns, and death on every side. Clowns were indigenous to the Escapement, while people were not and nobody really liked clowns.
The Stranger journey was with three main companions, the boy who had become the Conjurer, the Kid that was not a kid anymore, and let's do not forget Temperanza,
“The more I see of men, the more I like dogs.”
Many thanks to Tachyon Publications and NetGalley for giving me the chance to read The Escapement by Lavie Tidhar, I have given my honest review.
Pub Date 24 Sep 2021
August 12, 2022
Comic, tragic, and utterly magnificent.
The Escapement is a thrilling blend of fairy tale, western and portal fantasy. Lavie Tidhar names a range of influences in his afterword, from expressionist art to Hebrew stories to the Epic of Gilgamesh; they combine into a surreal masterpiece.
The unnamed protagonist, who we mostly know as the Stranger, spends the book slipping between the carnivalesque realm of the Escapement (which may or may not be a dreamscape) and his cruel reality – ‘that other place’ – where his child has fallen gravely ill. In the Escapement, he embarks on a quest to find the Flower of Heartbeat, meeting a delightful cast of characters along the way – some of whom were born in the Escapement, and some, like him, who arrive from elsewhere.
The grotesque and marvellous Escapement is populated by aerialists and sharpshooters and conjurers, persecuted clowns, and veterans of a war between shadows and stone giants. It is both brutal and breathtaking. The worldbuilding is fantastic in all senses of the word: the symbol storms, the religion of the Harlequin, the melting clocks – it all works together beautifully.
The Escapement is the perfect escapist read for the weird year that is 2021. It's also, incredibly, done something to cure my fear of clowns – by the end, I felt guilty for being scared of them. A standout favourite of 2021.
The Escapement is a thrilling blend of fairy tale, western and portal fantasy. Lavie Tidhar names a range of influences in his afterword, from expressionist art to Hebrew stories to the Epic of Gilgamesh; they combine into a surreal masterpiece.
The unnamed protagonist, who we mostly know as the Stranger, spends the book slipping between the carnivalesque realm of the Escapement (which may or may not be a dreamscape) and his cruel reality – ‘that other place’ – where his child has fallen gravely ill. In the Escapement, he embarks on a quest to find the Flower of Heartbeat, meeting a delightful cast of characters along the way – some of whom were born in the Escapement, and some, like him, who arrive from elsewhere.
The grotesque and marvellous Escapement is populated by aerialists and sharpshooters and conjurers, persecuted clowns, and veterans of a war between shadows and stone giants. It is both brutal and breathtaking. The worldbuilding is fantastic in all senses of the word: the symbol storms, the religion of the Harlequin, the melting clocks – it all works together beautifully.
The Escapement is the perfect escapist read for the weird year that is 2021. It's also, incredibly, done something to cure my fear of clowns – by the end, I felt guilty for being scared of them. A standout favourite of 2021.
June 21, 2021
For such a short read, this highly intellectual bizarro western packs one hell of a wallop.
On one hand, it's merely the depths that a man will go through as he watches his child suffer in the hospital, but on the other, greater portion, it's literally a Dark Tower-like adventure with truly gorgeous detailed oddities everywhere.
The Stranger is one of the high arcana, and there are lots of tarot references with a full spread of Grimm, Russian mythology, Hebrew mythology, Greek, Mesopotamian, and Sergio Leone... not to mention Stephen King.
If it's a wild wasteland of the heart and mind, the text itself is fantastically cerebral and gore-filled. The nightmares are clowns. Old warriors from strange battles have musical instruments for legs and glass, ant-filled tubing for arms. Roses are more than roses and the desolation is as much as any Stranger can bear, in or out of a hospital.
The writing is one of the most creative and it is definitely wildly original. Don't let the various mythological pieces define it for you. I got lost in the tale and it eventually became quite difficult to pull myself away to surface to my reality.
I almost drank Sticks, myself.
Gorgeous piece.
Now, I should be honest here: I've been a long-time fan of Lavie Tidhar but even if I hadn't already fallen in love with his other writings, I'd be pointing at this and saying, "OMG, people, this is intellectually fantastic and overflowing with originality, worldbuilding, and heart hidden behind a stoic facade. Don't miss this!"
Fortunately, I can be both. Do yourself a favor and check him out.
On one hand, it's merely the depths that a man will go through as he watches his child suffer in the hospital, but on the other, greater portion, it's literally a Dark Tower-like adventure with truly gorgeous detailed oddities everywhere.
The Stranger is one of the high arcana, and there are lots of tarot references with a full spread of Grimm, Russian mythology, Hebrew mythology, Greek, Mesopotamian, and Sergio Leone... not to mention Stephen King.
If it's a wild wasteland of the heart and mind, the text itself is fantastically cerebral and gore-filled. The nightmares are clowns. Old warriors from strange battles have musical instruments for legs and glass, ant-filled tubing for arms. Roses are more than roses and the desolation is as much as any Stranger can bear, in or out of a hospital.
The writing is one of the most creative and it is definitely wildly original. Don't let the various mythological pieces define it for you. I got lost in the tale and it eventually became quite difficult to pull myself away to surface to my reality.
I almost drank Sticks, myself.
Gorgeous piece.
Now, I should be honest here: I've been a long-time fan of Lavie Tidhar but even if I hadn't already fallen in love with his other writings, I'd be pointing at this and saying, "OMG, people, this is intellectually fantastic and overflowing with originality, worldbuilding, and heart hidden behind a stoic facade. Don't miss this!"
Fortunately, I can be both. Do yourself a favor and check him out.
May 27, 2022
Even by Lavie Tidhar standards, this is a weird, weird book! But it is also an amazing fever dream, a heart-breaking phantasmagoria that mashed together spaghetti-Western aesthetics, Tarot cards, hero’s journey folklore and, well, clowns. A lot of reviews compare “The Escapement” to “The Dark Tower” and “Carnivale”. I have not read the first, nor watched the second, so I have no idea how accurate that is, but I know that this is Tidhar at his most unrestrained and wildly imaginative.
“The Escapement” is a place of strange geography and stranger inhabitants: there live the clowns, and I don’t mean people in costumes and make-up! In the Escapement, clowns’ faces naturally are the color of grease paint, their feet really are huge and oddly shaped, and few of them seem to be gifted with speech. Humans have made some attempts at colonizing their wild lands, setting up the odd town and mission here and there, but this is a dangerous and treacherous land, where even stranger creatures than the clowns dwell. The Stranger travels across the Escapement, on a quest to find the Ur-shanabi, a rare, healing flower meant to help a young sick boy in a far-away land.
It’s impossible to explain too much without giving important elements away, but there is a tragic and profoundly human story at the heart of this very surreal book. But some emotions are surreal and can be best expressed by referencing magical and grotesque creatures and places.
I am so impressed with Tidhar, who’s work never fails to enchant and baffle me. I do prefer his more political work, but this is still a unique, moving and hallucinatory ride. I would have actually loved to dwell longer in the Escapement, to be even more world building, more stories of the wild clowns, Major Arcana and other inhabitants of this mad world. I would not, however, recommend this as the book to start with for someone looking for their first Lavie Tidhar novel; it’s a bit too over the top as a way to get to know a guy. But if you have read his other work and enjoyed it, step right up!
“The Escapement” is a place of strange geography and stranger inhabitants: there live the clowns, and I don’t mean people in costumes and make-up! In the Escapement, clowns’ faces naturally are the color of grease paint, their feet really are huge and oddly shaped, and few of them seem to be gifted with speech. Humans have made some attempts at colonizing their wild lands, setting up the odd town and mission here and there, but this is a dangerous and treacherous land, where even stranger creatures than the clowns dwell. The Stranger travels across the Escapement, on a quest to find the Ur-shanabi, a rare, healing flower meant to help a young sick boy in a far-away land.
It’s impossible to explain too much without giving important elements away, but there is a tragic and profoundly human story at the heart of this very surreal book. But some emotions are surreal and can be best expressed by referencing magical and grotesque creatures and places.
I am so impressed with Tidhar, who’s work never fails to enchant and baffle me. I do prefer his more political work, but this is still a unique, moving and hallucinatory ride. I would have actually loved to dwell longer in the Escapement, to be even more world building, more stories of the wild clowns, Major Arcana and other inhabitants of this mad world. I would not, however, recommend this as the book to start with for someone looking for their first Lavie Tidhar novel; it’s a bit too over the top as a way to get to know a guy. But if you have read his other work and enjoyed it, step right up!
September 21, 2021
Like Central Station, Tidhar brings his imagination and gorgeously intelligent writing to his newest novel, The Escapement.
While I found myself a bit lost at times in the complex plot, I was blown away by the level of depth and intricacy of the world building. Tidhar's world building shines in a way unlike any author I have ever read. From wanderings in clown country to references from Hebrew and Russian mythology, and even the Wizard of Oz, The Escapement is the story of a man grieving a terminally ill child and the places his grief take him. As readers, we jump back and forth between the fantastical world of The Escapement to The Stranger's "real" life. His fantastical world is made up of images and scenes from his present and past reality- but twisted and turned inside out.
Since this is a book rich in ideas and the creation of a bizarre and original world, I found it harder to connect to the characters. The writing style, while visually descriptive, does not focus as much on the characters' internal thoughts and backstory as I would have liked. Also, I had some issues with the amount of characters who would pop up, narrate a story, and then disappear for the rest of the book.
However, The Escapement is so rich in metaphor, allusions and satire, it's a work of fantasy/sci fi that will continue to bring its readers new and interesting ways to read the story each time they come back to it. I'd highly recommend The Escapement if you like complex world building, philosophical musing, literary allusions and a well-crafted story.
* Thank you to Tachyon Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.
While I found myself a bit lost at times in the complex plot, I was blown away by the level of depth and intricacy of the world building. Tidhar's world building shines in a way unlike any author I have ever read. From wanderings in clown country to references from Hebrew and Russian mythology, and even the Wizard of Oz, The Escapement is the story of a man grieving a terminally ill child and the places his grief take him. As readers, we jump back and forth between the fantastical world of The Escapement to The Stranger's "real" life. His fantastical world is made up of images and scenes from his present and past reality- but twisted and turned inside out.
Since this is a book rich in ideas and the creation of a bizarre and original world, I found it harder to connect to the characters. The writing style, while visually descriptive, does not focus as much on the characters' internal thoughts and backstory as I would have liked. Also, I had some issues with the amount of characters who would pop up, narrate a story, and then disappear for the rest of the book.
However, The Escapement is so rich in metaphor, allusions and satire, it's a work of fantasy/sci fi that will continue to bring its readers new and interesting ways to read the story each time they come back to it. I'd highly recommend The Escapement if you like complex world building, philosophical musing, literary allusions and a well-crafted story.
* Thank you to Tachyon Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.
April 11, 2022
This is a Weird novella with a big ‘W’. I read it as a part of monthly reading for April 2022 at SFF Hot from Printers: New Releases group.
The main story happens is a Western stylized (dream-)reality with locales named after famous clowns, with clowns taking place of Indians – in this reality, they aren’t dressed up humans, but truly alien – e.g. with long feet to fit their clown shoes. As if this was not enough, there are Major Arcana from Tarot, Titanomachy (war of gods and titans) from Greek myths, pupae umbrarum (shadow puppets) and much more.
In this world, we follow the Stranger on his quest, on surface a version of the character from The Gunslinger, but from the very start we see glimpses of our world, with cars and hospitals, where his aspect is a grieving father, whose son is/was (time is not linear in these glimpses) with a severe illness in a hospital. The Stranger’s goal is to find Ur-shanabi, a healing flower that lies beyond the Mountains of Darkness. Urshanabi is from the oldest remaining myth we know - Epic of Gilgamesh, where it was the name of the ferryman of the Hubur, river of the dead in Mesopotamian mythology. His equivalent in Greek Mythology was Charon. There are other allusions to Greek underworld, e.g. most ‘locals’ in the Escapement use a dream-inducing drug Sticks (see river Styx), which allows them to see ‘our’ world.
As story progresses, the Stranger meets the Kid (both Western allusion and possibly about his own son), who seeks for his father Conjurer to kill him (allusions from Freud to Star Wars) and they travel together.
I like works of Lavie Tidhar, he is a very interesting and unusual SFF author. However, this novella hasn’t worked for me – it is just too weird, too many allusions, which I possibly just missed, the dreamlike (or maybe nightmare) quality of the story – it is not what I need at the moment.
The main story happens is a Western stylized (dream-)reality with locales named after famous clowns, with clowns taking place of Indians – in this reality, they aren’t dressed up humans, but truly alien – e.g. with long feet to fit their clown shoes. As if this was not enough, there are Major Arcana from Tarot, Titanomachy (war of gods and titans) from Greek myths, pupae umbrarum (shadow puppets) and much more.
In this world, we follow the Stranger on his quest, on surface a version of the character from The Gunslinger, but from the very start we see glimpses of our world, with cars and hospitals, where his aspect is a grieving father, whose son is/was (time is not linear in these glimpses) with a severe illness in a hospital. The Stranger’s goal is to find Ur-shanabi, a healing flower that lies beyond the Mountains of Darkness. Urshanabi is from the oldest remaining myth we know - Epic of Gilgamesh, where it was the name of the ferryman of the Hubur, river of the dead in Mesopotamian mythology. His equivalent in Greek Mythology was Charon. There are other allusions to Greek underworld, e.g. most ‘locals’ in the Escapement use a dream-inducing drug Sticks (see river Styx), which allows them to see ‘our’ world.
As story progresses, the Stranger meets the Kid (both Western allusion and possibly about his own son), who seeks for his father Conjurer to kill him (allusions from Freud to Star Wars) and they travel together.
I like works of Lavie Tidhar, he is a very interesting and unusual SFF author. However, this novella hasn’t worked for me – it is just too weird, too many allusions, which I possibly just missed, the dreamlike (or maybe nightmare) quality of the story – it is not what I need at the moment.
July 10, 2021
The Escapement is a wild read that has a futurist sort of dystopian fantasy setting like Tigana but is populated with people in a time slippage between parallel worlds. The characters include archetypes from gunslinging westerns, tarot, circus, and myths of the ancient gods. If you like to immerse in that sort of world building it is an incredible story of a man at his hospitalized child’s bedside and another world just beyond.
I received an advanced reader copy of the The Escapement from Netgalley upon which to base this honest review.
I received an advanced reader copy of the The Escapement from Netgalley upon which to base this honest review.
April 22, 2024
Heartbreaking and really weird. It was nice to be back on a quest, like The Dark Tower.
May 12, 2022
Amazing. 100 stars. I’m crying and yet I don’t know why because it’s the most open ending ever. I love it. RTC
June 6, 2021
Absolutely fantastic. The coolest, strangest, most hallucinatory vision of the American western I've ever seen. More to follow, but in the interim, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. (trigger warning-clowns)
November 5, 2022
Trying to remember the Major Arcana whilst reading this was quite a challenge personally, but a fun one nonetheless
June 1, 2021
In The Escapement, a father with a sick child becomes the Stranger in a parallel reality. The Escapement reminds him of that time he took his child to see the clowns. And just like in the real world, not everyone likes clowns….
Escaping reality
The Stranger tries to escape reality as the health of his terminally ill child deteriorates. The places he encounters on his journey resemble the phases he goes through while dealing with his son’s illness. The connections to The Waiting Place and The Hole are most obvious, but let’s not discount the journey, the catastrophes and the encounters with certain people. All that untapped time – a huge silence waiting under the ground – and the time loops are a great contrast to the time slipping by in the hospital room.
The worldbuilding is outstanding. Lavie Tidhar drew inspiration from fairy tales, the Epic of Gilgamesh and many other sources for the Flower of Heartbeat, locations and characters.
Narrative
The events of the Stranger’s journey are told in a very factual and rational way rather than an emotional one. I was expecting and hoping for more mystery and wonder in the early chapters. Instead, the setting is clearly explained, too clearly for my taste. The Stranger understands the inner workings of the world, with its mazes, shifting geographical patterns, and curved roads too easily.
Many other characters tell their stories, taking time away from the Stranger’s story. He does not seem focused on his goal of finding the flower that will heal his child, although he thinks about it from time to time.
I understand the parallels that are drawn, but I do not feel emotionally involved in the father’s story. I feel sadder for the slaughtered and enslaved clowns. The father seems distant, which is understandable because his journey – both in the hospital and the Escapement – has been long. I still don’t know if I find the blending of realities too subtle or not subtle enough.
Conclusion
The Escapement did not impress me. I enjoyed reading about the world and imaginary locations, but the story of the father/Stranger just didn’t work for me. I can’t feel the father’s struggle and his son remains faceless. This book doesn’t feel like the subtle blend of realities or the deep contemplation of running away from grief and reality that I expected before I started this book. I miss the mystery and excitement of not knowing something and figuring it out. I was hoping for something different and I’m still hoping for another story set in this interesting place called the Escapement. It ended up being a fascinating world with no compelling characters, more of a showcase than a story.
Many thanks to Tachyon Publications and NetGalley for a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Escaping reality
The Stranger tries to escape reality as the health of his terminally ill child deteriorates. The places he encounters on his journey resemble the phases he goes through while dealing with his son’s illness. The connections to The Waiting Place and The Hole are most obvious, but let’s not discount the journey, the catastrophes and the encounters with certain people. All that untapped time – a huge silence waiting under the ground – and the time loops are a great contrast to the time slipping by in the hospital room.
The worldbuilding is outstanding. Lavie Tidhar drew inspiration from fairy tales, the Epic of Gilgamesh and many other sources for the Flower of Heartbeat, locations and characters.
Narrative
The events of the Stranger’s journey are told in a very factual and rational way rather than an emotional one. I was expecting and hoping for more mystery and wonder in the early chapters. Instead, the setting is clearly explained, too clearly for my taste. The Stranger understands the inner workings of the world, with its mazes, shifting geographical patterns, and curved roads too easily.
Many other characters tell their stories, taking time away from the Stranger’s story. He does not seem focused on his goal of finding the flower that will heal his child, although he thinks about it from time to time.
I understand the parallels that are drawn, but I do not feel emotionally involved in the father’s story. I feel sadder for the slaughtered and enslaved clowns. The father seems distant, which is understandable because his journey – both in the hospital and the Escapement – has been long. I still don’t know if I find the blending of realities too subtle or not subtle enough.
Conclusion
The Escapement did not impress me. I enjoyed reading about the world and imaginary locations, but the story of the father/Stranger just didn’t work for me. I can’t feel the father’s struggle and his son remains faceless. This book doesn’t feel like the subtle blend of realities or the deep contemplation of running away from grief and reality that I expected before I started this book. I miss the mystery and excitement of not knowing something and figuring it out. I was hoping for something different and I’m still hoping for another story set in this interesting place called the Escapement. It ended up being a fascinating world with no compelling characters, more of a showcase than a story.
Many thanks to Tachyon Publications and NetGalley for a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
April 21, 2022
Although Tidhar is renowned for such creative masterworks like Central Station (2016) and Unholy Land (2018), his latest novel—about a man’s phantasmagorical quest through a Sergio Leone-esque wasteland inhabited by gunslingers, magicians, carnies, and clowns—is arguably his most ambitious, and cerebral, work to date.
The Escapement is a unique blend of western, surrealistic fantasy, and Hebrew folklore—a brilliantly multi-colored narrative tapestry of ideas and imagery that features a stunningly diverse array of elements: from Greek myth to Tarot symbolism to references to infamous contemporary serial killers.
It’s a heartbreaking story of a man watching his terminally ill son slowly die in a hospital room—but it’s also simultaneously a story about a Stranger on a perilous quest to world’s end crossing a nightmarish dreamscape in the midst of a magical war that has changed all impacted by the brutal conflict:
“…its residents were all malleably transformed in unpleasant ways, men with violins for legs, women with aquariums for eyes, the houses all tessellated, and opening in on themselves, endlessly, and linked together by Piranesian drawbridges and the like—it was a marvel the whole place stood up at all.”
Weird western? Clownpunk? Slipstream? Surreal fantasy? Tidhar’s The Escapement is all of the above, and more. It’s about grief, and loss, and the extraordinary lengths that someone will go for love. An epic, wildly original, storytelling tour de force. In a word: unforgettable.
The Escapement is a unique blend of western, surrealistic fantasy, and Hebrew folklore—a brilliantly multi-colored narrative tapestry of ideas and imagery that features a stunningly diverse array of elements: from Greek myth to Tarot symbolism to references to infamous contemporary serial killers.
It’s a heartbreaking story of a man watching his terminally ill son slowly die in a hospital room—but it’s also simultaneously a story about a Stranger on a perilous quest to world’s end crossing a nightmarish dreamscape in the midst of a magical war that has changed all impacted by the brutal conflict:
“…its residents were all malleably transformed in unpleasant ways, men with violins for legs, women with aquariums for eyes, the houses all tessellated, and opening in on themselves, endlessly, and linked together by Piranesian drawbridges and the like—it was a marvel the whole place stood up at all.”
Weird western? Clownpunk? Slipstream? Surreal fantasy? Tidhar’s The Escapement is all of the above, and more. It’s about grief, and loss, and the extraordinary lengths that someone will go for love. An epic, wildly original, storytelling tour de force. In a word: unforgettable.
Shelved as 'dnf'
March 4, 2022I enjoy the surreal and the weird, but I didn't feel connected.
Certain sentences/structures feel overused, the language is very plain and removed so it was hard to connect, the main character is questionably OP with no personality... but mostly I just couldn't stand being in a world of low stakes.
I don't like feeling like nothing matters because this is not the real world. We get constant glimpses of what appears to be the real world and it's just the ordinary one that sucks, rather than this surreal clownscape.
Certain sentences/structures feel overused, the language is very plain and removed so it was hard to connect, the main character is questionably OP with no personality... but mostly I just couldn't stand being in a world of low stakes.
I don't like feeling like nothing matters because this is not the real world. We get constant glimpses of what appears to be the real world and it's just the ordinary one that sucks, rather than this surreal clownscape.
July 30, 2021
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got an eGalley of this through NetGalley to review.
Thoughts: I really loved this book, although it won't be for everyone. Previous to this I read Tidhar’s Bookman Histories and really enjoyed them. The story mainly follows a character called The Stranger who falls back and forth between our world and a circus-like world whose natural inhabitants are different types of clowns. In our world he is a father sitting beside the bed of his dying child and in the circus world he is on a quest to find a rare flower that will save his child.
The descriptions are amazing throughout and the clown world is incredibly creative and imaginative. I loved some of the imagery here and never knew what surprise I would find on the next page. This does have a fairly dark vibe to it but still comes off as magical and whimsical at times.
The comparison between this book and The Dark Tower series is very apt. The Stranger ends up joining up with a character called The Kid. The Kid in turn is searching for The Conjurer. The landscape here is a lot more fanciful than the Dark Tower series, but it has a similar questing type of vibe to it and characters fall back and forth between worlds.
My Summary (5/5): Overall I really, really enjoyed this and would recommend it. My only caution is that the story feels a bit ambiguous at times and the ending is fairly open. This is one that won't be for people who like a very straight-up and defined story. However, for me it was about the journey, the adventure, and the crazy world that lies just beyond our own. I just loved the world-building here and really enjoyed the strange and expected turns the story took.
Thoughts: I really loved this book, although it won't be for everyone. Previous to this I read Tidhar’s Bookman Histories and really enjoyed them. The story mainly follows a character called The Stranger who falls back and forth between our world and a circus-like world whose natural inhabitants are different types of clowns. In our world he is a father sitting beside the bed of his dying child and in the circus world he is on a quest to find a rare flower that will save his child.
The descriptions are amazing throughout and the clown world is incredibly creative and imaginative. I loved some of the imagery here and never knew what surprise I would find on the next page. This does have a fairly dark vibe to it but still comes off as magical and whimsical at times.
The comparison between this book and The Dark Tower series is very apt. The Stranger ends up joining up with a character called The Kid. The Kid in turn is searching for The Conjurer. The landscape here is a lot more fanciful than the Dark Tower series, but it has a similar questing type of vibe to it and characters fall back and forth between worlds.
My Summary (5/5): Overall I really, really enjoyed this and would recommend it. My only caution is that the story feels a bit ambiguous at times and the ending is fairly open. This is one that won't be for people who like a very straight-up and defined story. However, for me it was about the journey, the adventure, and the crazy world that lies just beyond our own. I just loved the world-building here and really enjoyed the strange and expected turns the story took.
May 20, 2022
This was a superbly written and superbly imaginative book. I will admit to being a sucker for clowns, circuses, Cthulhu-ish ideas, westerns, and Tidhar throws them all in here, with a subtle touch of feelings!, and makes it work fabulously. I have nothing but praise for this book. Everything works flawlessly, especially the transitions from reality to not-reality. There is a world here that feels familiar, somehow, but also not quite right. In lots of ways. I think the clowns might have been a metaphor for something bigger, but I am pretty done with Fact and will take my Fiction as fiction and let others suss out what means what and how to interpret things. I need to live in fantasy for a while, and this book is the perfect escape. Hah! Did you see how I did that?!?!? Hah! Seriously, this book is stunning and wonderful and nasty and creepy and over-the-top fascinating. The characters are so well developed and the plot is non-stop happenings. There isn't too much detail - Tidhar could have made this one Wendig-Length and I would have read it, for sure - but there is just enough of everything that makes for a great story. Stunning.
August 24, 2023
I should definitely stop trusting Samantha Shannon – this book gave me nothing except a headache. I think it would have worked better as a novella or a short story; nothing relevant was happening most of the time and the pacing was all over the place, so it was really hard for me to stay intrigued. I ended up skimming through it.
Read
July 15, 2021Thank you Netgalley for sending me a copy of this to review. I only got about 10% of the way through. The writing style just didn’t working for me and I didn’t like the way the author set up the story. I thought it was very disjointed and it didn’t flow well.
October 14, 2024
DNF
Bored confused and writing is poopy poop poop
Bored confused and writing is poopy poop poop
November 3, 2021
I just loved how wacky this book was. Went in all sorts of directions. I'll say the ending wasn't as climactic/satisfying as I would have hoped, but it gets 5 stars from me for how enjoyable the ride was.
Definitely check this out if you've been hankering for some new weird in your life.
Definitely check this out if you've been hankering for some new weird in your life.
June 26, 2021
This is a stunning novel of grief and escape and pain and imagination, and I'm recommending it to everyone. Where do realities end and begin, and how do parents cope with the loss of children? Where and how does one become a vigilante, or become resigned to events they cannot control? This novel dives deep into these questions, offering incredible sequences and plotlines of metaphor and diversion and emotion.
February 12, 2024
La scappatoia è un posto infinitamente particolare: sembra di essere in una versione allucinata del far west popolata da tribù di pagliacci, Arcani Maggiori ed esseri umani, nativi e non. È calpestata dalla Mascherata Selvatica e da cacciatori di taglie e su di essa imperversano tempeste di simboli e la terrificante titanomachia, la battaglia senza fine tra Colossi e pupae umbrarum. La si può immaginare come una sorta di realtà onirica confinante con la nostra, ma il confine è permeabile e così chi ne ha bisogno finisce per scivolare oltre la soglia e ritrovarsi lì. La scappatoia è un rifugio, un luogo dove il dolore può trasformarsi nel motore di un'avventura straordinaria, ma è anche spietata e insidiosa. è facile perdervisi perché non c'è nulla di lineare al suo interno, ma anche perché di norma chi ci finisce dentro ha tutto il desiderio di perdersi e pochissime ragioni per ritrovarsi. come lo Straniero, il quale nella Scappatoia cerca il leggendario fiore dell'eterna giovinezza che, come nel mito di Gilgamesh, potrebbe guadagnargli altro tempo insieme al figlio malato nel mondo reale. è l'uomo devastato al capezzale del figlio a sognare l'avventuriero o l'avventuriero in viaggio a sognare l'uomo? E il nostro mondo, rigido e disciplinato, a sognarne un altro, tortuoso e immaginifico, o viceversa? se il confine è impossibile da tracciare, la scappatoia accade soltanto nella nostra testa, ma non per questo è meno reale: e così il dolore di un uomo e le storie che raccontava a suo figlio diventano il bozzolo di un mondo senza regole che rifiuta persino la morte, imbevuto di malinconia e violenza, ma anche di magia e meraviglia.
Un posto che offre conforto e una via di fuga, ma anche la possibilità di scendere a patti con il mondo reale e azzardare una risposta a domande impossibili da decifrare: in fondo il potere delle storie fantastiche è di offrirci asilo, ma anche coordinate per navigare la realtà. Beh, Lavie Tidhar, grazie di avermi straziato il cuore ma fatto anche sorridere un bel po.
Un posto che offre conforto e una via di fuga, ma anche la possibilità di scendere a patti con il mondo reale e azzardare una risposta a domande impossibili da decifrare: in fondo il potere delle storie fantastiche è di offrirci asilo, ma anche coordinate per navigare la realtà. Beh, Lavie Tidhar, grazie di avermi straziato il cuore ma fatto anche sorridere un bel po.
January 16, 2024
Parallel worlds one violent, one greyed out in grief.
There are very few books I would vote to see screen adaptations to, however, with the right director this could be one of the greatest films ever made. Wild and vivid, gutwrenching and healing.
You know those movies where in one scene someone is tapping and the tapping lines up with someone using a hammer to kill someone in the next? That's the only way I can explain the complexity of the writing in the most simplified manner.
Visually this entire novel played out so dramatically in my mind, step by literal step as the Stanger slips between worlds, meandering his way through a warped western backdrop full of death, symbol storms, trapeze artists, melting clocktowers, and stone giants. Did I miss anything, yeah loads because for such a tiny book there are so many characters, settings, towns, and challenges. Nothing, and yet everything makes sense. I imagine one could read this novel ten times and find new symbolism and meaning in each read.
The quest for a cure, a quest to understand.
** Disclaimer that I'm typing this review over twelve months later because last night I had a dream, and it was centered around this novel. T-w-e-l-v-e m-o-n-t-h-s o-n.
There are very few books I would vote to see screen adaptations to, however, with the right director this could be one of the greatest films ever made. Wild and vivid, gutwrenching and healing.
You know those movies where in one scene someone is tapping and the tapping lines up with someone using a hammer to kill someone in the next? That's the only way I can explain the complexity of the writing in the most simplified manner.
Visually this entire novel played out so dramatically in my mind, step by literal step as the Stanger slips between worlds, meandering his way through a warped western backdrop full of death, symbol storms, trapeze artists, melting clocktowers, and stone giants. Did I miss anything, yeah loads because for such a tiny book there are so many characters, settings, towns, and challenges. Nothing, and yet everything makes sense. I imagine one could read this novel ten times and find new symbolism and meaning in each read.
The quest for a cure, a quest to understand.
** Disclaimer that I'm typing this review over twelve months later because last night I had a dream, and it was centered around this novel. T-w-e-l-v-e m-o-n-t-h-s o-n.
May 9, 2021
I don't usually read fantasy and I haven't read anything from Lavie Tidhar before so this is an interesting introduction for me. I wasn't totally excited when I realized clowns were going to be a huge part of the story but wanted to give it fair chance beyond my discomfort.
The description is very detailed without feeling overwhelming. The world-building alone paints a vivid environment. In fact, two environments that we see the father traverse into to search for an item that could save his sick and dying son. While I didn't feel compelled to complete this story, I did. Getting to the end and having watched the struggle of both the Father and the Stranger in parallels search for this flower they both desperately seek was a lot and I definitely had that 'woah' moment of finally getting there.
I definitely recommend this to fantasy lovers and those who are interested in Lavie Tidhar's work.
The description is very detailed without feeling overwhelming. The world-building alone paints a vivid environment. In fact, two environments that we see the father traverse into to search for an item that could save his sick and dying son. While I didn't feel compelled to complete this story, I did. Getting to the end and having watched the struggle of both the Father and the Stranger in parallels search for this flower they both desperately seek was a lot and I definitely had that 'woah' moment of finally getting there.
I definitely recommend this to fantasy lovers and those who are interested in Lavie Tidhar's work.
May 5, 2022
This book is surreal but at the same time very readable and interesting. It reminded me of a stranger version of The Gunslinger by King.
There are several characters we follow through an imaginary place called the Escapement. An escapement is also a part of a clock, which is fitting because the characters encounter clocks several times throughout the story. Interwoven in the main story is a thread about a man watching over his son in the hospital. The son is hooked to machines and does not stir until the end when they are in a dreamlike state.
The other characters include The Stranger (who is also the man in the hospital), the Kid, Temperanza, and The Conjurer. The characters encounter a preacher, a ringmaster, a giant statue, and numerous clowns who all seem to die. It felt like there was symbolism throughout the book but I'm not sure what these things symbolized: clocks, fish, a mountain, a train, and the Ur-shanabi (a rare flower).
In the story, the main characters encounter a strange landscape and unusual people or creatures. The author, in the afterword, references various stories he drew from but I was not familiar with any of them except vaguely some Greek mythology.
One drawback is the language, though it flows well, is not especially poetic. There is only one memorable quote:
Do you ever think back to a time when you were truly happy? For just one moment, the world is stilled, and everything is filled with infinite possibilities.
If only you could take that moment and distil its essence, preserve it--not forever, but just long enough.
The story is very creative however the characters, except for the Stranger, are a bit flat. The focus seems to be on the surreal landscape and people or creatures they encounter. Also, the violent deaths of clowns and a few other people was bleak.
I'm curious about what else Tidhar has written.
There are several characters we follow through an imaginary place called the Escapement. An escapement is also a part of a clock, which is fitting because the characters encounter clocks several times throughout the story. Interwoven in the main story is a thread about a man watching over his son in the hospital. The son is hooked to machines and does not stir until the end when they are in a dreamlike state.
The other characters include The Stranger (who is also the man in the hospital), the Kid, Temperanza, and The Conjurer. The characters encounter a preacher, a ringmaster, a giant statue, and numerous clowns who all seem to die. It felt like there was symbolism throughout the book but I'm not sure what these things symbolized: clocks, fish, a mountain, a train, and the Ur-shanabi (a rare flower).
In the story, the main characters encounter a strange landscape and unusual people or creatures. The author, in the afterword, references various stories he drew from but I was not familiar with any of them except vaguely some Greek mythology.
One drawback is the language, though it flows well, is not especially poetic. There is only one memorable quote:
Do you ever think back to a time when you were truly happy? For just one moment, the world is stilled, and everything is filled with infinite possibilities.
If only you could take that moment and distil its essence, preserve it--not forever, but just long enough.
The story is very creative however the characters, except for the Stranger, are a bit flat. The focus seems to be on the surreal landscape and people or creatures they encounter. Also, the violent deaths of clowns and a few other people was bleak.
I'm curious about what else Tidhar has written.
January 30, 2022
If I told you the setting elements of this novel, you'd surely guess it was some sort of off-color, absurdist work. Dali-esque clocks litter the landscape, the indigenous peoples are clowns (literally and genetically, just to be clear), mimes make war with colossi, ... you get the idea.
But you'd be wrong. Lavie Tidhar is telling a serious story here, and he does so ably. It's a strange effect though: this serious story that defies its absurd trappings. It's a testament to Tidhar's skill that he does this without it seeming forced.
In an update while reading this, I described it as what would happen if Douglas Adams and Cormac McCarthy's love child had written Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, and I think that's still a fair nutshell description. Adams's quirk elements in a serious McCarthy-esque western (including some echoes of his descriptive flair to boot) in a surreal, otherworldly landscape that borders on our reality and is intimately tied to the protagonist's life in that reality.
If that combination of authorial peculiarities piques your interest, don't hesitate to pick up this gem.
Nothing about this novel disappointed me. I loved the characters and the focus on the story (echoing McCarthy's one sci-fi novel, The Road, neither of them have names, just titles: The Stranger and The Kid). I delighted in how the weirdness of the world was related in such a deadpan manner and taken so seriously by characters and author alike that it felt perfectly natural. Tidhar resists the urge to be sly or tongue in cheek. And so, once I was into the story, I was never tempted to take it any other way.
All that is to say that I loved this both for the story and characters (and poignant ending) and for how well it was put together and written. I'll definitely be checking out more of Tidhar's work soon.
October 12, 2021
This is one of the most bizarre and touching books I've read, containing inspirations from wildly dissimilar sources and bringing them together to form a clown-filled, heartbreaking, and strangely hopeful meditation on the nature of love, grief, and life itself. You'll find shades of many well-known things in these pages, such as Greek and Mesopotamian mythology, the Tarot, Hebrew fairy tales, John Wayne Gacy, Salvador Dali, the Epic of Gilgamesh, the works of Shirley Jackson and Percy Shelley, and a seemingly endless array of various clowns, comedians, and other historical amusements. It's a genuinely impossible book to describe without sounding as if you've lost all sense, but The Escapement is a book that'll stay with you whether you expect it to or not and I encourage you all to give it a shot.
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