The Somnamnbulist

Another shameless review that I did for my school paper. --What?! I wrote it therefore it still counts. Plus, it's nice to see that I've got a start on what I want to become blog devoted more to reviews and less to dreary posts.--

The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes

Ah, the dimly lit aisles of a book store swim before my eyes as I squint at many a title. For the past three hours I have been searching for one decent book to do a review on and have only come away with dozens of cliché captions. The standards for publicists have obviously reached an all time low. The standards for authors aren’t so hot either. --I was still annoyed with one of the smart eleck clerks when I wrote this*--

Finally I came away with The Somnambulist. Edward Moon is a washed out magician who used to be famous for his ability to solve crimes, but now is past his prime. Boredom is starting to get to him when one day he gets a visit from Inspector Merryweather who needs help with a new case. “This one’s special,” the man insisted. “There’s something queer about it, someting grisly and gothic and bizarre. So you can see why I thought of you.” Gothic and bizarre describes most of the book.

Moon is pulled deep into the twisted world of Victorian England as he searches for answers. Along the way he encounters a bearded woman**, the human fly, a man who lives backwards in time***, and his faithful sidekick The Somnambulist. What seems to be a straight up murder mystery in the beginning quickly changes into a humor-filled quest for answers as Moon and The Somnambulist uncover a cult whose goal is to take down London and rebuild it using the pantisocratic plans of the poet Coleridge.

What I still don't understand is why it was called The Somnambulist. The title character is in fact only a minor type that shadows Moon around. A tall, bald, golem like guy that communicates by writing on a slate and has a passion for milk. There are several vague references about him resembling Gog and Magog the last of Englands giants, but beyond that his origins aren't elaborated on. The most remarkable thing about him is that he can be impaled, slashed, and sliced with nary a drop of blood being shed. Well, I didn't say he wasn't odd. He just isn't featured enough to warrant the book being titled after him.

It’s somewhat confusing in places, but for the most part it’s funny enough that you won’t care. Never fear though, by the last three chapters everything is resolved quite nicely and all the odd pieces stitched together. If you like dark Victorian books with random bits of humor thrown in...this is a must. If you are easily grossed out by descriptions of gore and the occasional just plain gross, then it’s a must not.

--> Back to me--> This book was pretty decent considering that it was J. Barnes's first. It's funny in places and very confusing in others, but does have that nice 1800s feel to it with a large dash of fantasy. Who can resist, eh?

* The book store that I usually frequent has this really annoying know-it-all clerk. When ever I ask him questions he sneers at me. I know! Though, since I assosciate him with books I'm slightly fond of the jerk.

**A bearded whore actually. There's a really REALLY odd scene involving a place of ill repute and disfigurment.

***A man living backwards in time? Does this ring of T.H. White's Once and Future King or is it just me?