DNF Review – The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Steampunk
Length: 336 pages
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Release Date: July 12, 2011
ISBN-13: 978-0062004758
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Bought
Rating: 3/5 stars
“You’ll be astonished by what you’ll find in The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities. Editors Ann and Jeff Vandermeer have gathered together a spectacular array of exhibits, oddities, images, and stories by some of the most renowned and bestselling writers and artists in speculative and graphic fiction, including Ted Chiang, Mike Mignola (creator of Hellboy), China Miéville, and Michael Moorcock. A spectacularly illustrated anthology of Victorian steampunk devices and the stories behind them, The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities is a boldly original, enthrallingly imaginative, and endlessly entertaining entry into a hidden world of weird science and unnatural nature that will appeal equally to fantasy lovers and graphic novel aficionados.”
I got to page 170 of this book and then decided to set it aside. It’s a very creative idea; the whole book is about a fake man name Lambshead and his curiosities. It’s written like a non-fiction book. I wasn’t a huge fan of Vandermeer’s “City of Saints and Madmen” either and I didn’t realize this book was related to that one (which it is).
This isn’t the kind of book you sit down and read, but rather a good coffee table book that you pick up now and then and read a bit of. It’s intriguing, odd, but ultimately wasn’t really for me.
I think the thing I disliked most about this book was that it read a lot like a non-fiction book (which I am not a fan of reading a ton of non-fiction) but I knew it was all fake. So, I was suffering through reading a non-fiction-like book that wasn’t really helping me learn anything real.
My favorite part of this book were the stories based off of objects in Thackery’s Cabinet; some of these were decent and I enjoyed them.
Overall this book wasn’t for me but it is very creative and well done for what it is. If you are into Vandermeer’s whole fake steampunk world that he introduced in “City of Saints and Madmen” you’ll enjoy this. If you like the whole fake subject presented as real fact in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way I think you will enjoy this as well.
This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Goodreads Reading Challenge
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
