The Bookman Histories

The Bookman (#1)

“Pulls off the impossible.”

Locus

“Skillful, clever and highly enjoyable.”

SFX

“The Bookman is a delight, crammed with gorgeous period detail, seat-of-the-pants adventure and fabulous set-pieces.

The Guardian

Camera Obscura (#2)

“A rollicking adventure...a maelstrom of pop culture and recursive fantasy.”

Tor.com

“Superb.”

Fantasy Book Critic

The Great Game (#3)

“A clever, superior thriller, inventive and entertaining.”

SFX

“Achieves moments of surprising depth and beauty, with real insights into human history and psychology as well as the immense and varied wealth of writing in the last half of the 19th century. It's a virtuoso performance.”

Locus

“The plot is fast-paced, the book is action-packed, the cast of characters astounding … Every scene was vivid before my mind’s eye … an outstanding steampunk novel. Gripping, multi-faceted, and fascinating.”

Daily Steampunk

Standalone

By Force Alone

A bloody, bravura performance.

The Guardian

Extraordinary and vivid… As eclectic as The Sword In The Stone and as ruthless as A Game Of Thrones, this retelling of the whole Arthurian Legend stands alongside the very best.

The Daily Mail

Lavie Tidhar has crafted a punk epic on the mouldering bones of legend and jolted it to life with ten thousand volts of knowing wit and fury. By Force Alone eviscerates the complacent posturing of the Arthurian myth, explodes the well-worn conventions of the tale and from the shiny jagged pieces assembles a wholly fresh rollercoaster ride of cheap violence, vicious magic and messy human truth. Just read it. You’ll never look at a wizard the same way again.

Richard Morgan, author of Altered Carbon and A Land Fit for Heroes

By Force Alone is a jolt of pure entertainment, a brilliant, revisionist blend of magic, crime syndicates and Kung-fu knights.

Locus

Tidhar turns King Arthur’s court into a gangster’s paradise, full of wheelings and dealings, and true grit. If the tale didn’t go down like this, it should have.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia, author of Gods of Jade and Shadow and Mexican Gothic

Lavie Tidhar is a fearless madman. The last thing I wanted was another take on Camelot, but it turns out that what I absolutely needed was this profane, hilarious, brutal, genre-mashing story of Arthur as a rising goodfella, his thug knights, a Guinevere straight out of Kill Bill, and a Judean kung fu Lancelot. I haven’t even mentioned the UFOs. There’s no way this should work, but it kills as both sheer entertainment and canny political statement. To my fellow writers: the Arthurian Revision category is now closed. Take your ball and go home.

Daryl Gregory, author of We Are All Completely Fine and Spoonbenders

A twisted Arthur retelling mixing the historical and the magical with a very modern eye. Brutal and vicious and funny, a Peaky Blinders of the Round Table.

Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of Children of Time

A strong contender for the best Arthurian fantasy yet.

Samit Basu, author of Chosen Spirits and writer-director of House Arrest

HebrewPunk

“Imagine Hard-Boiled Kabbalah... If you like your otherworld fun noir, have I got a book for you!“

Kage Baker

“Wondrous, adventurous, and thought-provoking.”

Ellen Datlow

“Tidhar writes a sort of intensified supernatural action-surrealism that fair rattles along and is full of surprises—not only plot twists and thrills but a level of conceptual surprise, a reinvigoration of some of the more tired conventions of the fantasy-horror genre... not to be missed.”

Adam Roberts

New Atlantis

“A complex, layered and hugely enjoyable story.”

—Bestsf

“Lovely work.”

—Locus

“Excellent… not a word is wasted”

—Sfcrowsnest

“Amazing”

—1000yearplan

A Man Lies Dreaming

“Complex, elusive and intriguing...”

—The Jerusalem Post

“Nasty, clever, waspish and witty… a brilliant and potent thought experiment.”

—The Sunday Herald

“Bold and unnerving.”

—NPR

“Damn good...”

—Jewish Book Council

“A wholly original Holocaust story: as outlandish as it is poignant.”

—Kirkus (starred review)

“A vital, brilliant novel”

—Barnes & Noble SFF Blog

“Poetic & terrible… quite incredible.”

—Tor.com

Martian Sands

“Feels more like early Kurt Vonnegut… both writers seem to channel the same prankster glee that covers deep despair. MARTIAN SANDS crackles with energy and life while poking at some big questions about the nature of reality.”

Locus

“A totally mad and very enjoyable book. The closest comparison I can think of is Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse 5 – Tidhar does the same thing of taking a overwhelmingly serious subject (in this case the Holocaust; in Slaughterhouse 5, the bombing of Dresden) and applying to it a surreal and farcical lens – using humour to highlight tragedy, which is of course what the best theatre does. ”

E.J. Swift, author of Osiris

“MARTIAN SANDS is the work of a serious writer who writes entertainingly, who can be funny, political, speculative, provocative and charming, all at the same time.”

Stephen Theaker

The Tel Aviv Dossier

"The weird and unsettling Lovecraftian bits? On a scale of one to ten, those are cranked up to about twelve. This book is very, very strange, which means it’s a great read!"

Little Red Reviewer

"One word review: fun! This novel is insane. It is an often pessimistic mosaic of modern Israeli culture, society, and beliefs. It captures moments of clarity and meaning while examining what happens when our mundane reality butts up against an absurd apocalyptic event. (6 out of 6 He’Brew: The Chosen Beer)"

Southern Fried Weirdo

"A short, punchy rollercoaster that is equal parts brutal monster novel, post-apocalyptic what if? scenario, bizarre postmodern pastiche, stylized farce, and sneakily ironic tale of worlds beyond worlds."

Mark Monday, Goodreads reviewer

Collections

Four Novellas

“Tidhar changes genres with every outing, but his astounding talents guarantee something new and compelling no matter the story he tells.”

Library Journal

“Lavie Tidhar is one of the great writers of my generation.”

Silvia Moreno-Garcia, author of Mexican Gothic

Novellas

An Occupation of Angels

“A breathless adventure story, finely crafted and rammed home with the assured confidence of an author very much in his stride.”

SFRevue.com

“Sharp, brutal, cool--yet also stunningly imaginative and perfectly realised."

Michael Marshall, bestselling author of The Straw Men trilogy

“Fast moving, powerfully phantasmagoric fantasy.”

Adam Roberts

“A novella of blistering, ballistic energy and ferocious cleverness.”

James Lovegrove