The Digging Leviathan

---

One person found this helpful. Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. I am a huge fan of James Blaylock. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that over the years I have read "The Elfin Ship" and "The Disappearing Dwarf" at least 5 times each, happily getting lost in Blaylock's imaginary world of linkmen, elves, and a certain dastardly dwarf. I have also read his other books - in hard print - and enjoyed them thoroughly as well.

And in hard print, "The Digging Leviathan" is a good book. A very good book. But the Kindle version is an absolute mess. I'm not sure of the methodology used to transcribe the book from hard print to Kindle, but whatever it is, Amazon, please get rid of it.

This book is so full of transcription errors, that at times you have to use your best guess at what word actually appeared in the hard print version. I still can't figure out this sentence. If you are reading this review, you are probably a fan of Blaylock's writing, and if so, you will enjoy this story, populated with the zany and eccentric characters that Blaylock brings to his novels.

But do not buy the Kindle version. At some point, you are going to be tempted to mumbled under your breath, "to hell with it," and move on to another book. And that would be a shame, for you would be missing out on something that could be - with some very simple proof reading - a treat for your imagination. I love this book. The story is gripping and you never know who is sane and who is not.

The Kindle version, though I would recommend this to anyone who loves steampunk novels, sci fi fans, or anyone who just wants to read a good story. The Elfin Ship is his best, but this one is up there. Originally posted at Fantasy Literature.

Follow the Author

The Digging Leviathan is the first book in James P. The Digging Leviathan features two teenage boys, Jim Hastings and Giles Peach, who are living on the coast of Southern California during the midth century. Jim lives with his uncle Edward St. Hilario Frosticus one of Dr. Giles, who has webbed fingers and a set of gills on his neck, suspects that his dad turned into a fish and swam down a subterranean aquatic tunnel which leads to the center of the earth.

Desperately trying to find his father, Giles is building a tunneling machine called The Digging Leviathan. Some are afraid that Giles will destroy the earth.

Do they have some reason to believe that Giles is on to something? He also suspects that the man who drives the ice cream truck is a spy. He dresses them in doll clothes to test his Civilization Theory. Creating and entertaining us with his neurotic characters is what Blaylock does best.

Paperback Editions

The story is also about familial love. I enjoyed his performance, and I thought it got better and better as it went on. See all 12 reviews. There's a problem loading this menu right now. Learn more about Amazon Prime. Get fast, free shipping with Amazon Prime. Get to Know Us. English Choose a language for shopping. Amazon Music Stream millions of songs. Amazon Advertising Find, attract, and engage customers. Amazon Drive Cloud storage from Amazon.

The voices adopted for the various characters seemed very contrived. Though and difficult to sort through. There were variations on raspy old man and high pitched adolescent boy and little else. The story itself was convoluted and the voices only made sorting things out that much more difficult.

In addition to the odd character voices the narrator mispronounces several words. I always find these jarring and I have to use context to determine what the word should have been. I ran across this book in a search for steampunk novels. It is not a steampunk novel despite the use of flying submarines, machines designed to burrow to Pelucidar and bathyscapes, although one would think I'm not sure if this was a problem with Audible. Things are not as they seem and I went from thinking every character was completely mad to figuring out what was happening before too long, so I don't know that the narration can take credit for all of my dissatisfaction with this book.

I've read this many times. This one is uneven in its pacing, but I love it. Blaylock is the king of whimsical. Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? There is something wonderful, and wonderfully refreshing, about Blaylock's stories.

The Digging Leviathan

I've read them since I first discovered The Elfin Ship, and always feel this innate sense of happiness when I find another. He may not be for everyone; few authors are. But try him with an open mind and a sense of humor. There are people, events ideas, and things in his stories that are completely absurd part of the charm , but they are fit for their tasks within the context of the tale. Blaylock is himself and no one else, but like a good wine there are hints of this and that story-telling forebear. Hope Mirrlees Lud-in-the-Mist and things that float down river , John Bellairs especially The Face in the Frost , James Thurber his stories about his life more than his fairy tales , and Bradbury for the child in every adult, and the adult growing in every child ; and then there's Beagle, Grahame, some Twain.

Navigation menu

But his voice is unique. If you taste memories of another author, it springs from his being immersed, and reveling, in the experiences and memories that shaped him. His voice reminds me also of different honeys, that have shades of this or that flower from the neighborhood. The reason I haven't described the story itself is that it would be a pointless endeavor. The plot is good, the characters charming, the stakes high. But reading too many plot descriptions is like watching too many trailers for a movie.

After a while, you lose the ability to be surprised and carried along by unfolding events. So stop reading descriptions and pick up the genuine article itself. As for those who had difficulty listening to the story, don't approach it with preconceived expectations of one more Steampunk clone although this is one of the originals.

He uses invented the genre tropes, but uses them in service of the characters, not as gosh-wow ends in themselves. And you can't read him with your nose in the air and an ego inflated with pretense. He'll just deflate the latter and use it as a whoopee-cushion in a daring scheme sure to confound Dr. Frosticos or one of the Narbondos. What other book might you compare The Digging Leviathan to and why?

The story was all over the place and extremely hard to follow. There were occasional flashes or hints of something interesting, but they would inevitably be swamped by strange blathering! Unfortunately not worth the money or the effort What disappointed you about The Digging Leviathan? The story was convoluted and seemed to wander without seeming to go anywhere.

The narration was like listening to a bad old gangster movie. Don't wait your money. This is the first time I stopped listening to any book I have purchased. I just couldn't stand listening to the narration any longer. This was one of the more boring audiobooks I have purchased. I tried to like it, but I couldn't get more than 2 hours into the narration. I wasn't sure whether the author was attempting humor on purpose, but I did not find any of it funny. The characters were not interesting. Nothing much happened in two hours, and I had no reason to think it would get better if I could force myself to listen longer.

For the most part, the reader was OK. Perhaps I can't evaluate him fairly because I disliked the book so much, but some of the voices were as annoying as the book was boring. Originally posted at Fantasy Literature. The Digging Leviathan is the first book in James P. The Digging Leviathan features two teenage boys, Jim Hastings and Giles Peach, who are living on the coast of Southern California during the midth century. Jim lives with his uncle Edward St. Hilario Frosticus one of Dr.

Giles, who has webbed fingers and a set of gills on his neck, suspects that his dad turned into a fish and swam down a subterranean aquatic tunnel which leads to the center of the earth.

The Digging Leviathan by James Blaylock ()

Desperately trying to find his father, Giles is building a tunneling machine called The Digging Leviathan. Some are afraid that Giles will destroy the earth. Do they have some reason to believe that Giles is on to something? He believes that his neighbor — a little old lady in curlers and a bathrobe — is conspiring against him with the gardener.

He also suspects that the man who drives the ice cream truck is a spy. He dresses them in doll clothes to test his Civilization Theory.

Customers who bought this item also bought

Creating and entertaining us with his neurotic characters is what Blaylock does best. The story is also about familial love. I enjoyed his performance, and I thought it got better and better as it went on. Having just finished this book, I find myself unable to really give you much of a summary.

Top Authors

It it a very odd book, which seems to be set in cold war era USA, following the journey of a mentally unstable man on his journey to the centre of the earth. Whether anything is actually happening, or is all imagined is still a mystery. Even though the narrator is pretty good, I found myself switching off while listening and even when I was paying attention, I was not really following.

The ending is also rather abrupt, but I found myself almost glad that it had finished, so I didn't have to listen anymore. We love coca cola right? I mean as a species, generally we do. Is it the sugar?

• Her Perfect Assistant - Erotic Short Story for Women
• La Route de laéroport (Libres) (French Edition)
• Brule River Forest and Lake Superior: Cloverland Anecdotes
• On a Wayward Waddle Through the White Willows:Book One
• Pirates of Venus: Venus Book 1
• Ansatz und Bewertung immaterieller Vermögensgegenstände nach IFRS: Dazu abweichende Bestimmungen nach US-GAAP und der Neufassung des IAS 38 vom März 2004 (German Edition)