Rechargeable Book Light LED Reading Light Neck Hug Lamp Hands Free Flexible,Ideal for Bed Reading/Night Running/Jogging/Car Repairing,Perfect as Gifts/Crafts 2 Soft Flexible Arms,4 LEDs-3 Brightness Paperback – January 22, 2009

I got this book based on a review I read on a blog. I highly recommend it. The story is very good, and the world Chris created is detailed and filled with fun, interesting (and strange) characters.Be prepared to have your sanity drain away as a you read it (Which is a good thing as any Lovecraft fan can tell you!)Would love to see more tales of Skinner and Beckitt in the future!

Very original worldbuilding, excellent characters with realistic flaws, wonderful writing. I loved the bronze statues corroding throughout the city, the sense of greatness and crumbling destruction. Really, really good stuff.

I bought this book at a science fiction convention, and then let it languish unread for over a year because I was so put off by the terrible jacket and lack of book design. But it's the words inside the book that really count, after all. I began it with trepidation when I literally had nothing else to read, but by the end of chapter two I was completely hooked.The Translated Man is amazing! It's sort of in the steampunk family, but set in a phlogiston-powered world that superficially resembles Victorian England. The main character is an aging Byronic hero who has lost his nose to an industrial disease called The Fades, which he combats with a horribly addictive drug called veneine. His job as coroner is to catch people who are dabbling in the Forbidden Sciences--reanimating the dead and the like. His fellow coroners are Valentine, a high-spirited young aristocrat who hasn't been dragged down by the job yet, and Skinner, who is a knocker, which means that she is blind but uses an acute sense of hearing to locate people and objects, and can send coded messages. Talk about world-building--the landscape of the book is amazingly intricate, with different humanoid species and an ancient, multilayered city. But every detail is relevant and interesting. The characters are vivid and the pacing of the story is excellent. I thought it had the perfect balance of action and introspection. I was so happy reading this book, I felt like someone who'd found a priceless jewel in a pile of manure. As soon as I finished, I immediately ordered the sequel, which was also excellent. I am a *very* picky reader, but I highly recommend The Translated Man. There were a few typos that spellcheck didn't catch ("layer" for "lair," that kind of thing), but who cares? This book is sensational.

This is a pretty darn fun adventure. Reads like if Robert E Howard had written a steampunk mystery novel, with plenty of solid action, big world building, and grumpy grumpy detectives.It's a quick read and well worth the $8

The Translated Man is an excellent read, blending elements of science fiction, horror, and adventure into an intriguing story. What truly shines here are the descriptions of the world, which takes on a great deal of depth.The first chapter is a bit awkward, but stick with it and you'll be well rewarded: it quickly evolves into a fascinating and intriguing detective story. That the story happens to unfold on a world that blends elements of Lovecraftian horror with nineteenth century science fiction and horror only enhances the novel.The setting is unique. It shares common ground with steam punk, of course, but such similarities are superficial: beneath the surface, this is another creature entirely. In terms of elements, The Translated Man could almost be seen as a distant cousin to Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, though the tone could hardly be more different.I've heard it called many things, but I've taken to classifying it under the heading of "phlogiston punk". To my knowledge, there are no other works of phlogiston punk in existence, a fact that's easy to forget as the setting is so well developed it feels, at times, that it's been evolving for centuries. The Translated Man is a dizzyingly inventive book, and highly recommended.