Drawing of The Dark

[Connavar]

Im reading this book and im enjoying it. The humor,the very interesting main character. The action with all the sword play i like alot too!

I adore the historical setting too. Also as the blurb say it was long time since i read a fantasy set so much in a city. After all the books with so much woods,plains etc its good to have story set so much in cities.

Anyone else likes this book?

[clovis-man]

I had to go look on my "To be read" shelf. Sure enough, I have a copy there. Since it's from 1979, it's one of his earlier works. His later stuff, e.g., The Anubis Gates (1983) and Dinner at Deviant's Palace (1985) was great, IMHO. So I'm looking forward to reading this one, too. The Stress of Her Regard, from a bit later (1989) didn't seem as sharp. OTOH, Last Call, Expiration Date and Earthquake Weather (1992 thru 1997) were great. So, he has regained his touch (for me at least).

Jim

[Connavar]

According to his site in this book you see for the first time the skill and ideas that made him famous in the bizz.

What i read in his site too that i agree with is how well done the sword action scenes are. Its not just chop away at people that you see in most fantasy and historical fictions. You can see clearly what is happening in the scene and i like how it is about skill and not brute force.



This book might not look as good to you since you have read his other works specially cause you will reconize his recurring ideas that might be better done in his later stories.

I like it cause i like his style of writing, his characters ,the humor,action and the awesome blend of historical setting and the supernatural.

It seems like most of his fantasy works are like that and i look forward to reading them

[GOLLUM]

I did enjoy this one I must say. The characters were interestingly drawn and the plotting was good. However, I don't like it as much as Anubis Gates, my fav Powers book to date.

[Connavar]

It doesnt matter to me if this one of his best books or not. For me its special. His first book i liked and i saw his potential as a writer. I will always like Brian Duffy and the way he did the celtic myths was very good. I didnt the see wizard and who the king was coming. Which is rare.

Its a shame he written only 12 books since 1976.

[williamjm]

Originally Posted by Connavar of Rigante

I like it cause i like his style of writing, his characters ,the humor,action and the awesome blend of historical setting and the supernatural.

It seems like most of his fantasy works are like that and i look forward to reading them

I think "The Drawing of the Dark" did pretty much define Tim Powers' formula for his historical fantasies, it has most of the elements that the later books did.

I did enjoy "The Drawing of the Dark", although it does lack the depth of his later novels.

Its a shame he written only 12 books since 1976.

There are quite a few short stories as well, although I've not read most of them yet. Unfortunately Powers tends to do a huge amount of historical research before writing his novels which probably makes it inevitable there is a large gap between the books.

[Connavar]

Yeah i saw he wrote huge amount of short stories which is nice.


I read a review for the book in his site saying Drawing of The Dark had most of the elements his is known for in his later books.

I find that very awesome. It means more interesting historical fantasies.

I loved the historical setting with the supernatural and the myth and the characters he did.

The fact that there are prolly several of those books that are better than The Dark is very cool

[littlemissattitude]

Originally Posted by williamjm

Unfortunately Powers tends to do a huge amount of historical research before writing his novels which probably makes it inevitable there is a large gap between the books.

Why is that unfortunate? I like that he puts that effort into his research.

Incidentally, a few years ago I was in attendance a panel at LosCon where he was interviewed and when they opened the floor to questions, I asked him how he knew when he had done enough research. If I remember correctly, he said something to the effect that when he had been researching for a year, he knew that was enough. Anyway, it was time-related rather than related to the number of books read or the amount of notes taken.

[williamjm]

Originally Posted by littlemissattitude

Why is that unfortunate? I like that he puts that effort into his research.

I agree that the research is good and essential to the books Powers writes. I meant that it was unfortunate that this inevitably meant that there would be large gaps between books being published.

[clovis-man]

When I saw a copy of Declare recently, I thought he had crossed over into the world of espionage and international intrigue ala John LeCarre. But I guess it's just typical exhaustively researched Tim Powers. I'll have to track it down again.

Jim

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by clovis-man

When I saw a copy of Declare recently, I thought he had crossed over into the world of espionage and international intrigue ala John LeCarre. But I guess it's just typical exhaustively researched Tim Powers. I'll have to track it down again.

Jim

When i read about it and i thought heh its so Tim Powers.


Spy is a big fav genre of mine.

I cant wait to read his secret history version of a spy story.

[williamjm]

Originally Posted by clovis-man

When I saw a copy of Declare recently, I thought he had crossed over into the world of espionage and international intrigue ala John LeCarre. But I guess it's just typical exhaustively researched Tim Powers. I'll have to track it down again.

Declare does start off feeling like a fairly straightforward John Le Carre-style espionage novel and then as the book goes on more and more supernatural elements start coming into the story.

[littlemissattitude]

Declare was the first Tim Powers novel I read.

I came across it in the library and picked it off the shelf simply because the title was intriguing. When I started to read the blurb, I thought, great, another spy novel, and almost put it back, as I'm not a big fan of spy novels. But then I realized that it had fantasy elements to it (it was in the general fiction section of that library branch, so that wasn't immediately evident) and I decided to give it a try.

I'm glad I did, because it is an amazing novel. After reading it I made it a point to track down some of Powers' other work, which was how I found Last Call and its sequels. Then I went out and bought Three Days to Never when it came out. I still haven't managed to track down much of his other work, aside from a collection of short stories, but I'm working on it.

I didn't realize, actually, how much research he put into Declare until I read the afterward, where he talks about that, and so I wasn't impressed with that as I was reading it. However, when I read Earthquake Weather the extent of his research became very clear to me. One portion of the early part of the story takes place along a street very close to where I lived for four and a half years, and as he described it in the book I could actually picture that stretch of the street as I remember it because it was so close to reality.

[clovis-man]

Originally Posted by littlemissattitude

Declare was the first Tim Powers novel I read.

I came across it in the library and picked it off the shelf simply because the title was intriguing. When I started to read the blurb, I thought, great, another spy novel, and almost put it back, as I'm not a big fan of spy novels. But then I realized that it had fantasy elements to it (it was in the general fiction section of that library branch, so that wasn't immediately evident) and I decided to give it a try.

Just nabbed a copy at Friends of the Library today. I'll be getting to it as soon as I polish off another Patrick O'Brian sea yarn.

Jim

[nomadman]

A ripping yarn, as they say. I was actually surprised how Howard-esque it is in places, though there is that undercurrent of weirdness that typifies Powers' other works.