The Anubis Gates

[Connavar]

Please tell me there are more than one or two people here who have read this book ?

People who liked it ? Who liked other TP books but not this ?

[ktabic]

I haven't read this one yet. But it's getting really close to the top of the pile.

[Connavar]

Will it be your first Tim Powers ? Its a different one compared to his other books.

[revelshade]

I loved it. I would rate it above Drawing of the Dark and On Stranger Tides, and I liked them a lot too. I haven't read anything after those I'm afraid.

I read a very brief review by Theodore Sturgeon in Twilight Zone magazine about a million years ago. Glanced through the book because of that. Thumbing through it I discovered it shares a character with The Digging Leviathan by James Blaylock (one of my desert island books), so I had to buy it.

So what's to like? Convincing, sinister magic. Gaslight and fog. Thieves and beggars. Gender disguise. Spring-heeled Jack and Lord Byron and the way Doyle hears a particular song whistled on a crowded street. The way he finally finds Ashbless and the night-journey that (almost) ends the book. The final twist and a great last line.

It's been almost 20 years since I read the book and now little details are teasing me, just out of reach. Do I remember little eggshell boats on a dark river? Or is another book spilling over into this one?

Anyway, beautiful, giddy, exuberant book. Powers has compared what he does to performing card tricks in the dark, but in this case it seems more like he's juggling the complete works of Dickens plus the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the Necronomicon and the Wizard of Oz, doused in brandy and set on fire, while whistling the Monty Python theme. Or something.

[ktabic]

Yeah, it will be my first Tim Powers. Decided to read some of his stuff after meeting the man himself at Eastercon. And it's a Fantasy Masterworks (I've come to the conclusion that the two Masterworks series are really good).

Didn't realise the rest of his books where different, will have to track down some more I guess.

[Teresa Edgerton]

I started it but didn't finish it, though I may still do so one of these days. It wasn't that I didn't like it; there was plenty about it that appealed to me strongly. Unfortunately, the main character wasn't one of them. I just put it down one day and came to realize that I felt no urgency about picking it up again, having no particular investment in what happened to him next. I didn't like him enough to want to see him overcome his predicament (except in the general sort of way one usually wishes a protagonist to succeed), or dislike him enough to wish him ill, nor was I particularly interested in what he might do next -- because so far he'd basically allowed himself to be carried along by events, and therefore showed no particular promise of doing anything much.

I liked the setting very much though, so I could go back just to immerse myself in that, sometime when I'm in the mood.

[HareBrain]

I loved the way he made those who used magic respond to different gravity - the magician with his spherical room and couch on casters was worth the price of admission by itself. I have to say the rest of it didn't do a great deal for me, compared to Declare and Last Call.

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by Teresa Edgerton

I started it but didn't finish it, though I may still do so one of these days. It wasn't that I didn't like it; there was plenty about it that appealed to me strongly. Unfortunately, the main character wasn't one of them. I just put it down one day and came to realize that I felt no urgency about picking it up again, having no particular investment in what happened to him next. I didn't like him enough to want to see him overcome his predicament (except in the general sort of way one usually wishes a protagonist to succeed), or dislike him enough to wish him ill, nor was I particularly interested in what he might do next -- because so far he'd basically allowed himself to be carried along by events, and therefore showed no particular promise of doing anything much.

I liked the setting very much though, so I could go back just to immerse myself in that, sometime when I'm in the mood.

If it wasnt TP and his proven record with the others books i have read i would have stopped reading too i think.

The settings,the time travel is very interesting but the main character is far from Duffy,Jack Shandy you rooted for those guys. Yeah he shows no promise of doing anything on his own.

Whats with TP awarded books ? Both Declare and this isnt as good as Drawing of The Dark,On Stranger Tides. Lets hope his sf book Dinnerat Deviant's Place isnt the same...