The Anubis Gates
By Tim Powers
You can purchase this book at amazon.com.
Tags: body-switching, Byron, Coleridge, fantasy, magicians, time travel
Started: 28th July 2008
Finished: 2nd August 2008
Rating: 9.0
Review
Another one of Tim Powers’ characteristically madcap rides through mysticism and secret history. Good but not as good as, say, Last Call or On Stranger Tides. One of the things I really love about Powers is the way that he makes completely off-the-wall mysticism seem completely grounded and natural. Why does the clown walk around on sticks throughout the entire book? Because stepping on earth hurts him even since he took up practicing magic. It’s a great detail that sounds like it was carefully researched from old myths or books on magic, even though it’s also entirely possible that Powers made it up out of thin air. Somehow all of this insanity is nearly believable as an explanation for the unseen parts of history never before recorded. Good stuff. My only disappointment is that the back cover spoils some of the plot details. I wonder what my experience might have been if I hadn’t read that information. Of course, you could argue that the main character has read his whole life story before the book even starts, so reading spoilers on the back of the book simulates that experience for the reader…
