ANHOW Review of Books: "The Anubis Gates" by Tim Powers -- Adilbrand Noblesword's Hall of Warriors

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Date Posted: 09:23:53 06/14/02 Fri
Author: Adilbrand
Subject: ANHOW Review of Books: "The Anubis Gates" by Tim Powers

The Anubis Gates

Genre: Science Fiction
Published by: Ace Books, New York, 1983
Chatto and Windus, London, 1985 (first hardcover edition)

This is a fantastic book about an ancient Egyptian sorcerer whose powerful magic can change the history of the entire world.

In it, some amazing characters come to life. Here are a few: a modern millionaire with a sinister plan who journeys back to England in 1810, a werewolf who switches bodies - then kills his victims to keep his identity a secret, a hideously deformed clown of crime who performs grotesque experiments on his victims, a brainwashed Lord Byron - programmed to kill King George, a young woman disguised as a boy, hunting the thing that killed her lover, and our hero, Professor Brendan Doyle, who has no idea what he is getting into when he agrees to give a lecture on Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

The Anubis Gates has a well-deserved reputation as Powers' best work.

This book has got a little of everything. There is so much going on here that you may even lose track of a thread, but that makes it all the more satisfying when Powers masterfully ties it all together!

The time travel ideas expressed here have always been my favorite of the genre - the kind where all the loose ends work themselves out, and there's never any hint of a paradox once you understand what has happened.

Brendan Doyle stumbles through this wild adventure, trying earnestly and desperately to choose the right course of action, but consistently ends up on the receiving end of malicious forces and unfortunate turns of event. You'll be amazed at how believable these improbable occurrences turn out to be.

I cannot make enough positive statements about this book - if you like time travel, historical fiction, adventure, horror, or just plain great plotting, you will not be disappointed. Get a copy and enjoy it.

For once a book has won an award and really, truly deserved it (Philip K. Dick Award).

I give this book an A+ and rank it with "Frankenstein" and "Gone with the Wind" as one of my favorite books. The copy I read was loaned to me, so I need to make an effort to get a copy for my own personal library.

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