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The Anubis Gates (FANTASY MASTERWORKS)
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Product Description
Book Description
A fast-paced and exciting tale of a nineteenth century London that never was by a master storyteller
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
Ancient Egyptian magic reaches into the London of 1810 as literary scholar Brendan Doyle heads there from the late-20th century via a time-travel device. The centuries collide in a chiaroscuro of stories featuring characters such as Horrobin the clown and Dog-Face Joe the werewolf.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I picked up a copy of the Anubis Gates 14 years ago and have been hooked on Tim Powers since.
Time travel, gypsies, love story, fantasy, intrigue......The Anubis Gates has it all. As ever Powers weaves a web which sucks the reader in and then takes you on a rip roaring roller coaster ride of your life.
The only bad thing about the book is that it ends!
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There are so many reviews of fantasy books claiming that each one is better and more exciting than the last, but this really is a stormingly good book. It has so many elements to it and such a fast pace that the whole thing sucks you in from the beginning and shakes you in it's teeth until the very end. A huge variety of bizarre, macabre and historical figures all collide and the books is packed with conspiracy, cultists, gypsies, crooks, mad scientists, scary jesters, innocent victims, poets, magic and Eygptology of the best hokum kind, all jostling for space in the seedy backstreets of a not-quiet-London. The plot twists and curves, from chases to black magic to underground dens of thieves. The prose is tight and often grim, but without the longwindedness that so often besieges fantasy writers. This is a wonderful, exciting book crammed with ideas, and great fun to read with the story continuing to surprise until the very end.
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you think it would be impossible to meld Egyptian gods, time travel, poetry, and historical fiction, think again, because this book does it.
Brendan Doyle, a scholar with expertise in Samuel Coleridge and the (fictional) William Ashbless poets of the early 19th century, is drawn into a scheme to actually travel back to the period of those poets via `gaps' in the integrity of time flow left from the performance of a major spell by a mysterious survivor/sorcerer of ancient Egypt. Kidnapped and marooned in this time period, Doyle is introduced to the underwold of that London, becoming a beggar who must hide from the sorcerer's disciples (and their ka's, replicas grown from the original's blood). Figuring out why he is object of such attention and determining what to do about it forms the balance of this work.
The action is fast paced, the situation complex and in places appropriately horrific, the described environs of London and Egypt in that period very well done. Most of the characters were well drawn, from the ka Romany to Jackie the beggar, and their motivations and actions normally made good sense. Historically, this seems to be quite accurate in terms of known events, from the Duke of Monmouth's attempts to take the English crown to the known early life of Lord Byron. Some of the images and ideas of this book are excellent, from little four inch high men to a valid, believable werewolf. And it does provide an interesting explanation for some of Coleridge's visions.
Where I had some problems with this work was with the character of Doyle himself as he changes from something of an ivory-tower milquetoast to a man of action and derring-do, as the change just did not strike me as totally believable, even given that he was almost forced into such action or die. In some of the later stages of the book, I also had trouble following just who was who, especially for some of the minor characters (why this confusion exists is one of the mainstays of the plot).
But most disappointing to me was that Powers basically copped out on providing any answer to the philosophical question that time travel almost necessarily entails: if you go back in time, are all your actions from that point on totally pre-determined (else history would change), is there some wiggle room for self-determination if the actions were never documented; or can history be changed and a new universe born? How he managed to not answer this forms a somewhat surprising coda to the main action, good in its own right, but still left me feeling a little cheated.
Still, a strong action novel, well researched, and very different from most books that fall under the umbrella of `time-travel'.
--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Tim Powers best
A favourite book of the whole family, which is amazing considering my husband, son, daughter and myself all have very different taste in books. Read more
Published 7 days ago by P Webber
Inaccurate
Apart from the numerous very annoying typos in the ebook, the geography is inaccurate and there are some silly mistakes. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Spikey
An enjoyable romp.
I recommend this- it's a fun, light read. The story rattles along at a frantic lick and the colourful characters are a joy. Read more
Published 9 months ago by J. S. Davies
Excellent time travel fantasy
This was excellent and I really enjoyed it. It has time travel, sorcery, body-swapping, Egyptian mythology, and nineteenth century history. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Cathy Hill
Superb!!!
Hello!!
Ignore any review that gives this book any less than four stars. It is a glorious rollercoaster ride of adventure, poetry, time travel, Dickensian London and... Read more
Ignore any review that gives this book any less than four stars. It is a glorious rollercoaster ride of adventure, poetry, time travel, Dickensian London and... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Harvey's Mum
Excellent Fiction
I'm not one for long reviews so I'l keep this short. Excellent book, definately the best book I've read so far this year. Read more
Published 14 months ago by James Loney
took me years to get around to reading it-well worth the effort
Anubis Gates had been on my to read list for years but other (usually sprawling multi-tome) fantasy epics had got in the way. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Ross Kitson
Long-time favourite
This book has long been a favourite, second only to The Drawing of the Dark in Powers' canon, but PLEASE - will whoever wrote the Product Description go away, read the book... Read more
Published 20 months ago by R. W. Graves
Wonderful and Original
Prepare yourselves before delving into the page-turning depths of this book.
Rarely do i read something that actually surprises me with every page I turn - this book was... Read more
Rarely do i read something that actually surprises me with every page I turn - this book was... Read more
Published 21 months ago by A. Grevy
Egyptian Magic plus time-travel
Tim Powers story is excellent. It is a compelling mixture of Egyptiam fantasy, Victorian drama and time-travel. Well worth a read!
Published on 24 April 2009 by M. Muir
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