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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
When Poetry Turns Deadly, 14 Feb 2006
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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by Tim Powers
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