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straystarlight's review against another edition
3.0
This is my second Tim Powers book, and I’m starting to think his stuff is just not for me. I like the concepts, but I just couldn’t get into it. Maybe it’s his style of writing, or the characters? Not sure. 2.5
chukg's review against another edition
4.0
Not as good as some Powers stuff but still pretty good. The parts in the other world are quite original and weird. The characters don't seem super well developed, but I'd read more books about them.
karireads's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
barb4ry1's review against another edition
3.0
I dunno. It's chaotic, difficult to get into, but ties everything and offers a satisfying ending. I need to think about it.
vailynst's review against another edition
4.0
5 Stars for Narration
4 Stars for Story
Mini-Review:
Tim Powers has become one of my favorite authors. I really enjoy the way he weaves various myths, fables, legends, religion, philosophies, history and more into a surreal world that is close to home. It's here.
Oddly enough, this book is not as dense in complexity as some of the other stories I have listened to. The lines between the physical world and the realm of leftover spirits is starting to fray apart. Persistent experiments to understand this other plane has caused holes that let in ghosts and snatches away the living into an undead realm.
Sebastian - An ex-agent on the run. He has a muddled past of regrets.
Ingrid - An agent with a conscience. She ends up saving Sebatian's life & ends up on the run.
They wind up on a tangled web of wishes of the living and the spirits rioting into war. The might have been tend to stay as illusive dreams of what if. What happens when the intangible becomes real?
4 Stars for Story
Mini-Review:
Tim Powers has become one of my favorite authors. I really enjoy the way he weaves various myths, fables, legends, religion, philosophies, history and more into a surreal world that is close to home. It's here.
Oddly enough, this book is not as dense in complexity as some of the other stories I have listened to. The lines between the physical world and the realm of leftover spirits is starting to fray apart. Persistent experiments to understand this other plane has caused holes that let in ghosts and snatches away the living into an undead realm.
Sebastian - An ex-agent on the run. He has a muddled past of regrets.
Ingrid - An agent with a conscience. She ends up saving Sebatian's life & ends up on the run.
They wind up on a tangled web of wishes of the living and the spirits rioting into war. The might have been tend to stay as illusive dreams of what if. What happens when the intangible becomes real?
omnibozo22's review against another edition
3.0
I think I've read most of Powers, though this series was new to me. I'll probably read the second one, but this wasn't as fun as most of his previous fantasy/scifi/thriller/weirdness works. The one I enjoyed the most was the first one I read, The Anubis Gate. This series features ghosts and people popping in and out of the ghost realm, for no huge reason.
ninetalevixen's review
3.0
(I received a free eARC from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.)
Maybe 2.5 stars, I don’t know.
I liked the premise and for the most part the characters, but the execution didn’t work for me — too many important parts happening offstage (for the first half of the book I felt like I was behind or had mistakenly picked up a sequel without reading the original), too much going on in each of the two main storylines, too many details that had to be remembered to make sense of various plot developments or at least the dialogue. Honestly, it kind of made my brain hurt, and not entirely in a good way.
Maybe 2.5 stars, I don’t know.
I liked the premise and for the most part the characters, but the execution didn’t work for me — too many important parts happening offstage (for the first half of the book I felt like I was behind or had mistakenly picked up a sequel without reading the original), too much going on in each of the two main storylines, too many details that had to be remembered to make sense of various plot developments or at least the dialogue. Honestly, it kind of made my brain hurt, and not entirely in a good way.
annarella's review against another edition
5.0
There's no thing like a bad Tim Power's book.
And this one is excellent.
I was not able to put it down and found it both enthralling and amusing.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to Baen and Edelweiss for this ARC
And this one is excellent.
I was not able to put it down and found it both enthralling and amusing.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to Baen and Edelweiss for this ARC
mad_frisbeterian's review
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
craniac's review against another edition
4.0
I would not pick this as an introduction to Tim Powers, but as a slobbering fanboy, I enjoyed it. Not as good as the Earthquake Trilogy or Declare, but an enjoyable minor work. It has all the stuff you know and love:
-Gritty scenes of grimy Los Angeles
-So many location descriptions you will be qualified to deliver pizza in L.A. after reading this
-A completely consistent, complex and impossible to understand mythos involving Ovid (Dryden translation) Icarus, etc.
-lots of trash magic, like Last Call. Creepy ghosts. Haunted metronomes. Freeway exits into another world.
-Government agents who are completely amoral (was Tim Powers audited or something?)
-Inhuman, massive monsters who are nothing like us (not as cool as the Djinn in Declare, but pretty cool)
My enjoyment was hampered somewhat by the ham-fisted audiobook interpretation, but I read the final 15 percent and prefer my internal narrator. I just don't want to hear some 50 year old guy doing Castine's parts in falsetto. What?
To sum up: About the level of Medusa's Web, a good book for fans, but doesn't have the same cool historical bits as some other works by the master of realistic urban fantasy.
-Gritty scenes of grimy Los Angeles
-So many location descriptions you will be qualified to deliver pizza in L.A. after reading this
-A completely consistent, complex and impossible to understand mythos involving Ovid (Dryden translation) Icarus, etc.
-lots of trash magic, like Last Call. Creepy ghosts. Haunted metronomes. Freeway exits into another world.
-Government agents who are completely amoral (was Tim Powers audited or something?)
-Inhuman, massive monsters who are nothing like us (not as cool as the Djinn in Declare, but pretty cool)
My enjoyment was hampered somewhat by the ham-fisted audiobook interpretation, but I read the final 15 percent and prefer my internal narrator. I just don't want to hear some 50 year old guy doing Castine's parts in falsetto. What?
To sum up: About the level of Medusa's Web, a good book for fans, but doesn't have the same cool historical bits as some other works by the master of realistic urban fantasy.