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A review by branch_c
Alternate Routes by Tim Powers
3.0
I’ve been a Tim Powers fan since reading The Anubis Gates back in the 80s, and he remains my all time favorite writer to this day. But I have to admit that this particular book wasn’t a favorite. It certainly has the unique writing style and immense creativity we’ve come to know, and there’s still no one who writes this brand of frenetic supernatural action better.
This story, however, leans heavily on two aspects that Powers has done before, and in my opinion better. The ghost element has been a common theme since Expiration Date, with variations used in a number of novels and short stories since then. In this book, the presence of ghosts is an extended riff that goes on a bit long for my taste, without adding much new to the subject - the exception being the girl Mary, whose nature is different, but in a way that never really resonates with me. The other aspect is that of the otherworldly dimension that our protagonists must traverse, even as laws of physics bend and their grasp on reality is stretched to the breaking point. One of the best examples of this for me is still the fountain of youth scene in On Stranger Tides - there it was much shorter and therefore more powerful, for me anyway. Here, like the ghost element, the trope is spread too thin, and goes on too long.
These elements are mixed with a heavy dose of guns, cars, and vaguely menacing antagonists, resulting in a plot that is more surreal and more muddled than any of Powers’ previous novels.
Nevertheless, the book was absolutely worth reading, especially for a Powers completist like myself. But for the uninitiated, I’d recommend pretty much anything else by Powers over this one.
This story, however, leans heavily on two aspects that Powers has done before, and in my opinion better. The ghost element has been a common theme since Expiration Date, with variations used in a number of novels and short stories since then. In this book, the presence of ghosts is an extended riff that goes on a bit long for my taste, without adding much new to the subject - the exception being the girl Mary, whose nature is different, but in a way that never really resonates with me. The other aspect is that of the otherworldly dimension that our protagonists must traverse, even as laws of physics bend and their grasp on reality is stretched to the breaking point. One of the best examples of this for me is still the fountain of youth scene in On Stranger Tides - there it was much shorter and therefore more powerful, for me anyway. Here, like the ghost element, the trope is spread too thin, and goes on too long.
These elements are mixed with a heavy dose of guns, cars, and vaguely menacing antagonists, resulting in a plot that is more surreal and more muddled than any of Powers’ previous novels.
Nevertheless, the book was absolutely worth reading, especially for a Powers completist like myself. But for the uninitiated, I’d recommend pretty much anything else by Powers over this one.