| |
|
I generally like Powers' books - his writing styles sometimes a little ropey, but his ideas are often fantastic. At his best he can slide the fantastical elements into real people's lives in such a way that they seem to explain the often unusual behaviour of historical characters.
The Drawing of the Dark was a fairly early book and isn't that great. It's set around the time of the Ottoman invasion of Austria, and - like most of Powers' books - mixes historical fact with supernatural/fantastic elements - in this case, The Once And Future King concept. Best thing to be said in it's favour is that it's got a lightness of touch and a since of humour missing from his later books.
Last Call is a lot of fun - it's mostly based around the tarot and the fisher king myths. It's set around Las Vegas, & brings gambling and fortune telling together. It does have some Elliot connections, though not large ones. This would probably be my favourite of his books, if it weren't for the fact that On Stranger Tides has pirates. And zombies.
The Stress of Her Regard suggests that the use of the dark muse in romantic poetry is based on the poets experience of real dark muses - basically Lamia (or llama, I forget). Powers picked a pretty fertile subject here, and uses it to draw together the poetry and incidents from the lives of Keats, Byron, Poliadori, Coleridge etc... Not been published recently in England – so for anyone on this side of the Atlantic, not an easy book to get hold of.
I really enjoyed Declare - it combines cold war spy thriller with Biblical supernatural horror. Especially good if you've read anything about the lives of Kim Philby and Guy Burgess. It also covers the T E Lawrence, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the final resting place of the ark.
On Stranger Tides is pretty good, but an absolute sod to find. It brings together all the historical stuff Powers is into - Blackbeard, voodoo, the Fountain of Youth etc..
It has pirates. And zombies.
If it’s your first time reading Powers, and you can’t get Last Call or On Stranger Tides, I’d recommend Declare.
By the way, in case anyone’s interested, Tim Powers appears in Valis – I think he’s the Catholic character David. He was living next door to PKD when the whole pink laser Gnostic breakdown is supposed to have happened. |
|
|
