Rating: 
Summary: Another great book from the T.S. Eliot of fantasy.
Review: How do you mix tarot cards, gangsters and arthurian legend into a cohesive whole? You need to have the depth and knowledge of language that Mr Powers has. Whereas his long time fans will already be convinced towards this book's strengths, I recommend giving it to those who think fantasy novels are a matter of sweaty barbarians.
Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: I can't decide whether I like this book or The Stress of Her Regard better. It's like trying to choose between a romantic evening with the one you love and a sleazy quicky with the one after whom you lust--either one has its attraction. Of the two, Last Call is certainly the sleazy choice. It's a disturbing book, and so tightly plotted that you must pay attention from the first page. Don't be put off if it doesn't seem to make sense early. Trust me, it will.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for non-sci-fi fans
Review: I can't stand most science fiction, but I tried this because it seemed more literary than sci-fi, and I'm a poker player. It's an interesting book, but the literary part does not outweigh the sci-fi, and there really isn't much said about poker.
Rating:
Summary: A very strong novel.
Review: I generally do not read fantasy, but the gambling motif attracted me to this book. I'm glad I read it.I waited a while before I wrote this review, and I'm glad that I did. My initial reaction, on reflection, was that the legend of the Fisher King is too amorphous to lead to a coherent novel. On reflection, I now realize that part of the genious of the novel is the ambiguity in the Fisher King story. It gives Powers a freedom to play around with the Arthur story, to draw in different themes, to create the novel's second best character (a guy's guy nicknamed Arky, who has been forced to chaos theology by a terrible disease), and indeed to set the story in Las Vegas. I hate reviews that sound pedantic, but with this novel, it's really true that you will get out of the book what you put into it. It deserves a careful read. Indeed, it's tough to read it if you don't read it carefully. It's also not the kind of novel that you should read over a long period. I had to put it down for a few days and found myself having to flip back to re-read stuff that I hadn't completely remembered. Ultimately, the ending is a bit chaotic (deliberately), but very satisfying. The different themes and events, which seem at first to be quite disjointed, become tightly woven. Serious scholars of the Arthur legend or T.S. Eliot's work may find a hole or nit to pick here or there, but then again it's really not a book written for them anyway and that's not the point. At bottom, it's a story about a guy who is trying to get his soul back. The genius of the book is not just in the story but also in the details. Just by way of example is the protagonist's step-father, a hardened professional gambler who has learned to make money and learn about life's magic by watching the way smoke swirls above poker tables. If there's some part of you that believes that all is not truly random, or that wonders if maybe it isn't, you'll enjoy the fantastical world Tim Powers creates. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Well done fantasy
Review: I loved this book. I don't normally read fantasy, but this one inspired me to check out more of it's genre. The book is constantly keeping the reader on the edge of his seat, and is brilliantly researched. Actually, Tim is a good friend of my parent's, so I may be a little biased on his other books, but I read this one before I met him. If you ever want a book to mentally escape with, buy this one.
Rating:
Summary: Last Call -- One to Read!
Review: I was in one of Tim Power's first fiction classes at the University of Redlands. So believe me, I know what I'm talking about when it comes to his stories. :) He's been my sounding board as much as he's been mine.
I was skeptical when he handed Last Call to me: I was very quickly hooked and dragged into the world inside. Its cast of initially tragic but likable characters, his descriptions of scenes, and even the supernatural/sci-fi flavor that is apparent in all his stories.. Well. I'm a fan. Have been for years now, all because of this book.
My personal opinion is, this is the best of his I've read to date: Feel free to think me wrong, since I have yet to read EarthQuake weather, or that spy one with the title I can't recall (Unless it still isn't out?).
All in all, his stuff's fun to read. Give it a try!
Rating:
Summary: Into something rich and strange
Review: I'm really a T.S. Eliot [fan], and I knew I was going to like this book when the discarded bodies of the evil Fisher King murmured lines from the Wasteland to each other. Powers takes the real world that we live in, and paints a ghost world behind it, full of the things that we both hope and fear are true. The smoke in a casino eddies to show the flow of fate. Ghosts are real, and they want you, but you shouldn't go with them. The center of the book is the cyclical battle to become the spiritual Fisher King-- he who (together with his queen) can interact directly with the archetypes. Every twenty years, all the possible candidates (Jacks) converge on Las Vegas to see who will hold the crown. The contest rules are a mish-mash of superstition, gambling, violence, mythic lore, and poetry. The year that the book begins, the Jack who presents the most serious threat to the ruling King is the son he tried to destroy while still a child. Scott Crane is a one-eyed gambler and reluctant heir to the throne who is thrown back into the ring by the death of his wife Susan and the knowledge that seizing the throne is the only possible way to reclaim the rights to his body-- something he gambled away while still a teenager. I read this book obsessively, and I can't imagine reading it any other way. It deserves and command close attention.
Rating:
Summary: Incredibly innovative and just all 'round great
Review: If there's been a fantasy book that the genre needed more than this, I can't think of it. We've had books with strong, cohesive theologies before, we've had books with fascinating, three-dimensional characters who are more engaging and sympathetic in their frailties than stock heroes are in their strengths, and we may even have seen books with such a dry, dusty atmosphere as to instantly draw the reader into the contemporary Nevada setting, but we've certainly never had all three in one book.
"Last Call" is one in a million because it's a fantasy book that's good both as a normal novel and a fantasy novel. If you have any interest in a setting which seamlessly integrates chaos theory, poker, Jungian Pscyhology, and Tarot cards, then "Last Call" will fascinate you. But if you have no interest in such a setting, "Last Call" will fascinate you. Unlike so many "hard fantasy" books, "Last Call" doesn't fall into pages of dry exposition, but keeps the plot moving and the characters evolving throughout.
Get out there and read this book. You absolutely will not regret it.
Rating:
Summary: Tim Powers ROCKS!
Review: If you like Tim Powers read it, if you are interested in luck, occult and tarot read it, and if you are looking for a good book to take you on a trip to weirdness and back READ IT!
Rating:
Summary: I loved this book!!
Review: It's hard for me to single out one favorite Tim Powers novel, but this one definitely ranks in the top three [the other two being "The Anubis Gates" and "The Stress of Her Regard"].
This time Powers leaves behind the 19th century of his previous novels and tells the story of a professional gambler who lost more than he realizes in a poker game on Lake Mead in 1969.
Powers manages to blend poker, tarot cards, the fisher king, and Bugsy Siegel in weird and wonderful ways. Nobody handles this kind of material as deftly as Tim Powers. He's my favorite SF writer since the death of Philip K. Dick.
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