Declare

Rating:
Summary: O fish, are you constant to the old covenant?
Review: Of any living writer, Tim Powers is the undisputed master of the "secret history," the conspiracy within the conspiracy, and this may well be his most intriguing (so to speak), best developed, and best written example of that genre yet. I generally prefer his earlier stuff -- especially _Anubis Gates_ and _Drawing of the Dark_ -- to more recent titles like _Expiration Date_ or _Earthquake Weather._ But in those early works, most of the background of his tapestry was fictional. This time, everything outside of the Declare conspiracy itself is very close to absolute fact, which Powers has reinterpreted in oh, so plausible ways to fit his story. His characters ring true, too: Andrew Hale, recruited to the most Secret Service at the age of seven. Elena, Spanish Catholic turned Russian Communist agent turned semi-French Catholic again. And the repellent Kim Philby, master spy, master traitor, and a thoroughly disgusting little snot . . . even though Powers shows you why he turned out that way. I believe it's time to go back and re-read all of Powers's old books, while I wait for his next one!

Rating:
Summary: Fun and Unique
Review: Tim Powers' Declare is an amazing novel: it's imaginative, unique and compelling. And, it's probably like nothing you've read before.

Declare is part spy novel, part fantasy and part thriller. Although it requires a lot of focus on the part of the reader, those who pay attention will get drawn in to the compelling and rewarding story. Powers' writing displays remarkable credibility in these multiple genres, and he swirls them together into a strong and cohesive work.

The story features Andrew Hale, a former British spy who finds himself drawn back into the shadowy world of a former operation gone bad. The novel then diverges into several parallel stories, all from Hale's perspective but occurring at different points in his past. The multiple story lines, most of which share the same characters, converge admirably at a compelling contemporary climax. In weaving these plot lines together, Powers shows himself to be as much a master of suspense as he is an imaginative fantasy writer. In developing this story, Powers combines plot elements from The Arabian Nights, the Bible, history, and espionage. It's an;ything but dull, but it is complicated...you'd better pay attention or you'll get lost.

This was an amazing novel; I couldn't put it down. I especially like the appendix at the back where Powers explained his rationale for developing the story line. It's ironic that only real life could produce the basis for the head-scratching twists and turns that Declare provides. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Leads this reader back to "Kim"
Review: "Declare" so intrigued me that I not only re-read it a year later, but, inspired by Powers' epigrams from Kipling's "Kim," went back to read that as well. I'm glad I did, because it's easy to view "Kim" as source material for much of what emerges in "Declare" -- the spiritual, otherworldly, military and political realms are blended in both works. If you enjoyed one, you'll enjoy the other.

Rating:
Summary: a highly entertaining ride for the reader
Review: The most consistently entertaining clever fantasy confections I've read in years! One of, if not the best of Powers. (And no one gets maimed!)

John LeCarre's early story "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy", is a veiled tale also, I believe, about Kim Philby. Familairity with "Rielly, Ace of Spies" - Sidney Reilly (the greatest real life spy of all time who came within a day of singlehandedly bringing down the Russian Revolution, and who was the inspiration for James Bond), is helpful. Also "Lawrence of Arabia" and the unexpurgated "1001 Arabian Nights". Let's not leave out the Bible. The story draws on all these subjects and many more.

As is stated below , Power's ties real characters and real events and real timeframes to an improbable, but highly entertaining book. A secret History within History of Lawerence of Arabia, Kim Philby, St. John Philby, Djinn, King Solomon, Bedouin tribesman, The Ark on Mt Ararat, the history of the USSR, Lubyanka Prision, Magic, Arabian Nights Fairy Tales and, of course, spies fighting the Cold War. This book is in may ways is complex like Stephenson's Kryptonomicion.

A previous acquaintance with many of these subjects makes it all the more delightful, but even without it, the reader in for a great ride!

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating hypothesis
Review: "Declare" is a daring blend of spy and fantastorical genres. Tim Powers takes his familiar brand of historical mysticism and inserts it into Cold War European politics. In his afterward to the novel, Powers outlines the genesis of "Declare". He studied the biographies of Russian spy Kim Philby and the British agent commonly known as Lawrence of Arabia. Powers found unexplained time periods and unusual occurences. He filled in the gaps with pieces of his fictional story, all of which resulted in a fascinating and very well-written story.

The story tracks a fictional Englishman, born with the gift for bizarre dreams. British secret service drafts him as a child and not many years later places him into service as a secret agent. What follows is a powerful tale that jumps over various time periods and locales, filled with Russian spies, Nazi plots and all-powerful djinn.

As a devotee of both fantastic fiction and spy thrillesr I was treated to a masterpiece of bothe genres. The political plotting kept me on the edge of my chair. The demonic djinn left me enthralled. I particularly enjoyed the scenes of the assault on the djinn's habitat on Mount Ararat. Very compelling reading.

A word of warning however. I've spoken with several diehard Tim Powers fans who feel that is not one of his stronger works. I disagree with their opinions on early Powers novels as well as this one. If you're a big fan of his "On Stranger Tides" and "The Stress of Her Regard" you may be disappointed by "Declare". But as those same Powers aficionados said, even lesser Powers is great reading. I highly recommend "Declare".

Rating:
Summary: Astonishingly good!
Review: I started reading "Declare" with a great deal of scepticism. I had previously read "Stranger Tides" and "The Anubis Gates," and was very leery of what looked like it was going to be a standard spy story. OY! What a surprise! I plowed through the entire book in only three days!

Powers doesn't get around to putting a firm identification of the What behind the mysterious goings-on of Operation Declare until page 160, but by then he has laid a firm groundwork of interesting characters and events of which the reader wants to learn more. Once we learn something in "Declare," however, Powers builds on it, and builds beautifully.

Although "Declare" deals with Andrew Hale and Elena for hundreds of pages, it's actually inspired by (seemingly minor character) Kim Philby, and, in his afterward, Powers states that his intent was to write a novel about Philby which explored his life and work without changing any of the well-known facts of Philby's life. Its the interpretation which Powers puts on the events of Philby's life which make "Declare" mind-bogglingly good. Who, after all, REALLY knows what goes on in the deepest, darkest recesses of the world of espionage? Maybe some of the weirdness of the Looking Glass World really is due to a supernatural element, and if that supernatural element happened to be extremely ancient....

The title "Declare," which hardly compels at first, DOES make sense. Don't miss the reference to Job near the beginning of the book ("Declare, if thous hast understanding...."), and note the reactions of various characters to the word's use, and you won't be surprised yourself when the word turns up with greater frequency in various dialogues. One of the habits of Powers as a writer is his dropping of clues willy-nilly in plain sight, clues which only become significant when they've been seen again and again from different angles. In some books this has been an annoyance; in "Declare" it is a virtue and an art. (Consider, "O Fish ...." "O Fish"? O Fish! -- at first it is gibberish in a dream, then begins to make sense, and then takes on a meaning so terrible that merely hearing the words can kill.)

From the Cotswolds to Cairo to the Rub al-Khali; from Paris to Berlin to al-Kuwait; from Beiruit to Mount Ararat to Moscow, "Declare" weaves around the world of The Great Game in Europe and the Middle East, and jumps backwards and forwards in time with breath-taking rapidity, but Powers has learned his craft well, and "Declare" never disappoints. The number of "slow" pages numbers less than a dozen among 600+ pages.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has any interest in thrillers, spy novels, histories, or the supernatural. It straddles all of those genres with ease. Although it makes no reference to the "Cthulhu Mythos," it would fit snugly into any "Cthulhu Now" framework, and Powers is a far better writer than most of the Mythos writers, including H. P. Lovecraft himself.

Rating:
Summary: Astonishingly good!
Review: I started reading "Declare" with a great deal of scepticism. I had previously read "Stranger Tides" and "Anubis Gate," and was very leery of what looked like it was going to be a standard spy story. OY! What a surprise! I plowed through the entire book in only three days!

Powers doesn't get around to putting a firm identification of the What behind the mysterious goings-on of Operation Declare until page 160, but by then he has laid a firm groundwork of interesting characters and events of which the reader wants to learn more. Once we learn something in "Declare," however, Powers builds on it, and builds beautifully.

Although "Declare" deals with Andrew Hale and Elena for hundreds of pages, it's actually inspired by (seemingly minor character) Kim Philby, and, in his afterward, Powers states that his intent was to write a novel about Philby which explored his life and work without changing any of the well-known facts of Philby's life. Its the interpretation which Powers puts on the events of Philby's life which make "Declare" mind-bogglingly good. Who, after all, REALLY knows what goes on in the deepest, darkest recesses of the world of espionage? Maybe some of the weirdness of the Looking Glass World really is due to a supernatural element, and if that supernatural element happened to be extremely ancient....

The title "Declare," which hardly compels at first, DOES make sense. Don't miss the reference to Job near the beginning of the book ("Declare, if thous hast understanding...."), and note the reactions of various characters to the word's use, and you won't be surprised yourself when the word turns up with greater frequency in various dialogues. One of the habits of Powers as a writer is his dropping of clues willy-nilly in plain sight, clues which only become significant when they've been seen again and again from different angles. In some books this has been an annoyance; in "Declare" it is a virtue and an art. (Consider, "O Fish ...." "O Fish"? O Fish! -- at first it is gibberish in a dream, then begins to make sense, and then takes on a meaning so terrible that merely hearing the words can kill.)

From the Cotswolds to Cairo to the Rub al-Khali; from Paris to Berlin to al-Kuwait; from Beiruit to Mount Ararat to Moscow, "Declare" weaves around the world of The Great Game in Europe and the Middle East, and jumps backwards and forwards in time with breath-taking rapidity, but Powers has learned his craft well, and "Declare" never disappoints. The number of "slow" pages numbers less than a dozen among 600+ pages.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has any interest in thrillers, spy novels, histories, or the supernatural. It straddles all of those genres with ease. Although it makes no reference to the "Cthulhu Mythos," it would fit snugly into any "Cthulhu Now" framework, and Powers is a far better writer than most of the Mythos writers, including H. P. Lovecraft himself.

Rating:
Summary: Leads this reader back to "Kim"
Review: "Declare" so intrigued me that I not only re-read it a year later, but, inspired by Powers' epigrams from Kipling's "Kim," went back to read that as well. I'm glad I did, because it's easy to view "Kim" as source material for much of what emerges in "Declare" -- the spiritual, otherworldly, military and political realms are blended in both works. If you enjoyed one, you'll enjoy the other.

Rating:
Summary: A novel I won't soon forget
Review: This is my favorite Tim Powers book, and Powers is one of my favorite authors. Other than an aborted attempt to read the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I had never read a "fantasy" novel until First Call. Despite reading nearly all of Powers' novels, I still have not read any novels (other than his) in this genre. My hunch is that Declare will resonate with fans like me, who are not necessarily fans of fantasy, but simply fans of good fiction. Declare is, in my view, a wonderful cross-over work that cannot be fit easily into any ready-made category.

Most impressive to me is the sheer ambitiousness of Declare. Powers attempts many things in this novel, and he pulls them all off. In electing to write a spy novel, Powers aimed for the very top, plainly channeling John LeCarre at all critical junctures. I've always suspected that Powers has been a LeCarre fan for some time. They share a similar story-telling style, winding the story out slowly and requiring readers to keep near the tip of their minds images, encounters, and fragments of conversations, until the story catches up. That can be a frustrating style for the reader, but it is also much more interactive than passive story-telling styles and in the end more rewarding, at least in my view. Declare follows along in this tradition, but more fundamentally all of the traditional LeCarre aspects are there. From the wonderful little details about the mundane aspects of "tradecraft," to the exact descriptions of the sometimes banal lives and thoughts of those charged with (literally) saving the world, to the unwavering adherence to ensuring each character faces the consequences of his or her conduct, the homage to LeCarre is nearly perfect. That any aspiring spy novelist could pull this off is impressive; that Powers could do it in a novel that must walk a tightrope to do many other things is what makes this book special, to me.

Powers fans will recognize a lot in this book -- as others have commented, the meticulous effort to explain true historical events through a fantastic prism. Or, as in Last Call, pinning some greater redemption on a two-decade quest for one protagonists' personal redemption. But what really puts the book over the top, and the reason I think it is a great cross-over novel, is the backstory; a love story. Stripped of the other-world and fantasy elements, it really is just an archtypal love story, with all the usual elements of a story arch that everyone of us has seen a hundred times. But it works, and is richer for the fantasy and the other stuff.

It's a great novel. My guess is that most Tim Powers fans have already read it, but for those who are not necessarily Powers or fantasy fans and wonder what this 500 pager has to offer them, if you're not bothered by a little suspension of disbelief, you may just find this a rewarding read.

Rating:
Summary: The Best of Powers's Worst Work
Review: Tim Powers has a tendency to lash many of his fantasies so securely to known historical facts that the plot and the fantastical elements get lost in a welter of truthful, but exhausting, detail. The classic example of this is The Stress of Her Regard, in which a kind of vampire story is drowned in more than anyone needs to know about the Romance poets. On the other hand, when Powers is willing to freestyle a little more, he is capable of great flights of imagination such as those that powered his modern fantasy Last Call and his immemorial classic The Anubis Gates.

Declare is one of Powers's history-bound fantasies, in which Powers challenges himself to create a fantasy in a known historical subject without contradicting any of the historically estalbished facts. However, he avoids many of the pitfalls into which he has stumbled in his prior forays down this road. Rather than wearing his readers down with true biographical details the only real significance of which is how cleverly Powers works them into his own story, he seems to select details for their objective value as points of interest for the reader. Here, we are immersed in details drawn from the world of international espionage from World War II to the middle of the Cold War. Instead of seeing how Powers can work the fact that two historical figures stayed at hotels ten miles away from each other on a certain day into a story, we get to see his protagonist using interesting espionage techniques -- telegraphing information to headquarters from radios hidden in occupied Paris, forming groups of Bedouin nomads for spying missions. This keeps the story moving.

And Powers does a better job integrating the fantastical elements of the story, too. The supernatural creatures who, it turns out, had a lot to do with the Cold War turning out the way it did, are fascinating -- awesomely powerful, terrifyingly alien, and fully imagined. Powers manages to work them into history without making them seem small. The supernatural occurrences in On Stranger Tides or Stress of Her Regard seemed reduced in scale as compared to the supernatural beings in regular fantasy novels -- like Powers was fitting them into tiny chinks between established historical facts. But Declare's djinn have a frightening majesty that makes it seem as though history has accommodated itself to them rather than vice versa. Their appearances in Declare are always spectacular.

This may well be the perfect Powers "history to fantasy" novel -- eventful, suspenseful, well written (of course), satisfying -- but it still smacks of trickery. This is Powers pulling off the amazing feat of writing a successful fantasy while adhering strictly to minute historical details. This is Powers handicapping himself, and still winning the race. But I still think Powers does better when he does not start himself out at a disadvantage. As much as Declare impressed me, I like Powers better when he gives himself freer rein.