Rating: 
Summary: Time Travel has never been this much fun!
Review: After recently posting a review of Crichton's "Timeline" in which I compared the book not too favorably with "The Anubis Gates," I decided to skim through the latter again in order to post a review of it. Well, that lasted about one page, after which I was sucked in again completely and read the thing cover to cover. Wow! Even after repeated readings, Powers' tale of a mild mannered English Professor from 1983 who finds himself marooned in early 19th century Britain still manages to dazzle. Brendan Doyle, after agreeing to take a mysterious but high paying gig to give a lecture about Samuel Taylor Coleridge, embarks on what was to be a four hour tour to London in 1810 in order to hear Coleridge speak at a pub. Things begin to go awry almost immediately when Doyle is waylaid by a band of Gypsies led by an evil Egyptian sorcerer who is in league with a vivisectionist clown to overthrow the English Monarchy. And then there is the intriguing and astonishing figure of William Ashbless, a minor poet and colleague of Lord Byron and Coleridge whom Powers manages to portray in vivid detail, weaving him convincingly into the fabric of the story. This brief description does little justice to the book, though. Powers' plot and pacing are phenomenally tight, and his characterizations engaging. There are moments of genuine pathos here, interspersed with deliciously macabre scenes. This is a brilliant book that deserves a place at the top of any time travel or science fiction best-of list. --TR--
Rating:
Summary: Time Travel... without blatant contradictions!
Review: Have you ever enjoyed a good time travel story only to find yourself annoyed with the paradoxes introduced by the character's actions? Well, Powers masterfully weaves this tale of a modern day Coleridge expert's exploits and misadventures in 19th century England. There are no potholes or contradictions that Powers did not somehow manage to smooth out and plug snuggly into his storyline. This book will make you flip back and forth from section to section looking for mistakes, but it all works together. After reading this book, I immediately read Last Call and Expiration Date... I'll have to say, although the other two books are entertaining and engaging works, The Anubis Gates is definitely my favorite.
Rating:
Summary: One of a kind
Review: Few novels combine popular storytelling technique with artistry as well as The Anubis Gates. I enjoyed this novel because it is intelligent without becoming pretentious. A fast paced, yet twisting, plot keeps the reader guessing by tossing a somewhat broken Everyman 200 years in the past where he is beset by characters both vividly grotesque and charmingly romantic. Ironically, the time traveler's smug assurance of his superiority as a human from an advanced civilization is turned on its head when he immediately finds himself an alien in a world he can't relate to and persecuted by powers he doesn't understand. The characters and settings were depicted so well that I felt like a set director as I imagined each scene in my head. The only drawback to the book is that there are no others like it. If you want exciting storytelling that still maintains high literary standards, this book is for you.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely brilliant!
Review: This is the first Tim Powers book I've ever picked up. It definitely won't be the last. 'Anubis Gates' is the best time travel story that I've ever read. I should mention, in the name of honesty, that I haven't read a lot of time travel books, because I am easily irritated by paradoxes that aren't resolved, cliches, and "scientific" explanations that don't make any sense. 'Anubis Gates' has none of these problems. I am in awe of the way that Powers neatly wrapped up every single loose end without making it feel contrived. 'Anubis Gates' takes you back to the early nineteenth century in London, with a quick jaunt to the mid-1600s in the middle of the book. The main character, Brendan Doyle, is a scholar who is researching the biography of the poet William Ashbless, hired to accompany a group of paying passengers back in time from 1983 to see a lecture by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. I was very curious to see how Powers handled the paradox of changing a history that had already happened - and, to be honest, a bit skeptical that he would be able to satisfy me. I was pleasantly surprised. The paradoxes resolve themselves so neatly that it made me pause and think, "maybe this *is* what happened". The thread of Egyptian mythology that ties the story together makes the suspension of disbelief easy, since Powers isn't trying to convince you that the technology for time-travel actually existed in 1983, rather he is relying on a mysticism that has been around for millenia. And the ending was just perfect. I cannot recommend this book enough. I can't wait to read more of what Powers has written.
Rating:
Summary: Buy this book. NOW.
Review: Tim Powers is amazing. I don't know how to describe the way he writes except maybe as the literary equivalent of juggling five or seven daggers while riding a mountain bike down a very steep hill and making it look easy. And he does this with a time travel story (what more can you possibly write about time travel, right? Wrong.) The way he uses historical characters and actual events makes you wonder whether this is a true story or not. He seems to know a lot about magic, ancient Egypt not to mention London in the 1800s. There's nothing I didn't like about this book! Even if you're not that much into SF/Fantasy, you will like this one for its story, its style, its realism and its characters. A note of warning: make sure your copy has all the pages in the right order --- mine had about 30 pages missing in the middle and the few hours it took me to get a replacement copy were *VERY* frustrating. Also, start early in the day, or you'll stay up all night to finish it.
Rating:
Summary: How to write a time-travel story
Review: It's hard to define "The Anubis gates" genre. Science-fiction? Historical fiction? Techno-fantasy-science-historical fiction? It doesn't matter. Tim Powers has created a story that's so amazing and different that the only comparison I can make is with Neal Stephenson's books.
Brendan Doyle is the Coleridge specialist that's invited to a time travel experience that will change his life. And I mean really change. Trapped in the early XIX century, Doyle will have to overcome a band of gipsies connected with egyptian magicians, street mugglers and beggars governed by a clown that makes experiences with human bodies, and a dog-faced murderer with the hability to... well I don't want to spoil the eventual reader's fun, because a large part of this fun is to disclose the many implications between the unusual characters in the story. At times, it is confusing, and this book clearly requires a commiment from the reader; otherwise the story is filled with such crazyness that the unnatentive reader may loose interest in the book. But, believe me, there's order and method in this crazyness. Tim Powers seems to me an author blessed with an immense immagination to create different and fantastic stories, and this book is one good example. I was amazed by the size of this adventure. And I'm not talking about physical size, but mental and enjoyment size. Grade 9.0/10
Rating:
Summary: What an extraordinary ride!!!!
Review: Excellent!! This book and George R.R. Martin saga of "The Song of Ice and Fire" I think are the best science fiction novels I have ever read. "The Anubis Gates" delivers a phenomenal and unique story from start to finish. What I most love of the novel was the author originality in establishing the plot of the story and the constant turns and surprises the story delivers. There is no point in this novel where the story gets boring or too 'slow paced', on the contrary, the more you read, the more intriguing. I hope you decide to add this book to your collection, enjoy the ride!
Rating:
Summary: A great read
Review: This is one book where (my) words aren't adequate to describe how wonderful it is to read. Although the story the complex, reading it is effortless - it's a great adventure which, more surely than many other books, transports you to the world constructed by the author.
I was actually hungry to carry on reading and find out what happens next in the story - get, and enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: A compelling work
Review: Tim Powers is one of the most original writers around. I had been meaning to read The Anubis Gates for some time, and was not disappointed when I finally did. The pace is feverish, the story is fascinating, and as other reviewers have mentioned, Powers avoids all the cliches of time travel. The story never fails in its logic, even when dealing with myriad wonders. An unforgettable, literate, fun book. James Stoddard
Author of "The High House"
Rating:
Summary: Deliriously Delightful
Review: If Charles Dickens had ever taken it into his head to write a science fiction novel about time travel he might have come up with something along the lines of Tim Powers THE ANUBIS GATE. In an at times delightfully delirious manner he blends the gods of Ancient Egypt, the worlds of 1983 and the 17th Century(briefly), early 19th Century London and Egypt (the bulk of the book), dancing ape mania, London's underworld, gypsies, a derranged clown thief lord named Horrigan, things bumping about in the dark in the sewers of London, the English poets Coleridge and Byron, the eggshell fleet
and holding it all together a literature professor. I might add that is but a short list and Powers amazingly manages for the most part to hold it together. It is a grand time that you really don't want to end.
| 
