The Anubis Gates

Rating:
Summary: Good ending, but slow to get there
Review: After all the hype, I picked up a copy of this book with great enthusiasm. I thought it was a good concept, but the plot was slow in unravelling and there was a mix of characters that was sometimes hard to follow. However, it does come together beautifully in the end.

Rating:
Summary: Still to this day one of the best books I have ever read.
Review: Having first read this book back 1986, I am still finding myself recommending this book to other people. What gives this book the edge is the way it seamlessly mixes fantasy with historic fact to point where it is difficult to see where fact stops and fantasy starts.

Being fortunate enough to work where the book is set you realise the lengths Tim Powers went in researching this book. Having re-read this book again just recently it hasn't diminished at all since I first picked it up over 12 years ago.

For any of you, who have read other books by Tim Powers, here is something to think about. 'The Drawing of the Dark' has (Certainly in the UK publication) at the beginning an extract from a poem by Sir William Ashbless. I find this interesting as this book was written before 'The Anubis Gates' ??????!!!!

Rating:
Summary: If you are tired of the ordinary read this book!!!!
Review: God this book is awesome. I am only 14 and absolutly loved this book. This is has the to be the best book I have read in ages. This book adds a unique twist of plot that I have never seen before. This book is the best. If you like ainchiet egypt, 14th century england, time travel or magic/fantasy, then you'll absolutly love this book.

Rating:
Summary: I'm sure I've read a better book, but I can't think where.
Review: Where do I start?

Perhaps I shouldn't - it would spoil the fun - but suffice to say this is perhaps one of the best books I own (and cherish) in my collection.

There hasn't been a single person I've lent it to who hasn't loved it.

Powers is a true master of fiction, and this is the epitome of his work.

Rating:
Summary: Move over, Indiana Jones, for Tim Power's THE ANUBIS GATES!
Review: Tim Power's foremost work (I've read them all), THE ANUBIS GATES is a non-stop, entertaining thrill ride that is superbly crafted in a most difficult genre: period science fiction. Easily one of the ten best books I've ever read, THE ANUBIS GATES is a classic work of fiction for the ages - a MUST for any action-adventure library.

Bravo!

Rating:
Summary: Powers serves up a marvelous story.
Review: Thank you, Tim Powers, for a book shaped with such care that when I finished I had to laugh aloud with satisfaction. Why such glee? Because The Anubis Gates delivers so generously on the twin essentials of plot and good writing. On writing quality, science fiction often disappoints. But not here. Powers cares enough about words and has the necessary skills to serve up what is sometimes exquisite prose. It is the story, though, that is the triumph of The Anubis Gates. The "science-fantasy" novel is a tale of "Byzantine complexity" (citing Ramsey Campbell's introduction) whose characters, settings, and story elements snap together like the precision parts of a marvel machine. Turns of plot, reversals, and the laying of surprise upon surprise makes the story a true exemplar of the overused attribution "classic"--in this case a modern classic. If you must have a good story and if it must be well written, get ready. Dinner is served in The Anubis Gates. Place a candle on the table, a napkin on your lap, open to page one, and enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Superb!!!
Review: An excellent mix of fantasy and history blend with your own imagination in this novel.

It almost seemed as you were watching various aspects of history being written. (Some parts a little tongue in cheek, I believe).

A very hard book to put down, and then, when you finish it, you have to re-read it. Too much to keep up with the first time.

A sequel would be appreciated, but difficult to accomplish.

Rating:
Summary: Well researched, with fact and fiction blurring together
Review: Powers is amazing and "The Anubis Gates" is one of his best. A time-travel tale which works so well is a rare thing (May is one of the few others who do it this well) but Powers handles this, as well as any topic, beautifully. The research is flawless, the settings equally so and the story so completely readable. There are a few predicatable - a couple almost corny - points but these only seem to make the book better. As with all my Powers books, I don't lend this one out - I'm sick of buying replacements.

Rating:
Summary: So good I'm now on my fourth copy!
Review: The first reading of this book grips your to the last page, the second and third readings let you catch the things you missed in the first and by the fifth reading it is an old and interesting friend. Famous poets rub shoulders with the characters in more than cameo roles in an intricately woven plot which doesn't leave any loose ends by the end of the book. Brilliantly constructed.

I am now on my fourth copy as whenever I lend it to someone they won't give it back.

Rating:
Summary: A fun, intricate time travel yarn.
Review: I'm not much of a fantasy fan, but this novel fell within the bounds of what I enjoy. The fantasy elements are tightly controlled and bound to the plot, which involves time travel back to 19th and 17th century London. The realistic settings and realistic reactions by our hero enhance a complicated and rewarding plot. What flaws there are in the story make one proud to have spotted them amidst the busy story rather than annoyed that they exist.