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Jan 12, 2012

Brad rated it:

More time travel than steampunk, although it has been categorized as the latter, Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates is fun, but it leaves one feeling a little short changed.

The problem is that Powers' story has the narrative scope of Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, but it is packed into a mere 380-ish pages. Beggar's guilds, Egyptian wizards, Romantic poets, business magnates, and prize fighters mix with cross dressing vengeance seekers, mad clowns, body snatchers, fire elementals and gyp More...

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jan 07, 2008

Martine rated it:

Ever wonder what it would be like to travel in time and be able to rewrite parts of history? In The Anubis Gates, Brendan Doyle, a professor of nineteenth-century English literature living in 1983 California, accidentally gets to try his hand at it when he is invited by a mad scientist to attend a lecture given by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1810 London. Needless to say, an accident prevents Doyle from returning to his own time (it always does in these books, doesn't it?), so he is stuck in early More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Nov 18, 2008

Sandi rated it:

"The Anubis Gates" is a terrific time travel fantasy. I never quite knew where the story was going or what was going to happen next. Tim Powers is one of those writers who packs meaning and significance into every scene. I found myself having to backtrack several times to see if I had missed something. In the last third of the book, there's so much body switching and name changing that I had trouble telling who was who. I really liked the challenge though, it kept me on my toes an More...

3 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 29, 2008

Kristjan rated it:

This book was billed as a classic 'Steam Punk' story that helped define the genre ... the only problem here was that there was NO steam [tech:] and there was little or no punk either. In fact, the only way it fits here would be to credit the time period as Victorian (IMHO a useless expansion of the term), before mixing in a tremendous amount of magic in what should be more honestly billed as a time-travel fantasy. That said … it WAS a pretty decent time-travel story :)

The story ope More...

6 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

thefourthvine rated it:

Tim Powers is at his best with wacked-out time travel stories, and that's precisely what this is. He basically took the entire collection of English-language literary devices and tossed them into one book. And then added some poetry. And some genderfuckery. And Ancient Egyptian myths and legends. And, also, did I mention the time travel?

So. A mild-mannered literature professor (this is, um, something of a theme character in Powers' work) goes back to the time of Lord Byron, and - lo More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 18, 2008

Otis rated it:

I enjoyed every second of this book. I haven't read a time travel book in a long time, but loved this one, as the descriptions of London in 1812 were very rich. I loved how Lord Byron and other famous poets were running around, and the descriptions of all the beggars were fascinating. Add in some ancient Egyptian magic and you've got a great book!

Random sidenote: It's interesting to think that back then poets were the rockstars of the age, as the only form of mass-media was newspa More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

May 27, 2008

J rated it:

A friend loaned me this book long ago. It was his absolute most favorite book at the time. So I cracked the spine and moved right in. When I'm really into a book it becomes an extension of my left arm and tends to get in the way of meals. When I finally returned it, full of crumbs and tea stains, the cover had somehow gone missing. My friend was unhappy with me but I had thoroughly enjoyed his book. Thanks, Nathan.

3 comments like (5 people liked it)

May 04, 2011

Danielle rated it:

A decent idea, loved the Horrobin character, but the story was all over the place. This would have been much better if it spanned several books instead of trying to cram so much into so few pages. And while the beginning of the book dragged along, the ending was so hurried and abrupt that I lost my connection with the characters.

I loved loved loved all the time travel, the back and forth, and following the different characters across the ages to figure out how they all fit togeth More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 30, 2008

Jon rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

7 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 07, 2007

Zach rated it:

Bitchin', this book was bitchin'. If you have any interest in William Faulkner, Proust, or Seamus Heaney, then you might like this book, because it has some poetry in it. But there are no real instances of class or racial issues, and it isn't really related to anything French or Irish, for that matter. The book does have words.

Essentially, Tim Powers devised a shit load of really off-the-wall (mostly supernatural) characters, threw them in an old, worn Adidas shoe box, shook it More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 09, 2009

Jim rated it:

I gave it 100 pages & really didn't care about what was going on, so I quit. It could have been interesting, I think. The problem for me was I just didn't get any feeling for any of the characters or the situation. I wanted to, felt I should, but every time I picked up the book it was a chore & I found my mind wandering.

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Feb 03, 2009

Roxane rated it:

I was starting to feel really guilty at the idea of never having read a single of Tim Powers' book especially after all the good I had heard of them. And then I had the opportunity to listen to one of his (few!!) interviews by a French journalist and well, I must say that the guy sounded quite easy going and humorous so I told myself: "Self, it is definitely time"

And may I add that Self doesn't regret this in the least...

I think that the word that best describes More...

0 comments like

Jan 20, 2009

Becky rated it:

The Anubis Gates is a pleasantly weird novel. Stealing directly from the back cover, "The Anubis Gates is the classic, Philip K. Dick Award-winning time travel novel that took the fantasy world by storm a decade ago. Only the dazzling imagination of Tim Powers could have assembled such an insane cast of characters: an ancient Egyptian sorcerer, a modern millionaire, a body-switching werewolf, a hideously deformed clown, a young woman disguised as a boy, a brainwashed Lord Byron, and finally More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 09, 2009

Jim rated it:

This is one of the strangest books I've ever read. It's a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle, and every time I think I know where he's going, he throws in a few more pieces that dramatically change the picture. Another author would probably have needed 700-800 pages in order to include all of the plot elements, but Powers pulls it off in under 400. I'm only giving it four stars instead of five, because the complexity of the story required him to introduce fascinating characters who have important func More...

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Feb 07, 2012

Nader rated it:

In the steampunk classic The Anubis Gates Professor Brendan Doyle accompanies a party recruited by tycoon J. Cochran Darrow to travel back in time to 1810 - and ends up immersed in not just one, but several, deadly conspiracies colliding with one another.

The characters are mostly one-dimensional - and protagonist Doyle rather forgettable - but together they certainly comprise a large and colorful cast, with Doyle's blandness working by letting him play the "straight man" to More...

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Oct 19, 2011

Sandy rated it:

Tim Powers' fourth novel, 1983's "The Anubis Gates," is a book that I had been meaning to read for years. Chosen for inclusion in both David Pringle's "Modern Fantasy: The Hundred Best Novels" and Jones & Newman's "Horror: 100 Best Books," as well as the recipient of the Philip K. Dick Memorial Award in 1984, the book came with plenty of good word of mouth, to say the least. And, as it turns out, all the ballyhoo back when was fully justified, as this really IS some More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 23, 2011

Jacqie rated it:

This book may suffer by being read by me in 2011 instead of 1991. I would have loved it then. Now, the time travel part seems a bit like "Timeline" by Crighton. It wasn't explained especially well, and the main character believed it far too easily. Of course, characters believing crazy things is part of time travel novels that is always problematic for authors. Diana Gabaldon may have done it best.

Once back in time, everybody acts far too blase about being back in time. More...

0 comments like

Aug 09, 2011

procrastin8or rated it:

Brendan Doyle is a literary scholar, a premier expert on Samuel Taylor Coleridge and when he is invited by a philanthropist to give a lecture on the man and his work - for a phenomenal amount of money - he takes it up as an opportunity for funds to investigate the more obscure romantic poets that interest him. What Doyle doesn't expect is to travel to 1810 and meet the man. Following the lecture, Doyle gets trapped in 1810 and caught up in a cult plotting to overthrow monotheism and reestablish More...

0 comments like

Aug 02, 2011

Vikram added it

I know what you are thinking; not another time travel novel. But this one is really good! The plot involves our intrepid hero, a slightly nebbish professor with an interest in early 19th century English literature, traveling back in time with a wealthy industrialist to hear a lecture in 1810 from Samuel Coleridge. But then things begin to go horribly wrong....Brendan Doyle (the protagonist) is trapped in the past, and has to eke out a living there while at the same time escape the attentions of More...

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Jun 18, 2011

Ulrich rated it:

This time travel adventure begins in 1983, the year the book arrived. The protagonist, Brendan Doyle, is a professor and an expert on the English Romantic poets of the early 19th century. He is summoned by a rich eccentric to a remote location and grilled by the wealthy Mr. Darrow about his knowledge of Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

My overall grade is a B, or 4 stars in Goodreads rating system. I did not find Romany as interesting an antagonist as Dog-face Joe.

Plot spoilers and di More...

0 comments like

Apr 10, 2011

Alex rated it:

I really enjoyed Tim Powers' DECLARE so much I went to library to grab a couple more. LAST CALL and THE ANUBIS GATES looked good.

I was a few pages into THE ANUBIS GATES when I realized I had read it a few years ago.

But it was so good, I read it again. Just finished. Yep, just as good as I remember.

I am beginning to get a handle on Tim Powers, I think. I have a feeling he does an awful lot of historical research, and then works his stories around the historical fact More...

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Mar 08, 2011

Kim rated it:

This is a reread. I read this years ago and since I've been reading lots of steampunk books recently, I wanted to revisit this one. I had forgotten how genuinely scary and horrifying this book is. Not the best thing to be reading at night right before turning out the light. The book has some huge strengths, but it also has its flaws. The plot is so complex and convoluted that, to be honest, the author does a great job making it as readable and comprehensible as it is. But the book is full More...

4 comments like

Aug 17, 2010

Rob rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Jun 09, 2010

Nick rated it:

Check out more reviews and SciFi/Fantasy fun at Lions and Men.

The cover of The Anubis Gates touts Powers' novel as a "classic of time travel". Between this statement and the less-than-subtle inclusion of Egyptian themes, I became hooked and brought the book home. Does it measure up to expectations? Yes and no.

The Anubis Gates follows the life of Brendan Doyle as he meets up with an eccentric millionaire and travels back to 1810 to watch a speech made by autho More...

0 comments like

Apr 05, 2010

Hydra M. rated it:

Without a doubt one of the oddest books I’ve ever read, “The Anubis Gates” is a supposed science-fiction tale about a middle aged biography writer who gets caught up in a time travel scheme and finds himself stranded in England in 1810. But it’s so much more then that, because even though the modern day end of the story seems to be fairly start forward realistic fiction the historical end is filled with magic, soul migration, and a ‘werewolf’.

Normally I’d love a story with so much go More...

0 comments like

Nov 18, 2009

Andreas rated it:

i wish i had read this 10 years ago, when being swept up in the pursuit of the action, the pull of the grand finale, the senseofwonder throughout, the breathless late nights of onemorechapter! was all it took to earn 5 stars from me. not that those things are easy to find or happen to me all the time... plot was superb, but i guess i'm jaded now, and i get disappointed when good things happen, not because they make sense, but to keep protagonists alive, or likewise if bad guys are bad for no r More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 16, 2011

Craig rated it:

This wasn't really a bad book, but it was nowhere as spectacular as I'd been led to believe. Perhaps it was a bit more "historical" than I would have liked, and yet not enough - after having read Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, I have a feeling that a lot of historical fiction is going to come up short. Anyway, I'm having a hard time coming up with solid critiques...

I didn't really care for the story, so there's that. It seemed like it should be interesting, but it sort More...

0 comments like

Feb 28, 2010

Jasmyn9 rated it:

An interesting look at time travel. We explore an ancient Egytian religion that possesses powerful magic capable of crossing distance and time. We see just what might happen to modern people if they find themselves suddenly thrust back unprepared to a different time period.

I didn't particularly care for the main character, he seemed very self centered most of the time. I was intrigued enough to continue to follow his adventures through old England and Egypt. The Doctors Romany an More...

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Mar 06, 2009

Raven rated it:

Tim Powers is able to weave historical facts and fantasy together in the most amazing, humorous and gripping way, and Anubis Gates was no exception. I am still in awe of his ability to never bore, to weave a tale around the reader full of adventure, factual events and figures, and complete crazy-ass fantasy.

Anubis Gates is a book where the main character, historical professor of Coleridge Brendan Doyle takes a trip to 1810 and to other times, being chased by a mad and ancient Egyptia More...

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Oct 07, 2009

Patrick rated it:

There’s a scene in The Anubis Gates that’s stayed with me: our hero, Brendan Doyle, a professor at California State University Fullerton has found himself magically transported back to London in 1810.

Doyle, fascinated by a time he’s only read about, but also devastated that he’s trapped forever in the past, is walking through a street market when he hears someone whistling a tune, a song he suddenly realizes he knows.

The tune? “Yesterday” by the Beatles.

For More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)