Brad's review of The Anubis Gates > Comments
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Clouds
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Aug 27, 2012 07:26am
It got on my list because it was namechecked as one of the books that inspired the term Steampunk - but I haven't heard many entirely positive reviews...
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I'd take 380 pages and wanting more over 1000s pages and wanting less, much less, please stop! Stop! For pity's sake stop! Oh I give up...as I did with the Baroque Cycle...
Noooooooooo!The Baroque Cycle = my new best friend =D
(I'm currently between books 2 & 3 and loving it)
I tend to agree with your assessment here in general with Tim Powers. I find him, for me at least, to be much better at coming up with a really awesome idea than at executing it. I may need to re-read this to re-evaluate my opinion, but I remember being pretty underwhelmed by it. So far my favourite Powers book is Declare which I partly found so awesome because it was such a good mimicking of Le Carre with the supernatural mixed in.
I love that I wrote this four years ago and only now is there comments. Goodreads is fun and funny that way. I have permanently stalled between book two and three of the Baroque Cycle. And I am stalling out on Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell too. Something about those endlessly sprawling books, desperately in need of a trim, drives me to distracttion.
I may try out Declare someday, Terry. Looks interesting, and the Le Carre feel would be a big Powers improvement.
I never made it past volume 1 of the Baroque Cycle and vowed never to read anything by Stephenson longer than 450p. Needless to say, I haven't acquired any of his recent work...
But I love Stephenson's sprawling books! They remind me of cats.
(I'm grinning even trying to articulate this)
It's that endlessly curious nature.
The 'journey is more important than the destination' ethos.
I'm pretty sure I'll love Stange & Norell when I get to it!
Feel free to send any more of this ilk my way :-)
I recommend War & Peace; much more worthwhile than the Baroque Cycle or Strange & Norrel (which I only made it half way through).
The last book of Stephenson's I really enjoyed was Cryptonomicon, but even that sprawled over the sheets like a Sherpa passed out after a bar binge.
Brad wrote: "The last book of Stephenson's I really enjoyed was Cryptonomicon, but even that sprawled over the sheets like a Sherpa passed out after a bar binge."True of me, too, in terms of chronological order of publication - though it was actually the first I read.
The unsung Zodiac is his best and shortest book, in my view; and I think the two are linked.
