You know how sometimes you’re using your time machine, and it breaks down, and then you have to wait for some timelessly old Egyptian sorcerer to stop by in his pyramid and give you a hand? Contrary to what the BBC would have you believe, I really think that the Egyptians are the AAA of time travel. How did that happen? Could it have something to do with mummies? Or maybe it’s the crazy inventions they had. Of course, if that was the case then the Aztecs would be all over time as well, and you don’t see them anywhere. Wait. What was I talking about?
Oh yeah, Egyptian Sorcerers and time travel. Multiple-award-winning author Tim Powers must be in the know about time travel, because he links them together in The Anubis Gates. The story begins with a professor who is hired to give a lecture on Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Actually, that isn’t where the story begins. The story is complicated and really begins with an Egyptian sorcerer and his plot to go back in time and change events in such a way that the British Empire will never conquer Egypt.
Included in the story is a werewolf who must change bodies regularly to keep ahead of a ghastly curse; a horrifying beggar king who looks like a clown; a young woman who, dressed like a boy, searches for the killer of her true love; a group of horrible monsters that live in the tunnels under London; wax copies of men; a wooden monkey; the river of death; and a multi-millionaire from our time who has figured out how to travel in time and has his own sinister plans.
This book is absurd, funny, dark, tragic, and horrifying. To me it seemed like ineptitude and calamity was the one consistent theme throughout the book. People’s actions have disastrous unintended consequences. Chance plays as important a role as any planning, and the author’s tongue is always firmly planted in cheek. In addition, somehow in the middle of all this Powers turns out his most credible love story. How does he do it?
Creepy Factor: 5 out of 5
Suspense Factor: 4 out of 5
Weird Erotic Tension Factor: 2 out of 5
Final result: The Anubis Gates is my favorite book by Tim Powers. It won the 1984 Science Fiction Chronicle Award and the 1983 Philip K. Dick Award. Have you read this book? Is it your favorite Tim Powers book? Let us know in the comments!
The Anubis Gates – Tim Powers – Ace – 1983
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