[Books 2007] Tim Powers

[inulro]

45. On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers

I've been meaning to read this one for ages and was not disappointed.

Pirates! Voodoo! and other dark magic! Zombie Pirates! The Fountain of Youth!

On the Tim Powers scale, I think it scores below The Anubis Gates and above The Drawing of the Dark. (The only other one I've read, Earthquake Weather, didn't really do much for me).

In an ideal world I'd have time to sit down, read the three back to back and decide once and for all which I like best.

Can't recommend this highly enough.

Comments

[mrph.livejournal.com]

Earthquake Weather's trying to be a sequel to two different books and doesn't quite succeed. One of those two, Last Call, is well worth a look - the other, Expiration Date, didn't really grab me.

I think I've read most of the Powers stuff (although Three Days to Never is still sitting next to the coffee table, unread).

Declare and The Stress of Her Regard are both quite good, too. The ideas and imagery really appeal to me, but I'm not sure I could recommend them unreservedly. TSoHR overloads its fiction with historical characters, whereas while Declare has some lovely ideas, the more modern background doesn't appeal to me quite so much.

[zotz]

My first thought when I heard about Pissheads of the Tropics was that someone had decided to film On Stranger Tides loosely enough not to buy the rights. A great book.

Dinner at Deviant's Palace and The Stress of Her Regard are both very good, and I've recently been told in no uncertain terms that I have to read Declare. Also, you should give some consideration to reading stuff by his mates Jeter and Blaylock, particularly Infernal Devices and Homunculus