The Anubis Gates

A science fiction written by Tim Powers in 1983
Reviewed edition by Ace from 1997
A trade paperback has 390 pages
ISBN 0-441-00401-6

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The hero, unlikely as it might sound, is Brendan Doyle, a university professor and an expert on the life and works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Doyle is unexpectedly offered a job by an apparently somewhat eccentric millionaire, who claims to have means to travel back in time to a lecture given by Coleridge, and needs a knowledgeable guide for his other passengers. Naturally, Doyle agrees, and soon finds himself in 19th century London listening to Coleridge.

Naturally, things start going wrong soon. Doyle is abducted by a gypsy magician who saw the group arriving and is in a desperate need of learning how they travelled. With luck, he manages to escape, only to find himself without coin, and soon has to resort to begging. Which of course sparks the interest of the beggar gangs in the city, especially when the gypsy magician promises a reward to whoever finds Doyle for him.

The situation seemingly gets a bit better when Doyle spots another member of his group in London. Except the member actually tries to shoot Doyle, who quickly realizes that the visit of the lecture was just a ruse for a much more elaborate scheme ...

Review

This is a book that definitely does not lack ideas. What is more, the ideas neatly fit into the 19th century England, creating a slightly spooky image of an old London with dark underground sewers and strange guilds ... hey, I wonder if 19th century England looked anything close to this, but it simply is the image I have :-).

There is another aspect of the book that I found interesting. It is one of those books that are a mixture of science fiction and fantasy, with time travel and magic playing side by side. One thing that it seems to lack from the fantasy domain, however, is the hero. While Doyle is definitely far from uninteresting, he feels more like Sherlock Holmes than a fantasy character.

Given that the book won the Philip K. Dick Award, I probably do not have to add further praise.

Rated as good by Ceres on 2000-04-30

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