The Anubis Gates

By Tim Powers

Book Overview

Now celebrating 40 years in print--take a dazzling journey through time with Tim Power's classic, Philip K. Dick Award-winning tale...

"There have been other novels in the genre about time travel, but none with The Anubis Gates' unique slant on the material, nor its bottomless well of inventiveness. It's literally in a class by itself, a model for others to follow, and it's easy to see how it put Powers on the map."--SF Reviews

Brendan Doyle, a specialist in the work of the early-nineteenth century poet William Ashbless, reluctantly accepts an invitation from a millionaire to act as a guide to time-travelling tourists. But while attending a lecture given by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1810, he becomes marooned in Regency London, where dark and dangerous forces know about the gates in time.

Caught up in the intrigue between rival bands of beggars, pursued by Egyptian sorcerers, and befriended by Coleridge, Doyle somehow survives and learns more about the mysterious Ashbless than he could ever have imagined possible...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0441004016
• ISBN13: 9780441004010
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Ace Books
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.3" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Absolutely brilliant!

This is the first Tim Powers book I've ever picked up. It definitely won't be the last. 'Anubis Gates' is the best time travel story that I've ever read. I should mention, in the name of honesty, that I haven't read a lot of time travel books, because I am easily irritated by paradoxes that aren't resolved, cliches, and "scientific" explanations that don't make any sense. 'Anubis Gates' has none of these problems. I am...

Atmospheric and coherent

When I started reading this book, my first reaction was, "Wow, what great atmosphere!" Egyptian magic, Coleridge, eighteenth-century England, secret societies... atmosphere abounds. But the thing about atmosphere is, it works well for the first half of a book, when the writer can get by with obscure intimations; but eventually, the book has to let you know what's going on -- and that's the point when many atmosphere-heavy...

Time Travel has never been this much fun!

After recently posting a review of Crichton's "Timeline" in which I compared the book not too favorably with "The Anubis Gates," I decided to skim through the latter again in order to post a review of it. Well, that lasted about one page, after which I was sucked in again completely and read the thing cover to cover. Wow! Even after repeated readings, Powers' tale of a mild mannered English Professor from 1983 who finds himself...

Seamless

Tim Powers is, to put it plainly, the best fantasist working in the genre. Period. One read of The Anubis Gates will prove it to anybody's satisfaction; I know it's done so for me. My God, what a book. Simply the ideas of time travel and dopplegangers that Powers puts forth here (not to mention his teriffic eye for Victorian Period detail, and his brilliant, believable characterizations of notable figures of the time) are...

Time Travel... without blatant contradictions!

Have you ever enjoyed a good time travel story only to find yourself annoyed with the paradoxes introduced by the character's actions? Well, Powers masterfully weaves this tale of a modern day Coleridge expert's exploits and misadventures in 19th century England. There are no potholes or contradictions that Powers did not somehow manage to smooth out and plug snuggly into his storyline. This book will make you flip back and...