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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cthulhu's Librarian" data-source="post: 1457799" data-attributes="member: 11064">Welcome to the discussion for The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers.     Warning, there are SPOILERS contained in the discussion below. If you haven't finished the book, please don't read any more unless you want to spoil some of the twists and turns of the book, of which there are many.      First, I have to say that I was VERY impressed with this novel. I had read one other book by Powers (On Stranger Tides) which I enjoyed quite a bit, and it was only a matter of time before I read something else by him. Anubis Gates had been recommended to me by several people, and I thought that the ENWorld book group was a good place to try it out. The novel has won several awards (Philip K. Dick Award 1984, British Science Fiction Award 1986, and the Locus Poll Award (Fantasy-#2 1984) and is considered by many to be one of Powers best novels.    In general, I'm not a fan of time travel stories, as they tend to fall apart by the end of the story, and ignore the consequences of an outsider changing the timestream by appearing in the past. When Doyle and the others first jumped back to London, I was interested to see what effect they were going to have in the future. As things occured, expecially when Doyle went to meet Ashbless the first time and wrote from memory Twelve Hours of the Night from memory, I realized that not everything was as it seemed. That was also the first tip off I had that Doyle and Ashbless were the same person. As other things events took place and were reconciled, the amount of plotting that Powers put into the novel became evident. Finding things that had been forshadowed became a game, as I tried to figure out who or what an event was, and how it would be resolved in the future/past, depending on Doyles perspective.     I also loved the portrayal of the seedy side of Londaon in the 19th century, with beggar guilds, gypsies, and the Romantic poets. The character of Horrabin was fascinating, and the ancient magic and it's effects on the sorcerers who used it was great. The little details like the spring soled shoes and stilts to show the abandonment of the earth for magic, bring much to the story and give a very evil feel to these characters.     I particularly liked the jump even further back in time, and how the events there were forshadowed in the book Doyle found in the archives and when the aged Romany (at that point just known to us an ancient one eyed beggar) shows Doyle a skull in the abandoned lot.     I've done a bit of research on Tim Powers, particularly on the character of Ashbless, as I knew going in that he used this character in other books. What I found out was quite amusing, and very interesting. Powers, along with James Blaylock, created the character of William Ashbless while in college in the early 1970s. Here is his description of how Ashbless was created:     Both Powers and Blaylock have used the character (or his poetry) in many of their own books, and he has even begun to be mentioned in books by other authors as well.       The best info I found on Tim Powers is on <a href="http://www.theworksoftimpowers.com/" target="_blank">http://www.theworksoftimpowers.com/</a> The section relating to William Ashbless were especially interesting, with the first page being a historical account of him, and the second being information on the creation of the character and the resulting books, events, and miscellaneous bits that have come about as a result.     So, what are other peoples reactions to The Anubis Gates? Did you like it as much as I did? Have you read any other books by Powers? What did you enjoy, and was there anything you disliked?</blockquote>

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