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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Yar har har! Yeah, it's a story about pirates, alright. Voodoo and ghost pirates, too! But it's also kind of a jumbled mess, which I think is a running theme across Powers' work. Like "The Anubis Gates," there's body-swapping weirdness; like "The Stress of Her Regard," there's some cool cosmic-horror-lite and quantum-physics-before-its-time anachronism. Like both of those books, there are historical figures and a too-soon climax and a rather aimless denouement.
The audiobook narration was also inconsistent. Bronson Pinchot was clearly having fun doing all the yo-ho pirate accents. But the rest of his narration didn't seem very naturalistic (he committed the YMMV sin of emoting too much in the regular narration) and for some reason the main character, a young Frenchman named John "Jack Shandy" Chandagnac, has a low, not-very-emotive voice. I expected a little more Guybrush Threepwood, maybe.
The audiobook narration was also inconsistent. Bronson Pinchot was clearly having fun doing all the yo-ho pirate accents. But the rest of his narration didn't seem very naturalistic (he committed the YMMV sin of emoting too much in the regular narration) and for some reason the main character, a young Frenchman named John "Jack Shandy" Chandagnac, has a low, not-very-emotive voice. I expected a little more Guybrush Threepwood, maybe.
dark
mysterious
"On Stranger Tides" was the inspiration for the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie; please don't hold that against it. (I haven't seen the movie, but I know the only points it shares with this book are the character of Blackbeard and the main macguffin).
Tim Powers writes some of my favorite fiction. His bailiwick is to take a historical narrative and reinterpret it in an alternate, supernatural world. Small example: in real life the pirate Blackbeard wove lit slow matches into his hair and beard to intimidate his enemies. In "On Stranger Tides", Blackbeard does this to appease a spirit who is placated by smoldering fire. It's the blending of numerous historical facts with fictional motivations that makes Powers's books stand out to me.
On Stranger Tides is Powers's re-imagining of the golden age of piracy in a world where voodoo is real. As always, his plot is fast-paced, his characters are nuanced, and the writing itself clever.
While I prefer "Declare" and "Three Days to Never", "On Stranger Tides" is another top-notch entry in the Tim Powers catalogue.
Tim Powers writes some of my favorite fiction. His bailiwick is to take a historical narrative and reinterpret it in an alternate, supernatural world. Small example: in real life the pirate Blackbeard wove lit slow matches into his hair and beard to intimidate his enemies. In "On Stranger Tides", Blackbeard does this to appease a spirit who is placated by smoldering fire. It's the blending of numerous historical facts with fictional motivations that makes Powers's books stand out to me.
On Stranger Tides is Powers's re-imagining of the golden age of piracy in a world where voodoo is real. As always, his plot is fast-paced, his characters are nuanced, and the writing itself clever.
While I prefer "Declare" and "Three Days to Never", "On Stranger Tides" is another top-notch entry in the Tim Powers catalogue.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Abandon all hope of a coherent story, you who enter here...
Tim Powers and Harper Collins both disappoint the reader with this one. Some reasons follow. But first, my reason for the three star rating: Powers’ research and sense of what’s happening in the world around the characters is exceptionally good and deserves five stars, but his writing deserves 2. I didn’t like the book ultimately, but I did finish it. So. Three stars.
Problem #1: editing and proofreading or the lack thereof.
Honestly, this reads like the middle draft of a novel where the author has thrown all their ideas in to see which ones work, intending to take out the ones that don’t. Problem is, the ideas and narrative flow that don’t work are left in.
Also the patchy prose (see problem #2) feels like an editor said, “this is too hard, just publish it and we’ll hope everyone is too busy looking at the pretty cutlasses and voodoo to notice.” For a big publishing house, the frequent typos (Blckbeard; a comma used instead of a space between words; etc) make a complete mockery of the myth these days that only self-published authors make these mistakes. This book needed the eyes of two more checkers before it was sent to the printer.
Problem #2: Occasionally Powers’ prose is lovely. Most of the time, it’s clunky but passable and I put up with it for the sake of moving along with the story (which has no plot by the way).
And then there are passages like this:
“Up in the rigging, straddling the headsail yard and leaning against the mast, Jack Shandy lowered his telescope at last, after having stared for nearly a quarter of an hour at the waves, the wispy clouds overhead, and, most intently, at the solid, dark, sharp-edged cloud swelling on the eastern horizon ahead.”
That’s one sentence folks. One sentence. And it’s awful. And there are a LOT of them. (If you’re holding a copy in a bookstore, flick to the opening sentence of chapter 27).
This vast spectrum of craftsmanship again makes me suggest that this was a not-quite-ready draft that was rushed to publication.
Problem #3: worldbuilding. Yes, I know I said Powers’ research was marvellous. It was. Full respect. However, he often wields that without regard for whether or not the reader can understand it. For example, frequently in the middle of active scenes we have references to parts of a ship’s rigging. Nothing wrong with that if you’ve schooled your readers in what these are. But he hasn’t. He has the perfect opportunity with Shandy’s character as the stranger in a strange land to educate Shandy and therefore us. The result is that I was constantly knocked out of action scenes by wondering “what the hell’s going on?”. When you can’t imagine the action, the action ain’t there, buddy. This is despite the Washington Post’s alleged claim that “Powers writes action and adventure that Indiana Jones could only dream of” (Powers doesn’t).
Problem #4: Plot. There isn’t one. Well there kinda is. There’s a beginning and an end. But somewhere in the middle, the storms of Powers’ ideas beached his ship on an atoll. And then when he got it back to sea, it seems he’d lost his compass, so he just piloted the plot where the wind blew for a couple of hundred pages then remembered where he’d started the story and found the most unlikely and convoluted way to bring it to a close (of all the people Hurwood chooses to scam in the Caribbean, its Shandy’s uncle? Come on).
That’ll do. The thing is, if there’d only been one of these problems, I’d have given the book four stars. The combination of them means it probably deserves two.
Tim Powers and Harper Collins both disappoint the reader with this one. Some reasons follow. But first, my reason for the three star rating: Powers’ research and sense of what’s happening in the world around the characters is exceptionally good and deserves five stars, but his writing deserves 2. I didn’t like the book ultimately, but I did finish it. So. Three stars.
Problem #1: editing and proofreading or the lack thereof.
Honestly, this reads like the middle draft of a novel where the author has thrown all their ideas in to see which ones work, intending to take out the ones that don’t. Problem is, the ideas and narrative flow that don’t work are left in.
Also the patchy prose (see problem #2) feels like an editor said, “this is too hard, just publish it and we’ll hope everyone is too busy looking at the pretty cutlasses and voodoo to notice.” For a big publishing house, the frequent typos (Blckbeard; a comma used instead of a space between words; etc) make a complete mockery of the myth these days that only self-published authors make these mistakes. This book needed the eyes of two more checkers before it was sent to the printer.
Problem #2: Occasionally Powers’ prose is lovely. Most of the time, it’s clunky but passable and I put up with it for the sake of moving along with the story (which has no plot by the way).
And then there are passages like this:
“Up in the rigging, straddling the headsail yard and leaning against the mast, Jack Shandy lowered his telescope at last, after having stared for nearly a quarter of an hour at the waves, the wispy clouds overhead, and, most intently, at the solid, dark, sharp-edged cloud swelling on the eastern horizon ahead.”
That’s one sentence folks. One sentence. And it’s awful. And there are a LOT of them. (If you’re holding a copy in a bookstore, flick to the opening sentence of chapter 27).
This vast spectrum of craftsmanship again makes me suggest that this was a not-quite-ready draft that was rushed to publication.
Problem #3: worldbuilding. Yes, I know I said Powers’ research was marvellous. It was. Full respect. However, he often wields that without regard for whether or not the reader can understand it. For example, frequently in the middle of active scenes we have references to parts of a ship’s rigging. Nothing wrong with that if you’ve schooled your readers in what these are. But he hasn’t. He has the perfect opportunity with Shandy’s character as the stranger in a strange land to educate Shandy and therefore us. The result is that I was constantly knocked out of action scenes by wondering “what the hell’s going on?”. When you can’t imagine the action, the action ain’t there, buddy. This is despite the Washington Post’s alleged claim that “Powers writes action and adventure that Indiana Jones could only dream of” (Powers doesn’t).
Problem #4: Plot. There isn’t one. Well there kinda is. There’s a beginning and an end. But somewhere in the middle, the storms of Powers’ ideas beached his ship on an atoll. And then when he got it back to sea, it seems he’d lost his compass, so he just piloted the plot where the wind blew for a couple of hundred pages then remembered where he’d started the story and found the most unlikely and convoluted way to bring it to a close (of all the people Hurwood chooses to scam in the Caribbean, its Shandy’s uncle? Come on).
That’ll do. The thing is, if there’d only been one of these problems, I’d have given the book four stars. The combination of them means it probably deserves two.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I enjoyed this quite a bit - the humor is "dry", not slapstick as you might expect from pirate movies such as POTC or Yellowbeard, so be prepared for that... but it is plentiful. The main drawback is that the only female character of note is pretty much drugged unconscious through the whole book - she's more of a plot device than an actual character. This could have been 5+ stars if the author had found some way to incorporate a vital, strong woman in the same role. Even worse, the few times she was conscious, she WAS smart and funny and even a little tough - shoe could have been so much more.
Two of the villains are creepy beyond belief, and both have incest issues - and who would think there was such variety of creepiness even in that single vein! Could be really disturbing to some readers, just a heads up... the straightforward pirates and voodoo masters are wicked, but in a much more fun (& understandable) way!
Two of the villains are creepy beyond belief, and both have incest issues - and who would think there was such variety of creepiness even in that single vein! Could be really disturbing to some readers, just a heads up... the straightforward pirates and voodoo masters are wicked, but in a much more fun (& understandable) way!