A review by frasersimons
The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I doubt I’d have finished this if I didn’t own it already. Another “must-read” knocked off the ol’ TBR, thankfully, but unfortunately, quite the trudge. It should be a lot of fun. Time travel, paradoxes, magic. The problem, for me, was in the quality of the prose, the unconvincing antagonistic devices, and the incredulity of the MC to get to where he ended up. Maybe if it was more Cohen-brothers-esk, I could find myself believing the outcome, but the stumbling and plotting is obviously toward a narrow, prescribed ending, that it all just feels a bit too overworked and overwritten. 

Somehow, when the time travel actually happens and the fallout occurs, for some time it’s endlessly boring. It takes forever to get going. The women aren’t written well. It’s got some good ideas, and the macro plotting is impressive, but the execution of everything else, even to the similes, is not good. Reading scifi from this era always makes me wonder what editors were up to.