Scan barcode
A review by nigellicus
Last Call by Tim Powers
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
5.0
Of all Tim Power's books I think this is the one that can be safely called his tour-de-force. A magnificent concatenation of tarot, Arthurian myth, chaos theory, the highs and lows of gambling, the glitter and glitz and dead-eyed exhaustion of Las Vegas, secret and not-so-secret histories involving the ganster Bugsy Siegel, and a collection of misfits and loser and degenerates, some of whom are our protagonists.
After young Scott Crane escapes his father's intention to core him out and take over his body, he's found and adopted by a canny gambler with an eye for the magical undercurrents that swirl around card games. Years later he takes part in a strange game on a lake, which causes his foster father to take his foster sister and abandon him. Now a debt is being called due, and it looks like he's pretty much doomed. His wife dies, he seeks solace in alcohol, and has visions of awesome powers under the surgface of reality. In an effort to get his life in some sort of order, he goes back to poker playing, but that in turn sets off an alarm that makes the Fisher King aware that one of his jacks is back in play, and like the others he is being drawn back to Las Vegas and another game on the lake where the King will finally take what's his.
It's just an amazing, sprawling, twisting and turning story, held together with a meticulous mythology that fits almost seemlessly with reality. The seamy glamour of Las Vegas never seemed so shiny or so dangerous.
Great, laconic, wry narration and subtle voice work by the reader.
After young Scott Crane escapes his father's intention to core him out and take over his body, he's found and adopted by a canny gambler with an eye for the magical undercurrents that swirl around card games. Years later he takes part in a strange game on a lake, which causes his foster father to take his foster sister and abandon him. Now a debt is being called due, and it looks like he's pretty much doomed. His wife dies, he seeks solace in alcohol, and has visions of awesome powers under the surgface of reality. In an effort to get his life in some sort of order, he goes back to poker playing, but that in turn sets off an alarm that makes the Fisher King aware that one of his jacks is back in play, and like the others he is being drawn back to Las Vegas and another game on the lake where the King will finally take what's his.
It's just an amazing, sprawling, twisting and turning story, held together with a meticulous mythology that fits almost seemlessly with reality. The seamy glamour of Las Vegas never seemed so shiny or so dangerous.
Great, laconic, wry narration and subtle voice work by the reader.