[ad#books]
[starreview]
Classification: Past Time Travel
In 1983 a wealthy man, J. Cochran Darrow, discovers a way to travel to the past. He hires Brendan Doyle, an English professor who’s an expert on Coleridge, to take a group of ten tourists – each having paid a million dollars – to 1810, specifically, to attend a lecture given by Coleridge himself. To Doyle, a scholar researching the biography of the mysterious poet William Ashbless, this is a dream come true – a once in a lifetime opportunity – and he, of course, accepts the offer. However, the plan goes awry: just before attempting to return to the present, Doyle is kidnapped and is unable to return.
To his amazement, Doyle discovers that in order to get back, he must overcome a band of gypsies, magic-wielding Egyptian sorcerers, and the perils of 19th century England. Not to mention an ancient, body-switching, werewolf. During these trials, Doyle gets to live in Victorian England – a dream come true that turns into a nightmare – and attempts to find the enigmatic Ashbless (the rationale being: as long as he is there, why not make the best of it?)
The book is very well written, the characters – historical and fictional – are fully fleshed, and the level of detail in describing the period and historical characters is astonishing. Powers has clearly done his research, and it shows.
To me, one of the favorite aspects of complex Time Travel novels is the mental attempt to guess how the various time periods connect. Many books attempt to do this and simply fail. Even worse, other books become cryptic and ‘mystical’, thus, avoiding the need for a convincing conclusion. The Anubis Gates pulls off this feat admirably: all elements tie out perfectly, and the best aspect, some parts clearly came – to me – as a surprise.
To summarize: there are a lot of ingredients in this book: Time Travel, Historical Figures, Complex Interweaving of Past and Present that need to be wrapped up in a convincing manner. The Anubis Gates is one of the few books able to pull this off together. It’s simply a masterpiece: one of the best time travel books I’ve read.
Link to the book’s details on Amazon.com
If you’ve read this book, please vote below: