Review: Dinner at Deviant's Palace by Tim Powers

Dinner at Deviant’s Palace by Tim Powers

Published: Ace Books, 1985

Awards Won: Philip K. Dick Award

Awards Nominated: Nebula Award

The Book:

“Gregorio Rivas is retired from the Redemptionist trade - at thirty-one, he's no longer willing to risk his life rescuing new recruits from the savage religion of the Messiah Norton Jaybush, no longer eager to track the caravans of the faithful through the mutated wildernesses of Los Angeles. Once he was the best Redemptionist for hire - once he even tracked a victim right up to the walls of the Messiah's perilous Holy City in Irvine - but that's all over now.

Or it was - until he's approached to perform one last Redemption. And this time the victim who has been brainwashed and carried away by the brutal faith is his long-lost first love, Urania. And so Rivas sets out to save her, beginning a violent pilgrimage that will take him through the landscape-of-the-damned which is 22nd Century California, and into the very heart of the Jaybush cult - and finally to the nightmare city of Venice, and the fabulous, feared castle at the core of it... Deviant's Palace.” ~WWend.com

This is the third of Powers’s novels that I’ve read, and I definitely plan to read more of his work.  Thus far, I have had a consistently very positive experience in reading his entertaining and unusual style of fiction.

My Thoughts:

Dinner at Deviant’s Palace throws the reader down in the middle of an exceedingly strange world, without very much information to guide the way.  The world is clearly a post-nuclear wasteland, but many of the stranger aspects of the world—like Venice and its ‘blood’, hemogoblins, and the jaybird cult—were also not necessarily entirely understood by the protagonist.  I enjoyed the slow process of figuring everything out, especially since almost all of the world-building details ended up being essential for the story.  I also appreciated how this approach allowed the increasingly weird details of the world to be uncovered at a gradual pace.  I think introducing too much information too soon would have risked startling readers off with too much strangeness.

 

As usual, I loved Powers world-building and the physical way he incorporated the more fantastical elements into the story. I even recognized some ideas that I’ve seen show up again in later works. For instance, the idea of particular music or rhythms providing protection from inhuman power (here the jaybird cult) comes up again in protection from djinn in Declare. However, I was struck by the feeling that this seemed like an early work, and that the prose and the story were not quite as polished as in other novels I’ve read.  Since Dinner at Deviant’s Palace was actually published after The Anubis Gates, I am suspecting that it is just not quite as timeless a story.  It might be that the fear of nuclear apocalypse, and of the mental damage that comes from cult indoctrination or heavy drug abuse, is more rooted in the 20^th century experience. 

The basic story also seems a little old-fashioned, focused as it is on a hero’s quest to rescue, and rekindle romance with, his long-lost love.  It seems a little bit like the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, especially given the way Greg uses his musical talent during his quest.  However, the story is not quite that simple.  I felt like the deeper story involved the importance of discarding illusions and interacting with the world as it is.  This is true for Greg’s idealization of Urania as his tragic muse, his romanticized view of himself, and for other things, such the comfort that can be found in the Jaybird’s damaging Sacrament.  I really enjoyed Greg’s journey and his development as a person. While I thought the epilogue seemed unnecessary, I thought the ending of the novel made for a fitting conclusion of Greg’s story.

My Rating: 4/5

Dinner at Deviant’s Palace is a strange post-nuclear science fiction novel from a skilled storyteller.  The wasteland of California feels well-developed, and increasingly strange details crop up as the plot progresses.  Greg Rivas begins on a quest to redeem his long-lost ex-girlfriend from a dangerous cult, but his journey will force him to face some difficult truths about himself and the world he lives in.  This story feels a little more dated than some of Powers other novels, but I still enjoyed it thoroughly.

Review: The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers

The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers

Published: Ace Books, 1983, Chatto & Windus, 1983

Awards Won: Philip K. Dick Award

Awards Nominated: British Science Fiction Association Award, Locus Fantasy Award

The Book: 

“One day, twentieth-century English professor Brendan Doyle, on the basis of his status as a fairly mediocre expert on Samuel Taylor Coleridge, receives an unbelievable job offer from a rich old eccentric.  He is asked to escort a group of equivalently wealthy travelers on a field trip to 1810 London, where they will attend an evening lecture by the great poet.  To Doyle’s surprise, it appears the old man is not a crackpot—Doyle is actually transported back in time.

The evening seems to be going well, until a gypsy kidnapping causes Doyle to miss his ride home.  Doyle now finds that being a student of history may not help him survive the real thing, especially when there appears to be so much that was unrecorded.  Doyle must find some way to navigate his new life’s landscape of horrific beggar clans, gypsy sorcerers, period poets, and the body-snatching murderer known as ‘Dog-Face Joe’.  As he does so, he finds himself drawn unwillingly into the adventure of a lifetime—one that may well claim his, in the end.” ~Allie

After I read Powers excellent dark fantasy spy novel, Declare, I was determined to read more of his work. The Anubis Gates definitely lives up to my expectations.  I’d also like to note that I think this work has aged very well. When I read it, I just assumed it was a relatively recent work, and I was shocked when I saw that the novel was older than I am.  Part of that is surely due to the story mostly taking place in the early 1800s, but I also think this kind of adventure story is the sort that will always have an audience.

My Thoughts:

I was a little surprised to see that both science fiction and fantasy awards recognized The Anubis Gates, since I would personally classify it as firmly fantasy. The story does feature time travel, but the time travel is basically powered by magic, not science.  I don’t mean that to sound like a criticism, though, as The Anubis Gates is a very enjoyable fantasy adventure.  Like Declare, the magic system of The Anubis Gates is very tangible and dangerous, and the story has some of the same dark, violent atmosphere.  However, despite this sinister edge, The Anubis Gates somehow also manages to be a rather playful and enthusiastic story.  The constant threats of torture, disfigurement, or death are balanced out by humor, action, and the protagonist’s unstoppable optimism.

The protagonist, Brendan Doyle, is the typical ordinary guy who gets reluctantly swept up in an adventure.  Though Doyle’s a pretty common character type, I still found his personality to be very engaging. He certainly makes plenty of mistakes, but I was impressed with his resilience and adaptability in dreadful circumstances.  Also, his slightly detached, optimistic view of the situation did a lot towards shifting the tone of the story away from horror and towards adventure.  

Aside from Doyle, the story was full of memorable and vivid characters. The fast-paced, plot-driven nature of the story didn’t lend itself to particularly deep character development, but there was just enough background on each character to pique the reader’s interest. One of my favorite minor characters was a young woman who was masquerading as a boy to get revenge for her murdered fiancé.  There were also plenty of characters that were fun to hate, such as the elusive murderer, Dog-Face Joe, or the sadistic Horrabin, a beggar king who covered up his disfigurement by dressing as a clown. Even the most minor of characters seemed to have their own agenda, and Doyle couldn't seem to help but get tangled up with all of them.   

While there is a lot of creativity in The Anubis Gates, it also has many similarities to other fantasy and action-adventure stories.  As a result, some of the major plot twists tended to be a little predictable.  For instance, Brendan Doyle’s transition from ordinary academic to reluctant hero is pretty standard for this kind of story. I also felt that the motivations and actions of the ‘main’ group of antagonists were a little too simple and familiar, in an action-movie kind of way.  However, there were so many different characters, all with their own goals, that I didn’t mind the simple villains all that much.  While some specific twists and elements may seem very familiar, I thought that there were still plenty of pleasant surprises to enjoy along the way.

My Rating: 4/5

The Anubis Gates is a fast-paced, imaginative, adventure story, featuring a middling academic, Brendan Doyle, who’s stuck in a supernatural take on early 1800s England.  Doyle has a much rougher time than he initially expects, but his resilience, resourcefulness, and general pro-active attitude all make him a very entertaining protagonist.  Powers’ fictional 1800s are filled with all sorts of interesting characters: sorcerers, beggars, gypsies, poets, murderers, time travelers, cross-dressers and more.  The Anubis Gates is a highly entertaining novel, though its use of several common adventure plot-elements does render a few of its twists predictable.  Altogether, it is a timeless kind of story that I imagine will continue to be enjoyed by people for many more years to come. 

Review: Declare by Tim Powers

Declare by Tim Powers

Published: Subterranean Press/William Morrow & Company/HarperCollins (2001), Corvus (2010)

Awards: World Fantasy Award, International Horror Guild Award

Nominated: Locus Fantasy and Nebula Awards

Currently Shortlisted: Arthur C. Clarke Award

The Book:

“As a young double agent infiltrating the Soviet spy network in Nazi-occupied Paris, Andrew Hale finds himself caught up in a secret, even more ruthless war. Two decades later, in 1963, he will be forced to confront again the nightmare that has haunted his adult life: a lethal unfinished operation code-named Declare.

From the corridors of Whitehall to the Arabian desert, from post-war Berlin to the streets of Cold War Moscow, Hale's desperate quest draws him into international politics and gritty espionage tradecraft -- and inexorably drives Hale, the fiery and beautiful Communist agent Elena Teresa Ceniza-Bendiga, and Kim Philby, mysterious traitor to the British cause, to a deadly confrontation on the high glaciers of Mount Ararat, in the very shadow of the fabulous and perilous Ark.”

~From Publisher

This is yet another Clarke Award shortlisted book.  Declare is kind of an interesting choice for the shortlist, not because it isn’t fantastic, but because it was published in 2001.  It was published in the UK only recently, which is why it’s up for awards again this year.  This is the first book I’ve read by Tim Powers, and I am left both amazed and feeling a little intimidated.

My Thoughts:

Declare is both a spy novel about WWII and the Cold War and a dark fantasy.  The two elements seemed to intertwine remarkably well.  The British, French, and Soviet secret services have agents, double agents, and agents under such deep cover that their own organizations don’t even know which category they fall under.  The plot is intricate and filled with careful manipulation, violence, shifting loyalties, and even romance. 

Underneath all the espionage, there are the supernatural elements.  I love the physicality of the magic.  It was not flashy or frivolous, but dangerous, poorly understood, and incredibly eerie. The djinn, also referred to as fallen angels, are at the heart of a secret Cold War, fought through the schemes and many-layered betrayals of the British, French and Soviet spies.  These creatures are deadly destructive, terrifying, and so inhuman that any communication with them is all but impossible.  Rather than casting spells, magic comes in the form of actions, such as beating trance rhythms or carrying ankh-shaped ‘anchors’. 

This story of djinn and spies follows the life of Andrew Hale, but in two different time periods.  One plotline follows his life from his childhood to the first disastrous attempt at Mt. Ararat in 1948.  The second follows his mysterious reactivation over a decade later, where he is asked to end operation Declare once and for all.  There are very rare instances where others briefly become the viewpoint characters, but Andrew Hale is clearly the hero of the story.

While Andrew Hale is a fictional creation, many of the events and people in Declare come from actual historical records. Tim Powers described his method of creating the story as looking for ‘perturbations’ in history, odd events that might suggest some unseen cause.  In his novel, he required that all recorded historical events happen just as they have in reality.  Then, he looked at all of the things in reality that seemed strange, and came up with an elaborate behind-the-scenes story that would account for them.  This strict rule of maintaining observed history applies as equally to momentous events in WWII as it does to recorded details of the lives of real people, such as the real British traitor Kim Philby.  I think that the result is a story that seems incredibly grounded in reality, despite its supernatural leanings. 

Of course, it definitely helps the sense of reality that Powers has clearly done a momentous amount of research on topics ranging from mountaineering, to the Bedouin, to mid-20^th century daily life in Britain, France, Russia, and the Middle East.  There’s an incredible amount of detail and description throughout the entire book, bringing the environment alive as much as the characters. 

One possible downside of Powers highly researched, painstakingly described 20^th century world is that he expects a lot of his readers.  If you don’t have a lot of knowledge beforehand of European 20^th century history, the undercover work of the Soviets against Nazi Germany, the life of Kim Philby, Rudyard Kipling’s Kim, the life of T.E. Lawrence, Arabic folklore, and various other topics, it might be a good idea to brush up a little with Wikipedia before digging into the novel.  I don’t think that all of this knowledge is absolutely necessary to reading Declare, since most things directly important to the plot are well explained within the novel.  However, if you want to appreciate all the hints and allusions, a wide base of knowledge is a must.  I feel like I actually learned a lot from this novel, and it inspired me to learn more about the events of that period in history.

My Rating: 5/5

I found Declare to be almost overwhelmingly entertaining.  It sounded more or less like a political thriller from the description, but it ended up being so much more complex.  The level of period detail and meticulous scenery is amazing, and the djinn magic was deeply unsettling.  I feel like it’s obvious that a tremendous amount of work went into the creation of this novel, and I think it definitely paid off in the end.  It’s not exactly light reading, but I think that this richly imagined historical fantasy is well worth the time and effort.