The Anubis Gates

As I mentioned in my post covering my January 2022 reading list, the first book to be included in February's list would be Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates . Up until just a few days ago, I had never heard of Tim Powers; it was thanks to a post by a Facebook friend (whom I haven't actually met, face to face) who had just finished reading one of Powers' novels. There were four additional novels by Powers mentioned in the comment section, which I made note of.

Going to one of my favorite websites, I was able to download the five novels. Not knowing which novel to read first, I did a little research and learned that of those five novels, The Anubis Gates was the earliest written. The book's dealing with time travel was a point in it's favor as well.

However, I'm giving the novel a rating of 3 stars out of a possible five.

Powers seems to have gone full kitchen sink with this novel. Not only is there time travel to the early 19th Century, with appearances by Lord Byron and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, but sorcery and a bit of body-snatching are thrown in for good measure. There are far too many characters making their way through out the novel, and the story seems more complicated than it needs to be. After 3/4 of the way through the novel, I was hoping that the book would finally come to an end.

On the plus side, while reading the book, I was reminded of another time travel adventure that I had read several years ago. While searching for that sci-fi novel, I came upon a list of the 23 best time travel sci-fi books. Why the number 23 instead of say, 25 or 30? I've no clue. At any rate, I've downloaded those 23 books - and a few others as well - and I plan to read exclusively "time travel" novels for the next couple of months, much like I did last year with Agatha Christie novels. It's too early to give out my entire list, but I will say the next time travel novel is To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis.