valhecka's review against another edition
4.0
This is the first Powers I've read - I'll go back for more.
tregina's review against another edition
4.0
I really loved this. My single overwhelming thought, other than my enjoyment, was that his brain works like my brain works. These are how I think too.
aomdoa's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Just a fun quick read with some stories from a directed perspective.
librarianmage's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
captainjaq's review against another edition
4.0
There's something wonderfully unique and strange about the imagination of Tim Powers. This collection of stories is not the best introduction to it, however good they might be. Th final story of the book is a companion piece to Powers' novels The Stress of Her Regard and Hide Me Upon The Graves dealing with the Nephalim, romantic poets and non-traditional vampires. It was originally written as a bonus for a limited edition of Regard and really needs a working knowledge of that book to be fully appreciated.
The other stories tend to focus on ghosts, siblings and the dead, a favorite haunt of Powers. The title story is a cautionary tale of what it means to give up your soul in a world where having a soul is a valuable thing. It also has a nice element of contextual wordplay and ruminations on how language can control thought (and ultimately, reality). Not to mention the obvious religious implications. As for the rest, "A Journey of Two Paces" is a creepy little tale of immortality and cats while "The Hour of Babel" looks at time travel with an eye to the downsides and the literal repercussions. "Parallel Lines" covers the effects of sublimating yourself for a twin sibling and how you re-establish your own identity after her death.
My favorite story, though, is "A Soul in a Bottle," a tidy piece which combines all of it - sisters and time travel and ghosts. It's a Powers trifecta and for me, works on every level. Not to mention he adds in some classic Hollywood Boulevard situations and a few nice sonnets and you have a great read for a rainy afternoon.
All in all, the book is a nice set and if you're already a Powers' fan, a way to quench a literary thirst between novels. Additionally, if you're interested in process, Powers adds a little post script to each story to give a little insight into the origination and writing of each. Well worth the ride.
The other stories tend to focus on ghosts, siblings and the dead, a favorite haunt of Powers. The title story is a cautionary tale of what it means to give up your soul in a world where having a soul is a valuable thing. It also has a nice element of contextual wordplay and ruminations on how language can control thought (and ultimately, reality). Not to mention the obvious religious implications. As for the rest, "A Journey of Two Paces" is a creepy little tale of immortality and cats while "The Hour of Babel" looks at time travel with an eye to the downsides and the literal repercussions. "Parallel Lines" covers the effects of sublimating yourself for a twin sibling and how you re-establish your own identity after her death.
My favorite story, though, is "A Soul in a Bottle," a tidy piece which combines all of it - sisters and time travel and ghosts. It's a Powers trifecta and for me, works on every level. Not to mention he adds in some classic Hollywood Boulevard situations and a few nice sonnets and you have a great read for a rainy afternoon.
All in all, the book is a nice set and if you're already a Powers' fan, a way to quench a literary thirst between novels. Additionally, if you're interested in process, Powers adds a little post script to each story to give a little insight into the origination and writing of each. Well worth the ride.
bent's review against another edition
2.0
I usually like Tim Powers, but I wasn't big on this collection of short stories. Half of them felt like fragments from novels rather than stories in their own right. The other half like mild ghost stories - not the scary ones of M. R. James, but ones that are mildly threatening. The former all seemed to start in the middle of the action, in a world that you don't really understand, and then come to some kind of indefinite conclusion. This was especially true of "The Bible Repairman" and "The Hour of Babel." "A Time to Cast Away Stones" was in this vein too, but it had a more complete conclusion. It was also the story I liked the least.
"The Bible Repairman" created an interesting world, but then didn't really do anything with it. "The Hour of Babel" had an interesting premise, but I never really felt like I understood it, and then it ended. "A Time to Cast Away Stones" I found boring for the most part, although there were glimpses of what could have been an interesting mythos.
The other three stories were the ghost stories, although there were kind of echoes of ghosts or spirits in all six stories. "A Soul in a Bottle," "Parallel Lines" and "A Journey of Only Two Paces" all concerned the efforts of the dead to come back to life, one by changing the past, and the other by possessing new bodies. Although mildly interesting and a little creepy, none of them achieved the dread or fright that this type of story would have at the hands of a ghost story master like James.
They refer to some authors as masters of the short story - Alice Munroe, Raymond Carver, Somerset Maugham - Powers seems to be the opposite. His work is better enjoyed as a novel, where he has more scope to flesh out the world that he's creating. And I found the comments that accompanied the stories - an explanation of his inspiration for each story - rather mundane and banal. They actually served as a detriment to the stories rather than as an enhancement. A disappointing read.
"The Bible Repairman" created an interesting world, but then didn't really do anything with it. "The Hour of Babel" had an interesting premise, but I never really felt like I understood it, and then it ended. "A Time to Cast Away Stones" I found boring for the most part, although there were glimpses of what could have been an interesting mythos.
The other three stories were the ghost stories, although there were kind of echoes of ghosts or spirits in all six stories. "A Soul in a Bottle," "Parallel Lines" and "A Journey of Only Two Paces" all concerned the efforts of the dead to come back to life, one by changing the past, and the other by possessing new bodies. Although mildly interesting and a little creepy, none of them achieved the dread or fright that this type of story would have at the hands of a ghost story master like James.
They refer to some authors as masters of the short story - Alice Munroe, Raymond Carver, Somerset Maugham - Powers seems to be the opposite. His work is better enjoyed as a novel, where he has more scope to flesh out the world that he's creating. And I found the comments that accompanied the stories - an explanation of his inspiration for each story - rather mundane and banal. They actually served as a detriment to the stories rather than as an enhancement. A disappointing read.
drtlovesbooks's review against another edition
3.0
What it's about: This anthology features an array of genres united by the unusual worlds in which they take place.
"The Bible Repairman" features a world in which the supernatural and psychics are real and under constant bombardment by the thoughts of those around them; the only way they can find peace is by ingesting someone else's broken soul. But the more of your soul you give away, the less life you have. The protagonist finds himself caught in a difficult situation.
"A Soul in a Bottle" is a modern ghost story, a romance, and a time travel story all rolled into one.
"The Hour of Babel" starts with a man revisiting the pizza joint where he used to work before "the incident". But it turns out the incident was much more than he ever realized.
In "Parallel Lines", a woman's dead twin is communicating with her from beyond the grave. Except it's not the protagonist she meant to communicate with...
"A Journey of Only Two Paces" sends the protagonist on a strange lunch meeting to discuss the handling of his former best friend's will. As the day unfolds, the protagonist comes to see that perhaps it wasn't his friend who actually died.
I skipped the final story, "A Time to Cast Away Stones" - after a few pages, it wasn't doing much for me, and there are too many good books in the world to spend time on mediocre ones (especially after reading the previous short pieces, which were quite good).
What I thought: These stories featured lots of twists and turns that I didn't see coming. There was some quality here that I hadn't expected. This was my second time picking this book up from the library, and I must never have cracked it open the last time, because I was expecting something completely and totally different than what was actually happening here.
Why I rated it like I did: I found all of these stories compelling in one way or another, though I wouldn't say I enjoyed all of them necessarily. There are definitely some good pieces here - "A Soul in a Bottle" and "Parallel Lines" were my favorites. Oddly, they seemed to share a little bit of DNA. The other stories featured interesting concepts, but didn't grab me.
"The Bible Repairman" features a world in which the supernatural and psychics are real and under constant bombardment by the thoughts of those around them; the only way they can find peace is by ingesting someone else's broken soul. But the more of your soul you give away, the less life you have. The protagonist finds himself caught in a difficult situation.
"A Soul in a Bottle" is a modern ghost story, a romance, and a time travel story all rolled into one.
"The Hour of Babel" starts with a man revisiting the pizza joint where he used to work before "the incident". But it turns out the incident was much more than he ever realized.
In "Parallel Lines", a woman's dead twin is communicating with her from beyond the grave. Except it's not the protagonist she meant to communicate with...
"A Journey of Only Two Paces" sends the protagonist on a strange lunch meeting to discuss the handling of his former best friend's will. As the day unfolds, the protagonist comes to see that perhaps it wasn't his friend who actually died.
I skipped the final story, "A Time to Cast Away Stones" - after a few pages, it wasn't doing much for me, and there are too many good books in the world to spend time on mediocre ones (especially after reading the previous short pieces, which were quite good).
What I thought: These stories featured lots of twists and turns that I didn't see coming. There was some quality here that I hadn't expected. This was my second time picking this book up from the library, and I must never have cracked it open the last time, because I was expecting something completely and totally different than what was actually happening here.
Why I rated it like I did: I found all of these stories compelling in one way or another, though I wouldn't say I enjoyed all of them necessarily. There are definitely some good pieces here - "A Soul in a Bottle" and "Parallel Lines" were my favorites. Oddly, they seemed to share a little bit of DNA. The other stories featured interesting concepts, but didn't grab me.
henryarmitage's review against another edition
4.0
Ripping yarns about ghosts, the supernatural and time travel.
The final novella-length story, A Time To Cast Away Stones, was particularly good. I think it was set in the same world as [b:The Stress of Her Regard|417656|The Stress of Her Regard|Tim Powers|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1503059955s/417656.jpg|937457].
The final novella-length story, A Time To Cast Away Stones, was particularly good. I think it was set in the same world as [b:The Stress of Her Regard|417656|The Stress of Her Regard|Tim Powers|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1503059955s/417656.jpg|937457].
lucy_anywhere's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0