The Anubis Gates

Ian Grier
12 April, 2020


This weeks readings involve altered reality and the reader 's perception of what time really signifies.  Tim Powers novel, "The Anubis Gates" follows English Professor Brendan Doyle as he goes through gates towards different time periods.  The book involves magicians, millionaires, sorcerers, and a group of misfits from werewolves to deformed clowns.  Somehow all of these vast array of characters come together to fulfill a plot of intrigue, mystery, and adventure. 

Professor Doyle is fascinated with the poet William Ashbless.  When millionaire J. Cochran Darrow discovers the gates that allow time travel, he enlists Doyle to travel through time to attend a lecture and to learn from the past.  Doyle however wants to meet and befriend the poet.  Though a simple plan, Doyle becomes embroiled in drama when he is kidnapped by one of the magicians and becomes trapped in the early 19th Century.  All characters in the novel are not what they seem and this lends itself to a book that needs to be focused on and each character needs to be followed and understood. 

By using the altered reality of time travel, this novel is a must read because from the moment the novel begins until the last page, the reader is immersed in the life of Doyle and what effects each decision he makes alters time and place.  By using time travel as a tool to tell this story, the writer immerses the reader into an alternate plane of misconception.  Each story line must be followed and understood in order to appreciate the story.  Altered reality can be an entertaining genre in writing but it can be a slippery slope if the writer does not carefully piece each bit of alternate perceptions together.  Overall, this book was a good read and left this reader wanting to know the next time dimension Doyle would pursue.