Members with This Book
Most Helpful Reviews
see all reviews
Liked It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “This is my first experience with Tim Powers and I hope to read more of his books. |
Newest Reviews
see all reviews-
“My second favorite Tim Powers book (after The Drawing of the Dark). Incredibly immersive, detailed, thoughtful, and creepy. The fantastic supernatural story dovetails alarmingly well with the true accounts of Kim Philby. Curiously, Machikha Nash may be the most believable explanation for how Soviet Communism survived for as long as it did.”
Michael DiBaggio wrote this review Wednesday, September 28, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Good story with suspense. I liked the story, but felt like I needed a score card to keep track of who is who with which organization at any given timeperiod and the scene was just a flashback or a flashback within a flashback. It was a book that really required attention while reading, as opposed to an 'easy' 'fluff' 'fun' read. Also, I really dislike (what seems to me as) flashback overkill.... I guess I'm just chronologically rigid.”
*Jeff* wrote this review Wednesday, June 2, 2010. ( reply | view 1 replies | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No1 of 1 members found this review helpful“This is my first experience with Tim Powers and I hope to read more of his books.
Marie wrote this review Tuesday, April 13, 2010. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
I am not much of a cold war Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy type enthusiast, but this book goes beyond the genre and into the true novel category. Intricate plots and sub-plots and an intriguing backstory of supernatural evil combine to make a very well thought out novel. Although it is fiction I learned a great deal.
Recommended.”
“Probably the first Tim Powers book I've read that I don't think I'll ever come back to re-read. I normally love his work and have re-read most of his books at least once or twice. But this one never captured my imagination the way others (like his Fisher King trilogy) did.
Lou wrote this review Sunday, February 21, 2010. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
I was intrigued to learn, in reading the afterword, that one of the book's main characters was based on a real person -- Kim Philby, a member of British Intelligence during World War II who was a Soviet spy. I wonder if I'd known that going into the book, if I'd have found it more interesting. ”
“I'll review it later”
Naju wrote this review Monday, June 15, 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
0 of 2 members found this review helpful“Possibly Tim Powers' best-realized book, it is a superb example of the "hidden history" novel---a story in which many of the events can be confirmed historical, but the interpretations can be played with dramatically. In this instance, an occult explanation for the onset of the Cold War. Fine, twisty stuff.”
Mark W. Tiedemann wrote this review Wednesday, December 17, 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Not my favorite Powers book, but an interesting story of World War 2 spies. Gets off to rather a slow start, but then takes off in rather a whirlwind of deception and counter deception. Part spy and part horror novel.”
muque and shylock tomes wrote this review Wednesday, September 17, 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
1 of 1 members found this review helpful“Not the best Power's book I have read, but definitely worth a read. Like other books of his, I find myself wanting to duplicate his research on the real events that form a backdrop to the story.”
Earl Bailey wrote this review Friday, June 27, 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
1 of 1 members found this review helpful“Interesting mixture of the supernatural and espionage woven around events in and just after the 2nd world war. I expect I'd appreciate it more with a greater interest in the period, since the fantastic elements are interwoven around real events. Characters were believable, though I wasn't emotionally invested in them, and the supernatural elements were applied lightly, but did a good job of being sinister nonetheless.”
Mrraow wrote this review Tuesday, March 4, 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
