Review of The Anubis Gate

The Anubis Gate is an award-winning novel published by Tim Powers over thirty years ago. It cannot be categorized properly as belonging to one single genre, since it combines elements of science-fiction as well as fantasy. It is an energetic work that proceeds at a fast pace, with plenty of action and little of the reflection and the moments of profound insight evident in the works of his friend, Phillip K. Dick. It is easy to see the influence of this work in other novels, such as Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere.

It begins by introducing us to a setting: London in the early 19^th century. It seems as if there is a secret organization of wizards and acolytes who are bent on restoring the power of magic in a Europe that has just concluded the Enlightenment and is moving into a tumultuous period of reform and renovation that will be heavily influenced by Romanticism. Indeed, the writer Samuel Coleridge, he of the famous poem Kubla Khan, will figure as a minor character in this work, and in this case, because of the way that it borrows from symbols and references evident in his work, it reminds me of the way that Dan Simmons has used other works and authors (such as Keat’s poetry in Hyperion) to flesh out what were fantastic scenarios and give them a veneer of science fiction. But this veneer is just that in Powers’ novel.

It seems as if we have a catalogue of eccentric characters who will collide and form unlikely alliances. We have, for example, the menacing dwarf Horrabin, he who puts on a particularly vicious Punch and Judy show and who will pursue the protagonist, and English professor named Brandon Doyle in an “Indiana Jones” type role. We also have a terrifying wizard by the name of Dr. Romany, and a whole host of minor characters who include the curious Curly Joe, a werewolf with the power to switch bodies. The intrigue involves a plot by the wizard and his master to instigate a plot against the British monarch, and to thereby undermine England and allow for the resurgence of Egypt as an independent nation, controlled by menacing wizards intent on restoring the old pantheon of Egyptian gods.

The plot, as noted before, is characterized by nonstop action. It begins with the discovery by an eccentric mechanism whereby people from 1983 can be sent back in time along gaps in the timeline, for, as described in the novel, time is a river that flow underneath a frozen surface, but at times, there are gaps in the cover that allow travellors to punch through the holes and enter into other select gaps that have been mapped out. The scientific rationale for this mechanism is very, very flimsy, and it is on a par with that provided by H.G. Wells in his novel The Time Machine. However, the rigorous extrapolation and sociopolitical speculations that are evident in the latter work situate is as a pioneering work of science fiction that continues to stimulate the imagination while appealing as well to a certain apocalyptic obsession that we seem to share as a culture. (Witness, for example, the nonstop stories in our public media about the Mayan prophecy regarding the end of the world, that is supposed to take place on Dec. 21, according to an ancient prediction.) In Powers’ work, however, the analogy and the mechanism hold no such rigorous framework, and instead, what we have is a potboiler full of action and thrilling escapes.

Doyle will quickly be abducted by Dr. Romany during his first journey to the past, and after that, will be constantly pursued. We are introduced, in the meantime, to situations and plots that interweave in unlikely ways, and Doyle will be aided by Jackie, a beggar who in reality is a man on a vendetta, and other minor characters. The villains are true villains, with a taste for torture and manipulation, and to my mind Horrabin the dwarf is the more terrifying figure, walking along as he does in stilts with a rictus of a smile permanently grafted to his mouth, as a premonition of the Joker so famous in the Batman series. Dr. Romany, the tall and lurching wizard with the deep booming voice and the mysterious powers, seems ultimately the weaker of the two, although at a certain point he will torture both Doyle (who has by now been settled into the body of his former graduate student, an athletic blond man who was a lackey to another figure of manipulation, the 20^th century millionaire Mr. Darrow).

The novel is a page-turner, but there is precious little in the way of exploration of a true magical mindset. The action takes preeminence, and we have escapes as well as voyages and encounters with various figures, including the duplicate of Lord Byron. Since the author was an English major who studied at Cal State Fullerton, we see that he is eager to introduce them as minor characters, but they are strictly that, minor characters. We have instead the spectacle of Doyle, the former English professor, becoming an action figure who makes many heroic as well as unlikely escapes.

I wish I could say that there was an overall theme to this work. We have secret societies, such as that of the defenders of magic as well as the society of beggars. In this way, the work reminds me of characters and situations I remember from Neil Gaiman’s novel mentioned above, and especially, the duo of murderous characters Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar who recall the pairing of Horrabin and Dr. Romany. (We have several duplicates, so to speak, such as Dr. Romanelli and Dr. Romany, or Ashbliss and his "ka", which is his magically-formed duplicate.) The Gaiman novel is perhaps more atmospheric, and it incorporates its fantastic elements seamlessly. But I get the strong feeling that he was influenced by the Tim Powers novels, and the idea once again of dueling, parallel societies, one aboveground, one underneath.

In the end, the violence just doesn’t ring true in the Powers novel. While we have references to deaths and torture, it just doesn’t strike me in a visceral way. Doyle (who in his new body takes the identity of William Ashbliss) is tortured at one point by Dr. Romany, and it is hard to believe that it was a terrible as we are led to believe. In an age in which we have come to question how torture has continued to be used by civilized societies as part of a program to obtain needed intelligence, we have grown more sensitive to the ethical lapses that it represents. We have heard much of water-boarding, as well as psychological torture and the techniques of restraint that were used against Army sergeant Bradley Manning, the person who provided Wikileaks with a trove of army documents. But the torture in this instance, in the film, seems to lack any greater political or ethical dimension, and it is hard to believe that the figure of Doyle/Ashbliss could really have survived with such notably aplomb, even if part of the mechanism of this survival is attributed to his having crossed the River of Death and having been regenerated.

But it was an entertaining book, with clearly delineated characters and little ambiguity. It is not a literary novel, per se, but instead a genre adventure story with elements of fantasy and science fiction, and it did influence other writers and works. I was more of a fan of Neil Gaiman and Dan Simmons, especially the latter’s Olympos, set on Mars and incorporating themes and characters from the Iliad and from Shakespeare.

Perhaps what will remain with me is the character of Horrabin. Visually I can picture him more clearly, and his villainy seems much more authentic and easy to understand. I only wish that the magical elements and the rationale for this disappearance of magical influence (the “Master” as well as those who practice magic lose their connection to the Earth and risk floating way, as the "Master" does) were developed a little more.

Are there no sympathetic magicians left anymore?




Eternal Observer -- ORomero (c) 2013
Copyrights ORomero 2013