The Anubis Gates

By: Tim Powers

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

Length: 15 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

When Brendan Doyle is flown from America to London to give a lecture on Samuel Taylor Coleridge, little does he expect that he will soon be traveling through time and meeting the poet himself. But Brendan could do without being stranded penniless in the teeming, thieving London of 1810.

Only the dazzling imagination of Tim Powers could have assembled such an insane cast of characters: an ancient Egyptian sorcerer; a modern millionaire; a body-switching werewolf; a hideously deformed clown; a young woman disguised as a boy; a brainwashed Lord Byron; and our hero, Brendan Doyle. The Anubis Gates took the fantasy world by storm a decade ago, and now fans can savor this Philip K. Dick Award winner all over again.

©2015 Tim Powers (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Balki is amazing!

This is my first Tim Powers book, and it's hard to imagine that he has written another that surpasses this. And if so, man, I'm looking forward to it! I am a bit of a Bronson Pinchot fan and was eager to see what he could do as a book-on-tape performer -- he's as good as it gets. And I never even recognized his voice as his own.

Unsusual tale

If you have a taste for the strange and different you will like this tale. The narrations is truly wonderful, many different voices which do help to sort out the many characters that change through time. I enjoyed it even though I was a bit confused at times, it left me with a good feeling.

Too long for being too predictable

First, the Contemporary SciFi genre Audible classified this book is way off since it's obviously more of a fantasy genre than anything SciFi. The most obvious connection to SciFi, seemingly, comes from the time travel aspects but even that isn't based on science but on magic moments in the time stream. Also, some of the science claims are highly dubious, such as the ability to survive strychnine poisoning by crushing and swallowing burnt charcoal to act as a filtering agent to absorb the poison.

Then there is the predictability of the story. It wasn't difficult at all to conclude early on the Doyle and Jackie would end up together in the end or that Doyle would continue to evade his predicted deaths through body changes and Ka clones. Even those obvious eventualities would have been tolerable except for the fact that the author choose to string them out over the entire length of the book.

The author's writing skills were above average but the story itself was extremely tedious to get through. The primary setting of the story, time travel back into the 19th century, gave it a reverse H.G. Wells feel to it, as well. The narrator did a fine job at voices the various characters and nationalities over the course of the story but even that was not enough to save it, regrettably.

it's been too long

I couldn't put this down. it was so much fun. the story was so well crafted. expertly thought out. while reading, there's several points where I thought the obvious was going to happen, and a surprising thing happened: it would probably happen, BUT our lead would often blurt out that obvious thing or it would be pointed out somehow in the story. by that, and what made this refreshing and even unique, is how aware of his story Mr powers was on what his readers would be thinking that it all felt natural to the story. no forced moments of trying to pull the rug out from under his readers, or deus ex machina instances. everything feels right. there wasn't ever a moment I felt that the book might be in danger of, or feeling like, Mr powers was writting himself into a corner. the story is refreshing and extremely unique. I loved every bit of it and its characters. this is also due in no small part to being expertly acted by pinchot. his voice of horrabin the clown faced beggar Lord will give me chills forever. My only fault with this is i don't know where I'll find another story quite like it. it has everything I wanted: time travel, historical settings, action, comedy, horror, suspense, a dash of romance (just a dash), and a healthy dose of magic- but well explained magic. if you like Lovecraft, sunless seas, a house of many doors, American gods; just to name a few books and games that are simular in one way or several; you will love this story.

Interesting take on history and literary figures

While it can be confusing at times, it was worth it. I would have enjoyed more concentration on the "Twelve Hours of the Night" connection. Bronson is a delight to listen to and really brings the characters to life. I think I will check out the next book in the series, as the main character is such an interesting choice for a hero.

the anubis gates is an ok listen.

the anubis gates is an OK listen.
it was an ok to background listen to.

Terrific narrator

Bronson Pinchot did such a fantastic job narrating this book! He made it come alive.

Excellent reader for a good book

Even through the often depressing material, the reader maintains an interested tone that keeps you going.

Time travel

I'm not a fan of time travel stories in any way, but this book came close to changing my mind.

Excellent

One of my favorite books ever with a wonderful reading by Bronson Pinchot. I've listened to this twice in the last year and loved it both times.