The Anubis Gates, by Tim Powers
Historical fantasy and non-cliche magic
(Review posted 16 Oct 2004 16:39:07)

Time-travel, dopplegangers, and body switching: any one of these fantasy tropes can make a story confusing. "The Anubis Gates" has all three, sometimes simultaneously, and yet even I never quite lost track of what was going on.

So this is fun, a historical fantasy play that takes itself only exactly seriously enough. Although it starts out in the present, most of it is set in and around 1810, with an excursion back to 1684. It has a satisfactory number of those ooooh moments that I love in time-travel stories, when a particular piece of circular causality works itself out. And it has quirky and original magic, odd characters, and peculiar situations.

You should read it. And keep your eye out for people with metal chains sticking out of their boots.