Summary: Reminded me of a mash-up of early Stephen King and Neil Gaiman... I loved it!
I'm running miles (and miles!) behind on my reviewing, but I havSummary: Reminded me of a mash-up of early Stephen King and Neil Gaiman... I loved it!
I'm running miles (and miles!) behind on my reviewing, but I have to say something about this book - so let's bullet point:
- I thought it was a fantasy/thriller based on poker. - I hadn't read any Tim Powers before and I found it hard to get psyched about the concept - It won me over pretty damn quick. - It's excellent - really, truly, I was a fool for not reading it sooner!
Let me get one hang-up off my chest - the blurb on the front: "The Game: Poker. The Stakes: One man's soul." That's a great tag line - punchy and dramatic. Shame it's entirely wrong. "The Game: Assumption. The Stakes: A dozen people's bodies." Doesn't quite have the same ring, does it?
This is a book about tarot cards. I know a fair bit about tarot - I've got half a dozen of them tattooed on my back. The idea here is that tarot cards (and myths) are symbolic representations of murky gods that lurk in the the human subconscious, and by manipulating that symbolism you can do a kind of magic.
So a hand of cards, read in combination, represent a certain fate - good luck, good health, falling out of love, etc. By trading those hands in card games, when the gods of the cards are paying attention, you can trade fates.
With us so far? Good. It's a great concept.
So one guy - our Big Bad - has figured out a couple of tricks with the cards, which has allowed him to claim people's bodies from them, pushing their minds down into the collective subconscious while he flits between multiple bodies like a kind of possessing spirit. But his collection of bodies is getting old, and it's time to 'harvest' the next crop of bodies, which he laid claim to thirty yeara beforehand.
Our hero is trying to avoid that fate.
His gang is cool and quirky. The atmosphere throughout is tense but grounded. The fantasy edge is deniable and dreamlike, but powerfully creepy at times.
I didn't love the hero, Scott - he felt a little bit flat, like an 'everyman' character. There's no denying it's effective, but it's never a tactic I can fully endorse - (my favourite protagonists have a bit more individuality!) but I think it's partially this trait that reminds me of Gaiman... that and the exploration and reinterpretation of symbology in myth...
Now, I still have 40+ books I've read that have reviews outstanding... some of which I read over a year ago... so I really should write something... but in conclusion: this is great book, far better than I expected - give it a go, you're in for a treat!
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