Powers of Two

This is a great opportunity for Tim Powers readers to catch his earliest published works. While they have not attained the uniquely way-out-of-whack surreal realism of his later work, the seeds are all here; twisting their way out of the dirt into an uncanny sky.

Tim Powers is an outstanding author. I envy anyone who has yet to read 'The Drawing of the Dark', 'The Anubis Gates', or 'On Stranger Tides', because there is nothing quite like them. 'Powers of Two' combines two of Powers' earliest works with an introduction by the author. 'Skies Discrowned' is a story about a young man who witnesses his father's murder and goes on an odyssey of vengeance, traveling to a fantastic underground city and working his way from an art forger to king of the city's thieves. The setting in this short book is enjoyable--a far future colony world where space travel still exists, but gun powder is quickly becoming a commodity more valuable than money. Power's plotting does not suffer for his youth; the tale moves quickly and with relative smoothness. If there is a flaw to this book, it is that the interactions between characters, particularly those between the protagonist and his love interest, are somewhat stilted. The second book, "An Epitaph in Rust" is the tale of an indentured Monk who escapes from a monastery and blunders into the hands of a revolutionary and play director in a future Los Angeles. Like 'skies' 'Rust' is set in a far future where society is sliding backwards but some technology remains. Though I will not spoil plot details, androids play a fun role in this book. 'Rust' will be more recognizable to fans of Powers. His penchant for having characters blunder into situations to which they unwittingly hold the key is developed here. I didn't find Thomas (the protagonist) to be a wholly likable character, perhaps because he does not assert himself in this book. I suppose you could argue that someone who has previously known only the monastic discipline of a closed society would respond by falling in quickly with whomever he meets, however. Both of these books are must haves for fans of Powers, and you're not likely to find them anywhere else. The cover is beautifully rendered, and will look striking on a bookshelf. I highly recommend this book.

This reprint embraces two of Powers' early novels under one cover: Skies Discrowned, his first novel set on a planet where space travel is ordinary and a man seeks to avenge his father; and An Epitaph In Rust, portraying an escapee from a monastery who is set loose in a changed Los Angeles. Both are excellent stories of changed worlds and different viewpoints.