The Stress of Her Regard

I shouldn’t really say that this is Tim Powers best work since I haven’t read everything he has written, but I have read the bulk of his novels and, I think, all of those in his “secret history” series, of which this one is part. And I do think it is the best of them. The sheer number of mythical, historical, scientific, and supernatural elements that Powers stuffs into this book should should result in an an absurd chaotic mass; the complex plot, bursting with action and violence, should be confusing; and the amount of suffering he inflicts on his protagonists should be overwhelming, but he manages to pull it off and leave you feeling completely satisfied at the end.

I'm writing specifically about the Amazon Kindle edition of this book, which is full of formatting errors, inappropriate paragraph breaks (sometimes in the middle of a word) and miswordings, an altogether amateurish production unworthy of the writing, made all the more shameful in that it could have been prevented by a simple, thorough proofreading.The story concerns an Englishman, a doctor, who is thrust unknowingly into a shadowy involvement with otherworldy beings. Everyone he encounters seems to know more about what is happening to him than he does, himself. His misfortune is our gain, as we get to unravel the twisted tales through his eyes.In the course of his travels through England, France, the Swiss alps, we readers encounter such personages as John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Lord Byron. Powers is unequaled at weaving historical personages into unlikely tales and making them seem all too likely in the process. He seems to shine, especially, in period pieces, lending immediacy through detail, and creating a chilling mood through understatement.This is one of his best efforts, on par with Anubis Gates and Drawing the Dark. Which makes it all the more shameful that it has been so ill-handled by Amazon's so-called "publishing" staff. But for their hash-handed editing job, which looks like the efforts of an unpaid and barely literate high-schooler, this review would award it five stars. I urge you to avoid the Kindle edition and purchase a printed and bound version.

f this book had been written by anyone except Tim Powers, I never would have picked it up. As has been well-established in my reviews, I generally don't like historical fiction or alt.history books very much. I absolutely dislike alt.history when it deals with either World War II or the Romantic poets. And I could see right from the cover that this is an alt.history ghost story in which the hero "aided by his fellow victims, the greatest poets of his day -- Byron, Keats, and Shelley." Oh dear.But still, this is Tim Powers. I love Tim Powers. It would not be an exaggeration to say I have adored almost everything I have read by Tim Powers. So reader, I bought it anyhow.And, well, it wasn't awful. I'm not sorry I read it. I'd even recommend it to a reader more forgiving of historical fiction than I. It may even be a good book for people who might not normally appreciate Tim Powers.But I didn't adore it. & here's why:First, the novel bogs down in its own complications. This is most evident somewhere about 2/3 of the way through the book and in the Venice scenes. I enjoyed the Venice setting, don't get me wrong, but the whole thing became overly complicated right around there-- the biggest effect was I mostly stopped caring about the history of the nephelim and how anyone would try to get rid of them and the columns and the eye. Mostly stopped-- there were some interesting elements there, but much too much of a muchness. At least for me.Second, I found the book suffered from how much it focused on the big well-known historical figures of the poets. In other Powers' books, I seem to recall that while there were famous people included, they rarely played more than a bit part. Since I have my own very vivid notion of these people from my biographical readings, I found his portraits distracted me just a little from the wonderful imaginary toad/real garden thing his books always have to their credit. I also got tired of everyone being a poet. But there you go.I would guess that it mostly suffered, for me, by comparison to his other works. Which is kind of a compliment, in a way.Still enjoyed it. And I'd still recommend it. So there you go.

This was an impulse buy, I'd never heard of Tim Powers before, but I will definitely be reading more. I loved this - the whole reframing of Earth history through the magnifying glass of the romantic poets, it was brilliantly done. I love vampire fiction, and I love anything gothic, so it was the perfect book for me - but it was also a treatment of vampirism that I've never seen before. Another thing I loved was how I could easily see parallels between the vampire/human relationship and domestic abuse - how you hate the abuser and want to get away, but at the same time, there is that Stockholm Syndrome yearning for them when you finally do break away. So many sentences spoken by the victims of the vampires that could have come out of my own mouth.I didn't find it slow-paced at all - I'm a huge fan of Victorian novels, so the pace felt comfortable, and I loved wallowing in the world the author created. Most importantly, the narration was unobtrusive and never once drew me out of the story (once I got the picture of Michael Crawford as Frank Spencer out of my head). The depiction of time and place felt authentic.This is a very original take on vampire mythology and on the romantic poets, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, although I'll never look at statues and stones in quite the same way again.....

Michael Crawford is on his way to get married. During a drunken evening with his friends he places the wedding ring on the finger of a statue, which he later finds he is unable to get back as the statue seems to have somehow closed her fist. On the wedding night, his wife Julia is brutally murdered and he finds that he is accused of the crime and has to flee to try to prove his innocence. Somehow, Crawford finds himself in London, working alongside Keats in a hospital. Julia's sister, the odd and mechanical Josephine, is pursuing him, but the statue he has inadvertently 'married' is protecting him.This is a story of vampires, the supernatural and Crawford's attempt to free himself from events which threaten to overtake him. He finds himself caught up with Byron and Shelley, whose fates are also touched by these creatures. We travel from the Alps, the stronghold of the old gods, to an ancient king who has achieved immortality at a terrible price. As events spiral out of control, Byron, Shelley and Crawford realise they must save themselves in order to save their children. Interesting novel, with good cameo appearances by real historical characters, who include Mary Shelley and Polidori, amongst others.

The idea behind this book, famous figures from history dealing with supernatural creatures is clever and the creatures themselves are well developed and supported by a range of historical links that make them seem plausible.Where this book falters is in the execution. The story takes ages to get going and rather dumps the reader in the middle of things without really explaining what's going on or what all the strange terms bandied about mean. The book is further spoiled by the complete unlikeableness of the historic poets (Byron, Shelley & Keats) and the ineffectiveness of the lead character, Michael Crawford, who never really drives the plot, merely tags along behind one or other the poets.The book does pick up in the final third but still moves at a somewhat glacial pace as Crawford and various poets traipse back and forth across Italy.If you're into your romantic poets then you might get more of a kick out of this book, but I won't be coming back to this book anytime soon.

This is among the best of Tim Power's novels (along with 'The Anubis Gates') in which he uses real events, real people and quotes from contemporary poetry, letters and diaries to support a fantastical narrative - in this case, a tale of vampires and the romantic poets - and give credibility to the events, settings and characters - real and imagined - that form the substance of the book.I can't recommend it highly enough.

An alternative view of the lives of the romantic poets. A vampire fantasy that fits beautifully with the facts that are known about the extraordinary lives of Keats, Byron and Shelley. It is compulsive reading and the European setting is well drawn. There is one aspect of the book that stops me giving it 5 stars and instantly broke the spell that was cast by the otherwise well written narrative. Every now and again (actually, quite frequently in places)one of the very British poets would come out with some very American word or phrase that was completely incongruous. This book really should be overhauled by a British editor because this issue really blights an otherwise excellent book.