It's set. At once exhilarating and terrifying, this book is a bravura display of the brilliant, bold invention that has moved bestselling author Peter Straub to declare World Fantasy and Philip K.
Dick award-winner Tim Powers. Expiration Date begins with the premise that ghosts not only exist, but that inhaling them into your lungs prolongs your life and is the best high one can experience.
In the Los Angeles of Powers' novel, there is a thriving underground dealing in black market ghosts, sometimes called "smokes" or "L. Better than "The Anubis Gates," for instance? Stop it! Don't make me choose! One note: The Baen Books reprint from , the cover image displayed here, introduces a number of typos not in the original Tor edition.
Feb 16, Geoff Sebesta rated it it was amazing. Powers is one of my all-time favorite authors, to the point that I have trouble remembering his books are just a bunch of stuff he made up and not revelations of some secret history. This is one of the books of his I've read them all that makes the craft most obvious, where you have the strongest sense of a professional author constructing a story.
The main reason for this is that the first chapter is not only the most terrifying chapter in his entire oeuvre, it's so scary that the rest of the Powers is one of my all-time favorite authors, to the point that I have trouble remembering his books are just a bunch of stuff he made up and not revelations of some secret history.
The main reason for this is that the first chapter is not only the most terrifying chapter in his entire oeuvre, it's so scary that the rest of the book can't begin to live up to it. The first chapter features a series of very, very bad events happening to the child, and there are a whole lot more terrible things that happen to him over the course of the book.
And he feels them. Powers is not stinting with the trauma on this one. The little kid spends half the book wondering how this dog he accidentally exploded with his psychic powers was, because he doesn't know that he ended up wearing the dead dog around like a mask for a while. But the readers know, and it's The rest of the book is crazy good and crazy scary and weirdly plausible, but nothing can quite come up to a young boy accidentally getting his parents tortured to death by a crazy homeless person and meeting their ghosts, who are rude to him.
Can't top that. Don't want to see anybody try. Oct 18, Stuart Schneider rated it liked it. This was merely an even three stars. From the few books that i have read from him, while this did have some interesting overlap from the first brilliant novel of the series, it came way short of my high expectations of this author. Like the Alice novels, there is required a lot of suspension of disbelief to overcome here, and there were times that the novel just lost my attention.
I thought it was rather convenient that Larava whatever her name was set up shop in a boat that not only had the This was merely an even three stars. I thought it was rather convenient that Larava whatever her name was set up shop in a boat that not only had the ability to contain ghosts, but was also available as a serious instrument of her destruction as well not just the destruction of all ghosts.
Maybe it simply acted as a lure for her as well, but surely in her study of the boat and its history, that she knew there was a monster magnet that could be reactivated at any time, destroying the usefulness of the location?!!! In any event, i look forward to the next novel in this series, as we go back to the first novels detritus and explore that truly intriguing portion of this world. Jan 26, Mark rated it it was amazing Shelves: sci-fiction-fantasy.
A story full of guilt and ghosts. This book is better than the first of the "Fault Lines" series. A bit more emotionally charged and with characters that I cared about. Somewhat long at just over pages in the ebook edition but very good pacing; suspenseful and entertaining. I stopped looking at the Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass quotations at beginning of each c A story full of guilt and ghosts. I stopped looking at the Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass quotations at beginning of each chapter after a while.
Most of the time, I didn't get the referencenever read the Lewis Carroll books. Nov 01, John Willson rated it really liked it Shelves: I liked it. Powers did a good job, as he often does, of creating a weird secret history, and a convoluted situation, and then revealing both in tasty morsels from the first page to the last.
The final chapters are clothes-twistingly tense. The book is only disappointing as a sequel to the amazing Last Call. With no continuity of lore nor characters, it is only a spiritual successor, or perhaps a variation on a theme. Still, no regrets. Sep 29, Joshua rated it liked it Shelves: horror. Powers always writes a solid book.
The thing that make his books so compelling, however, regardless of whatever faults they might have, is his sacramental view of the universe. In his books, you enter a world where things have inherent meaning not imposed on them by humans, but by God. Thus, the world is mysterious, full of unknown powers and beings. It's a world where anything that happens is kind of weird, and where things have strange connections to other seemingly unrelated things.
Time and s Powers always writes a solid book. Time and space are nearly always fluid. The world is thick with meaning, so thick as to be almost suffocating at times. This is terribly anti-modern, but incredibly refreshing if unsettling : it's a perspective we do not have today. So, for instance, it is obvious that a cross shape will have a certain meaning and power, while a firecracker will have another purpose and meaning.
Incidentally, this is why so many good Christian writers are Catholic or Anglican, not Evangelical who are often awful fiction writers. In the novels of the former, you step into a world that has inherent and transcendent meaning, a story hinting, rather than telling you, of a greater reality. In the latter, the world exists to support the message and central character arc, and thus only has real significance or meaning as it bears on the plot. This can result in a stripped-down, preachy story, reinterpreting the things of the world to fit the author's message.
So, I'll have a sacramental story any day over a modernistic one. Overall, the story was fun, but not one of Powers' best. Maybe I've just read too much Tim Powers lately, but I didn't find this book as good as some of his others. The plot seemed similar to the last couple I've read by him - Three Days to Never and Medusa's Web - but it wasn't as strong as either of those.
Although it had its moments, it seemed a little too long, the whole ghost-eating thing seemed poorly developed, and it lacked compelling characters. And I found the final scene just dragged. The in-depth description of Los Angeles tired after awhi Maybe I've just read too much Tim Powers lately, but I didn't find this book as good as some of his others.
The in-depth description of Los Angeles tired after awhile. Not one of his better efforts. Nov 28, T rated it liked it. This is the first book I've read by Tim Powers. Very similar construction to Stephen King whose books I read about 30 years ago, with the exception of Dr.
For that reason alone I would read more of his books except for one thing: I quickly tired of the geography lesson of Los Angeles.
And I am familiar with SoCal. I finally decided it was used as a method of increasing word count in the book. Kept my attention to the end. Good ghost story. Would recommend to the right people. Left me with questions and not in the compelling, life-changing way. But in the "that one thing His books are famously crowded with obscure references.
Where usually those obscure references create a sense of richness without taking anything away from the story, in this one I found myself confused by the obscurity more of Kept my attention to the end. Where usually those obscure references create a sense of richness without taking anything away from the story, in this one I found myself confused by the obscurity more often than I was fulfilled by it.
I'll be thinking about this one for a while. Brimming with the wild imagination and heart-stopping escapades that won Tim Powers the World Fantasy Award, Expiration Date is an exuberant and inventive tale from one of fantasy' Los Angeles is filled with ghosts -- and half-ghosts, and ghost hunters, and ghost junkies -- chasing each other in a mad quest for immortality. Feb 20, Petr rated it really liked it.
I have to agree with most of the reviewers here. I love Tim Powers, I really do, but this took me quite a long to finish. Even though the story is great, the mystery is great, the supernatural powers pun intended were also great, it kinda dragged.
I don't regret reading it if only for Edison character!! I'm torn between three and four stars here, but I'll go with four ones on this one only because of my respect to the author. There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one ». Readers also enjoyed.
Science Fiction. Speculative Fiction. Science Fiction Fantasy. About Tim Powers. Tim Powers. Timothy Thomas Powers is an American science fiction and fantasy author.
Most of Powers's novels are "secret histories" : he uses actual, documented historical events featuring famous people, but shows another view of them in which occult or supernatural factors heavily influence the motivations a Timothy Thomas Powers is an American science fiction and fantasy author.
Most of Powers's novels are "secret histories" : he uses actual, documented historical events featuring famous people, but shows another view of them in which occult or supernatural factors heavily influence the motivations and actions of the characters.
Jeter , both of whom remained close friends and occasional collaborators; the trio have half-seriously referred to themselves as "steampunks" in contrast to the prevailing cyberpunk genre of the s. Another friend Powers first met during this period was noted science fiction writer Philip K. Blade Runner is dedicated to him. Dick Award, and has since been published in many other languages. Powers and his wife, Serena, currently live in Muscoy, California. He also taught part time at the University of Redlands.
Excerpted from Wikipedia. Other books in the series. We do not guarantee that these techniques will work for you. Some of the techniques listed in Expiration Date may require a sound knowledge of Hypnosis, users are advised to either leave those sections or must have a basic understanding of the subject before practicing them.
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Loved each and every part of this book. I will definitely recommend this book to fantasy, fiction lovers.
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