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Overview
A young woman possessed by a ghost has slain the Fisher King of the West, Scott Crane. Now, temporarily freed from the malevolent spirit, she seeks to restore the King to life and thwart the would-be usurper. But Crane's body has been taken by his loyal servants to the magically protected home of Pete and Angelica Sullivan, where their adopted son, Koot Hoomie, is bleeding from a wound that will not heal. Kootie is destined to be the next King, but he is only thirteen years old - too young, his mother thinks, to perform the rituals to assume the Kingship. But not too young, perhaps, to assist in reuniting Scott Crane's body and spirit and restoring him to life. Earthquakes, fires, floods, and riots plague California. Powerful ghosts wander the cities, too strong for even the cleverest hunters. Only the restoration of the King can restore the balance, and it must be done soon.Synopsis
Powers draws together the characters and events of two previous works, Last Call and Expiration Date, to create a seamless blend of history, mythology, and wild fantasy set against a series of riots, floods, and earthquakes that are plaguing the West Coast.
Locus
Once again Powers managed to win me over, with his ability to invoke the full forces of nature, both human and beyond humanity, in this place with its own special versions of the seasons as they change, and change again.
Editorials
Locus
Once again Powers managed to win me over, with his ability to invoke the full forces of nature, both human and beyond humanity, in this place with its own special versions of the seasons as they change, and change again.VOYA -
This is more like a sequel to both Expiration Date (Tor/VOYA August 1996) and Last Call (Morrow, 1992) than the third book in a trilogy. Like the earlier books, this is a sophisticated fantasy, with quotes from Shakespeare, Dickens, Cicero, and Keats introducing each chapter. Expiration Date introduced the young boy Koot Hoomie Parganas, and his adoptive parents Pete Sullivan and Angelica Elizalde. Kootie Sullivan, now fourteen and with a wound in his side that will not heal, is living in a magically protected building when two strangers arrive with the apparently dead body of Scott Crane, who ascended to become the Fisher King of the West in Last Call. The Fisher King is magically attuned to the land, and without a king, the forces of nature and magic run wild. Crane was magically killed by Omar Salvoy, one of the many personalities and spirits inhabiting Janis Plumtree. She escapes from a mental hospital with the help of Sid Cochran, whose own mental breakdown seems to be connected to his wife's mysterious death the same day Crane was killed. Together, they set out to aid Kootie and the others to bring Scott Crane back to life before Omar Salvoy, Janis Plumtree's father, can ascend to the throne himself. This is a complex and exciting book, merging real places and people with magic and fantasy in a seamless blend. Fans of urban fantasy authors such as Emma Bull and Charles de Lint will enjoy this and the other books of Tim Powers. VOYA Codes: 5Q 2P S (Hard to imagine it being any better written, For the YA with a special interest in the subject, Senior High-defined as grades 10 to 12).Philadelphia Inquirer
"Powers is a fine writer with an elegant and imaginative style, and the things that happen in his story are just weird enough to make us wonder if everyday life might not be as normal as it seems."Kirkus Reviews
Sequel to both of Powers's previous novels, Last Call (1992) with its gambling, serial immortality, and Fisher King, and Expiration Date(1996), with its ghosts, magic, and psychiatry. The current Fisher King of the American West, Scott Crane, has been murdered by Janis Cordelia Plumtree. Either Janis is possessed by several powerful and malevolent ghosts, or—as analyst and pervert Dr. Richard Paul Armentrout of Rosencrans Medical Center would have it—she's a victim of multiple personality disorder that can be treated with electroshock therapy and a magical Tarot deck. But an earthquake allows Janis to escape Armentrout's clutches, and she heads for the ghostproof and magicproof Solville apartment complex, where teenager Kootie Sullivan bears the Fisher King's unhealing wound while he and his adoptive parents guard the lifeless but uncorrupted body of Crane. If Kootie becomes the next Fisher King, his reign will be brief, troubled, and inconsequential. But how might Crane himself be restored to life? Either way, only the true Fisher King can save the land from destruction.What with the clangorous, hypercomplicated backdrop (the foregoing is but a brief outline), even readers of the two prior books will find this one difficult, if not impenetrable, with plenty of labyrinthine twiddling but very little plot. Coagulated and unengaging.
From the Publisher
"Powers continues his winning ways with Earthquake Weather, a sequel of sorts to the brilliant Expiration Date....Other writers tells tales of magic in the twentieth century, but nobody does it like Powers."—The Orlando Sentinel"Powers creates a mystical, magical otherworld superimposed on our own and takes us on a marvelous, guided tour of his vision."—Science Fiction Chronicle
"Once again, Powers managed to win me over, with his ability to invoke the full forces of nature, both human and beyond humanity, in this place with its own special versions of the seasons as they change, and they change again."—Locus
Book Details
Published
October 1, 2007
Publisher
Doherty, Tom Associates, LLC
Pages
416
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780765318220