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The Stress of Her Regard Tim Powers 0072742004950 Books

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The Stress of Her Regard Tim Powers 0072742004950 Books

I was going to rate Tim Powers' 1989 novel "The Stress of Her Regard" (winner of a 1990 Mythopoeic Award) one star less than the Very Good 4 stars out of 5 I actually gave it. Like the three other books of his that I've read, the primary difficulty I have with it is the pacing. Unfortunately, the pacing is much more erratic in this book than in those others. After finishing the book, I tried to figure out why pacing problems seems to be a recurring theme with Powers. The best I can come up with is that it's a function of the "historical fiction" that he writes. His normal method is to fill in the gaps between actual historical facts with odd things to put a weird spin on what's happening. In this case, he's twisting through the lives of many historical poets (the most important being Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Mary Shelley -- followed by material on Claire Clairmont, John Keats, John Polidori, Leigh Hunt, and Francois Villon). And I think that's the problem: he's got so many documented "fixed points in time" (as Doctor Who would say) that he's got to accommodate that the flow of the story gets turbulent. So, I guess I can't fault him for that. Of course, it helps that the book is otherwise very well done in his standard style (though it's more of a horror book than an eerie book). So, give it a try and stick with it through the slow spots. Everything ties up nicely in the end to justify it. And you might read through the Wikipedia entries for those poets, above, so that you can fully appreciate what he's doing here.


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The Stress of Her Regard Tim Powers 0072742004950 Books Reviews

One of the greatest things about the Romantic time period is that three of the greatest poets of that period (Keats, Shelley, & Byron) all knew each other and interacted with each other and even took inspiration from each other. Sometimes, particularly in the case of Lord Byron, his life overshadows his work, although his work is pure genuis. What if these poets actually got their inspiration from the same place? That's exactly the theme of Powers' novel.

The main protagonist is an English Physician named Michael Crawford who gets manipulated into a liasion with a lamia who ends up killing his wife. He is accused of the crime and thus must flee England. While in Europe he meets up with the three Romantic poets. First he meets Keats who is also under the influence of a lamia and is trying desperately to escape it. Next he meets Byron and Shelley who recognize like souls as being part of their group and Crawford becomes Byron's doctor for a while.

Of course all of this is just the beginning. We soon learn that The Nephelim have been influencing events for centuries and things are currently being led by an 800-year-old Hapsburg royal. Through this man the Austrians have taken over Venice and only the Carbonari seem to have the means to resist them. Of course eventually Crawford joins forces with the Carbonari to attempt to eradicate the Nephelim.

What was truly amazing was that Powers actually inserts the supernatural events seamlessly over the actual live of the poets. He did a wonderful job with that. Also the novel was a thrilling and fascinating read, although a little scary. Powers has an unusual voice in Science Fiction and is a joy to read!
I have to agree with the bulk of the reviews here, Tim Powers is a truly great writer, but "The Stress Of Her Regard" is not a great book. It's okay, I don't regret buying it, but in my opinion it pales besides his other works like "The Anubis Gates" or "Last Call".

The main problem, I think, is in the characters of Byron and Shelly. It may be that Powers was overestimating the literary acumen of his audience, I suspect that those poets are such vivid historical figures in his mind that he didn't feel the need to flesh them out. However, compared to his treatment of other historical figures--Ben Seigel, Samuel Coleridge, Kim Philby--the protagonists of "The Stress Of Her Regard" feel flat.

In addition, while all of the usual Powers elements are here, the mixing of history and fantasy, the weird linkages of mythology from disparate cultures (the antagonists of this book combine elements of vampire, sphinx, gorgon, muse, and Quetzalcoatl), the grounding of the fantastic in the scientific, but the elements aren't as seamlessly blended as in his other works. In places it feels almost like a self-pastiche, as if he set out to write "a typical Tim Powers book".

I see on Wikipedia that Powers is now working on a sequel, and I certainly intend to read it when it comes out. It will be interesting to see how he will revisit this theme with the additional decades of experience he has in his craft.
I enjoyed this book immensely. It combines the interactions of the protagonist, Crawford, with poets Byron, Shelley, and Keats, with vampirism, Greek mythology, nephilim, indeterminancy, and more. I found the set of rules by which his fantasy world operated interesting and inventive. Another strong theme in the book was the way people give themselves over to their desires, both natural and unnatural. A major conflict was between the desires of the main characters for contact with the nephilim, sometimes to aid their ambitions, and the danger and damage that it caused their families and friends, not to mention themselves. There are displays of both incredible weakness and strength in the book. Crawford seemed to be on his last legs for a good portion of the book, and still he forced himself to accomplish what he thought was needed of him. Partially for this reason, towards the end of this book I began to feel like Crawford - when will this end, haven't I suffered enough? But it was definitely worth the time spent, and I look forward to reading more of Tim Powers' work. P.S. I also enjoyed the quotes of poetry at the beginning of the chapters, including those of Swinburne, an historical character in Mark Hodder's steampunk novels.
I was going to rate Tim Powers' 1989 novel "The Stress of Her Regard" (winner of a 1990 Mythopoeic Award) one star less than the Very Good 4 stars out of 5 I actually gave it. Like the three other books of his that I've read, the primary difficulty I have with it is the pacing. Unfortunately, the pacing is much more erratic in this book than in those others. After finishing the book, I tried to figure out why pacing problems seems to be a recurring theme with Powers. The best I can come up with is that it's a function of the "historical fiction" that he writes. His normal method is to fill in the gaps between actual historical facts with odd things to put a weird spin on what's happening. In this case, he's twisting through the lives of many historical poets (the most important being Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Mary Shelley -- followed by material on Claire Clairmont, John Keats, John Polidori, Leigh Hunt, and Francois Villon). And I think that's the problem he's got so many documented "fixed points in time" (as Doctor Who would say) that he's got to accommodate that the flow of the story gets turbulent. So, I guess I can't fault him for that. Of course, it helps that the book is otherwise very well done in his standard style (though it's more of a horror book than an eerie book). So, give it a try and stick with it through the slow spots. Everything ties up nicely in the end to justify it. And you might read through the Wikipedia entries for those poets, above, so that you can fully appreciate what he's doing here.