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Review title: Highly overrated. Reader beware!
Product review: I know this is a popular book and Tim Powers has many fans, but honestly, he is a mediocre at best, and horrendous at worst writer. His writing style is jumpy, his plotlines don't mesh well, his characters are one-dimensional, and his jokes aren't funny. While admittedly there are a few nice ideas buried in the story, especially the way he ties in Egyptian lore with strange magic, the book was a chore for me to read. I had to will myself just to finish it. I think I wouldn't have minded this book as much a five or ten years ago, before I read luminaries like Gene Wolf and G.R.R. Martin, but unfortunately for Tim Powers, his writing comes off as hackish.
