# On Stranger Tides. Anyone read it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 5, 2003, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-stranger-tides-anyone-read-it/199712 "2003-09-05T13:09:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-stranger-tides-anyone-read-it/199712/1 "2003-09-05T13:09:35Z")
Trying to break out of my regular schlock of pulpy romance books, I’m running with my current obsession of pirates, due to Pirates of the Caribbean. In a way I am still that 14 year old Tiger Beat girl So, wandering around Amazon one night, some guy recommended **On Stranger Tides** by Tim Power as a better pirate story than the cardboard book version of PoTc. I’ve never bought a book from some anonymous stranger’s review online. Maybe it was the fact that it is not in print anymore that lured me. Unavailble means I must hunt it down. Maybe it was the loftier price tag of $20 to buy a $3.95 book. Maybe I’ll never explain why I bought it. I’m only three chapters into it and I am really liking it so far. Anyone else read it? ---
**Author:** ![sliv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@sliv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sliv)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-stranger-tides-anyone-read-it/199712/2 "2003-09-05T13:43:14Z")
Yep. One Powers fan right here. On Stranger Tides is one of his better works. After that, I highly recommend The Anubis Gates, which is the best time-travel novel I’ve read and is more tightly plotted that Tides. My only quibble with Powers is that he’s better at plot than character. ---
**Author:** ![ChordedZither](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9c0ed/32.png) [@ChordedZither](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChordedZither)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-stranger-tides-anyone-read-it/199712/3 "2003-09-05T14:42:38Z")
I think I’ve read every one of Power’s published novels - he’s on my very short list of “if he wrote it, I’ll buy it” authors. Even his weakest work is, in my opinion, well worth reading. On Stranger Tides is not one of my favorites by him - I prefer The Anubis Gates and Dinner at Deviant’s Palace, then The Stress of Her Regard. I’d put this one about the middle of the pack among Power’s work. But if I were “into” pirates more, I would probably go absolutely nuts over On Stranger Tides. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-stranger-tides-anyone-read-it/199712/4 "2003-09-05T14:52:14Z")
Very good book. Maybe not his best, but better than 90% of the stuff out there, and maybe the best modern pirate book written. Powers did something I’ve never seen in literature (the spoiler tag is unnecessary, but I’ll put it in anyway): He wrote an epilog that cranked up the action, instead of it being a usual winding down ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-stranger-tides-anyone-read-it/199712/5 "2003-09-05T15:15:38Z")
I was/am very surprised to see this labeled Sci-Fi, when it seems to me ( at this stage of the book) it is an adventure/historical/fantasy. Just a thought ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-stranger-tides-anyone-read-it/199712/6 "2003-09-05T15:52:50Z")
I’ve only read THE STRESS OF HER REGARD (oddest most intricate vampire novel I’ve ever read)- I’ve seen LAST CALL recommended- what’s the buzz on that? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-stranger-tides-anyone-read-it/199712/7 "2003-09-05T16:43:08Z")
**Last Call** is one of his best. If I were rating the one’s I’ve read, I’d go this way: 1. The Anubis Gates. 2. The Stress of Her Regard (though you need to know something about the biographies of Keats, Shelley, and Byron to really admire what he did). 3. Last Call 4. Dinner at Deviant’s Palace (the only one that’s straight SF). 5. On Stranger Tides 6. Earthquake Weather 7. Declare (oddly unengaging, and going over Neal Stephenson’s ground) 8. Expiration Date ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-stranger-tides-anyone-read-it/199712/8 "2003-09-05T16:47:31Z")
_Anything[_ by Tim Powers is a good, challenging read. Last Call is no exception. Poker playing, ghosts, Pasrifal and the Fisher King and the patterns made my smoke in Las Vagas casinos all make for a book where you might have to make notes if you don’t pay attention. Be warned, though. If you finish it, there are two more books (Expiration Date & Earthquake Weather) in the series. ---
**Author:** ![yawndave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/43a26b/32.png) [@yawndave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawndave)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-stranger-tides-anyone-read-it/199712/9 "2003-09-05T16:50:36Z")
Another vote for The Anubis Gates. I also agree that Tides is not really one of his best. If you like Powers, be sure to check out James Blaylock. The two are apparently friends, and they hang out together, tossing story ideas back and forth. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-stranger-tides-anyone-read-it/199712/10 "2003-09-05T17:00:08Z")
I love On Stranger Tides. Stress of her Regard was very good too. After that, I didn’t like as many of his books. Drawing of the Dark is a good one, although it is very much a “freshman effort” by Powers. BTW, anyone else notice that Powers: Has some weird obsession with hand mutilation/injury? Seems that damn near every one of his main characters gets injured in the hand or has a hand mutilated in some way. What is up with that? ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-stranger-tides-anyone-read-it/199712/11 "2003-09-05T19:05:06Z")
I love Tim Powers! _Last Call_ is the best book I’ve read in the last several years. _On Stranger Tides_ is a terrific pirate book. ---
**Author:** ![KingLupid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/839c29/32.png) [@KingLupid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KingLupid)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-stranger-tides-anyone-read-it/199712/12 "2003-09-05T19:15:57Z")
Tim Powers is the boss! My list would have to be: 1. The Anubis Gates 2. On Stranger Tides 3. Dinner At Deviant’s Palace 4. Last Call 5. The Drawing of the Dark The rest of them I kinda think blow ass… Just my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Aleq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@Aleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aleq)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-stranger-tides-anyone-read-it/199712/13 "2003-09-05T22:35:07Z")
Even in his weaker books, he’ll come up with some bizarre concept that will never leave your brain… Ghosts and palindromes, I’ve had that one clicking around in my head for a while, as well as never being completely at ease around very realistic statues… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![NE\_Texan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e99b99/32.png) [@NE\_Texan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NE_Texan)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-stranger-tides-anyone-read-it/199712/14 "2003-09-12T13:03:37Z")
Ooooh, I missed this thread last week, but it doesn’t seem old enough to get anyone’s ire up for me bumping it. Mark me down as another person who has read _On Stranger Tides_, and for that matter, buys everything by Powers I see. (I’m in the midst of _Declare_ at the moment.) I really, really liked _The Anubis Gates_ (I’m a sucker for time travel stories), and _Dinner at Deviant’s Palace_. And I second **Tapioca** ’s recommendation for _Last Call_, but I’m not sure I would call _Expiration Date_ a direct sequel to it. At most, LC mentions the name of one character who is in ED. However, _Earthquake Weather_ is, oddly enough, a sequel to both of these, and should be read after you read both of the others. Of the 3, I found _Last Call_ to be the most engaging, and to have the best story. Powers in general has this idiosyncratic view of modern magic that is not only kind of neat, but also sets him apart from anyone else - I literally cannot think of anyone to compare him to. **Mr. Miskatonic** , I would go one step further and say that Powers has a habit of mutilating his protagonists in general - as they go through the book, they go through massive abuse, and often end the story with a lasting injury. No unscathed heroes going back to a perfect life for Tim, nosiree, they have to live with the consequences of the book’s action. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-stranger-tides-anyone-read-it/199712/15 "2003-09-12T13:18:59Z")
Mark me as another Powers fan who likes everythign he has written. I’m just lucky they’re not publishing his laundry lists, as I’d probably be buying them. My fave is Declare – really nice take on the Cold War with some truly chilling imagery, especially WRT the djinn that “becomes” Mother Russia. Last Call would come next on my list, followed by On Stranger Tides and Anubis Gates. Every book Powers writes delves so deeply into the genre/theme/time he is exploring that you can pick up on his work through it. I.e., if you like pirate stories, you will like “On Stranger Tides” if you like spy novels, you will like Declare, if you like stories set in the modern west, you will like “Last Call.” And yeah, that palindrome/ghost/obsession with stacking stuff in Last Call sticks to you. My wife and I became convinced that an Eckerds near us was a ghost Eckerds, inhabited by the ghosts of former employees, because of its abandoned air. We toyed with the idea of, instead of paying full cash value for things, just spilling a pile of pennies on the counter and absconding while the “employee” obsessively stacked them. ---
**Author:** ![NE\_Texan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e99b99/32.png) [@NE\_Texan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NE_Texan)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-stranger-tides-anyone-read-it/199712/16 "2003-09-12T17:40:31Z")
Oooh, **Evil** , I’m reading _Declare_ right now. (Well, not right now, right now I’m posting, but I’m sure you know what I mean.) I’m obviously not very far into the action yet - the main char isn’t very injured yet, he’s only slammed into a roof once. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-stranger-tides-anyone-read-it/199712/17 "2003-09-18T06:54:59Z")
I’m a little late to this thread, but what the heck. I think his books could best be called “Magic Realism”, not quite like typical fantasy, ya know? I’m re-reading _Earthquake Weather_ right now, and it really does do a good job uniting _Last Call_ and _Expiration Date_… Whenever I see someone walking down the street talking to himself, I wonder if I’ve slipped into Tim’s reality, and if I need a mask. Also, Bruce Sterling, postmodern-cyberpunk-author-dude, once set Tim Powers’ hair on fire in a short story-- “The Sword of Damocles” ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-stranger-tides-anyone-read-it/199712/18 "2003-09-18T06:57:07Z")
Note to self: The preview button is there for a reason. Whoops. ---
**Author:** ![NE\_Texan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e99b99/32.png) [@NE\_Texan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NE_Texan)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-stranger-tides-anyone-read-it/199712/19 "2003-09-18T18:10:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Darth Nader \* > Whenever I see someone walking down the street talking to himself, I wonder if I’ve slipped into Tim’s reality, and if I need a mask. **Darth** , I know exactly what you mean. Lately, when I spot someone smoking, I wonder if they are _really_ after the nicotine, or is it something else. I’m still reading _Declare_, and it’s not a stereotypical Powers novel in the following sense: I’m at least halfway through, and the main character has sustained no real physical injuries. That’s got to be a first. Actually, there are some other things I’ve been wondering about _Declare_, but I think that deserves it’s own thread, and I’ll probably wait until I’m done with the book to start the thread, lest someone spoil the ending for me. PS. I _only_ used preview this time because of your comment, and I caught two typos. (I wonder how many I _didn’t_ catch.) :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-stranger-tides-anyone-read-it/199712/20 "2003-10-03T12:44:10Z")
Ok, I ordered **Anubis Gates** from Amazon and am awaiting delivery. Dopers haven’t let me down before in book recommendations, so I anxiously await it’s arrival. And I am still working on **On Stranger Tides** because I stalled on it because of another doper recommendation of **The Silver Pigs** a mystery set in roman times. (which totally throws me off my PoTC themed reading. My day dreams now are sooo confused. Pirate…roman…) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-stranger-tides-anyone-read-it/199712.md?page=2)