Medusa’s Web: A Novel by Tim Powers (Epub)

Description

From the award-winning author of Hide Me Among the Graves, Last Call, Declare, and Three Days to Never, a phantasmagoric, thrilling, mind-bending tale of speculative fiction in which one man must uncover occult secrets of 1920s Hollywood to save his family.In the wake of their Aunt Amity’s suicide, Scott and Madeline Madden are summoned to Caveat, the eerie, decaying mansion in the Hollywood hills in which they were raised. But their decadent and reclusive cousins, the malicious wheelchair-bound Claimayne and his sister, Ariel, do not welcome Scott and Madeline’s return to the childhood home they once shared. While Scott desperately wants to go back to their shabby South-of-Sunset lives, he cannot pry his sister away from this haunted “House of Usher in the Hollywood Hills” that is a conduit for the supernatural.Decorated by bits salvaged from old hotels and movie sets, Caveat hides a dark family secret that stretches back to the golden days of Rudolph Valentino and the silent film stars. A collection of hypnotic eight-limbed abstract images inked on paper allows the Maddens to briefly fragment and flatten time—to transport themselves into the past and future in visions that are both puzzling and terrifying. Though their cousins know little about these ancient “spiders” which provoke unpredictable temporal dislocations, Ariel and Claimayne have been using for years—an addiction that has brought Claimayne to the brink of selfish destruction.As Madeline falls more completely under Caveat’s spell, Scott discovers that to protect her, he must use the perilous spiders himself. But will he unravel the mystery of the Madden family’s past and finally free them. . . or be pulled deeper into their deadly web?

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “A new Tim Powers novel is always cause for excitement. His latest is a twisted journey through time travel, possession, old Hollywood, addition, and familial violence.” — Publishers Weekly“[A]n atmospheric and complex supernatural thriller, with an old-time Hollywood frame, and it steadily builds to a frenetic climax.” — Booklist“This novel is as weird as anything Powers has written, but he maintains his usual skillful way of making even the most surreal twists compulsively readable.” — Library Journal From the Back Cover In the wake of their Aunt Amity’s suicide, Scott and Madeline Madden are summoned to Caveat, the eerie, decaying mansion in the Hollywood hills in which they were raised. But their decadent and reclusive cousins do not welcome Scott and Madeline’s return. While Scott desperately wants to go back to their south-of-Sunset lives, he cannot pry his sister away from this haunted “House of Usher in the Hollywood Hills” that is a conduit for the supernatural.Caveat hides a dark family secret that stretches back to the golden days of Rudolph Valentino and the silent film era. A collection of hypnotic eight-limbed abstract images inked on paper allows the Maddens to briefly fragment and flatten time—to transport themselves into the past and future in visions that are puzzling, terrifying, and mesmerizing. Though Scott and Madeline know little about these ancient “spiders” that provoke unpredictable temporal dislocations, their cousins have been using them for years.As Madeline falls more completely under Caveat’s spell, Scott discovers that to protect her, he must use the dangerous spiders himself. But will he unravel the mystery of the Madden family’s history and finally free them from the past . . . or be pulled deeper, perhaps permanently, into the deadly web? About the Author Tim Powers is the author of numerous novels including Hide Me Among the Graves, Three Days to Never, Declare, Last Call, and On Stranger Tides, which inspired the feature film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. He has won the Philip K. Dick Memorial Award twice, and the World Fantasy Award three times. He lives in San Bernardino, California. Read more

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Powers’ work is usually intense and interesting, hard to stop reading except to stop and ponder a new idea or revelation. A significant number of his books are among my all-time favorites.So I was surprised to find myself putting this book down frequently, and eventually unwilling to even pick it up again. He seems to have stepped away from his well-developed skills to make a book with none of the qualities that make him a great author.The primary characters are opaque and not very sympathetic. The secondary characters are opaque and repulsive. Occasionally we get a third-person interjection that all but yells out “I know you’re bored, I promise something interesting is coming later!”My personal recommendation would be to pick up pretty much anything else he’s written – especially Last Call, The Anubis Gates, or Declare – to get a real feel for how great a writer he is. This one is, sadly, not one I’d recommend.

⭐Tim Powers has a gift for convincing us, his readers, that vast complexities lie just outside the borders of the reality we perceive, and that regular humans occasionally stumble across those borders. But unlike many authors, who in similar trade leave us with darkness and despair, Powers so often comes back to nobility, courage, and love. His characters are often very much hurt or even damaged by their experiences, but they push ahead.Medusa’s Web, like many of Powers’ novels, starts introducing confusing and outre events, characters, and clues almost immediately; but Powers’ gift is to make them just intelligible enough to keep you reading, digging, and putting the pieces together, all while upping the stakes. He especially excels at hiding (in plain sight) the resolution of key plot points until late in the novel, where they suddenly look obvious in retrospect. It’s one (but just one) of the reasons why Powers’ novels are so re-readable; it’s only on the 2nd or 3rd time through that you see how neatly everything was laid out before you from the very start.Highly recommended.

⭐I first read Powers in 1979 and it was obvious even then that he was different from everyone else with a unique style and approach to writing, just as his mentor P. K. Dick had been. As I was reading Medusa’s Web, I realized that it was strikingly similar to most of Power’s other books: obscure historical context, thwarted desires for immortality, body switching or possession. Is he in a rut? Not in my opinion. With the exception of the general themes, his stories aren’t really all that similar in terms of setting or characters. It is his unique style that might make Medusa’s Web seem strikingly similar to, for example, Three Days to Never. However, he is not simply writing formulaic Westerns, who-dun-its or standard fantasy about elves and dwarves. It is truly unique – no other author does anything quite like Powers, certainly not with such well written characters and absorbing story lines. In Medusa’s Web, as with his other books, you can look up the historical characters referenced in the story and sure enough, there they are. Silent movie stars and directors who really existed, and connections between the real life events of those figures in context with the plot and the fictional characters. I don’t care if the same devices are used, it is almost always done brilliantly. Certainly, it is done brilliantly in Medusa’s Web. If you have read Powers before, pick this one up – it’s a good one. If you have never read him before, you are missing one of the modern masters. Do yourself a favor and give him a try.

⭐I really enjoyed The Stress of Her Regard, one of Tim Powers’ earlier books, but have not otherwise read many of his books. He has a terrific imagination and his books are wild rides into weird worlds. Medusa’s Web is no exception; it pulls you in almost immediately, but I found myself less interested in what was going on as it wore on. The book might have benefited from tighter editing, as it was repetitive in parts. There were questions that remained unanswered. Who murdered Scott and Madeline’s parents (was it Claimayne?). Did Claimayne murder Aunt Amity (his mother), and why? Why if he could walk, did he sit in a wheelchair and use the elevator to travel between floors? Also, how did Madeline physically leave the present to return to the past where she could be with Valentino during her spider vision? That wasn’t explained, or if it was, I missed it. Was it that she ‘chose’ not to fall out of the vision? Also, why were there repetitive explosions on the roof (Aunt Amity killing herself or being killed)? What was causing them? It is things like this that should have been better ‘wrapped up’ at the end. I did enjoy the book, but liked The Stress of Her Regard much better (it was also a scarier book).

⭐I’ve been reading Powers for a long time now. This is a great book, I think one of this better ones. The characters in this book – they’re weird, they’ve believable, and they’re not SO interesting or developed that the book drags or feels over-written or false. They just normal, idiotic, weird, people that are crystal-clear in their personalities. The “trick” of what’s going on in this book, the thing that’s out of place, it’s very well introduced in layers, and then peeled off layer by layer until you’re filled with a sense of satisfaction and the sense of “oh sh&t” at the same time. Mr. Powers writes in a way that is very close to how my own brain narrative sounds. He writes in the same exact way that I read and produce my own monologue about what’s going on. For me, there is no hesitations, no stumbling, just pure reading input. Well done!

⭐Tim Powers looks at things we have seen our entire life and sees them totally differently than the rest of us. I first discovered this reading The Stress of Her Regard and have read many great alternative views of his since.This book has a gothic feel. Utter confusion at understanding character’s motivations that become clearer as,you read on. And a great new sci-fi idea.Well worth the read. Makes me want to go back and re-read others of his.

⭐Brother and sister go to scary house with even scarier cousins living there.Well, we all like a bit of scary, don’t we?So I was drawn in.With spiders being the link to travelling back in time through body inhabiting,and the resulting debates over who was inhabited and the deducing of whatwas going on, often left me puzzled.The mixed reviews of this book seems to indicate the different tastes that weall have.Frequently I was debating whether to carry on reading or simply call it quits.Well, I did finish it, and quite frankly, I wouldn’t recommend it, and in someways I was quite relieved when I turned the final page.

⭐Even Powers lesser novels are head and shoulders above most authors. It may be that this felt a bit stifling in having most of the action in a single location was deliberate – the brother and sister who return to the house they were brought up are both caught in the mysteries of their past and their own failings so claustrophobic is probably the right atmosphere.

⭐great stuff as ever. not my fave, but well worth a read.

⭐Very tedious. Gave up 2/3 way through

⭐Takes a long time to get into and the plot doesn’t quite work but for people who like powers worth a read for completeness sake

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