Tim Powers, twice winner of the prestigious World Fantasy Award (for Last Call and Declare), is back with another hard-hitting fantasy/horror novel in which time bends, spirits abound and madness threatens.
In Medusa's Web, Powers tells the story of siblings Scott and Madeline Madden, who return to Caveat, the aging, sinister mansion where they were raised, after their aunt's suicide. Their cousins Claimayne and Ariel, however, are anything but welcoming. Claimayne has become addicted to a form of magic that involves temporal location, and once the Maddens are settled back into Caveat, they, too, succumb to the enchantments that Claimayne uses to enter another's body in the past--folded bits of paper with arcane designs that flatten time. Madeline, in particular, is drawn into the past in an obsessive, dangerous way, and Scott must put himself in great danger to attempt to set matters right.
Powers excels, as always, at offering a strange new version of reality. In his hands, the most fantastic plot devices become easily acceptable as he skillfully builds layers of detail. Trippy takes on time travel and bodily possession achieve verisimilitude because Powers contrasts them cleverly with everyday details like addiction, alcoholism, jilted lovers and abandoned children. There is also a sense of real danger and lasting cost in his novels; Medusa's Web is no exception in this regard. A character, even a protagonist, can end up wounded or dead in a Powers novel, but, more importantly, they are often battling for their immortal soul. --Donald Powell, freelance writer