Declare
Tim Powers - Declare
This tale is mystic version of events that happened during the Cold War.
Project Declare is a British project to break the mystical power of Russia linked to spirits of Arabia. British spy and Moscow stooge Kim Philby is one of the prominent characters in the story, mystically linked to the protagonist.
British intelligence consciously tries to use Christian symbolism with Hale, Stalinist purges and Red Army bloodthirstiness are effectively human sacrifices to the spirit of Kremlin and Powers retells details of Philby's life in the terms of mystic connections. Tale jumps from time to time between World War Two (when Hale works for the SOE and the French Resistance) and later times during the Cold War.
British characters are rather stereotyped but still human beings. Meetings with mystical beings are not commonplace but when they do happen, the situation is tense, if not horrifying. In my opinion, prose is sometimes unnecessarily thick, but, well. Powers admits to being fan of LeCarre. Strictly speaking, lots of the text is telling, not showing.
I have to say that I did not see this a "gripping" read; I read it over couple of years, getting bored at times and reading other books before returning to this.
This entry was originally posted at http://elfbiter.dreamwidth.org/3102.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
This tale is mystic version of events that happened during the Cold War.
Project Declare is a British project to break the mystical power of Russia linked to spirits of Arabia. British spy and Moscow stooge Kim Philby is one of the prominent characters in the story, mystically linked to the protagonist.
British intelligence consciously tries to use Christian symbolism with Hale, Stalinist purges and Red Army bloodthirstiness are effectively human sacrifices to the spirit of Kremlin and Powers retells details of Philby's life in the terms of mystic connections. Tale jumps from time to time between World War Two (when Hale works for the SOE and the French Resistance) and later times during the Cold War.
British characters are rather stereotyped but still human beings. Meetings with mystical beings are not commonplace but when they do happen, the situation is tense, if not horrifying. In my opinion, prose is sometimes unnecessarily thick, but, well. Powers admits to being fan of LeCarre. Strictly speaking, lots of the text is telling, not showing.
I have to say that I did not see this a "gripping" read; I read it over couple of years, getting bored at times and reading other books before returning to this.
This entry was originally posted at http://elfbiter.dreamwidth.org/3102.html. Please comment there using OpenID.