Book Review: Last Call by Tim Powers

[pameladlloyd]

This was another re-read for me. It had been many years since I read Last Call by Tim Powers, so all I really remembered going in was that it involved poker, superstitions, and California. (As it turns out, it's also set in Las Vegas, Nevada.) Of course, as this is a book by Tim Powers, it was far more complex than that. I love Powers' ability to weave seemingly diverse concepts into a whole, and the way his stories make sense, if one can only bend one's mind into a pretzel. I also love the many literary references, although I'm sure I caught only the top of the iceberg.

This book was crazy, wild, anxiety producing, and a whole lot of fun. Go read it.

Comments

[larryhammer]

Will you be reading the other two books in the triology?

---L.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Possibly. I know I've already read Expiration Date, although I remember it no better than I did Last Call, but I'm not sure I ever read Earthquake Weather.

I've been re-reading stuff I already own, but I seriously need to make a trip to the library, as most of my fiction books were packed for the now-defunct trip to Thailand. As I gave about half of the bookshelves I gave to Ian and Keith, and the remaining shelves are still pretty full, I've been trying not to go out and buy a lot of stuff I already own.

[larryhammer]

You should read Earthquake Weather, and you should do so soon after reading Last Call and Expiration Date. LC and ED have little-to-no crossover, but EW is their intersection.

---L.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

Aye, aye, Cap'n. I shall run, not walk, to the library.... Um, wait a minute, it's been getting into the hundreds around here most days. I think I'll drive.

[larryhammer]

I'm still walking to work, but I blame that on machismo, which you should be already be inoculated against.

---L.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm not saying that walking is a bad idea at all times. I imagine the walk to work isn't that bad, but getting home again might be another question.

However, you live a bit more centrally than I do.

[larryhammer]

The walk home's the killer, yeah. That's when the heat really sweats the testosterone out of ya.

---L.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

I am currently reading Expiration Date, with Earthquake Weather waiting in the wings.

One thing I've realized is that my fuzzy memories of Last Call were concatenated with events in Expiration Date, which is one reason I'd thought Last Call was set in LA, before I reread the book.