Dinner at Deviant’s Palace by Tim Powers, Book Review

A traveling musician and former “redeemer” Gregorio Rivas, who tries to lead a quiet life, agrees to do “one more job”, another “redeemer”, that is, rescue from the “Jaybirds”, hippie followers of the messiah Norton Jaybush. A fairly straightforward quest story takes him from one place to another as he struggles to keep his sanity and battle his inner demons and outer enemies.

Some science fiction/fantasy writers believe that no research is necessary, that anything goes because “it’s not real”. Never mind the lack of motivation, the bad storytelling, nothing that makes sense, the ignorance about the most basic details… Tim Powers refuses to write like that; the research he does for each and every one of his books could earn someone a Ph.D.

On the other hand, some writers do a considerable amount of research and then try to put all of that into the book, even if it slows down the narrative to the speed of a very tired tortoise, even if the reader has not the slightest desire to know every detail. of every book the author had ever read. Tim Powers doesn’t fall into that trap either.

What this author seems to believe is that books should be fun to read. Yes, considerable research needs to be done. Yes, the writer must know a lot about the subject of his writing, but all that knowledge is used to write a credible novel, not an encyclopedia. Additionally, Powers’ writing is easy to read, avoids distracting the reader with his style, and lets the story and characters speak for themselves.

There is nothing accidental about Tim Powers’ writing. A Jaybush religious leader? Jesus, Jaysus, Jebus, Jaybush… A warped name for a very warped character. Dinner at the Deviant Palace it’s filled with such joy, that it never slows the book down: if you notice it, you might enjoy it, if you don’t notice it, you’ll have fun with the rest of the novel.

Although the post-nuclear apocalypse is a bit outdated as a topic, Dinner at the Deviant Palace It’s still a really fun read. The novel’s rather ordinary beginning gets crazier as the book progresses, whereby the reader encounters a (but much darker) hippie religious sect, telepathy, a parasite from outer space called a “hemogblin” ( not a typo), another parasite from outer space, radioactive fish, narcotics, lots of music, and much, much more. Oh, and donuts.

While the above list may seem random, nothing in Dinner at the Deviant Palace it’s accidental. Everything there, no matter how unusual, even crazy, has its proper place, and Powers’ excellent writing ensures that everything stays in check. The reader does not get lost in this wild ride, nor is he overwhelmed by the strange things, nor does creativity suffer from the self-control of the writer.

Dinner at the Deviant Palace it’s a lavish, lucid, carefully crafted, and extremely funny novel, a hard novel to put down, a novel you love to come back to, hear the wild music again, fight hemgoblins and crazy cult members and the Deviant himself, being the hero who rescues the damsel in distress and falls in love all over again, while running away with nothing but donuts.