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Vickery and Castine #3
Stolen Skies
ROGUE AGENTS SWEPT UP IN THE SEARCH FOR AN ANCIENT RELIC IN A UFO NOVEL AS ONLY TIM POWERS COULD WRITE IT!
Sebastian Vickery has learned something about UFOs that he shouldn’t have—and Naval Intelligence, desperate to silence him, orders his old partner, Agent Ingrid Castine, to trap him.
But Castine risks career, liberty, and maybe even life to warn Vickery—and now they’re fugitives on the run from both the U.S. government and agents of the Russian GRU Directorate, which has its own uses for the UFO intelligence.
With the unlikely aid of a renegade Russian agent, a homeless Hispanic boy, and an eccentric old Flat-Earther, Vickery and Castine must find an ancient relic that spells banishment to the alien species, and then summon the thing and use it against them—in a Samson-like confrontation that looks likely to kill them as well.
Sweeping from the Giant Rock monolith in the Mojave Desert to a cultist temple in the Hollywood Hills, from a monstrous apparition in the Los Angeles River to a harrowing midnight visitation on a boat off Long Beach Harbor, Stolen Skies is an alien-encounter novel like no other.
About Stolen
“Powers unveils the mystical underneath the mundane world we live in . . . he has the ability to describe things you've seen or experienced a million times and show them in a completely new light.” —Boing-Boing
About Forced Perspectives :
“One book I’ve been hugely excited about is Tim Powers’ latest, Forced Perspectives, set in the magical underbelly of modern-day Los Angeles. Powers may be the master of the secret history novel (and one of the originators of steampunk), but his recent work has really explored the history and magic of Tinseltown in a way no one else can.” —Lavie Tindhar, The Washington Post
“. . . frenetic urban fantasy that playfully blends Egyptian mythology, alternate Los Angeles history, and modern technology. . . . A cast of unusual side characters . . . add color and complexity. This labyrinthine tale of the bizarre and fantastic will grip urban fantasy enthusiasts until the end.” — Publishers Weekly
“. . . moves at jet speed, along unpredictable paths, and resolves in a fully gratifying melee involving almost every major character, living or dead.” — Locus Magazine
About Alternate Routes :
“Powers continues his run of smashing expectations and then playing with the pieces in this entertaining urban fantasy. . . . This calculated, frenetic novel ends with hope for redemption born from chaos. Powers’ work is recommended for urban fantasy fans who enjoy more than a dash of the bizarre.” — Publishers Weekly
“ Alternate Routes is both a thrilling mash-up of science fiction, fantasy, and horror and a work of startling moral sophistication. The horror packs a wallop, and there’s as much in the way of suspense and tension as the reader can bear. Powers takes us on one hell of a ride.” — The Federalist
“Tim Powers is always at the top of the list when folks ask about my favorite authors. His weaving mythology and legend into modern stories that revolve around secret histories of our most mundane landmarks never ever disappoints.” — BoingBoing
Praise for Tim
“Powers writes in a clean, elegant style that illuminates without slowing down the tale. . . . [He] promises marvels and horrors, and delivers them all.” —Orson Scott Card
“Other writers tell tales of magic in the twentieth century, but no one does it like Powers.” — The Orlando Sentinel
“. . . immensely clever stuff. . . . Powers' prose is often vivid and arresting . . . All in all, Powers' unique voice in science fiction continues to grow stronger.” — Washington Post Book World
“Powers is at heart a storyteller, and ruthlessly shapes his material into narrative form.” — The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
“ On Stranger Tides . . . immediately hooks you and drags you along in sympathy with one central character’s appalling misfortunes on the Spanish Main, [and] escalates from there to closing mega-thrills so determinedly spiced that your palate is left almost jaded.” —David Langford
“ On Stranger Tides . . . was the inspiration for Monkey Island . If you read this book you can really see where Guybrush and LeChuck were -plagiarized- derived from, plus the heavy influence of voodoo in the game. . . . [The book] had a lot of what made fantasy interesting . . .” —Legendary game designer Ron Gilbert
“Powers’ strengths [are] his originality, his action-crammed plots, and his ventures into the mysterious, dark, and supernatural.” — Los Angeles Times Book Review
“[Powers’ work delivers] an intense and intimate sense of period or realization of milieu; taut plotting, with human development and destiny . . . and, looming above all, an awareness of history itself as a merciless turning of supernatural wheels. . . . Powers’ descriptions . . . are breathtaking, sublimely precise . . . his status as one of fantasy's major stylists can no longer be in doubt.” — SF Site
“Powers creates a mystical, magical otherw...
Sebastian Vickery has learned something about UFOs that he shouldn’t have—and Naval Intelligence, desperate to silence him, orders his old partner, Agent Ingrid Castine, to trap him.
But Castine risks career, liberty, and maybe even life to warn Vickery—and now they’re fugitives on the run from both the U.S. government and agents of the Russian GRU Directorate, which has its own uses for the UFO intelligence.
With the unlikely aid of a renegade Russian agent, a homeless Hispanic boy, and an eccentric old Flat-Earther, Vickery and Castine must find an ancient relic that spells banishment to the alien species, and then summon the thing and use it against them—in a Samson-like confrontation that looks likely to kill them as well.
Sweeping from the Giant Rock monolith in the Mojave Desert to a cultist temple in the Hollywood Hills, from a monstrous apparition in the Los Angeles River to a harrowing midnight visitation on a boat off Long Beach Harbor, Stolen Skies is an alien-encounter novel like no other.
About Stolen
“Powers unveils the mystical underneath the mundane world we live in . . . he has the ability to describe things you've seen or experienced a million times and show them in a completely new light.” —Boing-Boing
About Forced Perspectives :
“One book I’ve been hugely excited about is Tim Powers’ latest, Forced Perspectives, set in the magical underbelly of modern-day Los Angeles. Powers may be the master of the secret history novel (and one of the originators of steampunk), but his recent work has really explored the history and magic of Tinseltown in a way no one else can.” —Lavie Tindhar, The Washington Post
“. . . frenetic urban fantasy that playfully blends Egyptian mythology, alternate Los Angeles history, and modern technology. . . . A cast of unusual side characters . . . add color and complexity. This labyrinthine tale of the bizarre and fantastic will grip urban fantasy enthusiasts until the end.” — Publishers Weekly
“. . . moves at jet speed, along unpredictable paths, and resolves in a fully gratifying melee involving almost every major character, living or dead.” — Locus Magazine
About Alternate Routes :
“Powers continues his run of smashing expectations and then playing with the pieces in this entertaining urban fantasy. . . . This calculated, frenetic novel ends with hope for redemption born from chaos. Powers’ work is recommended for urban fantasy fans who enjoy more than a dash of the bizarre.” — Publishers Weekly
“ Alternate Routes is both a thrilling mash-up of science fiction, fantasy, and horror and a work of startling moral sophistication. The horror packs a wallop, and there’s as much in the way of suspense and tension as the reader can bear. Powers takes us on one hell of a ride.” — The Federalist
“Tim Powers is always at the top of the list when folks ask about my favorite authors. His weaving mythology and legend into modern stories that revolve around secret histories of our most mundane landmarks never ever disappoints.” — BoingBoing
Praise for Tim
“Powers writes in a clean, elegant style that illuminates without slowing down the tale. . . . [He] promises marvels and horrors, and delivers them all.” —Orson Scott Card
“Other writers tell tales of magic in the twentieth century, but no one does it like Powers.” — The Orlando Sentinel
“. . . immensely clever stuff. . . . Powers' prose is often vivid and arresting . . . All in all, Powers' unique voice in science fiction continues to grow stronger.” — Washington Post Book World
“Powers is at heart a storyteller, and ruthlessly shapes his material into narrative form.” — The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
“ On Stranger Tides . . . immediately hooks you and drags you along in sympathy with one central character’s appalling misfortunes on the Spanish Main, [and] escalates from there to closing mega-thrills so determinedly spiced that your palate is left almost jaded.” —David Langford
“ On Stranger Tides . . . was the inspiration for Monkey Island . If you read this book you can really see where Guybrush and LeChuck were -plagiarized- derived from, plus the heavy influence of voodoo in the game. . . . [The book] had a lot of what made fantasy interesting . . .” —Legendary game designer Ron Gilbert
“Powers’ strengths [are] his originality, his action-crammed plots, and his ventures into the mysterious, dark, and supernatural.” — Los Angeles Times Book Review
“[Powers’ work delivers] an intense and intimate sense of period or realization of milieu; taut plotting, with human development and destiny . . . and, looming above all, an awareness of history itself as a merciless turning of supernatural wheels. . . . Powers’ descriptions . . . are breathtaking, sublimely precise . . . his status as one of fantasy's major stylists can no longer be in doubt.” — SF Site
“Powers creates a mystical, magical otherw...
416 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published January 31, 2023
15 people are currently reading
114 people want to read
About the author
Tim Powers
137 books1,757 followersTimothy Thomas Powers is an American science fiction and fantasy author. Powers has won the World Fantasy Award twice for his critically acclaimed novels Last Call and Declare.
Most of Powers's novels are "secret histories": he uses actual, documented historical events featuring famous people, but shows another view of them in which occult or supernatural factors heavily influence the motivations and actions of the characters.
Powers was born in Buffalo, New York, and grew up in California, where his Roman Catholic family moved in 1959.
He studied English Literature at Cal State Fullerton, where he first met James Blaylock and K.W. Jeter, both of whom remained close friends and occasional collaborators; the trio have half-seriously referred to themselves as "steampunks" in contrast to the prevailing cyberpunk genre of the 1980s. Powers and Blaylock invented the poet William Ashbless while they were at Cal State Fullerton.
Another friend Powers first met during this period was noted science fiction writer Philip K. Dick; the character named "David" in Dick's novel VALIS is based on Powers and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Blade Runner) is dedicated to him.
Powers's first major novel was The Drawing of the Dark (1979), but the novel that earned him wide praise was The Anubis Gates, which won the Philip K. Dick Award, and has since been published in many other languages.
Powers also teaches part-time in his role as Writer in Residence for the Orange County High School of the Arts where his friend, Blaylock, is Director of the Creative Writing Department. Powers and his wife, Serena, currently live in Muscoy, California. He has frequently served as a mentor author as part of the Clarion science fiction/fantasy writer's workshop.
He also taught part time at the University of Redlands.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
Most of Powers's novels are "secret histories": he uses actual, documented historical events featuring famous people, but shows another view of them in which occult or supernatural factors heavily influence the motivations and actions of the characters.
Powers was born in Buffalo, New York, and grew up in California, where his Roman Catholic family moved in 1959.
He studied English Literature at Cal State Fullerton, where he first met James Blaylock and K.W. Jeter, both of whom remained close friends and occasional collaborators; the trio have half-seriously referred to themselves as "steampunks" in contrast to the prevailing cyberpunk genre of the 1980s. Powers and Blaylock invented the poet William Ashbless while they were at Cal State Fullerton.
Another friend Powers first met during this period was noted science fiction writer Philip K. Dick; the character named "David" in Dick's novel VALIS is based on Powers and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Blade Runner) is dedicated to him.
Powers's first major novel was The Drawing of the Dark (1979), but the novel that earned him wide praise was The Anubis Gates, which won the Philip K. Dick Award, and has since been published in many other languages.
Powers also teaches part-time in his role as Writer in Residence for the Orange County High School of the Arts where his friend, Blaylock, is Director of the Creative Writing Department. Powers and his wife, Serena, currently live in Muscoy, California. He has frequently served as a mentor author as part of the Clarion science fiction/fantasy writer's workshop.
He also taught part time at the University of Redlands.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
September 16, 2022
Tim Powers is among my favorite writers, and I always eagerly anticipate his latest work. That said, I’m hoping this will be his last Vickery and Castine book. They are far from his most compelling characters, certainly not strong enough to continue to bear the burden of being unaccountably thrown together to yet again save the world. Three times is more than enough.
That said, I did enjoy this book. It’s fast moving, with action aplenty and all the expected weirdness and weirdoes of Powers occult, LA underground. And of course, there are the unsettling ghosts that have become Mr. Powers signature. From any other author I would likely have walked away satisfied. But from the author of Last Call, The Anubis Gate, and Declare I’ve come to expect a higher standard. Here’s hoping his next book returns to exploring hidden histories as only he can.
That said, I did enjoy this book. It’s fast moving, with action aplenty and all the expected weirdness and weirdoes of Powers occult, LA underground. And of course, there are the unsettling ghosts that have become Mr. Powers signature. From any other author I would likely have walked away satisfied. But from the author of Last Call, The Anubis Gate, and Declare I’ve come to expect a higher standard. Here’s hoping his next book returns to exploring hidden histories as only he can.
August 5, 2022
Rec. by: MCL; previous work
Rec. for: Mulder and Scully, and for "Carl Gerhard Busch" (if that's his real name)
The truth, it's been said, is out there.
Sometimes, the truth is even farther out than that.
Stolen Skies is the third entry in Tim Powers' "Vickery and Castine Series," starring the cutest couple of reluctant, will-they-or-won't-they paranormal investigators since The X-Files was being broadcast in prime time. The book is a direct sequel to Forced Perspectives, which I read in October 2021... but somehow I still haven't run across the first volume, 2018's Alternate Routes.
I think it might be too late to go back now. I know too much.
*
In Stolen Skies we get UFOs (though they're now officially known as UAPs, for Unidentified Aerial Phenomena), and an explanation for them that I'll admit I've never seen elsewhere (although here's a hint: ).
Stolen Skies takes its sweet time before starting to explain things, though. As the novel begins, Special Agent Ingrid Castine of the Office of Naval Research has been recalled to Washington D.C.—though she isn't told why. She's been in England, nowhere near Sebastian Vickery, ginning up fake crop circles (in order to discredit and distract from the real ones, of course). Meanwhile, Vickery has been hanging out in New Mexico (and points west), going under an assumed name (not that "Vickery" is especially authentic, mind you) and posing as a "UFOlogist" in order "to explain his frequent solo trips out into the Mojave Desert." (p.20)
Once Castine and Vickery are reunited, their cozy relationship picks right up where it left off, and as they bicker they find themselves spiraling together ever more deeply into the cosmic reality behind UFOs (UAPs) (NLOs—Neopoznannyy Letat Oj'jektu—at least according to a Russian agent of their acquaintance who spends much of his time bemoaning the deterioration of "tradecraft" in the GRU since the Soviet Union left him behind)...
Oh, and you'd better get used to acronyms and initialisms, too, 'cause there are a lot of 'em.
The stakes keep getting higher; alliances keep shifting; inexplicable events keep occurring; and Vickery and Castine keep escaping disaster by the thinnest of margins. It's all very exciting—though comforting and familiar, as well.
In my review of Forced Perspectives, I wrote that "Tim Powers has a groove, one that has not (yet, anyway) turned into a rut{.}" Stolen Skies only deepens that groove. It's more of the same—the same fragile veneer of normality over profound magical undercurrents (and the same casual acceptance of that magic by those in the know). The same exhaustive details of driving in L.A. (including some gadding about in my old neighborhood). The plot makes the same sort of hairpin turns, and Our Heroes manage similarly hairsbreadth escapes.
If you liked the earlier installments, that's a good thing—Powers makes it very easy to get back into the flow, and there's a lot to be said for the appeal of the familiar—but if you're looking for a more novel novel, then... maybe not so much.
It took until the bottom of page 13 for the first cigarette to appear, though, which may be some kind of record.
*
I won't say that Stolen Skies is Tim Powers' best work, because it's not. But it is great fun, and if ever I see a sequel (or, for that matter, volume #1) on the shelf somewhere, I will almost certainly pick it up...
Rec. for: Mulder and Scully, and for "Carl Gerhard Busch" (if that's his real name)
The truth, it's been said, is out there.
Sometimes, the truth is even farther out than that.
Stolen Skies is the third entry in Tim Powers' "Vickery and Castine Series," starring the cutest couple of reluctant, will-they-or-won't-they paranormal investigators since The X-Files was being broadcast in prime time. The book is a direct sequel to Forced Perspectives, which I read in October 2021... but somehow I still haven't run across the first volume, 2018's Alternate Routes.
I think it might be too late to go back now. I know too much.
*
In Stolen Skies we get UFOs (though they're now officially known as UAPs, for Unidentified Aerial Phenomena), and an explanation for them that I'll admit I've never seen elsewhere (although here's a hint: ).
Stolen Skies takes its sweet time before starting to explain things, though. As the novel begins, Special Agent Ingrid Castine of the Office of Naval Research has been recalled to Washington D.C.—though she isn't told why. She's been in England, nowhere near Sebastian Vickery, ginning up fake crop circles (in order to discredit and distract from the real ones, of course). Meanwhile, Vickery has been hanging out in New Mexico (and points west), going under an assumed name (not that "Vickery" is especially authentic, mind you) and posing as a "UFOlogist" in order "to explain his frequent solo trips out into the Mojave Desert." (p.20)
Once Castine and Vickery are reunited, their cozy relationship picks right up where it left off, and as they bicker they find themselves spiraling together ever more deeply into the cosmic reality behind UFOs (UAPs) (NLOs—Neopoznannyy Letat Oj'jektu—at least according to a Russian agent of their acquaintance who spends much of his time bemoaning the deterioration of "tradecraft" in the GRU since the Soviet Union left him behind)...
Oh, and you'd better get used to acronyms and initialisms, too, 'cause there are a lot of 'em.
The stakes keep getting higher; alliances keep shifting; inexplicable events keep occurring; and Vickery and Castine keep escaping disaster by the thinnest of margins. It's all very exciting—though comforting and familiar, as well.
In my review of Forced Perspectives, I wrote that "Tim Powers has a groove, one that has not (yet, anyway) turned into a rut{.}" Stolen Skies only deepens that groove. It's more of the same—the same fragile veneer of normality over profound magical undercurrents (and the same casual acceptance of that magic by those in the know). The same exhaustive details of driving in L.A. (including some gadding about in my old neighborhood). The plot makes the same sort of hairpin turns, and Our Heroes manage similarly hairsbreadth escapes.
If you liked the earlier installments, that's a good thing—Powers makes it very easy to get back into the flow, and there's a lot to be said for the appeal of the familiar—but if you're looking for a more novel novel, then... maybe not so much.
It took until the bottom of page 13 for the first cigarette to appear, though, which may be some kind of record.
*
I won't say that Stolen Skies is Tim Powers' best work, because it's not. But it is great fun, and if ever I see a sequel (or, for that matter, volume #1) on the shelf somewhere, I will almost certainly pick it up...
September 20, 2022
Well my purge on finishing books continues and so ends the latest adventure of Vickery and Castine and I have to say that it surprised me how much fun I had with this book.
Now a feature of books by Tim Powers is that of a sort of hidden (yet subtly recognisable) counter world exists right next to the more mundane and normal world you and I inhabit. Where ghosts can be used as power sources and blood as compasses, it all feels so rational that at times it leaves you questioning what is really going on. Enter then at your own peril.
I think for me the fact that so little is explained and yet so much is assumed it can be both infuriating and extremely enjoyable in equal measures. While you are trying to make sense of it all you miss the little details. However if you "go with the flow" you suddenly see the story shining through and suddenly the whole pace of the story shifts. This is one of those books that sometimes need you to de-focus your attention and just enjoy the ride.
Now a feature of books by Tim Powers is that of a sort of hidden (yet subtly recognisable) counter world exists right next to the more mundane and normal world you and I inhabit. Where ghosts can be used as power sources and blood as compasses, it all feels so rational that at times it leaves you questioning what is really going on. Enter then at your own peril.
I think for me the fact that so little is explained and yet so much is assumed it can be both infuriating and extremely enjoyable in equal measures. While you are trying to make sense of it all you miss the little details. However if you "go with the flow" you suddenly see the story shining through and suddenly the whole pace of the story shifts. This is one of those books that sometimes need you to de-focus your attention and just enjoy the ride.
January 18, 2022
Disappointing.
April 24, 2023
Not as good as the first two in the series, but it's Tim Powers, so it's still good.
July 21, 2022
This book still doesn’t approach the best of Powers’ efforts for me, but I enjoyed it more than the two previous books in the series - I’d consider it a high three.
Castine, more than Vickery, is the primary protagonist here, and her point of view works well for this story. Galvan returns too, as well as Santiago, and while it’s admirable to give the reader a foundation by conveying what’s come before, without requiring them to read or re-read the earlier volumes, in this case there’s perhaps a bit too much recalling and retelling the events of those stories.
As far as the antagonists, the human ones are fairly ineffectual and undistinguished - which is actually fine, since the non-human ones are among the most creative constructions that Powers has imagined. It’s not giving too much away to know that it involves crop circles and otherworldly visitations, but to say any more than that would be, because the innovative angle on these phenomena is truly a unique one.
Like Powers’ other recent work, this book is strongly Los Angeles-centric, and the climactic events make excellent use of some decidedly obscure but typically quirky and fascinating real LA history. This series still contains too much in the way of gun brandishing and car chases for me, but it’s understandable given the modern setting.
There’s plenty of the clever supernatural chaos that makes Powers’ writing so fantastic, and it’s not nearly as dark as some of his other work, making this a fun read.
A final note: as mentioned in previous reviews, the level of typos in this series is off the charts. I can only assume that the responsible copy editors are being overworked. If anyone at Baen is reading this, please let me know and I’ll gladly provide my list of at least a dozen corrections to incorporate into future editions. And in the future, maybe just ask a Powers fan for input in advance.
Castine, more than Vickery, is the primary protagonist here, and her point of view works well for this story. Galvan returns too, as well as Santiago, and while it’s admirable to give the reader a foundation by conveying what’s come before, without requiring them to read or re-read the earlier volumes, in this case there’s perhaps a bit too much recalling and retelling the events of those stories.
As far as the antagonists, the human ones are fairly ineffectual and undistinguished - which is actually fine, since the non-human ones are among the most creative constructions that Powers has imagined. It’s not giving too much away to know that it involves crop circles and otherworldly visitations, but to say any more than that would be, because the innovative angle on these phenomena is truly a unique one.
Like Powers’ other recent work, this book is strongly Los Angeles-centric, and the climactic events make excellent use of some decidedly obscure but typically quirky and fascinating real LA history. This series still contains too much in the way of gun brandishing and car chases for me, but it’s understandable given the modern setting.
There’s plenty of the clever supernatural chaos that makes Powers’ writing so fantastic, and it’s not nearly as dark as some of his other work, making this a fun read.
A final note: as mentioned in previous reviews, the level of typos in this series is off the charts. I can only assume that the responsible copy editors are being overworked. If anyone at Baen is reading this, please let me know and I’ll gladly provide my list of at least a dozen corrections to incorporate into future editions. And in the future, maybe just ask a Powers fan for input in advance.
May 17, 2022
Grading this one is tough. Impressive start. Fairly middling middle. Terrible finish that had me struggling from page to page. One star? Two stars? One? None? I was thinking this was more science-fiction oriented, with aliens and conspiracies and whatnot, after reading the inner flap. But I’m thinking Powers doesn’t really write in the genre. His writing would more correctly be classified as modern fantasy, with ghosts and magic and that sort of thing, which by itself isn’t a problem as long as it’s done well, but I’d have to say, at least in this book, it was done poorly.
As an aside: are there editors working at Baen anymore. Years back it seemed as if I’d read a newly published novel and I’d find one or two errors per book of about 400 pages; this book had two or three errors about every ten pages, duplicate words, grammatical errors, words missing letters, and solo letters hanging out by themselves, what is going on with editing today?
As an aside: are there editors working at Baen anymore. Years back it seemed as if I’d read a newly published novel and I’d find one or two errors per book of about 400 pages; this book had two or three errors about every ten pages, duplicate words, grammatical errors, words missing letters, and solo letters hanging out by themselves, what is going on with editing today?
May 8, 2024
Vickery and Castine is a series that I liken to in my mind to Another Kingdom by Andrew Klavan. I'm not 100% sure why exactly this is, but I do at least have a few guesses. Firstly, a significant chunk of the books (effectively all of this one and approximately half of "Another Kingdom") take place in the modern world, in a familiar version of America. To contrast these modern inclinations, both have their own fair share of the fantastical. For Another Kingdom, this is quite literally in the form of an actual fantasy world connected to the real world a la Narnia; for Vickery and Castine, the fantastical comes in the form of alternate, ghost-dimension kind of stuff...amongst a lot of other frankly strange stuff that's really hard to explain. It's some cool stuff don't get me wrong, but it *is* definitely strange, and goes so far as to be off-putting at times - perhaps one of the things I have the weirdest relationship with in the books.
That said, all three of the Vickery and Castine books delve into different realms of strange: there's supernatural stuff, there's other-worldly stuff closely associated to certain historical mythologies, there's funky time-based jargon, and there's alien stuff, depending on which book you're talking about. "Stolen Skies" happens to be the alien stuff, and it is significantly more awesome than anything from the 2 previous entries in my opinion. As a result of this content, "Stolen Skies" is (oddly enough) the most grounded or "normal" of these 3 books, and this is a lot of why I think it is the strongest part of the trilogy for me. That's not necessarily to say it's an absolutely amazing book mind you, but if there was ever anything in the first two that you considered to be good or great, "Stolen Skies" takes the good stuff, leaves the not-so-good behind, and plays consistently quick and fun from start to end.
But let me back up just a bit. I made the Another Kingdom comparison in the first paragraph, and kind of left that idea hanging. Why, beyond the real-world-mixed-with-the-fantastical similarities, do I compare these 2 trilogies. Well...again, I'm not 100% sure, but I think the rest of it comes down to the fact that both are trilogies, both have notable cases of middle-book syndrome, and both have 3rd books that wowed me at times with certain ideas while the first 2 were either just pretty good or mediocre (respectively for books 1 and 2 and also in accordance to both series). Thus I have connected the 2 in my mind.
For Another Kingdom: "Another Kingdom" was super solid and a book I really liked. "The Nightmare Feast" was largely forgettable beyond a couple scenes. "The Emperor's Sword" is still a personal favorite.
For Vickery and Castine: "Alternate Routes" was a solid introduction that got me hooked...but then kinda lost me in the final act. "Forced Perspectives" had a lot of really cool ideas that definitely were not executed well on for my personal liking. "Stolen Skies" isn't quite a personal favorite, but was worth reading the first 2 books to experience.
In either case, I had a book I thought was pretty good, one I didn't like too much, and another I enjoyed quite a bit.
Where the two are separated in my mind however, is actually the same place where the original similarity comes from: the fantastical intermixed in the real world.
Vickery and Castine is very strange in many regards. I've briefly listed a handful of the main things, without getting into specifics. The first book, and a bit of the second, messes the most with mythological kinds of things. The second book, and a bit of the third, messes the most with time-based stuff. The third book is the alien stuff, as I mentioned. Lots of cool ideas sprinkled throughout, all connected by the main supernatural concept of the series: the ghost-dimension type stuff.
Ultimately, these books are made and broken by these things. The first book mostly lost me with the final act, where the combination of ghost-stuff and mythological-stuff just kind of ballooned in ways I don't think I was ready for. The second book mostly had too much of the rules and repetition associated with the ghost-stuff (not to mention being too long in the first place) that irked me slowly more and more over time. The third book went all in on alien stuff, and it was actually super great, leaving behind the more repetitive and annoying nonsense of the first two.
So that's the basics. In addition to most sound executing on the supernatural elements included, "Stolen Skies" has the strongest display of side-characters, and uses the supernatural the most naturally in the course of the story. Perhaps this is because the things Powers has done with aliens in this entry are, well, the most involved in the modern cultural zeitgeist, so things just worked better; I definitely think it is. Where most of the ideas of the first two required a bit too much explaining to get (or were too repetitively used, such as basic math being used to ground ghosts in reality in order to talk to them), "Stolen Skies" was made by it's creativity where the first two were hampered just as much as they weren't.
I also found the plotting to be the strongest here. Though the first half of "Alternate Routes" was quite solid, I did fall off because things took a turn (not a plot twist, just the way the story was running); "Forced Perspectives" was definitely a bit too long; "Stolen Skies" was paced the best, and moved along through the best material at the best speed.
This may not be a masterpiece of a trilogy, but it was decent fun. I don't love the first two books, but I did quite enjoy this one. I won't say this is where you should start with Powers like I did, because I don't think that's true, but if you love Powers, maybe you'll love it anyway. After all, these books have basically the highest average scores of any of his books here on Goodreads.
That said, all three of the Vickery and Castine books delve into different realms of strange: there's supernatural stuff, there's other-worldly stuff closely associated to certain historical mythologies, there's funky time-based jargon, and there's alien stuff, depending on which book you're talking about. "Stolen Skies" happens to be the alien stuff, and it is significantly more awesome than anything from the 2 previous entries in my opinion. As a result of this content, "Stolen Skies" is (oddly enough) the most grounded or "normal" of these 3 books, and this is a lot of why I think it is the strongest part of the trilogy for me. That's not necessarily to say it's an absolutely amazing book mind you, but if there was ever anything in the first two that you considered to be good or great, "Stolen Skies" takes the good stuff, leaves the not-so-good behind, and plays consistently quick and fun from start to end.
But let me back up just a bit. I made the Another Kingdom comparison in the first paragraph, and kind of left that idea hanging. Why, beyond the real-world-mixed-with-the-fantastical similarities, do I compare these 2 trilogies. Well...again, I'm not 100% sure, but I think the rest of it comes down to the fact that both are trilogies, both have notable cases of middle-book syndrome, and both have 3rd books that wowed me at times with certain ideas while the first 2 were either just pretty good or mediocre (respectively for books 1 and 2 and also in accordance to both series). Thus I have connected the 2 in my mind.
For Another Kingdom: "Another Kingdom" was super solid and a book I really liked. "The Nightmare Feast" was largely forgettable beyond a couple scenes. "The Emperor's Sword" is still a personal favorite.
For Vickery and Castine: "Alternate Routes" was a solid introduction that got me hooked...but then kinda lost me in the final act. "Forced Perspectives" had a lot of really cool ideas that definitely were not executed well on for my personal liking. "Stolen Skies" isn't quite a personal favorite, but was worth reading the first 2 books to experience.
In either case, I had a book I thought was pretty good, one I didn't like too much, and another I enjoyed quite a bit.
Where the two are separated in my mind however, is actually the same place where the original similarity comes from: the fantastical intermixed in the real world.
Vickery and Castine is very strange in many regards. I've briefly listed a handful of the main things, without getting into specifics. The first book, and a bit of the second, messes the most with mythological kinds of things. The second book, and a bit of the third, messes the most with time-based stuff. The third book is the alien stuff, as I mentioned. Lots of cool ideas sprinkled throughout, all connected by the main supernatural concept of the series: the ghost-dimension type stuff.
Ultimately, these books are made and broken by these things. The first book mostly lost me with the final act, where the combination of ghost-stuff and mythological-stuff just kind of ballooned in ways I don't think I was ready for. The second book mostly had too much of the rules and repetition associated with the ghost-stuff (not to mention being too long in the first place) that irked me slowly more and more over time. The third book went all in on alien stuff, and it was actually super great, leaving behind the more repetitive and annoying nonsense of the first two.
So that's the basics. In addition to most sound executing on the supernatural elements included, "Stolen Skies" has the strongest display of side-characters, and uses the supernatural the most naturally in the course of the story. Perhaps this is because the things Powers has done with aliens in this entry are, well, the most involved in the modern cultural zeitgeist, so things just worked better; I definitely think it is. Where most of the ideas of the first two required a bit too much explaining to get (or were too repetitively used, such as basic math being used to ground ghosts in reality in order to talk to them), "Stolen Skies" was made by it's creativity where the first two were hampered just as much as they weren't.
I also found the plotting to be the strongest here. Though the first half of "Alternate Routes" was quite solid, I did fall off because things took a turn (not a plot twist, just the way the story was running); "Forced Perspectives" was definitely a bit too long; "Stolen Skies" was paced the best, and moved along through the best material at the best speed.
This may not be a masterpiece of a trilogy, but it was decent fun. I don't love the first two books, but I did quite enjoy this one. I won't say this is where you should start with Powers like I did, because I don't think that's true, but if you love Powers, maybe you'll love it anyway. After all, these books have basically the highest average scores of any of his books here on Goodreads.
August 29, 2023
Tim Powers found a comfortable sweet spot with his Vickery and Castine series — urban fantasies that don't go as big or as deep as some of Powers' earlier novels but even as lesser entries among his works are smart and entertaining and pretty remarkable for a writer this far along in his career.
Stolen Skies (apparently a late retitle from Fallen Skies; that's what it was called in the blurb and sample chapter in the previous book, Forced Perspectives) is my least favorite of the three books about the two former/current (detailing their careers would take some time) government agents hip-deep in fantastic events and — of course, because it's Powers — ghosts. But the third (last?) of the series still is a corker, one in which Powers thankfully declines to repeat himself, offering an entirely new story to go with his usual supernatural bells and whistles.
In Stolen Skies, we learn the truth (!) about the mystery of crop circles as Sebastian Vickery and Ingrid Castine reunite after a few years apart and, with characters we know from the previous volumes along for the ride, probe the mysteries of alien visitations, a conundrum which, if not dealt with, could lead to the end of the world. The book starts off with Castine, as a field investigator with the Office of Naval Research, helping fake a crop circle. But soon she's dealing with the real thing, actual crop circles and the "foo fighters" — what Allied aircraft pilots during World War II called UFOs — along with a Russian man, American government agents, and a host of others embroiled in following the "unidentified aerial phenomena" and the beings at the root of it all.
Don't expect a lot of "face time" with aliens in Stolen Skies; their existence is, I guess you'd say, on another plane from ours. Powers explains it better than I just did — not 100% successfully, but close enough and well enough that my early fears that this story would be too knotty and not as intriguing as hoped for were eventually banished.
The Vickery and Castine novels are self-contained, up to a point. Each is a new story. But I'd strongly advise reading them in order. Stolen Skies, in supplying our heroes' backstory, references quite a few events from the earlier books. And, as mentioned, there are the returning supporting characters who will resonate far more if you know their stories. It's Powers, so all three books are good. So just start with Alternate Routes and read them all, why don't you?
In that first book, Vickery and Castine were embroiled in the mystery of ghosts increasingly appearing along California freeways, an adventure that took the pair to the "hell" of the Labyrinth afterworld. Forced Perspectives featured nefarious folks hoping to use Vickery and Castine to form a group mind in which individuals subsume themselves into a horrific collective. Stolen Skies is not as compelling as the first two, but it's still a fitting cap (if this is the last such book) to the series. If the plot here isn't quite as strong as what came before, by book's end we're more touched, more attached to Vickery and Castine and their friends, than ever. Good stuff, and I'll keep saying this to the end of my days: I'm mystified that Powers' books aren't big sellers. As the tagline to an old TV show — one these Vickery and Castine tales would fit pretty nicely on — used to say, "The truth is out there." Whether we acknowledge it or seek it is another thing.
Stolen Skies (apparently a late retitle from Fallen Skies; that's what it was called in the blurb and sample chapter in the previous book, Forced Perspectives) is my least favorite of the three books about the two former/current (detailing their careers would take some time) government agents hip-deep in fantastic events and — of course, because it's Powers — ghosts. But the third (last?) of the series still is a corker, one in which Powers thankfully declines to repeat himself, offering an entirely new story to go with his usual supernatural bells and whistles.
In Stolen Skies, we learn the truth (!) about the mystery of crop circles as Sebastian Vickery and Ingrid Castine reunite after a few years apart and, with characters we know from the previous volumes along for the ride, probe the mysteries of alien visitations, a conundrum which, if not dealt with, could lead to the end of the world. The book starts off with Castine, as a field investigator with the Office of Naval Research, helping fake a crop circle. But soon she's dealing with the real thing, actual crop circles and the "foo fighters" — what Allied aircraft pilots during World War II called UFOs — along with a Russian man, American government agents, and a host of others embroiled in following the "unidentified aerial phenomena" and the beings at the root of it all.
Don't expect a lot of "face time" with aliens in Stolen Skies; their existence is, I guess you'd say, on another plane from ours. Powers explains it better than I just did — not 100% successfully, but close enough and well enough that my early fears that this story would be too knotty and not as intriguing as hoped for were eventually banished.
The Vickery and Castine novels are self-contained, up to a point. Each is a new story. But I'd strongly advise reading them in order. Stolen Skies, in supplying our heroes' backstory, references quite a few events from the earlier books. And, as mentioned, there are the returning supporting characters who will resonate far more if you know their stories. It's Powers, so all three books are good. So just start with Alternate Routes and read them all, why don't you?
In that first book, Vickery and Castine were embroiled in the mystery of ghosts increasingly appearing along California freeways, an adventure that took the pair to the "hell" of the Labyrinth afterworld. Forced Perspectives featured nefarious folks hoping to use Vickery and Castine to form a group mind in which individuals subsume themselves into a horrific collective. Stolen Skies is not as compelling as the first two, but it's still a fitting cap (if this is the last such book) to the series. If the plot here isn't quite as strong as what came before, by book's end we're more touched, more attached to Vickery and Castine and their friends, than ever. Good stuff, and I'll keep saying this to the end of my days: I'm mystified that Powers' books aren't big sellers. As the tagline to an old TV show — one these Vickery and Castine tales would fit pretty nicely on — used to say, "The truth is out there." Whether we acknowledge it or seek it is another thing.
August 18, 2024
Only Tim Powers could turn Flatland into a central concept explaining UFOs and crop circles, and ginning up an apocalypse constructed around that book's central revelation, that a higher-dimensioned being would be unable to perceive reality as understood and experienced by a being that exists in fewer dimensions. I could probably have done with a little more saucer-cult nuttery here, just because that's such a rich vein of conspiratorial thinking and history, and it bums me out that Powers didn't do more with the notion that the government has been keeping aliens on ice for 70+ years. (There's also a minor government functionary whose role and purpose I never quite grasped.) Especially given that the cover copy is really pushing the X-Files resonances (I mean, "Believe"? Come on), even if that's maybe not the most au courant reference in 2020, I wanted...a few more X-Files resonances. There is a decent amount of poetry-quoting along the way, and I suppose it's good to hear Powers championing the cause of cultural literacy--though, again, it felt like he interwove history and mythology most effectively in the first book, where the story of the minotaur becomes central to the entire plot architecture, whereas here it feels like some of this material is just random poetic citations.
That said, the conceit here is pretty great, tying the aliens into his larger cosmology and providing an excellently crypto-scientific explanation. All of our previous recurring characters, major and minor, appear here, including Anita Galvan and her concealment cars, this time with an amusing backdoor built in to allow surveillance and communication. Nice to see Vickery and Castine accepting their detachment from everyday chronology ("distempor," it's called) at the end, which feels like a conclusion to the series. I think, having read all three, my favorite is the first, but they're all enjoyably literate, historically-grounded fun in his usual vein.
That said, the conceit here is pretty great, tying the aliens into his larger cosmology and providing an excellently crypto-scientific explanation. All of our previous recurring characters, major and minor, appear here, including Anita Galvan and her concealment cars, this time with an amusing backdoor built in to allow surveillance and communication. Nice to see Vickery and Castine accepting their detachment from everyday chronology ("distempor," it's called) at the end, which feels like a conclusion to the series. I think, having read all three, my favorite is the first, but they're all enjoyably literate, historically-grounded fun in his usual vein.
February 18, 2025
Book three, Vickery and Castine pair up yet again in LA, this time the world is threatened by UFOs. Powers as usual takes the usual mythology and twists it on its head, . I still like the interaction between the two main characters. Several others were introduced as well, several federal agents, a Russian agent, an uncontrolled telekinetic. We also had the return of the taco truck queen, Galvan; and teenage scamp Santiago. There's a UFO conspiracist/flat earther, and the Zeta Reticuli Chess Club. We get a lot of LA geography again. The culmination of everything felt a bit underwhelming this time, they just kept trying things until something caught. I'm not sure I'll reread this one (but now I'm tempted to go back and reread Last Call)
January 17, 2022
Sebastian Vickery and Ingrid Castine have gotten themselves into another fine mess. Due to her work in Naval Intelligence, Castine had been in England dealing with crop circles caused by UAP (Unknown Aerial Phenomena). Then she is recalled to USA and sent to California to act as an identifier of Vickery at an event ONI was going to fake. But when real UAPs stopped by and the pickup van of agents was blown up, things went awry. Vickery got away, Castine went rogue to join him. Castine's partner ended up getting picked up by an undercover Russian agent and things just took a Tim Power's spin into California madness. A number of characters from the previous books in the series provide help and hindrance until the final confrontation that ends up saving the world. A very nicely done Tim Powers book!
I really appreciate Baen providing me a eARC of this title.
I really appreciate Baen providing me a eARC of this title.
April 13, 2022
Tim Powers has another Vickery and Christine tale of ghosts and magic in LA, Ingrid Castine, agent for ONI, is sent from London where she had been faking crop circles to hide the real ones. The agency is looking for a conspiracy theorist Plowman and hope to catch Vickery with him. Then at the site of a faked UFO, real UFO’s show up in the Stolen Skies (hard from Baen). Actually they aren’t UFO’s they’re really four dimensional beings trapped on Earth. They’ll freeze the Earth when they leave. Vickery is soon joined by Christine. They are chased by an ex-KGB agent and the partner Ingrid ditched to join Vickery. And there are two other agents from the same division of ONI that sent Ingrid in the first place. I do not understand the magical physics of this world, but the action is fun and our heroes have only four days to save Earth.
May 18, 2022
One of my favorite aspects of works by Tim Powers (as well as Robert Holdstock) is the half-glimpsed exotic world of the story. The structure and rules are never fully revealed, merely grasped at by the characters as they stumble through the mysteries of the world. The first two thirds of Stolen Skies are interesting reading, but the ending is fairly weak compared to other works Powers has written. I love coming away from the writing of Tim Powers books with new conspiracy theories about the universe: the new unsettling (and preposterous) ideas in Stolen Skies at least made it worth the read.
Overall it's a fun and interesting read, but I think it pales beside his other works such as Last Call or Drawing of the Dark.
Overall it's a fun and interesting read, but I think it pales beside his other works such as Last Call or Drawing of the Dark.
February 10, 2022
This for me was the best book by Powers since the late eighties when he became my favorite fiction author. It can be read in its own. It's a wild ride into U.F.O.'s , secret government projects, and wildly complicated conspiracy theories and set in and constrained by the limits of Los Angeles and it's culture. There is plenty of subtle situational humor as you would expect with all the conspiracy theories and their true believers. After reading and sharing the sample (4 chapters) on the publishers website I couldn't wait to get this book.
January 21, 2022
Gonzo the Great Would Approve…
Another tour de force novel by Powers, this 1 involving ex-Secret
Service agent Sebastian Vickery & Agent Ingrid Castine. New faces include a GRU "orphan" working under the sobriquet Tacitus Banoch, Rayette Yoneda - the agent 'babysitting Castine who owns a 'ghost phone' - and other fascinating peersonages … like all Powers books, this is complex, dense, "chewy" & an utter delight. Enjoy!
Another tour de force novel by Powers, this 1 involving ex-Secret
Service agent Sebastian Vickery & Agent Ingrid Castine. New faces include a GRU "orphan" working under the sobriquet Tacitus Banoch, Rayette Yoneda - the agent 'babysitting Castine who owns a 'ghost phone' - and other fascinating peersonages … like all Powers books, this is complex, dense, "chewy" & an utter delight. Enjoy!
June 11, 2022
I didn't know this was book 3 in a series. As I read this, I suddenly realized I was in the middle of a series with various references to previous events in a previous novel (or novels). There's some cool stuff that Powers always does with history and science; This time with UFO-ology. I had to look up anti-chess, but it doesn't seem to match his description. It was a quick read, but a step down from some of his other stand alone novels such as Last Call or Declare.
June 14, 2022
The least in the series. I didn't find it very interesting, there was a constant recapping of events from the first two books, and the plot was very convoluted and hard to follow. I think I'm done with this series, if there are more books to come. I don't find the cast of characters that interesting, and the plots are getting increasingly stale. Too bad, because I thought the first book was decent, and the second book was really good.
July 30, 2022
I realized towards the end of reading this that it felt like a book that Powers felt he needed to get out of the way but didn't seem particularly invested in. It was fun here and there, but most of the callbacks to the other two Vickery & Castine books felt more like obligatory "remember when these characters did these things?" reminders as opposed to thematic connections and it just kind of lacked that secret history aspect that animates his best novels.
April 15, 2023
In the third book "Vickery and Castine" series, Powers continues to flesh out the world (haunted freeways of Los Angeles) he began with ALTERNATE ROUTES in 2018, adding UFOs (now "UAP (Unknown Aerial Phenomena)"), quantum physics, crop circles, and post-Cold War espionage to the mix. As in the rest of the series, Los Angeles, ghosts and Greek mythology also play key roles. I really enjoyed the story, but felt that the ending was weaker than the previous two novels. 3.5 stars.
June 5, 2023
The third in a (so far) trilogy. I liked this one better than the first two, mainly because I liked the female lead, Castine, better in this book than the first two. This seemed much more of an equal partnership between her and Vickery and I liked that. I also liked that the author has resisted the urge to make them a romantic couple. If the series continues, I hope he sticks to that.
September 10, 2023
This was the conclusion of the existing trilogy of Castine and Vickery who have managed to save the world from spirits/ghosts in the first two books and have now tackled the aliens from outer space and emerged victorious. The books are a combination of science fiction and fantasy with an emphasis on action. It was an interesting read.
April 23, 2024
This is kind of like X-Files done by Powers. I don't know whether extra-dimensional beings makes this SF or fantasy. It's got plenty of ghosts and other fantasy stuff. They're talked about in a paranormal/psychic kind of way. So, maybe those make this fantasy, too.
It's a weird, fun read, though.
It's a weird, fun read, though.
February 8, 2022
I adore Tim Powers. This book is nearly as accessible as Tim gets, yet it's still very weird, and I was often confused. Rather than spend time trying to understand everything, I just kept reading -- and it turned out to be an enjoyable book with a lot of good characters to hold my interest.
February 25, 2022
Mr. Powers does good weird
Having read most of Tim Powers collection of science fiction, I've always admired and enjoyed his narrative style and his inventive collection of strange circumstances and people.
Having read most of Tim Powers collection of science fiction, I've always admired and enjoyed his narrative style and his inventive collection of strange circumstances and people.
February 4, 2022
Adorable
No-one does this like Tim Powers. You might find the interface unconventional but it will suck you in if you allow it
No-one does this like Tim Powers. You might find the interface unconventional but it will suck you in if you allow it
February 20, 2022
Fun fast read. I didn't like it as much as the first Vickery and Castine book, but more than the second one.
Read
June 25, 2022Another fun little adventure from Powers, with our favorite paranormal heroes. I enjoyed how Powers added some UFO action to his universe here, tying in the past 2 novels perfectly.
November 25, 2023
Another solid, but not great, Vickery and Castine novel.
February 5, 2022
New Tim Powers books always go to the front of the line. I love Powers' ghost mechanics and supernatural L.A. undercurrent juxtaposed with agency spycraft, but I confess that I wasn't quite into Vickery's and Castine's adventure this time around -- a little too much of "more of the same" (how many times can V and C be thrown together like this?) mixed with "everything and the kitchen sink" thrown in. Vickery and Castine need their own Netflix series for sure, but I'm looking forward to reading about other corners of the Powersverse next time.
Also, what's up with that cover art? The action shot that's going to draw me in to the book is of the protagonists...looking at something off-screen?
Also, what's up with that cover art? The action shot that's going to draw me in to the book is of the protagonists...looking at something off-screen?
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