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Jeff Meyers

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Jeff Meyers rated a book really liked it

The Coldest War (The Milkweed Triptych, #2)

by Ian Tregillis (Goodreads Author)

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Jeff Meyers said: " The print version is not published yet. I'm listening to the Audible audio book. So far it's just as good as Bitter Seeds. But you need to read Bitter Seeds first. ...more "

Jun 13, 2012 06:16AM · see review

Jeff Meyers rated a book it was amazing

The Stress of Her Regard

by Tim Powers

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Jeff Meyers said: " I read this when it was first published in 1989. With all of the talk about Powers's book On Stranger Tides and the newest Disney Pirates movie I decided to reread some of these older books by Powers. Here's a little review I wrote 20 years ago.

The s I read this when it was first published in 1989. With all of the talk about Powers's book On Stranger Tides and the newest Disney Pirates movie I decided to reread some of these older books by Powers. Here's a little review I wrote 20 years ago.

The story is set in early nineteenth century England and Italy, in the world of the poets John Keats, Percy Shelley, and Lord Byron. Michael Crawford, a young obstetrician, the night before his wedding day, inadvertently (but not without blame) marries a Nephilim. That’s right, a Nephilim--one of the descendants of that ancient prediluvian union of fallen angels and men (Genesis 6:4). [Of course, Powers is not exegeting Scripture, but playing on the mythology that developed from a certain misreading of the text of Gen. 6:4]. These Nephlim are lamiae (vampires); and as you can imagine, this complicates Mr. Crawford’s wedding plans.

"Complicates" doesn’t quite to justice to the ensuing stress that Crawford must endure as one who is the object of a Nephilim’s relentless regard. Without giving too much away, let me give the gist of the beginning of the story and briefly discuss Powers’s theological point. Crawford is catapulted into the world of Keats, Shelley, and Byron, all poets who excel as artists because of their foul union with the Nephilim (remember the Greek Muses). These poets trade blood for poetic inspiration, but learn that vampires are very possessive and want more than blood. The story chronicles Crawford’s attempts to shed the amorous regard of the Nephilim for himself and his poet friends.

Certain techniques offer limited release, brief respites from the stress of the Nephilim’s focused attention, but the bond between the Nephilim and these men must be definitively severed if there is ever to be any kind of thorough redemption. The story builds up to this. There is only One Way to salvation from these evil forces, and the characters spend the entire novel searching for it.

The themes developed by Powers in The Stress are all related to the potency and seductive appeal of sin. This is how it should be read. A Nephilim (like sin) is hard to shake, and once it gets a foot-hold (or should I say, a throat-hold), the prey begins to enjoy his captivity. He also begins to waste away. A Nephilim (like sin) offers a life of endless sensual excitement that leads to the not-always-anticipated gradual effacement of one’s virility, personality, and responsibility. Sin de-humanizes. In the end the victim’s conscience is seared and he loses his ability to resist without outside help. He is a neffer, a slave. Paul’s outcry, "Who will free me from the body of this death" echoes through this story as the Nephilim’s prey (Crawford, Shelley, and Byron) groan and scheme for their release from bondage.

Powers is an artful writer and he tells an enjoyable yarn--if one can enjoy a book about sin. It comes much closer to the horror genre than some of Powers’s other novels--though they all contain elements of horror, this one seems to be centered on it. Some of the visual imagery is so powerfully unpleasant, even nauseating at some points, that some warning is in order. This is a book for mature adults who have the ability to make connections between Powers’s powerful imagery and spiritual conflict. The imagery is often graphic and sometimes sexual (though not erotic) since it deals with spiritual adultery and total depravity. As a pastor I don’t think I could recommend this book to teenagers. For one like me, who reads and talks so much about sin that the familiar sin-language often begins to lose its power, this book was a helpful reminder of the genuine horror and seductiveness of sin. Powers excels at de-euphemizing sin. ...more "

Jul 16, 2011 06:23PM · see review