Medusa's Web by Tim Powers / Reviewed by M. K. Sealy
Killer Nashville Book of the Day
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Tim Powers
Tim Powers’ latest novel, Medusa’s Web, is as powerful as it is intriguing. It is a harrowing tale that will make your skin crawl as you turn the pages, following the story of Scott and Madeline Madden and their cousins. Reminiscent of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher,Medusa’s Web immediately engages the reader with promises of the dangerous and fantastical.
Following the suicide of their Aunt Amity, the Madden siblings—Scott and Madeline—find themselves back in Caveat, the strange, decrepit mansion where they grew up. However, though they once called Caveat ‘home’, they are less than welcome, and they soon find that their cousins, Claimayne and Ariel, have as many secrets as the old mansion—secrets that promise to turn the Madden siblings’ lives upside down.
Among the secrets kept between Claimayne and Ariel is a degenerative addiction to what, simply put, is a form of time travel made possible by the mansion, and in order to keep his sister safe, Scott finds that he must immerse himself in the deadly, addictive web of visions that have trapped and sustained Claimayne and Ariel for years.
Medusa's Web is macabrely whimsical; the dialogue is often poignant and the pacing is consistent, keeping the readers hooked line-by-line. Smartly written, with clever references throughout—such as mentions of Tetrach and The Whiffenpoof Song—Medusa's Web is a fantastic read for any time of year, but which fits very well with the spirit of Halloween. It comes as no surprise that Powers, whose On Stranger Tides was adapted for the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean installment, offers readers another masterfully crafted novel—one that I plan to revisit in the future.
M. K. Sealy earned a Bachelor of Arts in English with an emphasis in literature from a Nashville university. She is a copyeditor for a Nashville-based publication, but also writes poetry, fiction, and is currently attempting a screenplay, all while working to obtain a Master of Education.
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