Tachyon Publications

Price: $14.95

ISBN: 978-1-892391-79-7

Reviewed by Cherie Priest

It feels strange to call The Stress of Her Regard “high fantasy,” but Tim Powers’ magical soap opera certainly soars with that same brand of narrative and linguistic ambition. Rich with period detail and sticky with authentically styled prose, Regard is primarily a thick, elegant adventure told with vigor–packed with weird action sequences for casual readers and a host of Easter eggs for the academic set.

Physician and widower Michael Crawford marries for the second time–preparing to begin a new life, distancing himself from old accusations of cuckoldry and murder. But one small mistake, undertaken lightly and immediately forgotten, has already cursed him with a jealous, supernatural spouse with all the possessiveness and power of a goddess. It takes Michael a while to figure this out, much to the misfortune of his mortal lover. Her grisly death on their wedding night makes him a single man and a murder suspect once again, which does little to endear him to his new in-laws. While Michael flees from the authorities and desperately tries to get a handle on the strange changes that afflict him, his mentally unstable sister-in-law stalks him across Europe.

Fortunately, Michael runs straight into the arms of the Romantics–and it turns out that everyone’s favorite 19th century poets of infamy and renown are secretly noodling with the dark arts in their spare time. Byron, Shelley, and Keats combine forces to instruct Michael in the ways of his strange new “wife” and what he can expect to undergo at her hands. One part vampire and one part succubus, the mysterious female entity won’t settle for less than her husband’s body and soul. So now it’s up to Michael to make a choice to die in her arms or accept the helping hands offered by the Beatles of poetry.

Seeing those fellows lifted from the library will no doubt work for many readers–and to them, I recommend this book most highly–but if you’re less giddy about poetic renegades of the past, then you might be less enchanted. I liked the story best when I forgot I was reading about the shenanigans of an incestuous circle of friends; I found it most immersive when they were off-screen or silent. Michael is more interesting, and his gruesome, unnatural partner is more compelling than the antique sexual and social dramas that have been tediously dissected by earnest doctoral students for a hundred years.