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The Drawing Of The Dark by Tim Powers. Fantasy Masterworks #33
01/02/2003 . Source: Katie McGivern 
pub: Gollancz. 329 page enlarged paperback. Price: £ 6.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-575-07426-4. check out website: www.orionbooks.co.uk
Brian Duffy is a mercenary soldier at the time of the Crusades against Suleiman and the Turks. He is hired by Aurelianus to be the bouncer at the Zimmerman Inn where the renewed Herwestern beer is brewed.
He accepts thinking that it is an easy and convenient way out of Venice. He sets off on a trek to Vienna but is immediately beset by problems and strange occurrences.
This is the start of Duffy's strange adventure where he discovers who is the true king of the West and the importance of the beer brewed at Zimmerman Inn.
At its simplest 'The Drawing Of The Dark' is a gripping adventure story - it is fast-paced and packed full of twists and incidents. Usually battle descriptions and details of sword fights leave me cold but Powers' writing sweeps you along and you can't help but enjoy the fight scenes.
This power of description also extended to the whole novel so that you feel as comfortable in Medieval Venice as you would reading about a city in the 21st century. It is also a novel that is full of humour but it never descends into mocking either the characters or the genre of fantasy.
The humour is used in the same way as adding salt to food for flavour - it is a subtle effect but adds a lot to the plotline. The main hero is a likeable, battle-scarred rogue who has lived long and hard enough to accept that what is happening to him is founded in reality.
For the fantastical elements in 'Drawing Of The Dark' are shadowy and hidden and only revealed on a need to know basis. It is as if Powers' is holding up a mirror to our history - but it is a mirror from a fun-fair that distorts reality.
And that is the true skill of Tim Powers. By concentrating on subtle changes to our world, Powers creates a world that is more believable and therefore more enjoyable to the reader.
He is able to merge historical fact, historical fiction and fantasy that I, as a non-historical fiction fan, found immensely enjoyable.
Katie McGivern
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