ON STRANGER TIDES BY Tim Powers

Narrated by Bronson Pinchot

This Swashbuckler Will Steal Your Heart

Tim Powers is one of the best writers in the genre. Which genre you ask? That is not easy to answer. I am primarily a fan of Science Fiction and consider him to be an SF writer. And if you consider SF to be whatever SF readers read, then that is what it is. The Lord of the Rings was first discovered by SF readers and made popular by the SF community. Now, Tim Powers is usually considered a Fantasy writer. And in this book you will find swords and sorcery, but the work of Powers has more of the feel of horror than anything else. All I can tell you with certainty is that his books all have fantastically convoluted plots that weave in and out of different genre stereotypes effortlessly. This novel is one of his best and in it you will find bizarre situations only possible in fiction yet that are populated by characters who react in a manner that feels real.

What you will not find in this 1987 book, other than the Fountain of Youth, is much commonality with the Pirates of the Caribbean movie of the same name. I think that Disney had long ago pirated the basic ideas from this novel in the earlier movies in the series and finally thought they owed Tim Powers a tip of the hat to that fact and put paid to that debt by giving the fourth movie in the franchise the title from this book.

Bronson Pinchot performs this book like a swashbuckler with a patch over one eye, a peg leg  and a parrot on his shoulder. He gives every character a voice that is not only instantly distinguishable from the other characters, but gives them a voice that is perfectly suited to their personality. This is one of those audiobooks that I could recommend based on the strength of the narration performance alone; the fact that this is a fine novel to boot makes this a truly grand listening experience.