Dinner at Deviant's Palace is unique among Powers's books because it is set in the future, in L.A. to be specific. Pure hard core sciene fiction is not something Powers often does, usually choosing to mix in a little fantasy for good measure, but this book is entertaining. It is not exactly Heinlein, but there are elements of style one could say are Sci-Fi and some Fantasy...sort of. Anyway, I digress. The book is about a character named Rivas.
Rivas is a pelican player...an instrument that doesn't exist yet, but it has strings. He used to be a sort of bounty hunter for catching and deprogramming members of a crazy religious cult at the heart of which is the reason for man's downfall from technology. And now, he's being asked to do it again...for a hefty sum of money. An entertaining read, but a little less characterization than I'm used to for a Powers novel. Still, I read this book while I was away for a month at film school, and it kept me company very nicely when I felt left out!
