AEgypt by John Crowley

Crowley's Little, Big is one of my favorite books, so I was prepared to love this one, too. Sadly, I did not. Maybe I just expected too much.

The plot is rather complicated and fragmented, telling variously about historian Pierce Moffett in the 1970s; Peter Dees in the 1500's (a real historical figure who advised Queen Elizabeth and talked to angels with the aid of a crystal), Giordano Bruno in the 1500's (another historical figure, a learned monk who was burned for heresy for his views about God and the structure of the universe). All these threads are brought together when Pierce discovers an unfinished manuscript by another writer, which expresses in a novel the ideas that Pierce has formed to write a history of the ancient magic which has been lost from the modern world, which perhaps may be returning. He believes, "...there may be more than one history of the world."

Brought into this are philosophical and historical bits concerning hermeticism (from the teachings of Hermes Trismegistus, which concern magic and the occult), Gnosticism, Platonic thought, Rosicrucians, Aleister Crowley, astrology, the Tarot,and many other esoteric matters. For a reader not well versed in these subjects, even partial understanding must include some time spent on Wikipedia.

In Little, Big Crowley convinced me that the world of faery might exist within my own world, unsuspected by most. In AEgypt Crowley never convinced me of the existence of alternate histories, mostly supplying just academic theory and information. The magic was lost.

This novel reminded me of nothing so much as Valis by Philip K. Dick. That book also included many references to the same occult and esoteric matters. But here's the difference: While I did not believe in the world of Philip K. Dick, I believe that he believed in it. John Crowley does not seem to believe in it, only to know of it intellectually.

This is the first of four books in the AEgypt cycle, and evidently, one must read all four to reach some kind of conclusion. This one does not really end; it just stops. I don't believe I will read the rest.