Review: Nice blend of ancient and modern
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 1, 2012
In Immortal, Gene Doucette's first novel in this series, we met Adam, an immortal man who is not a vampire, simply a man who doesn't age. Apart from that, he's an ordinary kind of guy with a wonderful wit, and it's a pleasure to meet him again in this fascinating sequel, a clever blend of history, mythology, fantasy, adventure, mystery and romance.I love the way ancient history, mythology and present time flow seamlessly together in this story. Here we delve into the Elysusian mysteries, the satyr and the `god' Dionysius. Adam's extreme age allows up to see how far modern renditions of the rites have departed from their original intent, and how easily such rites can be appropriated for the aggrandisement of a charismatic individual. There's even a message there for anyone who thinks they can unleash a supernatural power and use it for their own purposes--what if they don't see things the way you do?The story is written in an easy conversational tone. It starts fairly slowly, but gives us time to get to know Adam, Mike--one of the supporting characters--and to build the mystery. By the end of the book, it's really moving along and we're wondering how Adam is going to get himself out of this alive.Although it's an entertaining read and Gene Doucette is a good writer, the book is full of unattached and out of order phrases. I hope that it's just the version I had and not what's available for purchase--it came through Netgally as an ARC which are sometimes not the final version.