Review: Fascinating use of Greek legends and lore
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 28, 2012
Book Info: Genre: Fantasy Reading Level: AdultDisclosure: I received a free copy of this eBook from the author in exchange for an honest review.Synopsis: Sex, violence, and Greek gods--an epic fantasy in the vein of Gene Wolfe or Tim Powers.If Pythias reads the future in the sun one more time, he could go blind; instead, he uses detective skills to solve the problems of Golden Age Athens. Then two charming but ruthless princes engage in a titanic battle to become the next incarnation of Dionysus. The contagion of the gods is loose again. As a member of a secret society known as the Sons of Prometheus, Pythias must find a way to stop the demigods or the nations of the Mediterranean will be drawn into war. A witch and a horse-legged Silenus guide them through the secrets behind the Greek legends in an odyssey that travels to the fabled island of the Gorgons and beyond.My Thoughts: I've always enjoyed Rhine's writing style, the sly humor he puts into it, and the research he does to make everything plausible, and after reading the early stages of this manuscript, I encouraged him to go ahead and finish it, so I've been very interested to see how it turned out.Rhine has said this is a darker tale than his usual fare, but I found it just as entertaining and full of humor as any of his works. He puts in a lot of different legends and lore to this story, even, at one point, discussing the similarities between the Greek and Egyptian gods, which I found fascinating. I basically read the story through without stopping, and the time passed very quickly as I did. This is a must-read for those interested in mythology and Ancient Greece, as well as historical fantasy. Definitely pick this one up if this sounds like you.