Book review: Black Ships by Jo Graham
Title: Black Ships
Author: Jo Graham
Language: English
Pages: 411
Genre: labelled as fantasy, though historical fiction would be more apt
Rating: 6/10
Description from Amazon
The World is ending. One by one the mighty cities are falling: to earthquakes, to flood and to raiders - on both land and sea. In a time of war and doubt, Gull is an oracle, a mouthpiece of the gods. Daughter of a slave plundered from fallen Troy, she was chosen as a child to serve the Lady of the Dead, and it is her fate to counsel kings. When nine black ships appear as foretold in her dreams, captained by an exiled Trojan prince, Gull must make her choice. She must decide between her sacred calling and the most perilous adventure - joining her mother's people in their desperate flight from slavery. From the doomed bastions of the City of Pirates to the temples of Byblos, from the intrigues of the Egyptian court to the haunted caves beneath Mount Vesuvius, only Gull can guide Prince Aeneas on his quest. And only she can dare the gates of the Underworld itself to lead him to his destiny. In the last shadowed days of the Age of Bronze, one woman dreams of the world beginning anew. This is her story.
My thoughts
Let's be frank right away and say I wasn't impressed with this book. In fact, I thought it was downright boring. This novel contains nothing that I haven't read before, which in itself wouldn't be a major problem if it was actually well-written. It's not only dull - it's an emotionless, extended ramble by the most Mary Sueish character I've ever come across in a fantasy novel, and that's saying a hell of a lot.
Gull/Sybil/Pythia is beautiful, intelligent, a priestess, a skilled politician, a great mother, a wonderful scholar, a speaker of several languages (all of which fluently, but that goes without saying), and able to hold her own amongst a whole throng of men consisting of sailors and warlords. One of the other characters even points out - with, of course, a huge amount of awe - that Gull could have been a skilled sailor herself if only she'd been a man, as she understands the currents and can navigate by starlight alone, even though she's spent her entire youth on land. locked away in a temple.
It is touched upon that Gull has had an accident with a cart as a child, which has led to a twisted leg, but throughout the novel this only is mention thrice. She walks and runs and moves without a single problem, most of the time aboard ships, and doesn't stumble or fall even once. But then again, Gull's natural sea legs might have got something to do with that.
Apart from an unlikable and overly perfect heroine we also get a whole cast of two dimensional characters. Graham's writing style is bland and emotionless. Despite some very dramatic plot points and exciting drama, I never actually felt Gull's feelings on those matters. Yes, she describes them, but it comes across as a boring account of events instead of a tense and atmospheric tale. I think that's Jo Graham's biggest problem: she doesn't know how to actually tell a story. She doesn't get the whole "show not tell" rule that's so important in writing.
So, does this book actually have some highlights? One word: Xandros. He is the only character with a true personality in Graham's universe of dull heroes. I like his refreshing honesty, his roughness and his complex love for both Gull and Prince Aeneas, his captain. He actually feels real. If only the two main characters had been half as human as he, this book would have been a whole lot better.
Apart from that I also think the idea for the novel itself is a rather neat one. To take a well-known epic (the Trojan wars) and describe it from a different point of view is refreshing and nice. I also like the glimpses we get of other cultures, particularly those of Egypt. I think Graham did well there and it's very clear she spent quite a bit of time doing research on Egyptian customs for this story.
So, considering everything, I definitely wouldn't recommend this novel to anyone - not unless you want to read something that's been done before by more skilled authors. A very meagre 6 out of 10.
Author: Jo Graham
Language: English
Pages: 411
Genre: labelled as fantasy, though historical fiction would be more apt
Rating: 6/10
Description from Amazon
The World is ending. One by one the mighty cities are falling: to earthquakes, to flood and to raiders - on both land and sea. In a time of war and doubt, Gull is an oracle, a mouthpiece of the gods. Daughter of a slave plundered from fallen Troy, she was chosen as a child to serve the Lady of the Dead, and it is her fate to counsel kings. When nine black ships appear as foretold in her dreams, captained by an exiled Trojan prince, Gull must make her choice. She must decide between her sacred calling and the most perilous adventure - joining her mother's people in their desperate flight from slavery. From the doomed bastions of the City of Pirates to the temples of Byblos, from the intrigues of the Egyptian court to the haunted caves beneath Mount Vesuvius, only Gull can guide Prince Aeneas on his quest. And only she can dare the gates of the Underworld itself to lead him to his destiny. In the last shadowed days of the Age of Bronze, one woman dreams of the world beginning anew. This is her story.
My thoughts
Let's be frank right away and say I wasn't impressed with this book. In fact, I thought it was downright boring. This novel contains nothing that I haven't read before, which in itself wouldn't be a major problem if it was actually well-written. It's not only dull - it's an emotionless, extended ramble by the most Mary Sueish character I've ever come across in a fantasy novel, and that's saying a hell of a lot.
Gull/Sybil/Pythia is beautiful, intelligent, a priestess, a skilled politician, a great mother, a wonderful scholar, a speaker of several languages (all of which fluently, but that goes without saying), and able to hold her own amongst a whole throng of men consisting of sailors and warlords. One of the other characters even points out - with, of course, a huge amount of awe - that Gull could have been a skilled sailor herself if only she'd been a man, as she understands the currents and can navigate by starlight alone, even though she's spent her entire youth on land. locked away in a temple.
It is touched upon that Gull has had an accident with a cart as a child, which has led to a twisted leg, but throughout the novel this only is mention thrice. She walks and runs and moves without a single problem, most of the time aboard ships, and doesn't stumble or fall even once. But then again, Gull's natural sea legs might have got something to do with that.
Apart from an unlikable and overly perfect heroine we also get a whole cast of two dimensional characters. Graham's writing style is bland and emotionless. Despite some very dramatic plot points and exciting drama, I never actually felt Gull's feelings on those matters. Yes, she describes them, but it comes across as a boring account of events instead of a tense and atmospheric tale. I think that's Jo Graham's biggest problem: she doesn't know how to actually tell a story. She doesn't get the whole "show not tell" rule that's so important in writing.
So, does this book actually have some highlights? One word: Xandros. He is the only character with a true personality in Graham's universe of dull heroes. I like his refreshing honesty, his roughness and his complex love for both Gull and Prince Aeneas, his captain. He actually feels real. If only the two main characters had been half as human as he, this book would have been a whole lot better.
Apart from that I also think the idea for the novel itself is a rather neat one. To take a well-known epic (the Trojan wars) and describe it from a different point of view is refreshing and nice. I also like the glimpses we get of other cultures, particularly those of Egypt. I think Graham did well there and it's very clear she spent quite a bit of time doing research on Egyptian customs for this story.
So, considering everything, I definitely wouldn't recommend this novel to anyone - not unless you want to read something that's been done before by more skilled authors. A very meagre 6 out of 10.