Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)
Delicatus may be one of the best period piece novels we've ever read! Delicatus is a captivating and frightening walk in the sandals of a slave living during one of the darkest times in the history of the Roman Empire: the reign of Nero Caesar. This book largely appeals to renaissance men: people who love to look back at the golden eras of humanity with rose-tinted glasses. It can be a wake up call to those who idealize those times and want to go back. Ancient Rome (like Ancient Greece) is often seen as the pinnacle of human civilization. However, it was far from that. Those were far from the best of times. This book makes it clear that Ancient Rome, as powerful and impressive as it was, was also terrifying in a lot of ways. Not only were wars of conquest, brutal executions, and extreme poverty commonplace, but also slavery, exploitation, and sexual depravity. Your freedom was not guaranteed. In fact, what even is freedom? Your body was not your own. These are uncomfortable truths for people living in more liberal, enlightened times when things like basic human rights are emphasized. The time of Nero was a time when people owned people. It was a time when extreme torture, corporal punishment, capital punishment, and the killing of innocent people for shear entertainment occurred under the law. And what even is the law when in the hands of demented, brutal dictators like Nero or Caligula? The book follows Sporus, a young slave who is largely implied to have been a prince from a Greek city-state defeated and subjugated by Rome. Sporus is androgynous and very rarely (if at all) referred to as a “he” or “him.” In fact, they are often compared to or seen as identical to Lady Poppaea, a noblewoman married to an impotent, homosexual senator, Marcus Salvius Otho. So, yes, Sporus's gender seems to be ambiguous, largely conforming to this novel LGBTQA+ themes. We were braced to be uncomfortable and for sexual exploitation of a minor to be a major part of this novel, especially given the book's title, cover (featuring a mostly nude, young male), and description. We've read books like this before. A Hundred Honeymoons is one such example, featuring the sexual exploitation of a young female and a young male by various people in their lives. So, it isn't unprecedented, but it's no less uncomfortable to read about this very taboo topic. The fact of the matter is: these types of twisted relationships and sexual abuse do exist, and they did exist in ancient times as well. It happened throughout the history of humanity. In fact, ironically, we were just having a conversation in the car about how young boys in both Feudal Japan and Ancient Greece would be sent to serve older men as a right of passage. Yes, this also meant sexually. So this brings about several ethical questions like: Can a child consent? What role do onlookers have in protecting minors from abuse and exploitation? What signs do we look for? Sporus is brought under the ownership of Gaius Petronius Arbiter, one of Rome's most creative and eccentric people, a musician and storyteller. He is said to be beloved by his slaves due to his fair treatment. He is also probably narcoleptic (or something) because he keeps passing out and falling asleep throughout the novel. His strange sleep habits become an issue for Sporus and the leader of the slaves, Croesus, who fear that waking him will lead to a punishment. The novel largely centers on the slave-owner relationship and romance between Sporus and Petronius. Your enjoyment of the novel will largely depend on if you can buy into it or not, but it does have some rather twisted, uncomfortable undertones for a modern audience. For example, the aforementioned age difference and slave-owner dynamic creates some serious ethical questions—ethical alarm bells. In modern times, this type of relationship would be seen as abuse and likely land Petronius in prison, but those were different times and we're along for the ride. Still, it's hard to ignore certain things that happen in their relationship, making it rather hard to cheer for the two. Petronius slaps/strikes Sporus on at least one occasion and casually orders him to be flogged/beaten to teach him how to talk and act respectfully. Disturbingly, Sporus often accepts this abuse as “earned” or “deserved.” So, the issue of Stockholm Syndrome comes up. Sporus very clearly suffers from it. Just because someone hurts you less than someone else (i.e. other slave owners) doesn't make the hurt they inflict right. True love should not hurt. Yes, sadomasochism exists (and seems to be implied in this relationship), but that's another story. There's a difference between enjoying pain for the sake of sexual gratification and accepting being beaten up as part of the loving bond you share with someone. Those are two separate things. Also, Petronius allows Sporus to be sexually exploited by Otho and Lady Poppaea. Would someone who really loved you allow their friends to rape you on a regular basis? No, asking them to be gentle with you and pay you doesn't make it acceptable. Asking guards to escort you to be raped and ensure you're returned doesn't make it acceptable. That's incredibly depraved behavior including on the part of Petronius who actively allows this to happen to Sporus. And, for some reason, it seems like the book really wants you to like or even prefer Petronius. Something to briefly note is that Sporus serves as a sort of muse for Petronius, who often has them stand naked and posing as inspiration for his creative works. It does give you a good impression of just how desperate and oppressive Sporus's situation as a slave is. They really have little or no say in the matter. Incredibly, even the narrator eventually realizes that all of this is bringing down the mood (“I'm getting a bit impatient. We all want to hear about Nero” from page 97). Nero adds a whole other level of discomfort and creepiness to this already uncomfortable and creepy story. He is the BIG BAD of Roman history, the one whom many Christians believe to have been the Antichrist/the Beast from the Book of Revelations. Even the author mentions that Nero's Latin title, Neron Kaisar, is equivalent to 666 in gematria. So, this guy is not good news. His presence is felt throughout the book, even when he isn't physically there. Many of the characters talk about him with a mixture of fear and reverence, calling him by his many extravagant titles including The Divine. He is often seen as a god on earth. Lady Sabina Poppaea even ponders leveraging her childhood relationship with the now-emperor to become empress herself. Apparently, Lady Poppaea knew Nero before he was an insane, murderous, genocidal sociopath, which is... interesting... Many of the characters fear that he'll make a surprise visit or that he'll become interested in one of the slaves, whom he plans to exploit, brutalize, and eventually kill. Sporus and his fellow slave, Hylas, come to fear this as the worst of fates, doing everything in their power to avoid being purchased by or gifted to Nero. Much of the plot of this novel involves Sporus and Petronius's attempts to avoid Sporus ending up as Nero's next victim, all the while Lady Poppaea sees gifting him to Nero as her ticket to absolute power. This book does several things very well. Aside from some formatting issues like huge spaces in random places, it's actually quite well written. It's written in an eloquent, sing-songy way similar to General Jack last season. This shouldn't come as a surprise as S.P. Somtow is highly successful musical composer, even having five compositions commissioned by the government of Thailand. In other words, Somtow is a very creative person. There are some scenes that seem inspired by things like Ben Hur, HBO's Rome, and Kubrick's Spartacus. For example, discussions of the graffiti and vulgarity on the walls of Rome are similar to the coming to Rome scene in the HBO series. Sporus's relationship to Petronius is similar to the relationship between Ben Hur and the governor he saves from the shipwreck, although taken to a greater extreme. Croesus reminded us of Marcellus, the head of the slaves, in Spartacus--a guy who is rather brutal and rough around the edges, but someone who is ultimately just doing their job. Another thing we liked about this book is how many of the characters serve as foils of each other. For example, Sporus and Nero are foils of one another: one has no power, the other has absolute power. One brings joy and satisfaction to others while inviting pain, the other brings misery, pain, and suffering onto others. Nero can also be contrasted with Petronius, who is also a singer and musician, but whom uses his creative works to entertain and elevate others while Nero seems more interested in using his gifts to elevate and praise himself, which is made clear during his singing in the coliseum at a time of mortal danger for the audience. There's also Hercules, Lady Poppaea's prized cheetah, who mirrors Sporus in a lot of ways as a creature who is owned and used to bribe/bargain with. Like Sporus, Hercules is exotic, bright, and treasured as well as being quick-witted. We also enjoyed some of the references to well-known figures in Rome such as Cicero and Seneca, the latter of whom appears in the novel. Another thing we appreciated is that religion and culture are respected in this novel. Both Judaism and Christianity appear here and there, and whenever someone says a disparaging thing about either, it's usually to show how ignorant the person saying the remark(s) is. Nero, for example, doesn't even seem to know what the Christians are called, yet blames them for the burning of Rome, the most infamous event of Nero's reign. A character makes a remark about how the Jews only have one god and, so, seem to be at a disadvantage in his mind as he believes that Rome has many gods on its side. There's actually a very powerful and touching scene in which a bunch of Christians who are about to be executed by being fed to lions choose to sing hymns instead, causing the Roman crowd to be both inspired and confused. They also start dueling songs like that one scene from Zulu. It's actually a rather powerful scene, although it does seem rather rushed. A lot happens in rather quick succession at the end of this book, but it makes for a great, exciting, nail-biting climax. All in all, this is a really worthwhile read, especially if you're into the period of Ancient Rome. Check it out on Amazon!
1 Comment
Score: 93+/100 (9.3+ out of 10)
This book is, quite simply, so much dumb fun! And we mean that in the most flattering way possible. It's like a summer popcorn flick, action film, or monster movie—it's not intended to be deep, emotional, and involving, it's intended to be cool, fun, thrilling, and entertaining. We love kaiju (strange/giant monsters). It was a huge part of many of our childhoods, growing up with Godzilla, Gamera, Jurassic Park, Pokemon etc. It's a genre that's near and dear to our hearts. Furthermore, we clearly love cryptids and mythical creatures, as seen in many of the previous books we've applauded over the years like The Dragon in the Closet and Frederick Moody and the Secrets of the Six Summit Lake. There's something about these mysterious, legendary creatures that just captures the mind and the imagination like nothing else. This book, Kaw Lake, was written for people like us. We were so happy and delighted to read and be a part of this. Overall, this was the best experience we've had in reading books by Ethan Richards (we've read all of the Dark Elf of Oklahoma series). Something the author does very well from the get-go is establish the idea that anyone can die or be horribly maimed at any time. We get introduced to characters only to immediately have them be mutilated and devoured by a mysterious and very terrifying sea creature. If giant predatory animals like snakes and sharks give you the heebie jeebies, this will make you jump out of your chair and give you goosebumps! In fact, a lot of this book reminded us of a mixture of Jaws, Anaconda, and Jurassic Park. Now, what really surprised us about this book is that despite it being called Kaw Lake and the first major monster being a lake monster, there are actually quite a few monsters in this book, many of whom are terrestrial or airborne. These range from Rodan-like winged beasts, dinosaurs like velociraptors (yes, really), deinonychus, and even a mosasaurus! Now, where this book kinda lost us is when it started incorporating an alien-invasion/sci-fi sub-plot involving Replicators that mimic these sorts of creatures. It also started incorporating a lot of the same things and characters/archetypes as The Dark Elf of Oklahoma and The Dark Lord of Oklahoma. If there was one book by an author that needed to stand alone and be completely separate and unrelated to their other works, it's this book. Thankfully, it's not all bad. The incredibly awesome AA-12 auto-shotgun from those books makes a reappearance! And it's even more useful and active in this book! Another thing that's interesting and cool is that when a character loses his legs but is given stronger ones, he begins to talk about some other things that gets our testosterone pumping: Ronnie Coleman, Franco Columbu, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and deadlifting 700+ lbs. This really is a man's book! Now, really quickly, one thing we didn't like was that the author—like so many fiction authors—could not pass up the temptation to link this compelling, fictitious story to World War II. It just seems so cliché at this point, like everyone tries to do that. How many mythical origin stories for 20th century fascists do we need? Seriously! But we digress. This is the best book by Ethan Richards so far! You can check it out on Amazon! Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)
Changing Tide by Robert Joncas is truly a breath of fresh air! We've read so many books about deep, dark, and depressing things. A sci-fi romance like this was exactly what we needed. Similar to something like Sacred Vengeance, despite dealing with things like loss, coping, and mourning, this book is surprisingly fun and lighthearted. Tonally, it's actually quite uplifting and positive, reading like a Disney script. Even when a character has lost an eye, it's more absurd and sad rather than gory and graphic. It's all a matter of how things are written and described. The book follows a young woman from California named Skye who discovers a mysterious conch shell that sometimes “talks” to her, especially in her sleep. The voices and visions that she experiences from the shell are surreal, taking the form and voice of Skye's late father. This is something that we'll explore later. Meanwhile, Skye encounters a familiar face: Paul, her childhood bully who is now grown and a handsome hulk. Paul is apologetic about how he treated her when they were children, and the two begin a rather sweet, touching, and exciting relationship. This is arguably the aspect of the book that we liked the most: the romance. It's actually a pretty interesting dynamic to have someone you hated as a kid become a friend as an adult. This is actually something we've experienced; yes, even with bullies. For better or for worse, though, the romance between Skye and Real-Paul is relatively short-lived. Skye loses her mother and Paul in quick succession, and relatively early on in the story. This, however, doesn't destroy the story, it actually allows layers to be added to it. We soon discover that the conch shell that Skye found is some sort of gateway or vessel of an alien's essence or soul. This alien essence takes the form of someone close to or loved by the wielder, losing its former shape and memories of its former self. So, this is when the book both goes off the rails and hits the next gear. Real-Paul becomes “Alien Paul,” the alien taking the shape of Skye's love interest. Surprisingly, this works and is actually quite sweet. The alien, despite having Paul's likeness, has little to no knowledge of humans, their cultures, and their habits. This leads to some humorous and hilarious moments such as when Skye and Alien Paul are having dinner together and the waiter begins leering at Alien Paul. Alien Paul comments awkwardly, “Does she want to mate with me?” and, later, “Do you want to mate with me?” This book hits yet another gear full of an interstellar/interdimensional conflict involving a violent, conquering alien race known as the Bahlari. There is even some pseudo-historical mythos in here about the Anunnaki associating with humanity in ancient times to develop weapons, eventually leading to the technological advancements involved in our various wars. For better or for worse, these things pale in comparison to the real appeal of this book: the unlikely love story between a girl coming-of-age and experiencing loss and an alien who has taken the form of her childhood bully/best friend/lover. It's a fascinating dynamic! Check it out on Amazon! Score: 92+/100 (9.2+ out of 10)
Bucharest Legacy is a captivating spy thriller by William Maz. It is full political intrigue. It is also inspired by history and real-life events like the 1989 Romanian Revolution that saw the overthrow of Nicolae Ceausescu, the fall of the USSR, the rough transition toward capitalism and democracy, and even some allusions to continued McCarthyism and the Red Scare. The book follows a retired CIA agent (and Bucharist native) named William “Bill” Hefflin. He had been recruited to Langley by his eventual wife, Catherine, while at Harvard. Throughout the book, we get glimpses into Hefflin's arduous and intriguing journey to the United States and to becoming a secret agent. We learn about a prophecy he was given by a Romanian psychic that he'd have to come home someday to save the one he loves. We learn about his journey to Greece. As interesting as these things might be, the real interest lies in the chaos and drama of the spy-versus-spy espionage dynamic. There are so many twists and turns. It's almost too much to follow! You have double agents, triple agents, and probably quadruple-plus agents! It's both fascinating and frustrating wondering where everyone's loyalties lie. Who is telling the truth? Who is telling lies? And, perhaps more importantly: who is right and who is wrong? There's a constant ethical/moral argument about where Romania (and humanity/the world) is heading. People are trapped between competing socio-political and economic ideologies. Despite the great promises of capitalism, there is still great poverty. The author does a good job at displaying that, but also being fair in showing how disastrous communism had also been in the country, leading to destitution and food shortages. There are times in this novel when people dig in the trash just to feed themselves and their families. Despite the great promises of the newfound “democracy,” people are still slaves to the new tyrants: the oligarchs, the ones who buy their way into power. These are conflicts and ideas that resound today, especially in the areas formerly under the USSR. Look at what just happened with the Wagner Group and Putin with a peace negotiated by Belarus. Look at the war between Russia and Ukraine. Look at the cultural divides between the extreme left and the extreme right in America that bring about riots and violence. So, this is a book that carries a lot of weight. Hefflin is dragged out of retirement and into a hunt for an informant/defector/mole/potential triple-agent named Boris. Much of this book is Hefflin's meticulous unveiling of who Boris might really be through the course of investigation and interrogation. This get Hefflin entangled in a complicated conspiracy in which some consider if he might be the one to distrust, if he might be the man on the inside. Despite these high stakes and the weight of some of these themes, this book is actually a bit light and silly. Yes, that also means it can be fun (and funny) at times. For example, whenever Hefflin is sparring with and eventually fighting women, he is constantly distracted by their feminine wiles. It's very James Bond/007-ish in that sense. Similar to Bond movies, there's a bit of absurdist, over-the-top shenanigans that you probably wouldn't see in other works of fiction. Another thing that kinda holds this book back is how slow-developing the first 3/4ths are, building toward something that we hope will eventually happen: a shootout, a big fight, some explosions, a melee, a brawl. There is some of that, but a lot of it is crammed into the last fourth of the book. It's up to you (and the author) to hold/save your interest until then. You can check this out on Amazon! |
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