The sea kings: The prophecy

Rating:
Summary: You gotta read about the sea-fight off Melos...
Review: Although marred by a somewhat "soft" beginning & a number of editorial/typo problems, this book is well worth a shot. It's a tale from an ancient era (which rarely gets attention) built on recent archaelogical finds & accompanying scholarly speculation.

Once past the early part, which seems to lack that certain narrative "electricity" which really gets a plot cracking, this tale takes off as the protagonist, Tanuati, a scion of a small-time merchant family on the island of Crete in the Bronze Age, stumbles his way into trouble during a sea venture to the city of Ugarit on the eastern coast of the Mediteranean. There he is kidnapped by slavers and ends up indentured to a "magician" in the famed city of Babylon.

Except for the fact that the prose seems awkard and forced @ times (odd constructions & vague transitions), this tale is basically fresh & highly readable.The events in Babylon are marvelously told and, while some of the occurrences are predictable, I loved the way that ancient city & its culture are brought to life...and how the art of glass-blowing is portrayed so "magically." The banquet scene in the house of a wealthy Babylonian merchant, in fact, seemed as real to me as the last wedding I attended (with its sumptuous and suggestively tempting central smorgasboard), while the life of the street could have come from a contemporary tourist's jaunt down a living Middle Eastern city. In fact, it really felt like I was encountering a real-time, human culture first-hand, w/out any of those silly pretensions which other writers often fall back on (see the Hollywoodisms of Nicholas Guild in his book The Assyrian, for instance).

Although some of the protagonist's adventures seemed overly episodic, this was quite consistent with the type of tale being told & not, therefore, a serious flaw. And, while the characters don't leap out at you and, in many cases, seem quite ordinary, that very ordinariness contributes to the "feel&! quot; of reality the book conveys -- so different from many other historicals which deal mainly with mythic characters, heros, etc.

I was, by the way, a bit troubled by the device of an oddly ambiguous prophecy, which basically informs the plot of this novel, but which is never fully realized or explained. Yet the hero's adventures in foreign parts (besides Babylon he journeys to Egypt, Libya, Italy, Gaza and what was to become ancient Greece), were quite believable, as were his encounters w/the pirates on the high seas. In fact the final battle scene at the end of the book really makes this tale. I've rarely seen such a tightly and vividly depicted sea-fight, as this author gives us. And it kept me guessing as to the final outcome, more than making up for some of the telegraphed stuff in the early, and even middle parts, of the book. If this author doesn't have some real feel for, and experience of sailing, he certainly fooled me.

I did, however, think the protagonist rather an odd mixture of pacifist & adventurer &, in that, a trifle unconvincing. And the final chapter seemed a little strange since it reads like an "afterword" rather than an integral part of the rest of the book. But with all these caveats, it's still a good read and freshly told. Well worth a sequel, in my opinion. But hopefully it will be better edited & proofed next go-round. -- Stuart W. Mirsky

Rating:
Summary: A great read and a good analysis of the Minoan Bronze Age
Review: As a lover of good historical novels set in antiquity, I was looking forward to reading "The Sea Kings" and was definitely not disappoionted - it's a great read full of happenings and interesting bits of information about a past time. It is well-written and holds the reader's attention. As a professional Aegean Bronze Age specialist, I was a bit more apprehensive, as there is nothing more irritating than finding a lot of archaeolgoical mistakes, anachronisms and just plain errors. Luckily, these misgivings were not justified. Les Cole has shown a superb command of the 'facts' and has impressed me with his range of knowledge and scope. I recommend this book without reservation to both laymen and professionals.

Rating:
Summary: Exotic locale, wonderful detail in this adventure novel !
Review: If your vacation plans involve nothing more dramatic than lolling around on a placid beach somewhere, may I recommend you read a high-sea action adventure novel set in a most uncommon time and place: ancient Crete ! Les Coles' novel "The Sea Kings", has an abundance of fascinating characters and the fast action readers expect from the best historical fiction, but there is added 'kick' from the fabulous detail the author gives us about this exotic time and place. As the adventure follows an ominous prophesy (and curse), you'll be drawn into a complete, and fascinating world: full of mystical religious rituals, tales of sea trade and glassmaking, and deeds of ancient Mediterranean pirates. While the character's names are difficult to keep straight (think Russian novels), the reader will be intrigued by the action and the strange and colorful places until the very end.