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Nautical /adventure
Classical Greece
Belerion
Odyssey, by William H.
Russeth, is set in the aftermath of the Greek-Persian wars, in the fifth or
fourth century BC. That conflict, however, is an incidental background to the
story, which focuses on the lives of more ordinary seafarers doing their best
to avoid being caught up in fights. Their desire, only ever partly fulfilled,
is to acquire enough wealth to settle somewhere quiet, without provoking rulers
and chieftains to exact revenge for their actions.
The story begins in rural Greece, in Spartan
territory, and then winds westwards across the Mediterranean, brushing with
various Greek, Carthaginian and other groups. Finally the trail in pursuit of
the tin trade leads out into the Atlantic, to touch base in Cornwall (the
Belerion of the title). A brief epilogue reassures you that at least some of
the characters found peace in old age.
Each of the encounters in the Med and beyond is
fraught with risk, and the assorted band of companions stagger from crisis to
crisis. Rather like Odysseus, they lose friends and crewmates along the way,
and consider themselves fortunate to survive each episode. Loyalty is important
while fellow travellers are alive, but soon forgotten as bodies are left behind
in the ship's wake. And so far as strangers go, trickery and double-dealing are
necessary and well-used skills.
Something I felt that William captured
particularly well was people's mindset. People are sceptical and practical, but
also superstitious, and take as fact things which we call legend. The old
heroic tales of mortals and gods are constantly used as reference in strange
countries, but not assumed to be literal or unerring. These tales are their
equivalent of scientific and historical knowledge, to be followed cautiously in
a crisis. It makes for a very persuasive world.
I would have liked more time spent on the
section outside the Straights of Gibraltar. Meetings with Iberian, Armorican
and British groups seem to be rushed in comparison with the lavish detail given
to Mediterranean groups in the first two thirds of the book. The short
epilogue, set many years after the main story, highlighted in my mind the
abruptness of the conclusion in northern Europe. The remnants of the group are
left a long way from any possible home, and with a very difficult journey
ahead. Maybe a sequel would be good?
On a technical note, the book was
well-presented. The handful of typos or grammatical slips did not in the least
spoil the experience. There were a couple of places where names of people or
places were casually used without introduction, needing a bit of detective work
to track down, but this was no hardship.
All in all, a lively and enjoyable read,
threading neatly along the edges of established knowledge of the era.
© Richard
Abbott
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