 | Shadow of Colossus |
Source: Bought from Books-A-Million.
Book Description from Back Cover:
The place is the island of Rhodes; the time, 227 BC. In the ten years that Tessa of Delos has been in bondage as a hetaeira, a high-priced Greek courtesan to a wealthy politician, she has learned to abandon all desire for freedom and love. But when her owner meets a violent death, Tessa is given the chance to be free—if she can hide the truth of his death and maintain a masquerade until escape is possible.
Now Tessa must battle for her own freedom and for those she is beginning to love, as forces collide that will shatter the island’s peace and bring even its mighty Colossus to its knees.
My Review:
Shadow of Colossus is a fast-paced Christian historical novel that contains some romance. It's set in 227 B.C. in Rhodes. The story was rich with setting, cultural, and historical details that brought the ancient world alive without slowing the pacing. The suspense was high throughout and was created mainly by the physical danger to the characters.
The characters were complex, realistic, and engaging. I cared about what happened to them. It was a wonderful book, but I did have a hard time believing that their secret wasn't quickly found out considering the haphazard way they initially handled keeping it hidden.
One of the characters was a Jew who looked forward to (and understood) a Redeemer-Messiah. He explained his beliefs as two Greek characters shared a Passover meal with his Jewish family. I wondered about very devote Jews freely using God's personal name (YAHWEH) in conversation. I was under the impression that even in 227 B.C. that Jews wouldn't generally speak the personal name of God out of respect.
There were no sex scenes. There was a minor amount of "he cursed" style of bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this well-written novel.
If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.
Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.
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3 comments:
This book sounds wonderful! I love historical YA books.
Laura, I wouldn't call this a young adult novel. Since it deals with somewhat adult themes (how Tessa feels about men after the treatment she's gotten from them as essentially a high-priced slave prostitute), I think I'd be careful about handing this book to too young of a child to read.
Oh, and Tessa does consider suicide several times as a way of escape (when all other avenues seem closed).
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