Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
This book has been one of my favorites, if not my favorite book, for a very long time. As with any opinion in a subjective world like that of art and literature, my thoughts and opinons have changed and grown over time; the amazing thing about Maia is that she grew with me.
Maia, and its companion novel Shardik, are set in an ancient, Mesopotamian kingdom reminiscent of Babylon. While not strictly a fantasy, sometimes the two are categorized as such because of the raw spirituality inherent in all of Adam's writing that permeates his worlds with a dreamlike atmosphere. However, you won't find any magic spells or wizards here. Just a world where people believe that such things exist and have immense power. Sound familiar?
The story centers around Maia, a peasant girl who is sold into sexual slavery and prostitution as a young teenager and climbs her way up an eerily realistic socio-political ladder until she is not only coveted by princes and politicians but worshipped by revolutionaries and patriots alike. She is made alternately a slave, a noble, a figurehead, a hero, a villain and a princess. But throughout, the character of Maia remains steadfastly that of a young girl, impressionable and bright but not particularly resplendent; really just a normal girl reacting to her situations as best as she can. Her guilelessness and naivite could spell complete disaster, but instead Adams tells the story of the destruction of her innocence with grace and forgiveness. And in a way, this book will help you forgive yourself for your lost innocence, and remind you that there is a part of you, and all of us, that is inherently stainless. Its really quite a read.
Maia, and its companion novel Shardik, are set in an ancient, Mesopotamian kingdom reminiscent of Babylon. While not strictly a fantasy, sometimes the two are categorized as such because of the raw spirituality inherent in all of Adam's writing that permeates his worlds with a dreamlike atmosphere. However, you won't find any magic spells or wizards here. Just a world where people believe that such things exist and have immense power. Sound familiar?
The story centers around Maia, a peasant girl who is sold into sexual slavery and prostitution as a young teenager and climbs her way up an eerily realistic socio-political ladder until she is not only coveted by princes and politicians but worshipped by revolutionaries and patriots alike. She is made alternately a slave, a noble, a figurehead, a hero, a villain and a princess. But throughout, the character of Maia remains steadfastly that of a young girl, impressionable and bright but not particularly resplendent; really just a normal girl reacting to her situations as best as she can. Her guilelessness and naivite could spell complete disaster, but instead Adams tells the story of the destruction of her innocence with grace and forgiveness. And in a way, this book will help you forgive yourself for your lost innocence, and remind you that there is a part of you, and all of us, that is inherently stainless. Its really quite a read.
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
Being perfectly honest, I can not write a proper full review. I didn't finish this book properly, by the end even skimming became pretty much intolerable.
This book has it's good points. The prose descriptions are beautiful, and vivid, and the world bountiful with coherency... The characters are the sticking point, and the reason I don't like this book at all.
I wanted to like the main character, I really did, but she was set up to fail within the very first description of her.
We get to meet within the first chapter and during our introduction to Maia, the author describes her breasts, her thighs, her skin tone, her hair colour, the lyrics she's singing along with the quality of her voice, her age, and the way she is moving through the water as she bathes naked in flowers.
We don't get to know what she thinks, we don't get to know what she likes, we don't get to know her desires, we are merely introduced to her image. This takes all of maybe about 5 pages. This is the only intro we get for Maia, after this it's all learning as she travels and grows. A large trouble is, we barely get more of her from those travels than in this first intro.
(Which mostly doesn't go into her thoughts or feelings at all.)
Back to the intro, she realizes she's spent all day in the water and needs to go back home. We then get introduced to another character instead of following along with her.
Maia's step-father, who is harsh-lusting-after Maia, and has been hiding in the bushes watching her bathe. We then spend a full chapter on him. Finding out his life history, his likes, his desires, his wants, his feelings. I sort of got to thinking maybe he was going to be the main character, and we'd watch Maia through his eyes for the novel. But nope! He's actually not even in most of the book.
I later went through an searched for him and he's only at the opening, and again near the very end. Yet we get more back-story on HIM than we do on the MAIN CHARACTER! He's IRRELEVANT!
We are off to a very rocky start.
Spending all this time on a guy we won't spend much time with, establishing how he's a real user-jerk who has gotten by on "charm" supposedly (though he doesn't appear to demonstrate any at any point past or present), meanwhile we only know our main character Maia has nice boobs.
Maia's home life then gets a brief description, mostly in how mad her mom is at her very existence because she's jealous her daughters youth. This anger and jealousy is largely the step fathers doing, because he's been overly nice to Maia and ignoring his wife, due to wanting to bang his step-daughter.
Maia is oblivious to this because she is still yet a child just coming into womanhood. It's made obvious that her mom wants her gone, and by the end of the chapter Maia is dreaming of things that seem a lot like prophecies and we're guessing she's going to go off on a grand adventure.
And so she does, by first being sold into slavery (I'd have prefered she just ran away)...Buuuttt... Not before the step-father can fulfill his desires to bang her.
Oh, and even though he tricks her into it, and she has no idea what is going on, she inexplicably likes it.... Because that's really likely?
Frankly, the scene read a lot like a rape we're supposed to believe is a good thing. It's not even really from her perspective, we only know she 'liked it' because of the 'sounds of pleasure' we're told she was making.
That brings up another problem, despite the fact the narrator is semi-omniscient, we don't get anything not on the surface with Maia.
We know the narrator is semi-omniscient because we heard the step-fathers thoughts and feelings more than once.
So the fact that we rarely actually get what she thinks or feels, on anything, is a total fail.
In fact, it was at that very point that I knew I wasn't going to enjoy this novel. I kept reading of course, I wanted to see what else it had to offer, if anything. However it didn't prove fruitful. There isn't any point in talking about the rest of the plot, because A) Spoilers, and B) this first part establishes a general trend of the book.
Maia has sex a lot, with a lot of different strangers. She is apparently interested in a lot of this sex but we are TOLD that rather than SHOWN it.
What she says and does, they tell us who she is, which is a trouble in and of itself because she is kind of amorphous. She seems to have few opinions, and most seem disconnected from who she is, or at least don't seem like a driving part of. She can do a wide variety of things, and doesn't seem to have a keen interest in any of them, but for sex.
People interest her, but she's often mad at almost everyone she knows.
She moves through the world, but seems almost apart from it.
We're given the hint that this is essentially because she's destined for something, but it doesn't feel like that.
All in all I just felt she was... poorly written. She didn't have almost anything to offer except to be a toy, which she's happy with.
That, more than anything, is her destiny.
And I didn't like it.
adventurous
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I knew little about this book, other than it was a sort of prequel to Shardik, which I also haven't read. It reads like those old Hollywood movies, the ones that were a 4 hour long epic. Tells a very comprehensive story about a girl and her life in this world that has different morals than our own. Richard Adams really has a knack for weaving a story surrounding a MC who is naive or not understanding everything happening around them. By increments he really built a believable, thorough world as seen through the eyes of a girl.
I have a soft spot for this book as I read it when I was quite young and impressionable. Richard Adams has a thing for writing from the viewpoint of a simple/dumb character while events of great import happen around them in the Beklan empire. Side characters are often the most interesting. The idea of the Streels of Urtah haunted me for years. The novels are definitely a product of their time and their author but are entertaining nonetheless.
Absolutely gorgeous prose and an interesting universe. While the summary sells this as a tale of a girl's erotic adventures, Maia's sexual exploits are actually a very small part of the novel (though still important.) The story is more about how one girl unexpectedly finds herself thrust into the middle of series of intrigues often beyond her understanding. Maia's naivety and impulsiveness can be a bit frustrating at times for the reader, who sees far more than she does, but it also makes for a compelling drama to see how Maia perceives the events around her. At times she is merely being tugged along by them, but this makes the moments where she can affect events that much more satisfying.
What truly wins in this book though is the rich mythology Adams has created. Chapters telling stories of the gods and goddesses are woven through the novel in the form of tales being related by other characters, adding a special flair to them. The world building is wonderful and leaves me wanting to more. While aspects of the last couple chapters can feel almost a little too rushed after the drama of the last half of the book, Maia is overall a very lovely read.
What truly wins in this book though is the rich mythology Adams has created. Chapters telling stories of the gods and goddesses are woven through the novel in the form of tales being related by other characters, adding a special flair to them. The world building is wonderful and leaves me wanting to more. While aspects of the last couple chapters can feel almost a little too rushed after the drama of the last half of the book, Maia is overall a very lovely read.
Sometimes when you read a book, it just seems to call out to you; you suddenly know that you will love it and it will be special to you. This was the case with Maia. There is no review I can give this that will do this book justice. It has been a journey. It has been an adventure. I will never forget this novel and it has surely warmed my heart and found a place in it.
This book was very little like I expected from the synopsis. I remember coming across it here on GoodReads and being intrigued. Since it was out of print and extremely inexpensive (about $6 if I remember correctly) I bought it from B&N Used online. I then promptly put it on my desk and forgot about it for months and months. (Hard to do when it is a 1000+ page hardcover!)
When I eventually set down to read it I was hesitant, but it turned out the be just what the doctor ordered. With a wonderful protagonist, colorful characters and a great setting, I was never bored with this story. From her time as a slave girl to her triumph as the Serrelinda, Maia's character appealed to me so much. The descriptiveness and mythology inherent in Maia are phenomenal. From Occula, to Anda-Nokomis to Zenka to Elvair to Meris and far beyond I now feel as if I know and cherish these characters. The culture, world, and society created within these pages are fantastic and he has really set the bar for me in regards to writing style and detail.
I look forward to reading this book over and over in the years to come and sharing my love with others. My boyfriend was kind enough to find me a copy of [b:Shardik|92408|Shardik (Beklan Empire #1)|Richard Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347952145s/92408.jpg|894692], to which Maia is a prequel. I am unsure if it will live up to Maia in my mind but I certainly hope it at least captures some of the splendor I felt while reading this novel. I also look forward to eventually reading [b:Watership Down|76620|Watership Down (Watership Down, #1)|Richard Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1405136931s/76620.jpg|1357456] his most noted masterpiece. Thank you Richard Adams, for a truly wonderful and exciting read. I shan't forget it.
2018: Just as a good on a second read (all ~1070 pages oof) that kept me up during the night, had me reading 400 pages in a day, and carting this huge hardcover everywhere. Worth the Kindle version too which is now available on Amazon! The descriptions (like the costumes ex. thing a shearna pulls her nipples through) continue to astound me and yay for Occula being childfree unlike Maia ;) As much as I enjoy his other works, to me this is surely Richard Adams at his best.
This book was very little like I expected from the synopsis. I remember coming across it here on GoodReads and being intrigued. Since it was out of print and extremely inexpensive (about $6 if I remember correctly) I bought it from B&N Used online. I then promptly put it on my desk and forgot about it for months and months. (Hard to do when it is a 1000+ page hardcover!)
When I eventually set down to read it I was hesitant, but it turned out the be just what the doctor ordered. With a wonderful protagonist, colorful characters and a great setting, I was never bored with this story. From her time as a slave girl to her triumph as the Serrelinda, Maia's character appealed to me so much. The descriptiveness and mythology inherent in Maia are phenomenal. From Occula, to Anda-Nokomis to Zenka to Elvair to Meris and far beyond I now feel as if I know and cherish these characters. The culture, world, and society created within these pages are fantastic and he has really set the bar for me in regards to writing style and detail.
I look forward to reading this book over and over in the years to come and sharing my love with others. My boyfriend was kind enough to find me a copy of [b:Shardik|92408|Shardik (Beklan Empire #1)|Richard Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347952145s/92408.jpg|894692], to which Maia is a prequel. I am unsure if it will live up to Maia in my mind but I certainly hope it at least captures some of the splendor I felt while reading this novel. I also look forward to eventually reading [b:Watership Down|76620|Watership Down (Watership Down, #1)|Richard Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1405136931s/76620.jpg|1357456] his most noted masterpiece. Thank you Richard Adams, for a truly wonderful and exciting read. I shan't forget it.
2018: Just as a good on a second read (all ~1070 pages oof) that kept me up during the night, had me reading 400 pages in a day, and carting this huge hardcover everywhere. Worth the Kindle version too which is now available on Amazon! The descriptions (like the costumes ex. thing a shearna pulls her nipples through) continue to astound me and yay for Occula being childfree unlike Maia ;) As much as I enjoy his other works, to me this is surely Richard Adams at his best.
i am over 3/4 through- and although enjoyed the beginning part i feel very little connection with maia. thusly i am finding it to be terribly long winded. don't get me wrong- i love richard adams- but there was a lot of streamlining that could have been done to make this book more palatable.
finally finished! the ending made it almost worth it. the last 2 chapters went by quickly and i couldn't put it down. some of that could have been the knowledge that there was light at the end of the tunnel.
finally finished! the ending made it almost worth it. the last 2 chapters went by quickly and i couldn't put it down. some of that could have been the knowledge that there was light at the end of the tunnel.
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes