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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
Somehow, I had read this book as a teenager, choosing it after reading its flap description without understanding what a concubine is an confusing the word erotic with exotic. Needless to say, I was in for an eye-opener, not just because of the sex and all its facets, but also the violence and intrigues of politics, the clashes of cultures, religions and castes. The book lingered for years in my mind and influenced me profoundly, thus I must say that I feel this book has far more to offer than just the sexuality. The mark it left behind is comparable to the way the Mist of Avalon was influencial. But then again, I was also about 13 when I read it. I would love to try reading it again to see if I would still like it.
A pretty awful beginning, and I kept waiting for it to get better, but it didn't, so I gave up around page 100. It starts with a girl being basically raped by her stepfather and then being sold as a slave to be a prostitute in the big city. Not exactly light reading. I'm so disappointed b/c I really loved Richard Adams' writing in "Watership Down." bleh.
I liked this when I read it (for fun) in high school. I recognize that it's super sexist, but that doesn't mean I have to hate it. So it gets 4 stars, for the memories!
Wait...the guy who wrote Watership Down wrote this too? Man, I remember reading this when I was younger. Maybe college? Awww...now I'm not sure! Could've been late high school. All I know was that there was a lot of freaky deaky things which took up half the book, and the other half was weird political stuff that I couldn't wrap my head around back then. I'm almost tempted to put this on my to read list again, but seeing I'm already reading Watership Down, I think I'll hold off. Don't need Richard Adams messing with my head more than once per decade. But I did want to put down that I read it...hence the review, though I'm not going to rate it.
Er, this just seemed kind of ick. In various ways. I didn't stick around to see if it got any better.
Reading Maia was a very interesting experience. The book had many chapters that crawled by, but also many that seemed like a best-seller page turner. It was very hard to get into at first, especially because I had a copy without a dust jacket and therefore I had no idea what I was "getting into" at all.
This is the story of a young girl - in her early teens, who is sold into slavery and eventually bought as a pleasure slave in a very rich and prestigious household in the capital city.
She is very innocent, but in a simple sweet way and she has an amazing friend - also a pleasure slave named Occula who helps her adjust to the new way of life.
And then she gets wrapped up in the politics of her world, gains enemies and allies, affects a great war, becomes beloved by all the people in the country. She does all this without trying, and certainly without any scheming.
I found her kind of boring. She seemed so empty-headed most of the time, and Mr. Adams continuously wrote of her being so gay and joyous and troubles never settling on her for longer than a moment. Things seemed to simply happen to her, with neither her nor the author really sure why.
As Watership Down was the only other book by Mr. Adams I have read, I was greatly surprised by the sex scenes and how erotic they were. I shouldn't have been surprised considering Maia was a pleasure slave, but I just couldn't believe the same author wrote about bunnies trying to find a new home!
The style of writing was probably the hardest to follow and made the book even longer than it's 1,000+ pages. It was just too flowery and slightly paternal in tone. Often it felt like he was making up emotions for a young woman to have rather than what she would actually feel.
All that aside, the world was very interesting, and Mr. Adams has a great flair for writing stories within stories. In both Watership Down and Maia he comes up with believable and interesting fables and mythology which his characters tell in the books.
I would give Maia a try if you have a lot of patience, really like Mr. Adams' writing, and don't mind some erotic sex scenes.
This is the story of a young girl - in her early teens, who is sold into slavery and eventually bought as a pleasure slave in a very rich and prestigious household in the capital city.
She is very innocent, but in a simple sweet way and she has an amazing friend - also a pleasure slave named Occula who helps her adjust to the new way of life.
And then she gets wrapped up in the politics of her world, gains enemies and allies, affects a great war, becomes beloved by all the people in the country. She does all this without trying, and certainly without any scheming.
I found her kind of boring. She seemed so empty-headed most of the time, and Mr. Adams continuously wrote of her being so gay and joyous and troubles never settling on her for longer than a moment. Things seemed to simply happen to her, with neither her nor the author really sure why.
As Watership Down was the only other book by Mr. Adams I have read, I was greatly surprised by the sex scenes and how erotic they were. I shouldn't have been surprised considering Maia was a pleasure slave, but I just couldn't believe the same author wrote about bunnies trying to find a new home!
The style of writing was probably the hardest to follow and made the book even longer than it's 1,000+ pages. It was just too flowery and slightly paternal in tone. Often it felt like he was making up emotions for a young woman to have rather than what she would actually feel.
All that aside, the world was very interesting, and Mr. Adams has a great flair for writing stories within stories. In both Watership Down and Maia he comes up with believable and interesting fables and mythology which his characters tell in the books.
I would give Maia a try if you have a lot of patience, really like Mr. Adams' writing, and don't mind some erotic sex scenes.
Er, this just seemed kind of ick. In various ways. I didn't stick around to see if it got any better.