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toto7 's review for:
Axios: A Spartan Tale
by Jaclyn Osborn
Sparta. A place I could wander with my eyes closed and envision every tree and every meadow. A place that had once brought me pain, but I had learned to appreciate the pain—to overcome it and see the beauty lying within. The place I had met a boy with the most intriguing golden hair, so many years ago, and fallen in love.
3.75 stars!
Well, this was a surprise! I had NEVER heard of this book before, and it is actually relatively new (came out this year). It was when I was scrolling down Goodreads that I stumbled upon a review of this book. I cannot remember what the reviewer said, but I remember thinking: oh, this seems GOOD. It sounded kind of like The song of Achilles to me, a book I was loving but had to put down to focus on school. This year I have SO LITTLE TIME, but I was like what the hell!, I supposed I could read this in the bus/subway from uni to my house. So I download the e-book.
I must say... this book wasn't what I expected! I was just looking for a "light read". And I know I didn't pick the most light book ever (it is about war and death, after all), but I just wanted to read something! I have read literally nothing this year (uni, I do not like you). So when I saw this book, a book I wanted to read, for ONCE I wasn't willing to put it aside until summer. I'm tired of reading boring, old books. You could say I treated myself these two weeks with this book. My grades may have suffered tho, he he, but I don't regret it! If I didn't read something I liked, I am certain I would've gone M A D.
So, enough of my uni-rant and onto the book.
This deals with the life of Axios, a spartan soldier. The novel starts with Axios at age ten, all alone and scared and away from home. Three years ago he was taken from his mother to start the agoge, where he essentially is taught to how to be a perfect Spartan killing machine. All the children who enter the agoge (pretty much every boy) must learn how to survive the hard way. Until they are twenty, their lives are consumed with the agoge, training and training and being ready for war.
At ten, he meets a boy who is also taking part in the agoge: Eryx. He is the opposite to Axios, who is slim and scared and just wants to run away. Eryx is strong, diligent and wants to prove he's the kind of soldier Sparta needs. Against all odds, these two become friends. Their story begins with these two just being little kids and ends when they're both in their mid-thirties, so we cover a lot of their lives together. As friends and, sooner than later, as lovers.
I've never read a story set in Sparta. The beginning and how adults treat kids impressed me. Was it really like that? But anyway, me not knowing any of this stuff, I was quite intrigued with how everything work and what they made children do. That kept me occupied up until chapter 15, when both Eryx and Axios were around eighteen. Then after that, Axios kinda started becoming more like a flat character. When he was little and a teenager, he had his insecurities, his fears and his dreams. But then everything is about war and he starts losing himself in it. I don't know, I feel like, from the middle of the book, all he thought about was war.
Eryx was amazing. He is the complete opposite of Axios, but he still loves him and tries to understand Axios' fears and dreams of running away. For being one of the best soldiers, he could've been so arrogant and self-centred, but he was such a good person! He took control when the situations required him to, but he never brag about his positions over time. All he cared about was having Axios and his friends at his side.
Talking about friends! Axios and Eryx had the greatest friends ever. Haden, Quill and Theron. They became friends over the years together in the agoge, and they considered themselves brothers. Their relationship was honestly really beautiful. All of them appreciated the moments together, because they knew tomorrow they could be off to war.
I was really enjoying the book, but the last hundred pages were kind of a drag. It started going on and on about different wars? Like, I cannot tell you the wars they participated in because it got too confusing after a while. There was one war one moment, then that one ended and another one started right away. And the author didn't take the time to explain any of it! LITERALLY, she used two lines to say that a new war between Sparta and another city had started. Like, whut?
This also relates with another thing I hated. There were I think two times they went to fight to another location... and then they went back to Sparta the next day... and then that fight wasn't even relevant for the story! Why did they even go then?! Just to have more pages or what? At least they could've been interesting, exciting fights, but nooo!
Also... the king. The one that liked Axios (sorry I won't spell that name). WHY was Axios so sad when he died? He met him ONE TIME, when out with him ONE TIME, and that was all! But he dies and you say he had a part of your heart, Axios? You barely knew him.
Although i loved the last two chapters (I even teared up, which doesn't happen often), the ending was rather abrupt. Axios gets wounded, Eryx gets killed, and that's it? There weren't even cute words! >:( they say they will follow the other everywhere, but they just die and END OF CHAPTER. I needed more! More angst! Their deaths just took two pages, that's not enough! You need to make it more emotional.
Also, and this is just a comment... the name of this book could've been more interesting. Axios: A Spartan Tale? C'mon, it could've been something more awesome!
Overall I enjoyed this book A LOT MORE than I thought. The story kept me intrigued for most of the time, the characters were cool and the ending was bittersweet.