Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by stormshultz
The Thief of Corinth by Tessa Afshar
3.0
I really wanted to like this book. I'm reading The Jewel of the Nile for a book club this summer, so I wanted to read this first. This was the first novel I read by Tessa Afshar, and it's just not clicking for me.
Firstly, the book is dragging. I actually DNF this book. I made it through 175 pages and finally just put it down. I feel as if most of the book so far could have been severely condensed (or plain just left out...). I really have no idea what Afshar is building too. The title has the word thief in it and the back cover talks about Paul, and so far Ariadne has done no thieving and Paul hasn't come on scene AT ALL. I really thought Paul (or God or Christianity) would have more to do with the plot so far. For a Christian fiction, there has been nothing overtly Christian so far. It's clean, but nothing Christian.
Secondly, I don't really get the transition that happens around page 150. Ariadne is very tomboyish the whole book. Multiple times Afshar describes her as being muscled because she does lots of physical activity and would rather play outside but then suddenly, her brother's slave does her hair and makeup and *bam* she's a girly girl who flirts with men and attends parties. It was such a quick shift, since nearly half of the book Ariadne is much more interested in reading, running, and being more masculine. It's perfectly fine that she becomes more interested in men and parties, the transition was just so abrupt it didn't really make sense.
Third, even if there is a sudden explosion of Christianity, I wouldn't be interested in finishing the book. There's no room for Ariadne to get saved. Unless she has a Paul-esque conversion (which would be a little strange given that Paul apparently plays a part in this book) there is no growth of her coming closer to God or even learning about Christianity. If I read a book specifically because it is supposed to be Christian fiction, I expect Christianity. I'm a little over halfway through the book and there is none.
I did give it 3 (really, 2.5 but Goodreads doesn't do halves) stars because the concept is interesting and Afshar has a good writing style, but this book just fell flat for me. Good writing deserves 2 stars all on its own, really. I liked that Ariadne is tough, likes sports, and (Possible SPOILER) I liked that she ran a mini reading school for her friends. Overall, I'm going to try a few of her other books, because just because this one didn't click doesn't mean the others won't. I really hope they do!
Firstly, the book is dragging. I actually DNF this book. I made it through 175 pages and finally just put it down. I feel as if most of the book so far could have been severely condensed (or plain just left out...). I really have no idea what Afshar is building too. The title has the word thief in it and the back cover talks about Paul, and so far Ariadne has done no thieving and Paul hasn't come on scene AT ALL. I really thought Paul (or God or Christianity) would have more to do with the plot so far. For a Christian fiction, there has been nothing overtly Christian so far. It's clean, but nothing Christian.
Secondly, I don't really get the transition that happens around page 150. Ariadne is very tomboyish the whole book. Multiple times Afshar describes her as being muscled because she does lots of physical activity and would rather play outside but then suddenly, her brother's slave does her hair and makeup and *bam* she's a girly girl who flirts with men and attends parties. It was such a quick shift, since nearly half of the book Ariadne is much more interested in reading, running, and being more masculine. It's perfectly fine that she becomes more interested in men and parties, the transition was just so abrupt it didn't really make sense.
Third, even if there is a sudden explosion of Christianity, I wouldn't be interested in finishing the book. There's no room for Ariadne to get saved. Unless she has a Paul-esque conversion (which would be a little strange given that Paul apparently plays a part in this book) there is no growth of her coming closer to God or even learning about Christianity. If I read a book specifically because it is supposed to be Christian fiction, I expect Christianity. I'm a little over halfway through the book and there is none.
I did give it 3 (really, 2.5 but Goodreads doesn't do halves) stars because the concept is interesting and Afshar has a good writing style, but this book just fell flat for me. Good writing deserves 2 stars all on its own, really. I liked that Ariadne is tough, likes sports, and (Possible SPOILER) I liked that she ran a mini reading school for her friends. Overall, I'm going to try a few of her other books, because just because this one didn't click doesn't mean the others won't. I really hope they do!