Calligula of the stars?3 May 2012tFirst thing I have to mention is the idea that Hope Hubris is the Calligula of the Stars. Personally I am actually beginning to wonder what Anthony actually knows about Ancient History and the early Roman Emperors. Calligua was little more than an insane monster that was more interested in indulging in sensuality than actually running an empire. That is probably the main reason the Praetorian Guard ended up sticking a knife into him in the same way the senate stuck a knife into Julius Ceaser. However Ceaser was popular; Calligula was mad.tMaybe it has something to do with all of the sex that Hope indulges in, but once again there are limits to Hope's character that did not bind Calligua. I will not go into details and if anybody would like to know more about Calligua then I recommend reading Suetonius's The Twelve Ceasers. He is in there and Suetonius pulls no punches.tIt is interesting looking over the reviews to see what people are saying about this particular book, and many of them refer to the politics of the 80s as the driving force behind this novel. One suggested that maybe Anthony is looking into the future, but personally I think not. Anthony has not shown any talent in any of his other books to be prescient, and I do not think that he is starting here. If anything, this book, along with the rest, is a badly written allegory that focuses on current political events at the time and proceeded to become obsolete with the fall of the Berlin Wall. I do hope that these books are not used in the future in the same way that Gulliver's Travels is used today (being an allegory of English Politics in the mid 18th century as opposed to a children's story).tThe book begins with Hope waking up in a room as a prisoner and with many of his memories erased. It turns out that he has been captured by his political opponents in an attempt to brainwash him so that he might put their agendas in place. Hope has risen to the top of the navy, and upon doing so, he retires and enters politics. It is strange though because this does not necessarily seem to be in line with American politics of the time. Hope is clearly Hispanic but I do not know of any Hispanic politicians of the 80s, particularly during the Reagan era. However, it is not a period of history with which I am all that familiar.tYes, Anthony has changed the style but others have suggested that the books have all become quite the same once you get to this point. This is not surprising though because I suspect that Anthony was already intending on writing a five book series, with each of the books exploring a specific stage of Hope's life. It is the next book that we begin to see a lot of the reforms that Hope makes, but here it is about him remembering who he is, and fighting off the corporate interests that are threatened by his meteoric rise to power.
This review is for whole series -- engrossing characters and unfortunately probable world building. Absolutely the plot and the protagonist sucks you right in and goes nonstop through all 6 books.I am a fan of Piers Anthony; but, reader beware -- this ain't no Xanth. Much more intense situations. "Caligula of the stars" on one of the excerpts is a very apt description for some disturbing portions in series; definitely for adults with actions and memories graphic/explicit as to sex, violence, rape and even child molesting.
What do You think about Politician (1985)?
The set-up of the book is strong. The main character loses memories and chapters alternate between him trying to recover those memories, and chapters detailing the events/memories he does recall. But this book was a bit of a drag as I found myself skimming. Politics very finely veiled as they echo political events of the 80's. Also the story became repititious in nature. Perhaps also the reality of politicians being unable to survive without special interest money and bald faced promisies is a downer to read as well.
—Mykl
Read this book and remember it was written in 1983-86... No, it wasn't written in this century, but a generation before. Does that make Piers Anthony someone able to see the future? Or are we simply fated to repeat history over and over with each generation, never learning from it?Sure some things have changed and changed drastically, but so much has not. The battles over balancing the budget made me laugh and cry. Talk of the recesion, the disappearing middle class, drugs, unemployment and resonanted strongly. If it wasn't the very thinly valed references to the Cold War world, you'd almost think he'd written it recently, and not 25'ish years ago... Kind of scary and sad. Let's hope we don't end up with out own "Hope" in the near future...
—Greg
