This book retells the story of the Trojan War, with the title character, The Hittite Lukka, being involved by fighting as part of the forces of Odysseus. Lukka has a group of 20 Hittite soldiers under his command that have stayed together after their home kingdom is destroyed. Lukka finds out his wife and sons have been taken as captive slaves by Agamemnon and is determined to find them. He follows their journey to the camps outside the city of Troy, and offers himself and his men to aid Odysseus in the battle, in exchange for having his wife and sons freed. Credulity is strained a bit at this point, when Lukka seems to be involved in all the legendary actions that take place at Troy, acting as a messanger to take an offer of peace settlement to Priam. That is where he meets Helen of Troy/Sparta. It's he and his men that build a siege tower that the Trojans think is a giant horse and he has a confrontation with Hector and Paris in the final battles, which seems to make him the most important person on the field. Having listened to the audiobook of "The Song of Achilles" a while back, this book felt a little bit flat. Stefan Rudnicki does an admirable job with the narration, but it is not at the same literary level as Madeline Miller's debut novel. This is the first book in a trilogy, and I'll probably listen or read the next books, as they are enjoyable. I've heard of Bova's work before and contemplated reading some of his scifi work, so it's kind of funny that I ended reading, "The Hittite." There's not much to say about this book. Bova gives readers his take on the Trojan War thru the perspective of a Hittite soldier who ends up at Agamemnon's enemy camp looking for his wife and two son who have been sold into slavery. My biggest issue with this book is the fact that it was so difficult to relate with the main character. I realize that Bova is attempting to portray a realistic portrait here, but from a storytelling perspective this approach really doesn't work for me.
What do You think about The Hittite (2010)?
Quite liked Lukka, but not sure about the way the story was worked through
—Tupi
