Orion narrates his sudden awakening as a slave. He lays seige to Troy with Odysseus, brings down the walls of Jericho, and raises rightful Prince Aramset to power of Pharoah in Egypt. But the Greek "gods" are only powerful future humans: Apollo his master, Athena his beloved. The enlivening of long adored mythology, into a single tale, is beyond thrilling, mired by divine entanglements. (Name spellings are tricksy, maybe blame Greeks, not Bova.)Does a hero lie to both sides who entrust him to negotiate? "Without hesitating, I lied" p77. Destroy a beautiful city and innocents? "I felt no exultation" p135. Sacrifice his lover, already pawn to men? "warm fire in my arms .. made love again" p175, "bartered her like a piece of furniture or a gaudy ornament" p293. He blames others. "But I knew, that what I did, I did for myself" p293. (I added commas, for clarity.)Orion wants to be free, but humans never are. "The goal of life is death" p111. His companions serve as reflective side-kicks, only seen in the mirror of his self-image: (view spoiler)[ blinded, (hide spoiler)]
What do You think about Vengeance Of Orion (1988)?
There are two things I love about the Orion books. I love Orion's character, his near super human abilities, his desire to do the right thing coupled with his very human feelings of anger and vengeance.The second thing I love is the rewriting of history. I love to experience the familiar stories but from a different perspective, a retelling that fills in the gaps that have been lost to history and gives a plausible explanation.This book has plenty of both. We get to know Orion even better, we get to see him dominate in battle, and we get to experience some fun history. This time around, Orion is Osiris from Egyptian mythology, he fought in the Trojan war and assisted Joshua in bringing down the walls of Jericho.Definitely a worthwhile read. I loved it when I was 15, and I loved it today.
—Jeff Stockett
