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As Fate Decrees, Denyse Bridger, 2007, ISBN 1894063414
In Ancient Greece, a woman named Amarantha finds herself as the next
item up for sale in the Athens slave market. She is bought by a mysterious
stranger who refuses to identify himself. He trains her as a warrior, and makes
it clear to Amarantha that disobedience is a really bad idea. After her skills
have been perfected, the stranger reveals himself as Ares, the god of war, and
son of Zeus. She has been trained to be Champion of the gods of Olympus, to
vanquish evil forever, until the gods say otherwise.
Sent into the world
as a kind of traveling warrior, Amarantha runs into Iphicles, now King of
Corinth. The two were very good friends, almost lovers, when they were younger.
She stays for a while as one of his advisors, to the whispers of nearly everyone
that their relationship is not exactly platonic.
While in another city
also ruled by Iphicles that has been badly damaged by bandits, Ares tells
Amarantha that Iphicles must return to Corinth, now. She can't tell Iphicles how
she knows this, but when he finally listens to her and returns to Corinth, with
Amarantha as part of the procession, the city has been decimated. There are many
deaths, including Iphicles' queen.
Switching suddenly to present day
Athens, Amarantha finds herself in the body of archaeologist Alexandra
Christophi. This is not the first time that Ares has sent her elsewhere in time.
This time, the enemy is a shadowy terrorist organization that has been bombing
religious sites all over the world, including Macchu Picchu, the Vatican and all
the religious sites in Athens. The object is to destroy all other gods and bring
about the coming of The One True God. The gods of Olympus understand that their
fate hangs in the balance. In the final battle, Amarantha/Alexandra is severely
injured. Will the gods grant her the peace she seeks?
Here is a
first-rate piece of writing. It's very readable, the characters are well done,
and it is an interesting look inside Greek mythology. This gets two thumbs up.
Paul Lappen is a freelance book reviewer from Connecticut whose web site http://www.deadtreesreview.com contains nearly 700 book reviews on all subjects, concentrating on small press books.
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