Polish Outlander

In a time of war and doubt, Gull is an oracle. Daughter of a slave taken from fallen Troy, chosen at the age of seven to be the voice of the Lady of the Dead, she is destined to counsel kings. When nine black ships appear, captained by an exiled Trojan prince, Gull must decide between the life she was born for and a most perilous adventure – to join the remnant of her mother’s people in their desperate flight. From the doomed bastions of the City of Pirates to the temples of Byblos, from the intrigues of the Egyptian court to the haunted caves beneath Mount Vesuvius, only Gull can guide Prince Aeneas on his quest, and only she can dare the gate of the Underworld to lead him to his destiny. In the last shadowed days of the Age of Bronze, one woman dreams of the world beginning anew. This is her story.

What a beautifully written book!

My first foray into The Aeneid was when I had to translate it from the Latin in my Advanced Placement Latin class in high school. I still have my edition with notes strewn all over the pages. I think this is the first historical fiction book that I have encountered that deals with Aeneas and his quest to find a new land for his people. And what a great retelling of the story!

No wait. Scratch that. I had read Lavinia when it had first came out. So ok, this book is my second encounter with The Aeneid in historical fiction form.

I had my eye on this book when it first came out but when it got reissued with this beautiful cover by the same artist who has done covers for Charles de Lint books and the Eragon books, well, I had to have it!

At first, when you read Gull’s story you have the feeling that she is too distant of a character because she appears to observe everything and everyone around her, and has no real interaction with any of them. But, in truth, Gull is a young woman who knows that she has to serve the Lady of the Dead and she knows of what is to come when she encounters Aeneas: she knows she has to go with them to help him find the land he is looking for. She bears a great burden, knowing of things to come, knowing that she can never have a husband, knowing that her presence can sometimes frighten others. Despite her not being able to have a husband (for it is forbidden, since she can only belong to the Lady of the Dead), she does love and is able to have children. In the end, I really liked Gull and there was a moment towards the end where I was so moved by what happened to Gull and felt quite sad for her.

If you know the story of Aeneas, you will definitely find familiar people and scenes in this book: Dido, the journey to the Underworld (if you may recall, Aeneas goes down with a Sybil, which in this story is Gull), Anchises, Lavinia and the war with the Rutuli.

One thing I found interesting was that the author set the whole Dido scenario in Egypt. At the end of the book, the author explains why, since historically Carthage could not have existed at the time Aeneas would have been traveling from Troy. I love the attention to detail in that. Kudos to the author then! There is a lot more info about the historical background to the story and the author at the end of the book.

I am definitely going to read the author’s other book which I already have. I would recommend this one even if you are not familiar with the original Aeneid story. It is just that great of a book; I was sad that it had ended.