Arrow Through the Axes: Odyssey of a Slave, Book III

Written by Patrick Bowman

Ronsdale Press

978-1-55380-323-2

200 pp.

Ages 12+

March 2014

Knowing that you're reading the third and final book of any trilogy can be both exciting and disheartening.   On one hand, the anticipation of learning the fate of all characters and the resolution of all plot lines is exhilarating.  But, knowing that every word read takes you closer and closer to the last gasps of a book's life can be enough reason to draw out your reading as long as possible.  Either way, I don't think I handled the finale as well as I could have, considering how invested I was in the story, all the way from Book I. (See my reviews of Book I, Torn from Troy, and Book II, Cursed by the Sea God) Sadly, I read too fast and now it's over. But, perhaps for you, the journey is still on.

Alexi, the boy from Troy, who was enslaved by Lopex (Odysseus) and forced to work upon the Pelagios as the Greeks made their way slowly back to Ithaca, has grown from a child to a young man both respected for his healing and loyalty and despised by others for his actions.  He has survived brutal attacks by both man and mythical beasts and is now determined to find his sister Melantha whom he'd believed killed.  But a black cloud is following him and the Pelagios. Literally. No matter which way the boat turns, the cloud with an evil eye follows, until lightning courtesy of the god Helios splits the ship apart and sends the crew to inevitable death.  Though badly burned, Alexi is saved by Phaith, the girl whom he'd met on Helios' island.  Even that act of kindness, however, is veiled in deceit.

Escaping from her lonely grasp, Alexi gets on board the cargo ship Sappho which is heading to Mycenae, the city of Agamemnon who'd led the war against Troy.  Intending to search for his sister there, Alexis becomes enmeshed in several plots to place a king on the throne of the murdered Agamemnon.  Surprisingly, the only truth he hears is from a slave named Cass (formerly Crazy Cassie, the Trojan king's daughter), though he does not know it.

First travelling with Orestes, son of Agamemnon, Alexi continues to search for Melantha, stopping to visit the Oracle at Delphi, before going on alone to Sparta, the city of King Menelaus and his wife Helen (of Helen of Troy fame), and then Pylos.  His final journey takes him to Ithaca, accompanying a talkative and gullible young man, Telemachus, who Alexi learns is the son of Odysseus, his former master.

While the plot premise behind Arrow Through the Axes would appear on the surface to be Alexi's search for his sister, Patrick Bowman is a far better writer than one who would settle on this simple storyline.  Alexi may be focused on reuniting with his sister whom he has not set eyes upon since Torn from Troy, but his quest becomes one of enlightenment with regards to the nature of war, specifically about the consequences of the Trojan war.  He had believed that the war was essentially the Greeks attacking and winning over Troy, and that all Greeks were to be despised.  His fickle relationship with Odysseus demonstrates how Alexi both hates him for enslaving him and respects him for his leadership and wisdom.  But, along his travels, Alexi witnesses the ravages of war upon the Greek people, a people who had not chosen to go to war but may have felt duty-bound or been conscripted.

"...you lost so many men in the war.  Fighting-age men.  Fathers. Now the young kids are growing up wild.  The sea is thick with raiders.  The roads are full of bandits.  Kingdoms like yours are being pulled apart, fighting over who will be the next king.  The priest at Delphi said it best.  He said he hoped the war had been worth it, because it had lost the Greeks your soul." (pg. 194)

Homer's epic poem The Odyssey may share with the Odyssey of a Slave series in the telling of Odysseus' legendary return to Ithaca after the Trojan War, but for young readers this series will be the quintessential version of that story.  Patrick Bowman does not hold up the attackers or warriors as heroes but rather all participants as those who have lost, whether it be land, riches, family, freedom, or themselves.  The message that there are no winners in war is clear, but, told through the eyes and insight of a young enslaved Trojan boy, the learning of that lesson is all the richer, and more vivid and poignant. 

Cursed by the Sea God: Odyssey of a Slave, Book II

 

Written by Patrick Bowman
Ronsdale Press
978-1-55380-186-3
204 pp.
Post Hypnotic Press (audiobook)
978-1-927401-63-7
Ages 10+
March, 2013

Trojan teen Alexi from Patrick Bowman's first book in his Odyssey of a Slave series, Torn from Troy (reviewed here on December 8, 2011), continues to serve the Greek commander Lopex (Odysseus) aboard the Greek ship, Pelagios. After the Greeks took Troy and escaped the Cyclops, their wish is to head home to Ithaca after years away.  Cursed by the Sea God follows them in their homeward travels, making stops to replenish supplies, to broker trades, and to make repairs as needed.  But, courtesy of Patrick Bowman's imaginative plotting and complex understanding of Greek mythology, their journey is neither direct nor easy, inviting the reader to accompany the motley crew from one adventure through some peril to another exploit.  There is little respite for the reader or Alexi as the Pelagios sails for Ithaca.

This instalment begins with the crew arriving on the island of Aeolia whose king keeps his people in order with threats of "polishings".  Sadly, the king has not been advised about the fatal nature of "polishing" by the winds.  To thank them for their candor, the king provides Lopex with a securely tied bag containing some energetic entity that would help them on their voyage.  For three days, Lopex holds tight to the neck of that bag, never sleeping.  But when the ships are only a day and a half away from home, Lopex falls asleep.  Though Alexi tries to rouse him and secure the bag closed himself, the Greek brute Ury grabs it and releases the wind within, allowing hurricane forces to push the ship almost back to the very island from which they'd come.  Lopex, seeing Alexi struggling to shut the bag that Ury had opened, accuses the boy of this traitorous act and deems him Ury's slave now, without the protection he'd enjoyed earlier.

Now with a still greater distance to travel home, the crews of Lopex's ships resume their journey, stopping at an island of ship-wreckers who serve a cannibalistic queen and then one inhabited by a sorceress, Circe, who both tricks and aids the Greeks.  Without revealing too much more (though a reading of Homer's Odyssey should provide more details), the crew of the Pelagios must delve into the hidden realm of Hades, home of the dead; attempt to resist the haunting songs of sirens;  avoid a six-headed monster; and endure starvation on the island of Helios.

Their travels are encumbered by so many obstacles that it's hard to believe that there would be opportunity for Alexi to continue to be victimized by Ury but, as one of Lopex's secondary leaders, the Greek bully finds the means to humiliate Alexi and plot his murder, believing Alexi knows something about the killing of Ury's brother at Troy.  But, Cursed by the Sea God is as much about trust and friendship as the voyages, with Alexi often wondering about others' motivations and needs.

Many middle-grade readers are currently enamoured with a series involving a boy named Percy who learns he is a demigod, but I believe that Patrick Bowman's Odyssey of a Slave series far surpasses it in the authenticity of dialogue and embedded perspective of the characters.  Never does the text seem contrived or hollow, nor do the characters demonstrate the traits of anything but victors, slaves, warriors, and strangers with whom Alexi has encounters.  Using time-slips to bridge across time periods demands that readers suspend disbelief but setting the story in an ancient civilization, as Patrick Bowman does in Cursed by the Sea God, as well as in Torn from Troy, and writing so evocatively and with complexity, there is no need for this suspension of disbelief.  I began to consider the possibility that there really were sea monsters, witches, and animated beef parts in Ancient Greece and that their gods and mythology were all based in reality.  That's an astounding accomplishment for a writer.  Moreover, without leaving readers hanging tortuously in anticipation of the next volume, Patrick Bowman agreeably encourages his readers to return to learn more of Alexi's story.  After the drama and the relentless adventures in Cursed by the Sea God, it may be difficult to wait for Book III, but wait I will, determined to know how Alexi's story gets resolved.

Torn from Troy: Odyssey of a Slave

Written by Patrick Bowman
Ronsdale Press
978-1-55380-110-8
199 pp.
Ages 10+
2011

Reading (and undoubtedly writing) a novel for children that is set in ancient times can be challenging, with its new vocabulary and cultural references, but the experience of immersing yourself in a completely foreign time-period is without equal.  Learning about ancient civilizations using non-fiction texts is valuable but incomparable to living the life through a character.  How many adults enjoy the experience of Canadian Pauline Gedge's Ancient Egypt  in The King's Man Trilogy (Penguin Canada), 8th century China in Guy Gavriel Kay's book Under Heaven (Penguin, 2010) or Ancient Rome in the Marcus Didius Falco series (Lindsey Davis)?  Our young readers have a rare opportunity to do the same here, with Patrick Bowman's Torn from Troy: Odyssey of a Slave (Ronsdale Press, 2011), a selection nominated for this year's Red Maple Fiction Award.

In Torn from Troy: Odyssey of a Slave, fifteen-year-old Alexi lives with his older sister, Melantha, in Troy when, after ten years of fighting, the Greeks capture the city using deceit and an infamous wooden structure.  By sacrificing herself in attacking and killing a Greek soldier, Melantha helps Alexi escape, although he is captured the next day.

Taken as just another slave with other Trojans, Alexi's ability to speak Greek (his grandmother was Greek) wins him favour with the Greek commander, Lopex (a.k.a. Odysseus, son of Laertes).  On board their ship, the Pelagios, Alexi's attention and cleverness continue to impress Lopex, but his tongue makes an enemy of him to Ury, a brute who Alexi learns is the brother of the Greek soldier killed by Melantha. After skirmishes with the Cicones (allies of Troy), Alexi is recognized as a healer, just as his father, Aristides of Herakleon, was and declared hagios (set apart as sacred) by Lopex.

Alexi's responsibilities continue to put him in tenuous situations: stupefied by the ophion and ministrations of Apollonia and the beautiful women of her town; fabricating stories (about miasms sent from Poseidon) to appease the Greeks threatening revolt; and surviving the attack by a legendary one-eyed creature.  Luckily, Alexi's good sense and cunning win him allies amongst the slaves and Greeks alike, save for Ury who continues to tyrannize the boy.

Alexi's exploits and ordeals command the reader's attention and support, but it's his sense of justice and loyalty that will endear him to the reader.  I found Bowman's writing captivating, although I might recommend that a glossary of Greek terminology be included to explain terms whose meanings could not discerned.  Regardless, the mystery which Alexi ultimately feels he must uncover (you'll need to read the book for this) will ensure my reading of his subsequent adventure, The Sea God's Curse (Ronsdale Press, fall 2012).