Thursday, March 20, 2008

Debut Showcase: BLACK SHIPS by Jo Graham

BLACK SHIPS (Amazon USA, UK, Canada)
by Jo Graham (website, blog)
Orbit Books
Trade Paperback
Excerpt

Blurb:

The world is ending. One by one the mighty cities are falling, to earthquakes, to flood, to raiders on both land and sea. 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, it is her destiny to counsel kings.

When nine black ships appear, captained by an exiled Trojan prince, Gull must decide between the life she has been destined for and the 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 gates of the Underworld itself to lead him to his destiny.

When I saw the cover, it made me think of a 1920's movie star named Clara Bow. My mistake, I guess, because the blurb is straight out of mythology. This is the second ancient-world fantasy debut I've seen in the past two weeks. I love ancient history and I love mythology, so this looks like another good one.

Here's a photo of Clara Bow, the "It Girl."

7 comments:

Robert said...

Will you be reviewing this one? I was kind of disappointed with it. Had a lot of potential that wasn't delivered in my opinion...

Tia Nevitt said...

I don't have it. I read your review and it made me curious. My stack is so high that I'm reluctant to add anything to it right now.

pussreboots said...

You're right, she does look like Clara Bow.

Tia Nevitt said...

It really threw me. I did not expect a novel about the ancient world after seeing that cover.

Tia Nevitt said...

I added a photo of Clara Bow so others can see who we are talking about.

Anonymous said...

There's also a contest over at Orbit for US residents only: http://www.orbitbooks.net/enewsletter-sweepstakes/

So who knows, maybe you can win a free copy and not have to worry about a review ;)

Tia Nevitt said...

Thanks for sharing this!