"The Song of Achilles" by Madeline Miller

Publisher:New York : Ecco, [2012]
Edition:First edition.
Copyright Date:©2012
ISBN:9780062060617
Characteristics:378 pages ;,24 cm

The Song of Achilles is Madeline Miller's first novel (I reviewed her second "Circe"back on December 16th, 2019). It tells the story of Achilles and the first part of the Trojan War from the viewpoint of Patroclus, his friend and lover.

To tell a story such as this from the viewpoint of what is typically by most to be considered a secondary character is a great way to immerse the reader into a great story. The book takes us from the first meeting of the two men when they are quite young, and then their second meeting some years later after Patroclus has been exiled by his father for the accidental death of another boy who was bullying him.

We are then treated to a view of what ancient Greek civilisation was like and how the two men grew to be fast friends and soon thereafter lovers. The views of homosexuality in this book are treated very subtlety. What most people fail to realise is that homosexuality in the ancient world was accepted by many (if not most) as perfectly normal and it was quite typical for young boys to have male lovers until they reached puberty or slightly thereafter. There was no such thing as the rampant homophobia that can be encountered in certain places in today's world.

I found this book to be a great read and would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in mythology. I was first introduced to Madeline Miller's work via the podcast "Let's Talk About Myths, Baby" by Liv Albert, and I would definitely recommend that anybody who is even mildly interested in Greek and Roman mythology should check it out, as not only does it give a refreshing viewpoint, but Ms. Albert has a very interesting sense of humour that gives this show a boost.

"Will My Cat Eat My Eye Balls?: Big Questions From Tiny Mortals About Death" by Caitlin Doughty

Publisher:New York, NY : W.W. Norton & Company, [2019]
Edition:First edition.
ISBN: 9780393652703
Characteristics: xv, 222 pages :,illustrations ;,22 cm

"Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?" is Ms. Doughty's third book on the subject of death and all the ins and outs of it. Once again she does a wonderful job of bringing a typically unmentionable subject to the forefront. In this book she ventures out a little further and answers questions posed by children, some of which are very eye-opening.

In addition to the title question she answers questions such as "Will my body sit up or speak on its own after I die?", "Can I preserve my dead body in amber like a prehistoric novel?", ""Can we give Grandma a Viking funeral?" and "Can Someone donate blood after they die?" and 29 others.

Her sense of humour in answering these questions should definitely appeal to all young readers, and I'm sure most adults will get a chuckle as well.

For the who don't know Ms. Doughty is the author of two other books entitle "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" & "From Here to Eternity" the latter of which I reviewed previously (the first came out before I started doing reviews, but I will endeavour to add it shortly). She is also the creator of the "Ask a Mortician" web series, the founder of the Order of the Good Death, and she own and runs a funeral home in the Los Angeles area.

Looking forward to her next book, with eager anticipation.

"Ocean-Space" by Allen M. Steele

Publisher: Ace Books, New York, 2000
ISBN: 044100850X

Ocean Space is a book that deals with life in an undersea research facility, and the everyday things they have to put up with in order to survive in this element. The first good thing about this book is that Mr. Steele, gets the science right. He takes things like the requirements for the divers to decompress, the use of special gas mixtures to allow for saturation diving, and even the required close living quarters into account. As a former diver these details were extremely refreshing to see.

In many science-fiction books, the science components such as this are ignored by the authors. Why they do this is anybody's guess. It could be something as simple as them not understanding the concepts (and refusing to do research), or possibly even assuming that their audience won't notice and therefore it won't matter if they skimp on the research. Both are unforgivable in my opinion.

The story opens when one of the characters (in a manned submersible mining manganese nodules on the ocean floor) gets into trouble following an unexplained encounter in the deep ocean. This sets the pace of this novel which is quite fast. The pace gets pushed even higher when a second plot line is introduced about the exploration of deeps hydrothermal vents.

For the younger readers who read this there is a young lady who is on her first visit to the installation, although this isn't where she thought she was heading too, as they just said a vacation in Florida. This adds a fair bit of conflict, and humour to the narration. When you add to this a good dose of espionage, some personal conflicts, and stir you have a first rate story that will keep you reading.

"Fantasy World-Building: A Guide toDeveloping Mythic Worlds and Legendary Creatures" by Mark A. Nelson

Published: Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9780486828657
Physical Details: vii, 151 pages : illustrations (chiefly colour) ; 28 cm

I read this book when I was looking for resource material about world-building. While Fantasy World-Building is a very interesting book that would be a fascinating resource for anyone who is into gaming design, and it would be a great for illustrators and graphic artists, however most of it wasn't able assist me with my research to any great extent.

The author discusses finding ideas, and how to borrow these ideas and concepts from history. He goes into detail with regard to habitat, climate, terrain, wildlife, and much more. I was however quite interested with regard to his insights on societies, and such.

I would recommend this book to anybody who is into illustration, gaming, or who would like to get into this field.