Buy on Amazon: Black Ships by Jo Graham
Black Ships is a sort-of retelling of The Aeneid written by the Roman known as Virgil. This is the story of Aeneas, the last prince of Troy who sets out to find a new place to settle the remnants of his people after the great battle that wiped out Troy.
The story is told through the eyes of Gull, a young woman who was born as a slave, crippled as a child and ultimately became the Handmaiden of Death, otherwise known as Sybil.
I knew virtually nothing about this book before I picked it up to read it. I remember seeing it on someone’s list and seeing the rating was fairly high on it, on a whim decided to pick it up. I was immediately drawn into the story. Jo Graham writes beautifully and the story never loses momentum. The characters (although the names can get confusing) are fascinating and full of depth and there is a touch of fantasy involved with the visions shown to lead them on.
There is heart-break and love in this book. I don’t really know how to describe it other than just to say it was a fascinating story about a time period and people that I knew very little about. I’ll definitely be requesting the next books in this series, Hand of Isis and Stealing Fire.
