The Face of Apollo (Book of the Gods #1) by Fred Saberhagen

[gilda_elise]

Young Jeremy Redthorn, seemingly doomed to virtual slavery as a farm laborer for his uncle, has little to lose. So he is willing to risk his life when the beautiful, wounded stranger pleads with him to complete her perilous mission. Jeremy doesn't understand at first that the strange mask - or is it a face? - that he's pledged to deliver can confer upon its wearer all the powers, and the problems, of one of the mightiest gods. But he soon realizes the awesome potential - thrilling yet dangerous - that he holds in his possession. When the soldiers who are hunting for the Mask of Apollo arrive, Jeremy has vanished, and the great prize with him. Centuries ago, it seemed that the gods had deserted humanity. But, now, suddenly they are back. Not only the sun god Apollo, but his unrelenting enemy - dark Hades, Lord of the Underworld, greedy for human bodies and souls to gather into his domain.

The book is an easy read, which had its up and down side. Because of the simplicity of the writing it was easy to get through, but that made for a lack of depth, especially when it came to character development. Only Jeremy, the main character, has any real depth. The rest move in and out of the book without leaving much of an impression. There was little back story to most of the characters, and what there was was pretty shallow.

The ending left me scratching my head, too. I don’t know if the story continues in the next book in the series, or if the next book is merely another story about another god, because this book ends rather abruptly, with much left unresolved. Even that resolution seemed to have been tacked on, as if the author had gotten tired of the entire thing and wanted a quick conclusion.

Given my experience with the authors’ books so far, I doubt I’ll be continuing the series which is a real shame, since the idea of reworking the gods’ stories is an intriguing one.


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Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.


1. The Outsider
2. War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence
3. Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts
4. The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
5. Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition
6. From Baghdad to America: Life after War for a Marine and His Rescued Dog (Lava #2)
7. The Gap Into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge (Gap #2)
8. The Family That Couldn't Sleep: A Medical Mystery
9. First King of Shannara (Original Shannara Trilogy 0)
10. Legends of the Fall
11. Moon of the Crusted Snow
12. Mio, My Son
13. Circe
14. Al Franken: Giant of the Senate
15. Memoirs of a Polar Bear
16. Of Mice and Men
17. A Dog's Purpose
18. A Quiet Victory for Latino Rights: FDR and the Controversy Over "Whiteness"
19. The Gap Into Power: A Dark and Hungry God Arises (Gap #3)
20. The Face of Apollo (Book of the Gods #1)




BOOK BINGO

Fairy Tale or Fairy Tale Retelling - The Face of Apollo (Book of the Gods #1) by Fred Saberhagen





1. Fantasy, Scifi, Paranormal - The Outsider by Stephen King
2. Mystery/Crime/True Crime - The Family That Couldn't Sleep: A Medical Mystery by D.T. Max
3. Audiobook or Ebook - Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yoko Tawada
5. Diverse Reads - Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
6. Children's or YA - Mio, My Son by Astrid Lindgren
7. Biography/Autobiography Non fiction - From Baghdad to America by Jay Kopelman
8. Historical (fiction or nonfiction) - Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition by Owen Beattie, John Geiger
9. Set in Your State/Country or Written by a Local Author - Legends of the Fall by Jim Harrison
10. Title Starts with the First Letter of Your Name - The Gap Into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge (Gap #2) by Stephen R. Donaldson
11. Female Author - Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts by Lucy Dillon
12. One Word Title - Circe by Madeline Miller
13. Free Space - Al Franken: Giant of the Senate by Al Franken
14. Movie Tie-in/Made into a Movie - A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron
15. Title is at Least Six Words Long - War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence by Ronan Farrow
19. A Banned Book - Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
20. A New-to-You Author - The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
21. Comic or Graphic Novel - Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller
22. A Book that is Part of a Series (4+ books) - First King of Shannara (Original Shannara Trilogy 0) by Terry Brooks
24. Fairy Tale or Fairy Tale Retelling - The Face of Apollo (Book of the Gods #1) by Fred Saberhagen

Comments

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

What a shame, the beginning sounded quite promising.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Being interested in mythology, yes, it sounded really promising. Unfortunately, the book didn't live up to my expectations. I doubt I'll read the next in the series.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

I had not heard of these. I liked Fred Saberhagen's Holmes-Dracula books. They're not brilliant, to be fair - it's the idea I like and he has fun with them.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I guess the same could be said for this book. Not brilliant, but not awful, either, just not as good as I was hoping for. But since I already had the series I figured I'd give them a go.

[nakeisha.livejournal.com]

It promises more than it delivers. It's always a shame when a book is like that. It sounded interesting.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Exactly, though I suppose writers aren't going to downplay their own books. *g* I do so wish it had delivered more, because the subject is of interest to me.