Gods' Concubine (The Troy Game, Book 2) (Hardcover)

by Sara Douglass (Author) "THE TIMBER HALL WAS HUGE, FULLY EIGHTY FEET end to end and twenty broad..." (more)
Key Phrases: kingship bands, monthly flux, attending ladies, Mistress of the Labyrinth, Long Tom, Troy Game (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In the long, complex second installment of her Troy Game quartet (after 2003's Hades' Daughter), Australian author Douglass moves her teeming cast of mythic heroes from ancient Greece to 11th-century England (aka Albion). The labyrinth that Brutus, the leader of fallen Troy, established 1,000 years before has evolved into London. Harold Godwineson and William the Conqueror are engaged in a vicious power struggle that will decide not only who will rule Britain but also who will control the labyrinthine Game that underpins this ambitious fantasy series. Since the principal characters, good guys and villains alike, are regularly reborn, death is a mere inconvenience. Whether or not they remember their earlier lives, they behave just as they did in past incarnations. This inability to alter or grow lends a certain flatness to the characters, despite the space Douglass devotes to their emotional histories and motivations. Still, the admirable Caela, Harold's sister, makes a beguiling heroine and her visions of London in 1939, on the eve of WWII, provide some tantalizing glimpses of what's in store in the projected fourth and final Troy Game volume.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
The sequel to Hades' Daughter [BKL Ja 1&15 03] carries its drama of love and revenge (which started in the labyrinth of Crete and wound its way to Troy and Britain) to England in the middle of the eleventh century. The players from the first book are all here in new guises. Brutus, the flawed hero-founder of Britain, recurs as William, duke of Normandy, and the goddess-avatar Genevissa in the guise of Caella, wife of King Edward the Confessor. Asterion lurks in the shadows, plotting defeat and destruction. The mythic plot is tied to the events that led to the Norman invasion, and the result is quite as convoluted as the Troy Game referred to by the title of Douglass' unfolding series. Many may take umbrage at such premises as making William the Conqueror (rather than Harold Godwinson) an avatar of an eternal champion, and the sheer complexity of Douglass' millennial quest epic will daunt others. This is, however, a worthy companion to Hades' Daughter. Frieda Murray
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 560 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1 edition (February 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765305410
• ISBN-13: 978-0765305411
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #821,295 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Game of London Town, February 15, 2004

By	Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Gods' Concubine is the second novel in The Troy Game series, following Hades' Daughter. In the previous volume, Brutus the Kingsman and Genvissa, Mistress of the Labyrinth, have refounded the labyrinth of the Troy Game on Og's Hill, but Cornelia killed Genvissa before they could complete the ritual. Then Asterion the Minotaur conquered Troia Nova and razed it to the ground. Later he sent plaques and fires and other conquerors to destroy the city. Yet the labyrinth beneath the hills grew and the city was restored time and again, growing larger each time.

In this novel, two millennia have passed and the principal personages have finally been allowed to be reborn. Brutus returns as William of Normandy and Genvissa as Swanne, wife of Harold Godwineson of Wessex. While he is not aware of it, Harold himself was Coel in his previous life. Others have returned also, including Mother Ecub, Loth as Saeweald, and Erith as Judith. The new wife of Edward the Confessor, King of England, is Cornelia, returned as Caela, but she too is not aware of her previous identity.

For fifteen years, Edward refuses to bed Caela and, despite repeated proof that his wife is still a virgin, reviles her as a fallen woman; this continued virginity results in her being known as God's Concubine. While Swanne is highly desirable and has borne six children for him, Harold gradually grows to despise her and, after she stands by and laughs as his brother Tostig attacks him with a knife, he finally repudiates her and dissolves their Danelaw marriage.

While all of Europe waits for Edward to die, the resurrected dead of Troia Nova gradually become aware of each other and realize that Asterion is waiting in the wings to take control of the labyrinth. Even though Caela cannot remember being Cornelia, she still bestows a priory upon Mother Ecub and patronizes Saeweald. Then she takes Judith as her chief lady in waiting. Finally, a vicious magical attack upon Caela by Asterion shakes loose the memories of her former life and she begins to consciously conspire with her allies.

Then, too, Caela becomes aware of the Sidlesaghe, the ancient people of Britain who occupy the standing stones in and around London. Long Tom, the leader of these people, tells Caela that the labyrinth has conjoined with the land itself under London and both labyrinth and land long to complete the process with her as the Mistress of the Labyrinth. The Sidlesaghe begin to assist Caela in her efforts to counter Asterion and to help her move the Kingsman bands to new hiding places.

This story resolves very little of the plot, but does allow Brutus (now William) to marry Matilda and to learn to respect his wife. As he grows closer to his wife emotionally, William develops a sense of empathy that he had not achieved as Brutus. He comes to regret his prior treatment of Cornelia and the other inhabitants of Troia Nova.

In the same way, Cornelia (now Caela) becomes more mature and stronger willed. As God's Concubine, she learns restraint and perseverance. However, she is still naive and thus makes the mistake that leads to her death and the end of this phase of the story.

Highly recommended for Douglass fans and for anyone else who enjoys historical -- or maybe mythical -- fiction with fantasy elements and a millennia long plot.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much better than Hades' Daughter ---, March 10, 2004

By	W. Chen (MA, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After I finished (and cried in the end of) the first part of the Wayfarer Redemption series, I eagerly started on Hades' Daughter, a historical fantasy that began with an ancient intrigue from the Greek myth of Theseus and Ariadne and spans till WWII. However, to my dismay, rather, the book was rather irritating in its endless details of gore and rape, that after finishing (and stopping for a while in between), I did not feel any anticipation for its sequel. Brutus was a [idiot], Cornelia a useless, sniveling child, and Genvissa I disliked beyond measure, and the only sympathi-ble character, Coel, was ruthless slaughtered in the end. But Gods' Concubine got me reading and continuing this series once more. A fan of medieval and especially Arthurian literature, I decided to give this book a spin without consideration of its precessor: just for the history of it about the Battle of Hastings. Good gods, I'm glad I did.

After 2000 years, the characters have finally matured into something resembling real people, instead of just flat, one way props! Caela/Cornelia is much much more likable and stronger, reminding me of Faraday in Starman, and thankfully, Coel returned too (I don't know what I'll do if he isn't here! Judging from the foreshadowings, he will be back for the next 2 books too, thank goodness) as Harold, the last Saxon king of England (and oddly, Caela's own brother, but I didn't find that disturbing, considering their previous liaisons). Brutus/William of Normandy has changed the most, learning to respect his wife as an equal and realized that Swanne/Genvissa as what the [witch] she really is. Swanna is the only rather flat character - she was malevolent and manipulative as always before. Everyone from the old cast had returned (mostly the British ones), plus some new figures such as Matilda of Flanders, who civilized that brute in Brutus.

Poor Caela was still the battleground between Mag and Asterion, and some of the characters died the same way they did in their previous life...The strength of this book is that it is much more absorbing than the first. Many of the unnecessary details disappeared, and as a result, I hang on closely to each word as it unfolded the world of 1066 England or the character's thoughts and feelings.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better and more devoloped than the first, February 20, 2006

By	Lilly Flora "by Lilo Drandoff" (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Gods' Concubine: Book Two of The Troy Game (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is much better than the one before it. While Hades' daughter was good, the ending felt rushed and actions came so fast they were hard to follow. Not so with this book.

All the players have once again been born, this time two thousand years after the disaster that was the attempt to build a labyrinth in England. Some know who they are, some don't. Thus, most of this book is spent in yearning (which is quite affecting and very fun to read) for something. An old lover, an old friendship, an old power.

Just reading the confusion people have because of last lives is fun, but what's even more fun is the anticipation this book holds. Everyone is waiting for something.

And you'll be really surprised by what happens to Cornelia. It turns out the connection she has with the land is so much more than anyone ever thought. This is portrayed not in the almost sickening female/whom thing of the last book, but in a much more developed sense of loving the land and having a true connection to it, weather you are female or not.

Also, Brutus essentially becomes a good person. Which is nice. In fact, everyone improves their personality a lot in this book.

So read this even if you didn't love Hades' daughter. It's something you'll want to clear your schedule to finish. I guarantee by the time you're through you'll be desperate to read the next one. I know I was.

Five stars.

Three months later-in retrospect I don't think I like this series very much. It's not very well written, it has no likeable charecters and a lot of the actions are brutaly offensive. Faced with the forth book recently published I find I've just lost intrest. In retrospect I think I find Sara Douglass's writing to be very dark and depressing and gloomy-but not always in a way that works. I wouldn't advise reading her stuff, excepting Threshold, unless you can work a two week depresion into your life.