Customer Reviews

Shades of Memnon

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a fan of fantasy adventure novels. Mainly reading a lot of the conan series. The thing is that in many of those books the heros aren't people of color. And when people of color, black people in particular, were brought up in the books their portrayal was ... well somewhat WACK. The protrayal in those books captured and grew out of the sterotypes that the European and American society has of Africa. For this book the author (a black man)spent 10 years studying anthropolgy, myth, and history so that his portral would be coming from a base of knowledge in the culture of ancient Kamit. Refrences are made throughout the book to Kamitian legends, concepts, and spritual culture. These references are in a little glossary at the begining of the book, so the reader can easily follow along. I enjoyed reading this book and finished within the week that I recieved it. The character of Memnon was well developed along with the plot. The author did not over glorify balck people while making villanins and savages out of white people. A mistake I was worried about when pruchasing the book. Instead the book tried and succeeded in presenting a story where Memnon found both friend and foe in both shades. The fight scences are pretty damn sweet. And I look forward to Memnon who has just aquired some knew weapons rippin' it up in the up coming books. This is the frist review I have written and I have been shoping here for a while so I was quite pleased. But I feel I should mention somethings I didn't like about the book. I felt the way in which Memnon came into captive the second time was type corny. It was just too easy. I think that is all i can say without giving the story away. So nuff Love. Peace and Blessing. ---Rain ninatakawewe@yahoo.com

Shades of Memnon is a spellbinding, exciting, intriguing,mesmerising first book in a tale of epic proportions. It has all of the elements peculiar to the sword and sorcery genre: a gallant hero, nubile beauties, an evil wizard and benevolent fairies. The author, however, maximizes these elements through superlative storytelling that submerges the reader in a world he captures in stunning detail. The hero is no cardboard cutout with stock muscles and a sword, but a figure whose full humanity is conveyed even as he undergoes a transition from an ordinary youth to a warrior of superhuman strength and endurance. This book is a thrill ride of an adventure from beginning to end.

Though often considered an example of African historical/fantasy fiction, this book deals little with Africa. Only in the beginning of the text is the protagonist even in Africa. The story quickly places him in Arabia and Ancient Israel. That being said, the bulk of the novel takes place in Europe (While the Memnon of the Iliad fought in Asia Minor, not Europe). The great majority of the mythological images are derived from European traditions: satyrs, centaurs, werewolves, etc. The author continually makes reference to the sun as Aten's disk, making it seem like it is the only thing he knows about Ancient African worldview. To give him credit, he does provide some interesting concepts about Ancient Kemet, but most of this is only in the beginning of the text and not a part of the main story. The author goes to great lengths to make sure his book is not seen as an anti-European novel by making inaccurate claims about the advanced nature of West Asia and Europe around 1200 bce, when the novel takes place. He suggests that the architectural grandeur of Mecca was equal to Kemet at this time (possibly to placate the large percentage of Islamic believers in the black community). However, Mecca was a city of dust and nomads during Kemet's 19th-dynasty. It would not be until 1,800 years later that it gained any significance on the world stage. He also tries to make Petra an equal to the cities of Kemet. Petra was not signifant during the 19th-dynasty, gaining prominence some 1,200 years later under the Romans. The fact is, that in 1200 bce (and much of the Ancient Age) no civilization in the world could rival the monumentality of the Kemetians. We must not forget, the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza stood as the world's tallest building for at least 4,600 years! It was not surpased until the 20th-century!

Furthermore, the novel makes ludicrous claims that Europeans (his European hero is suggested to be Greek) possessed metallurgy superior to Kemet around 1200 bce. This is absurd. Even if one argues that iron spread in West Asia before Kemet--that is not Europe. Furthermore, iron was known if Africa, it just was not used as much. Contemporary iron is stronger than bronze, yes, but ancient iron was not stronger than bronze. Its power over bronze was in its ability to be manufactured easier, allowing more people access to strong metal, unlike bronze, which required more than one metal to create. The author also places Viking looking races in the story, running around Kemet and Arabia causing havoc. There is no historical evidence for any European being in Africa or Arabia at this time, save for possible the people of Crete. The Minoans of crete left vivid paintings of themselves, their phenotype being more similar to modern South Arabians.
I REALLY wanted to like this book, but I cannot support it for its nonsensical attempt at historical/fantasy fiction. There is little historical about it, it is purely fantasy fiction. As fantasy fiction it is mediocre at best.

Its primary value is in the fact that the protagonist is African, something not commonly found in this genre of literature. Outside of superficial occasional references to Kemet's goddess Sekmet (who is almost demonized) and the sun/aten disc, this is a poor example of what African historical/fantasy fiction could be. Perhaps the following books of this series are better, but this one is definitely not the book we've been waiting for.
Africa is so ridiculously rich in its own traditions of the supernatural that I am lost as to why the author was so dependent on European traditions to create his mythical world. His worldview is exposed in the protagonist's view of beauty. He argues that an Indian woman is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. This is not to say that non-African women cannot be beautiful, but the most beautiful? After growing up in Ancient Kemet? This corresponds to contemporary black male views in popular culture who only admire light-skin and straight hair. There was no mention of a beautiful African woman in the text, the only real character being his sister who is kidnapped. Her beauty is not mention, her role being strictly as his sister. No wonder Brother G dropped the "brother" and is simply Gregory Walker. I am not criticizing him for being open-minded to all races, there is certainly beauty and honor found in all of humanity, but with such a drought of positive images about Ancient Africa, the beauty of natural African women, etc, he forgot the reason he was writing the book. It is clear to me that his audience was not black people, but curious whites who he wanted to include him in their worldview, not bring to light the Ancient African worldview.

I just fininshed this book today and I am going to reread it again all over again just to feel myself immersed in the world of Memnon once more! I read fiction and fantasy as a young black youth and it has always been a love of mine. At one point I stopped reading fantasy books because I guessed at the time that I outgrew them. Later in life I began rethinking history, the bible and everything fed to my mind from a child onward about myself, my (multidimensional) culture and where I fit into the grand scheme of world developement. Because of this, I now realize that I lost interest in fantasy works, even on TV, because there were NO black men or women or children in leading roles period. I also realize that not too many African Americans on a whole are inclined to read fantasy or fiction and what is read is usually what is pushed in the main market: Books about cheating, the oversexed female, thugs to millionaires and so on, but nothing to really spark the imagination.

As I began to study trance, stories and how they can unconsciously structure the personality of the reader or listener, making information easier to process and integrate, I searched all over the net for black fiction writers of fantasy bnecause I have just about had my fill of non-fiction books on just information. I began to feel, thanks to observing my wife and how much she reads and has more spark to her, that I was sacrificing my true portal to the spirit within, my imagination. My wife is a bookaholic when it comes to fiction and I am greasing the old gears to fire up that inner vision again. But the books I have read or try to just don't do it. THIS book does! It could be because of the many authors and writings from other cultures as well as my own dealing with esoteric and spritual knowledge, but the ACTION and image-creating language in this book has awakened that inner vision!!

It is my goal now to acquire all books in the series because I KNOW the power of stories and Myths and how they can build and hold together the minds of a family/culture in spirit, in the dream worlds. I am hooked on this book because as a black man, this charachter spoke directly to me for a change! I wasn't just a spectator, I was Memnon! Very empowering! I may even begin to write myself, why not? If you are black especially, but of any culture GET THIS BOOK! Memnon is African yet he experiences many different cultures and evils, evil has no color preference so this book is not about Black over White, but for the black male searching for a hero to identify with this is it!

I read this book and re-read it and it is great! I love the adventure and the excitement. It is definitely a classic! I also listened to the musical C.D., entitled "Memnon" produced, written, and recorded by local Chicago rap artist BangMasta D, that accompanies the book and it is great! What a fantastic idea! The song brings the characters and the action alive. This book and book II entitled "Ra Force Rising" are classic books, which will survive the literary world for years to come. The historical and mythological themes are comparable to the Odyssey, Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts. This is an African classic! Memnon is the perfect representation of an African Warrior Hero. I applaud Gregory Walker for his outstanding and dedicated work. I anxiously await this classic work to be brought to film and see ancient history come to life!

I've read so many books from fantasy, epics, fiction to mythology this series of books is by far my favorite. In the beginning I only ordered the first book, and read it in one day. I immediately went to the book store and purchased the other two because I wouldn't be able to wait the two days for it to arrive. Of course I thought the next two would not be half as good as the first and I'm rarely wrong but I'm so happy I was. One thing I can't stand in a book is redundancy and this one didn't have any, even though the story of memnon is old and has been told many times and ways everything in these 3 books are fresh and new.

This is an excellent book/series. I could not put this book down. It is 'action packed',from a spiritual and physical perspective. (A large percent of this book seems to be fact rather than fiction).

Having had the opportunity to read Brother G's works was a joy in itself. It is about time someone has given readers the opportunity to read and enjoy the "truth". As opposed to fantastical tales like "300" which redirect the attention from who really did what. "Shades.." is as accurate a fictitious tale as there could be. It was more than my pleasure to read the first two volumes of "Shades..." and I plan to read the rest ASAP!!
VERY POWERFUL, AND A GREAT PIECE OF WORK. I RECOMMEND ALL READ THIS MATERIAL!
"D"

Finally someone has created a great mythology featuring people of color. It's about damn time. Brother G has done for people of the African Diaspora what Hollywood had done for white people for the past 100 hundred years. He has created an African hero the brothas can be proud of based on true world history and ancient mythology. Brother G gets the original Hip Hop Hooray. I own the whole series and recommend it to every black man and boy in the world. Hotep. Two words describe Brother G: Griot/Jeli Extraordinaire. This is what a Griot/Jeli is:

The Griot/Jeli in Mande society was as a historian, adviser, arbitrator, praise singer (patronage), and storyteller. Essentially, these musicians were walking history books, preserving their ancient stories and traditions through song. They were said to have deep connections to spiritual, social, or political powers as music is associated as such. Speech is also said to have power as it can recreate history and relationships.

After I read the glossary, but before I read the story itself, I wrote a two-star review (now since deleted) saying that its terrible history distracted from the story. I still think that the author makes many dubious historical claims (black Africans settling in China and Mesoamerica?), but now that I've actually read his story, my opinion of the book has been raised...a little. The prose is decent despite some typos and there is an abundance of action scenes to keep fans of heroic fantasy like myself entertained. If you're willing to suspend your disbelief about the history, you'll enjoy yourself with this.

However, I have to agree with a previous reviewer that despite its main protagonist being a black man, this book doesn't educate you too much about African culture. Most of the scenes take place either in Arabia or Europe and, with the possible exception of the serpents, the fantasy creatures all come from European mythology. This seems to be part of a trend among some so-called "Afrocentrists" to ignore actual African cultures and peoples, instead trying to place black people in China, Mesoamerica, or God knows where. If you're looking for truly African-based fantasy, the works of Charles R. Saunders (writer of "Imaro" and "Dossouye") will more than slake your appetite.