Customer Reviews

The Sword Is Forged

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

 

 

I got this book out of a pile of old second-hand paperbacks on sale as one of my resources on an Amazon novel. On this part, Walton has a wealth of detail to illustrate Amazon life. On the story, though, it's quite sad. Being about the story of Theseus abduction of the Amazon Queen Antiope, Walton also describes how the Amazons encounter hardships at the hands of ruthless men. It's almost like propaganda that, even if women become mighty, men will seek to destroy them. So Antiope dies, the Amazons are scattered, and Theseus is out of a girlfriend. He wasn't such a good guy in this novel, too. The archaic language was also quite difficult to relate to, in this modern age where modern language gets used even in ancient accounts. Anyway, it was a good attempt to render a myth in realistic terms, though in chronology was different from the Greek myth's. Walton's idea of Amazons was truly poignant.

I have been fascinated by the Amazons of Greek legend since the fourth grade. I first got this book on a discount shelf in the eighties. I am so glad I found it. I gave a copy to a former classics professor of mine and she enjoyed it. She told me that the author had obviously "done her homework". This is the most realistic account of the legend of the Amazons I have ever read. It is like fantasy and reality in one. If the Bronze Age Anatolian Amazons existed this book paints a beautiful picture of their probable beliefs and culture and how they might have lived. Two other great accounts of this legend are " The Bull From the Sea" by Mary Renault, and "Last of the Amazons" by Steven Pressfield.