Memnon by Scott Oden
How frustrating, how sad. This should have been a superb read, but it isn't. Why? Not because of anything that's there, but because of what's NOT there.
Oden has crafted a well written book. He takes the reader with him as he explores a period of history that most people know nothing or next to nothing about - the period before Alexander became "the Great"
The title character, Memnon, is apparently historical fact. The story Oden has woven round him is crisp, and exciting.
All his characters are well drawn. Some may be there only to help the action along, but that's fine. The plot is succinct as it plays out various aspects of the wars between differing groups of Greeks and the Greeks and Macedonians and then the Persians [even the Medes get a mention]. Intrigue, internecine strife, it's all there. The battle scenes are vivid, reminding us how much more personal war was in those days. Man on man. Missiles were javelins, spears, arrows and "incendiary bombs" ie jars of oil. Battlefield medicine is accurately, this reviewer considers, portrayed as a mix of herbal medicine and brutal surgery, both given over to the Gods. It seems to have worked.
OK, after all that good stuff, what's wrong?
It's quite simple. Oden assumes, or seems to assume, that his readers will have such an encyclopedic knowledge of the times and places he is dealing with, he does not provide any help. No maps, to show the various places he refers to - do YOU know where ancient Macedonia was? What about Thebes? Did you know that modern Turkey was once known as Lydia?
Even more frustrating is the lack of any guide to the pronunciation of the names - people and places. Oden gives, one assumes, accurate ancient Greek, Persian and Egyptian names with no hint at all how to say them.
This is a fault in the editing. Someone in Bantam Books should have taken a step back from the excellent story and writing and thought about the reader. Most books dealing with names and places which are unlikely to be familiar to readers, provide a glossary of meanings, at least one map and a link up with modern times, perhaps by comparison.
This is a definite case of the ship being spoiled, for a ha'penny worth of tar.
How frustrating, how sad.
Reviewer: Kathryn Edwards
15 February 2008
