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Black Ships (Numinous World #1)

by Jo Graham (Goodreads Author)

3.9 of 5 stars 3.90 · rating details · 1,382 ratings · 255 reviews

The world is ending. One by one the mighty cities are falling, to earthquakes, to flood, to raiders on both land and sea.

In a time of war and doubt, Gull is an oracle. Daughter of a slave taken from fallen Troy, chosen at the age of seven to be the voice of the Lady of the Dead, it is her destiny to counsel kings.

When nine black ships appear, captained by an exiled Troja...more

Paperback, 397 pages

Published March 10th 2008 by Orbit

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The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

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Sep 02, 2010 Ksenia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What a beautifully written book!

My first foray into The Aeneid was when I had to translate it from the Latin in my Advanced Placement Latin class in high school. I still have my edition with notes strewn all over the pages. I think this is the first historical fiction book that I have encountered that deals with Aeneas and his quest to find a new land for his people. And what a great retelling of the story!

No wait. Scratch that. I had read Lavinia when it had first came out. So ok, this book is...more What a beautifully written book!

My first foray into The Aeneid was when I had to translate it from the Latin in my Advanced Placement Latin class in high school. I still have my edition with notes strewn all over the pages. I think this is the first historical fiction book that I have encountered that deals with Aeneas and his quest to find a new land for his people. And what a great retelling of the story!

No wait. Scratch that. I had read Lavinia when it had first came out. So ok, this book is my second encounter with The Aeneid in historical fiction form.

I had my eye on this book when it first came out but when it got reissued with this beautiful cover by the same artist who has done covers for Charles de Lint books and the Eragon books, well, I had to have it!

At first, when you read Gull’s story you have the feeling that she is too distant of a character because she appears to observe everything and everyone around her, and has no real interaction with any of them. But, in truth, Gull is a young woman who knows that she has to serve the Lady of the Dead and she knows of what is to come when she encounters Aeneas: she knows she has to go with them to help him find the land he is looking for. She bears a great burden, knowing of things to come, knowing that she can never have a husband, knowing that her presence can sometimes frighten others. Despite her not being able to have a husband (for it is forbidden, since she can only belong to the Lady of the Dead), she does love and is able to have children. In the end, I really liked Gull and there was a moment towards the end where I was so moved by what happened to Gull and felt quite sad for her.

If you know the story of Aeneas, you will definitely find familiar people and scenes in this book: Dido, the journey to the Underworld (if you may recall, Aeneas goes down with a Sybil, which in this story is Gull), Anchises, Lavinia and the war with the Rutuli.

One thing I found interesting was that the author set the whole Dido scenario in Egypt. At the end of the book, the author explains why, since historically Carthage could not have existed at the time Aeneas would have been traveling from Troy. I love the attention to detail in that. Kudos to the author then! There is a lot more info about the historical background to the story and the author at the end of the book.

I am definitely going to read the author’s other book which I already have. I would recommend this one even if you are not familiar with the original Aeneid story. It is just that great of a book; I was sad that it had ended.(less)

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Mar 03, 2010 Leeanna rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: i-own

Black Ships, by Jo Graham

In the interview at the end of the book, the author says that one of her favorite books is "Kushiel's Dart," by Jacqueline Carey. I can see a little of the style in "Black Ships;" Gull is a little like Phedre.

I can't write a summary that would quickly explain "Black Ships." The book is beautiful, with simple language and descriptions; I often found myself slowing down to enjoy the book and not simply racing ahead to finish the story. I was totally enthralled with the wo...more

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May 24, 2008 Caroline rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, read-in-2008

I was pulled in by the beautiful cover and the promise of this being The Aeneid, but from a woman's perspective. It started off really really good, and actually reminded me a lot of Memoirs of a Geisha, but later it just disappointed me. I think my main issue with it was that there were entirely too many characters at times, and I felt the pacing was done poorly. At times I felt really rushed through major events, and at others bored with dullness.

It wasn't a horrible book, but I can't say I rea...more

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Oct 17, 2010 George Dobbs rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Ancient history buffs - Bronze age

This book focuses on descriptions of how people may have lived after the Trojan War. It is a travelogue of the eastern Mediterranean, including Egypt. Sometimes the descriptive nature seemed a bit tedious but overall it was successful in painting a good picture of what life could have been like for the "sea people".

My guess would be that the elevation of the priestess to an equal of the top men is probably anachronistic wishful thinking. None the less it is a good device to help paint the pictu...more

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Oct 09, 2009 Elise Cohen added it

"New author Jo Graham enters the realm of historical fantasy with a triumph in her first novel, Black Ships. A retelling of Virgil's Aeneid as a portrayal of the lifetime of a woman oracle and priestess, the book is painstakingly researched and fully evocative of the Bronze Age.[return]Born as Gull, the daughter of a slave captured in the wars on Wilusa (Troy), Pythia finds her destiny as a Sybil of the Lady of Death. Joining the last few hundred survivors of Wilusa on their journey to find thei...more

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Feb 21, 2009 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars

A retelling of The Aeneid, this book tells the story of a daughter of Troy who becomes Pythia in Greece and ends up traveling with the remnants of her people, including Aeneas, to found a new homeland.

What I liked best about this book is Gull's journey as a priestess, and her experiences with the Mysteries. The author has a good understanding of ritual, and of the place of the gods in the lives of ancient people. They're not just myths concocted to explain the world around them, they're real fo...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars

I pretty much picked this one up on a whim. I was desperately trying to find something new to read, and the fascinating, ancient and mystical aspects of Jo Graham's debut novel Black Ships caught my eye. It wasn't the generic title or the rather uninteresting cover, but rather the compelling summary on the back -plus Amazon suggested it to me since I enjoy reading historical fiction set in ancient times.

In Black Ships, we meet young Gull, an illegitimate child born and raised in Rome as a slave....more

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Jun 05, 2011 Frank Hintz rated it 3 of 5 stars

A retelling of the Aeneid from the point of view of an oracle accompanying the voyage. I don't recall the main character from the Aeneid at all, though admittedly it's been a long time since I read that. Whether she appears there or not, she fits the story here very well. I liked how the author re-intrepreted the story, using her own imagination, but still grounding it in what's actually known about "historical" Troy. I found myself quite willing to accept what I was reading as a something of an...more

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Apr 15, 2011 Paris rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, books-i-own

I absolutely love Greek mythology, especially anything to do with the Trojan War (which is all kinds of fitting since my name is Paris and it is because of Paris of Troy that the name is in the baby name book). This book is an interesting first person account of the events chronicled in Virgil’s The Aeneid. The narrator is Gull, a young oracle who grew up among the enemy when her mother was taken during the first raiding of Troy.

I have always found Aeneas to be a very interesting person as his...more

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Dec 09, 2010 Elizabeth rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

I really wanted to like this book. The language is lyrical and inventive (though it feels clunky at times) and the author obviously conducted a thorough academic study of the ancient societies she writes about. The strong religious/mystical elements of the story feel authentic and inspired.

Still, for a book about love and war, it's awfully boring: skinny damsels in distress are protected by strapping Trojan heroes who, while admittedly complex and flawed at times, are fairly predictable and bla...more

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Dec 02, 2011 Jacki rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fiction, historical

Concept: A
Plot: B
Character Development: B
Writing: B
Pacing: B
Ending: B
Cover Art: A+ x 1,000,000

In this retelling of the Aeneid from the female perspective, a crippled slave girl grows up to become the Oracle of the Goddess of Death, meets Aeneas, and joins his people on their journey to foreign lands, eventually stopping to found what would later become the city of Rome.

The fantasy element is kept very light here. The heroine has a few visions, and occasionally her goddess uses her as a mouthpie...more Concept: A
Plot: B
Character Development: B
Writing: B
Pacing: B
Ending: B
Cover Art: A+ x 1,000,000

In this retelling of the Aeneid from the female perspective, a crippled slave girl grows up to become the Oracle of the Goddess of Death, meets Aeneas, and joins his people on their journey to foreign lands, eventually stopping to found what would later become the city of Rome.

The fantasy element is kept very light here. The heroine has a few visions, and occasionally her goddess uses her as a mouthpiece, but all the troubles and villains are very human. Even the journey through the Underworld referred to in the book's description is a vision quest, not a physical journey through the Underworld.

There's a strange conflict between life being nasty, brutish, and short in ancient times and how nice and careful of human life Aeneas and his men can be. The heroes are all extremely kind and sanitized.

The book is easy enough to read and the writing is occasionally pleasant, but the plot often drags until the book's midpoint. I expected the heroine to be a little more take-charge, but she spends most of the first half of the book observing and describing what other people are doing. For some reason I also expected it to be a bit more feminist, but there's this love triangle between the heroine, Aeneas, and one of the captains that takes up WAY too much time and energy. She's a Goddess's chosen priestess, but the heroine spends most of her time bemoaning the fact that her crippled leg means the captain will never find her attractive, or bemoaning the fact that Aeneas is a prince and she's an oracle and they can never be together blah blah. Blah. It really sucked the life out of the character development.

Also, the reason I keep calling her the heroine is because her name keeps changing. It's Gull, then it's Linnea, then it's Pythia, and then everyone starts calling her Sybil because that's her job title. It got tiresome.

I kept telling myself it was just a bit weak because it's the first book in a series, and I did like it enough that I was ready to read the next two, but this heroine's story wrapped up at the end. It's not really a trilogy, it's three stand-alones in one series. I don't think I'm going to try the others.

Extra credit: The part in Egypt was good, though.

(less)

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Apr 03, 2010 Lydia Presley rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, egypt, fantasy, fiction, historic-fiction

Black Ships is a sort-of retelling of The Aeneid written by the Roman known as Virgil. This is the story of Aeneas, the last prince of Troy who sets out to find a new place to settle the remnants of his people after the great battle that wiped out Troy.

The story is told through the eyes of Gull, a young woman who was born as a slave, crippled as a child and ultimately became the Handmaiden of Death, otherwise known as Sybil.

I knew virtually nothing about this book before I picked it up to read...more

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Dec 31, 2011 Karen Ireland-Phillips rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ms. Graham evokes antiquity with mannered prose measured with the cadences of the ocean: the schuss of waves, the splash and push of oars, the echo of a heartbeat in the seashell’s curve. She overlays the tropes of fantasy and romance upon a quasi-historical journey of both a woman and a people. [return]But the first person narrative is far from stilted. Over the course of the story, the protagonist matures from child to mother, a true avatar of the feminine. Gull is the daughter of rape of a Wi...more Ms. Graham evokes antiquity with mannered prose measured with the cadences of the ocean: the schuss of waves, the splash and push of oars, the echo of a heartbeat in the seashell’s curve. She overlays the tropes of fantasy and romance upon a quasi-historical journey of both a woman and a people. [return]But the first person narrative is far from stilted. Over the course of the story, the protagonist matures from child to mother, a true avatar of the feminine. Gull is the daughter of rape of a Wilusan (Trojan) slave captured by Achians of the city-state of Pylos. She is injured as a young child and her inability to labor in the field threatens her life. In the best tradition of fantasy and romance, this difference leads her mother to offer Gull as an apprentice to the guardian of a shrine of the goddess of death.[return]Gull’s innate gifts, under the tutelage of the oracle Pythia, bloom to her ascendence to the position of the new oracle of the goddess. Gull-now-Pythia grows to know and influence the princes and the shakers and movers of her own city-state (some the very men responsible for her existence); the political and theocratic aristocracy.[return]As in the ancient Chinese curse, Gull lives in interesting times. Her very existence is the result of a raid of one city-state upon another, a chain of raid and revenge repeated over and over up and down the coasts. When the titular black Trojan ships of her dreams/foretellings descend upon Achian Pylos, she not only aids the invaders, but gathers those enslaved by Pylos and flees with them in the black ships. [return]The voyagers take refuge in a coastal city only to discover that the Achian fleet has also taken up residence, and have persuaded or suborned almost all of the extant fleets to join them in a raid upon the Nile delta, the northernmost point of the greatest empire in the world. [return]The Trojans flee to warn Pharoah before the Achian alliance attacks. As a part of the victorious fleet, they are offered employment with the Egyptians as soldiers. [return]The frenetic pacing of the first third of the novel slows markedly here. I admit to a personal mania for Ancient Egypt, so this portion of the novel didn’t drag as much as it could have. A well researched portrait of everyday life in the middle Kingdom underlays romance for Gull Pythia for the learning and way of life in Egypt, and personally. I did not find her personal romance as compelling as I would have liked, partially because of the distancing effect of the stylized narrative, and partially because this otherwise excellent first novelist still has things to learn about depicting passion, foreshadowing and pacing. [return]Events in Egypt eventually force the Trojans to flee Egypt for a land of their own, a final journey foretold by Pythia. The pacing of the novel remains slow here until the last few chapters. Their fight is not over; but the culmination of the story of Pythia and the Trojans holds both tragedy and victory. [return]The mannered, idiosyncratic narrative and sacred, explicit connection to the divine are reminiscent of the Kushiel novels of Jacqueline Carey and Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Mists of Avalon. I was also reminded of the Melusine series of Sarah Monette not only for the mythic journey aspects of this story, but because Pythia’s goddess echoes Monette’s “white-eyed Lady” goddess of death.(less)

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May 05, 2013 Samantha Sorour rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is honestly probably one of the best books I have had the privilege of reading. The book was beautiffully written and has some of my favourite quotes in. Jo Graham has managed to create a world completely unique in a time period that has been thoroughly used. As a character Gull is so completely real and honest and wise beyond her years that it is truly wonderful to see her growth through out the novel. Black Ships managed to make me cry and laugh and sit on the edge of my seat the entire t...more

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Mar 28, 2009 Ali Cross rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Adult Women

Black Ships took me on a beautiful journey and I enjoyed every moment of it.

Written in the style of classical literature, very similar to Virgil's Aeneid, it tells the story of a priestess blessed with visions of the future of her people in the days after the Trojan War. The people of the isles have been displaced and rely on the guidance of their priestess and their king to find them a new home where they can grow and flourish. It takes us through ancient Greece and Egypt and the small towns an...more

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Jul 25, 2012 Genarti rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is so far up my alley that it's in my backyard, or possibly in my living room. I adored it! I don't know if I'll enjoy the sequels as much, since I loved these specific characters so much and as I understand it there's a lot of reincarnation ahead, but I look forward very much to finding out. Jo Graham's writing is lovely, lyrical and very readable.

If you like Rosemary Sutcliff, Rosemary Kirstein, Susan Cooper, and/or Jo Walton's The King's Peace books, odds are pretty good that you'll...more

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Aug 09, 2011 Jaime rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, fiction

I love historical fiction - especially novels set during classical times. Graham's debut is a fresh take on "The Aeneid." Most readers are familiar with the Illiad and the Odyssey (even if they've never read them) and many authors, and filmmakers, have retold those stories. One of my favorite of these is Marion Zimmer Bradley's "Firebrand" told from the point of view of the Seeress, Kassandra - fated to see the future but cursed that no one would believe her until it was too late. However, I hav...more I love historical fiction - especially novels set during classical times. Graham's debut is a fresh take on "The Aeneid." Most readers are familiar with the Illiad and the Odyssey (even if they've never read them) and many authors, and filmmakers, have retold those stories. One of my favorite of these is Marion Zimmer Bradley's "Firebrand" told from the point of view of the Seeress, Kassandra - fated to see the future but cursed that no one would believe her until it was too late. However, I have never read a modern author who has gone beyond the fall of Troy. Finally, one has and it was worth waiting for!

Graham has taken a familiar path – that of a famous story told from the POV of a minor character, often a slave, or servant. The story is told mostly from first person by Gull. She is the daughter of slave captured in Troy, and a strong female protagonist. When a chariot hits and cripples her, her mother gives her to the Pythia (a twist on the Delphic Oracle, here given visions by a Goddess instead of Apollo) where she discovers her real gift. Readers of Bradley's work will notice the obvious parallels between the two heroines, but Graham has her own distinct voice. Though the book is truly not fast-paced, it is still a page turner. The Aeneid is more of an adventure tale, a quest even. Gull is reminiscent of Kassandra, but the story will evoke themes in the Odyssey as Gull travels with Prince Aeneas searching for a new home for the exiled Trojans (here called Wilusans). The characters are fully developed, and the author provides details to secondary characters’ lives as well, even when they do not directly impact Gull. This makes the characters seem real.

Though I found the title uninspiring, and the cover almost boring, the writing is excellent; smooth and flowing. I sat down to read a couple of chapters and finished 65 pages without realizing it. Before I started, I learned Graham's next book will center on Cleopatra, as told by one of her handmaids. At first I was skeptical - another Cleopatra book? However, after Black Ships, I can hardly wait to see what she does with the doomed queen. And, the new edition of Black Ships has a much better cover. :-) (less)

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Jun 10, 2010 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Lovers of Historical Fantasy

Recommended to Lisa (Harmonybites) by: A friend

Shelves: historical-fiction, romance, fantasy, fiction, novels

Even though this book can be found in the fantasy aisle of the bookstore, there is little fantastical here that couldn't be rationalized, other than a few visions of prophecy. With Vergil's Aeneid as her basis, Graham uses the latest scholarship to recreate the late Bronze Age Mediterranean world. I liked, for instance, bits like how she incorporated theories about how the disaster at Thera might have led into legends of Atlantis and the marvels in the time of Moses in Egypt. (Since Carthage did...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Eileen Granfors rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: families, foreign-countries, friendship, historical-fiction, men, mythology, updated-classics

I had been searching for a new book based on ancient mythology. BLACK SHIPS was recommended to me, and it really fit the bill.

The story of THE AENEID is retold in the voice of Gull, a slave girl, who is given to the Oracle in childhood. She learns the ways of the Priestess of Death, and as she becomes older, her visions are based on experience as well as on dreams.

She meets and travels with Neas. They sojourn with others in their fleet on various islands, the Isle of the Dead, and in Egypt. Gull...more

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Oct 10, 2012 Kritika rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: retellings, historical-fiction

Black Ships is a retelling of Virgil's The Aeneid, the story of how Rome came to be after the fall of Troy. It's a captivating concept (Greek mythology! Crossing new frontiers! Ancient Egypt!) but somehow this book fell flat for me.

Gull is a slave girl from Wilusa, or Troy, who becomes crippled after an accident. She is taken in by Pythia, or the oracle of The Lady of the Dead, to become her apprentice. Once she takes on the role of Sybil, Gull chooses to embark on an epic journey to find a new...more Black Ships is a retelling of Virgil's The Aeneid, the story of how Rome came to be after the fall of Troy. It's a captivating concept (Greek mythology! Crossing new frontiers! Ancient Egypt!) but somehow this book fell flat for me.

Gull is a slave girl from Wilusa, or Troy, who becomes crippled after an accident. She is taken in by Pythia, or the oracle of The Lady of the Dead, to become her apprentice. Once she takes on the role of Sybil, Gull chooses to embark on an epic journey to find a new home for her people.

The story itself is very rich, and there are so many little details about life in ancient Greece and Egypt that make the book come alive. I could tell the author had a love for this particular time period because of her attention to detail. I haven't read The Aeneid, so I have no idea if this book stayed true to that, but I felt that the story did justice to its time period even if it wasn't completely accurate.

I liked some of the characters, but Gull herself wasn't so compelling to me. She was a sybil, but of course she couldn't call on the Lady of the Dead at will, making her a shadow of a person when she wasn't the all powerful vessel for the Lady. I understand that it would be unreasonable to call on the gods at will, but I felt that Gull could have had more conviction in herself even when she wasn't guided by the others. It seemed that she spent the majority of the book lamenting how no man would ever care for her, and of course it turns out that a man does end up loving her. I did enjoy the complex relationship between Gull, Xandros, and Neas. They all love each other in different ways, so it's interesting to see how they interact with one another.

One major point that detracted from this book for me was the mythology. I did not understand where the Lady of the Dead and Lady of the Sea fit in with traditional Greek mythology. I felt that it didn't ring true with the original system of Greek gods, and I found it hard to believe that the role of sybil would be so universal that the Egyptians had a name and position for her as well. I also felt that the ending was resolved too quickly after all the trials and challenges of the majority of the book. There were some very intense moments, and then there were some problems that were resolved in strange or unsatisfactory ways. I just never got really into the story because I found the sybil's powers and politics didn't mesh very well, and because I didn't find gull to be a compelling character.(less)

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Jun 13, 2011 Jessi Hafeman rated it 4 of 5 stars

Historical fiction is often difficult to recommend to people as parts of history are very dull and boring. I personally love ancient history and fiction. I found this book a great start for Jo Graham. It was well researched and well narrated.

I always enjoy when two cultures are shown side by side. Graham continues this with her next book, “Hand of Isis,” which I read first. It told the difference between Egyptian society and Roman culture. Graham does an fascinating job of comparing subtle deta...more Historical fiction is often difficult to recommend to people as parts of history are very dull and boring. I personally love ancient history and fiction. I found this book a great start for Jo Graham. It was well researched and well narrated.

I always enjoy when two cultures are shown side by side. Graham continues this with her next book, “Hand of Isis,” which I read first. It told the difference between Egyptian society and Roman culture. Graham does an fascinating job of comparing subtle details that would affect a character, like the difference between traveling by water and traveling by roads. This story also does a great job of showing off the different cultures that existed in ancient times.

Graham has never seemed to be able to narrate a battle scene. Characters either observe it from a distance without any details to it, or it takes place away from the main characters (this is before I finish her latest book, which is surpassing these two so far). I found the battle scenes in this book a disappointment. She told about the weapons and a little bit about the style and practice, but when it came to the climax of the work, it fizzled out.

Narrator, Gull, does not seem to show any character development. Her emotions are never fully fleshed out. She remains rather static throughout the book. I found her role very interesting, but her emotions seem muted. Even the accident that handicaps her foot seems to be forgotten more and more as the book goes on.

I found the first 2/3 of the book interesting, but after that it seemed to wane a little. There were a lot less emotions and characters at that point and not a lot of engagement with the reader.

Graham has a beautiful language she uses to tell a story. I think the way she is tying her books together with the souls of her main characters reincarnated is an interesting idea. I will have to read “Hand of Isis” again so I can spot these characters.

Overall I enjoyed this book. Graham is a talented writer and brings the cultures of ancient peoples fresh and alive. (less)

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Jul 24, 2010 Gerri Leen rated it 4 of 5 stars

I should start this by saying I've had a hard time getting into historical epics lately. Something always throws me out of them. But this book held me every step of the way. Compared to the Mists of Avalon, it does have some element of that, but it's not all that groundbreaking to throw a Sybil into a retelling of the Aenid (as it was to throw new agey Paganism into the Arthurian tale), so I don't think that's what Graham was really trying to do. I admit, I'm less up on the Aenid than Homer's st...more

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Feb 02, 2010 Bonnie rated it 5 of 5 stars

"Black Ships" is a retelling and reworking of Virgil's "Aeneid" thru the eyes of Gull, born in the town of Pylos to a Trojan woman taken captive at the fall of Troy. Her father is unknown, one of several of Agamemnon's warriors who raped her mother. After her foot is run over by a chariot Gull is taken to Pythia, an oracle and becomes her acolyte, later assuming Pythia's oracular powers after her death. When Aeneas and other Trojan warriors come to Pylos to take back their women and children, Gu...more

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Nov 05, 2011 Lorina Stephens rated it 3 of 5 stars

Based on Homer's epic Aeneid, Jo Graham's Black Ships certainly has dynamic and profound material with which to work. Unfortunately, Graham's delivery falls short of anything but a mildly entertaining chick-lit read.

Having said that, there are echoes of Marion Zimmer Bradley's style here, a retelling of a male-oriented legend from a female, even feminist point of view, in this case the oracle known as Pythia replacing the Arthurian Morgaine. And yet Graham's characters failed to rise off the pa...more

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Mar 25, 2012 Ashley W rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ancient-times, supernatural, historical-fiction

Black Ships is a retelling of the Aeneid through the eyes of Gull, an oracle and priestess of Persephone, who accompanies Aeneas on his journey which will end with the founding of what will become Rome.

This book absolutely blew me away, and it had everything I could possibly want in a novel (history, romance, humor, fantasy) without it becoming too sloppy. I with in love with everything, the plot, the setting, and most of all the characters.

Gull begins the novel as very distant among her peopl...more Black Ships is a retelling of the Aeneid through the eyes of Gull, an oracle and priestess of Persephone, who accompanies Aeneas on his journey which will end with the founding of what will become Rome.

This book absolutely blew me away, and it had everything I could possibly want in a novel (history, romance, humor, fantasy) without it becoming too sloppy. I with in love with everything, the plot, the setting, and most of all the characters.

Gull begins the novel as very distant among her people. She does not believe she can find happiness being that she serves the Lady of the Dead, and can never get married. However, while she is allowed to have a lover and have children, she is very insecure because of her crippled leg which was injured in a wagon accident. The narration begins very distant, because Gull herself is. She does grow and you cannot help but admire her courage and determination. She is able to hold her own, especially when she is in a counsel of men. Later, she does come to find the happiness she never thought she'd have.

Aeneas is such a sweetie. He's noble and would rather eke out a living in honorable ways than becoming a pirate or some other unsavory character. You can tell Gull holds a lot of admiration and love for him in the novel. His relationship with Dido of Carthage is switched out for one with Basetamon, a Princess of Egypt. Wow, this woman was a regular psycho with her threats, but I'll let others come to their own conclusion about her.

I was enchanted by all of the other characters, Xandros, Kos, Tia, Bai, etc. and rooted for them all the way to Rome.

The writing was lyrical and I don't know if I was supposed to find funny bits that made me laugh aloud, but I did, such two of the exchanges between Gull and her half-brother, Aren. The different places, Byblos, Millawanda, and Egypt, are described in great detail and I was able to picture everything very clearly.

The only thing I had a mild problem with (view spoiler)

I recommend this novel, and I believe this might be one of my favorites of the year so far!(less)

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Jan 10, 2010 HRM Maire rated it 4 of 5 stars

This story is based on "The Aeneid" which is the story of a lost prince of Troy who leads a rag-tag group of survivors out of the ashes, has many adventures traveling on the Mediterranean, and then finally lands in Italy, founding Rome. Obviously, fiction, but an interesting idea and, since I love this sort of thing (historical fiction, especially in ancient times) I found it wonderful. It centers around a daughter of a Trojan slave who had become an oracle called Pythia. The Goddess speaks to h...more

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Jun 11, 2012 Snicketts rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

Loved this. Lyrical but easy to read. Favourite elements included how human these legendary figures were, how cleverly historical and archaeological evidence was alluded to and the "end of the world" feeling that the characters were reacting to, finding ways to adapt and prosper. I was intrigued by how durable the characters were despite their travails, they were matter-of-fact about the most desperate situations, never even considering that they were victims or that they had been dealt a poor h...more

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May 13, 2009 Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars

The events of The Aeneid told by Gull, daughter of a slave taken from fallen Troy and priestess of Persephone, the Lady of the Dead. Taken to the Lady's temple after being lamed in a chariot accident, Gull displays her power as an oracle. Her first vision—black ships fleeing a burning city sees Aeneas escaping the burning Troy. Hoping to save those sold into slavery, Gull joins Aeneas and they take the few remaining people of Troy to find a site where they can found a new city. An imaginative bl...more

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Sep 30, 2012 Beth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: greek-roman-mythology

Last year I spent a semester translating book 8 of the Aeneid, which also involved getting to know the rest of the story. So, I was quite intrigued to stumble across this book and see what the author did with the story. For the most part, I was not disappointed.

It is told from the perspective of Gull, a girl whose mother was raped and taken captive after the fall of Troy. She is born as a slave, but becomes a sibyl of the Lady of the Dead. I liked her as narrator to the story, as it added new di...more

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Aug 13, 2011 Nikki rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction-alternatehistory, greek-roman, lgbt, based-on-myth-saga-etc

Black Ships is a retelling of the story of Aeneas' flight from Troy with his people, with aspects of it changed and rearranged to fit better with what we really know of history -- for example, to address the problem of Aeneas visiting Carthage before it is ever founded. Dido is replaced by Basetamon, a princess in Egypt. Basetamon herself isn't a real historical figure, but the role she plays is certainly possible. The relationship between Basetamon and Aeneas, and the impossibilities of it, are...more Black Ships is a retelling of the story of Aeneas' flight from Troy with his people, with aspects of it changed and rearranged to fit better with what we really know of history -- for example, to address the problem of Aeneas visiting Carthage before it is ever founded. Dido is replaced by Basetamon, a princess in Egypt. Basetamon herself isn't a real historical figure, but the role she plays is certainly possible. The relationship between Basetamon and Aeneas, and the impossibilities of it, are well drawn, I think: the conflict between their cultures, and her damaged and destructive personality.

The main character is Gull, or Pythia, who is drawn from the Sybil who guides Aeneas down into the Underworld. She is given a life of her own -- in fact, the women of the world are all given lives of their own, including both Lavinia and the unnamed, unnumbered women the fleeing Trojans took with them. There's a certain preoccupation with reproduction and children, which only makes sense, given that they need to have enough of a population to found a new city.

Everything is well thought out and logical: the reasons for Silvius founding a new city, the reasons for Basetamon's death, etc. It's a quick read, too -- surprisingly so: it only took me a little over two hours. There are even some LGBT characters: one of the major male characters is in love with Aeneas, and is also romantically involved with a young eunuch from a temple. I wasn't sure how I felt about the handling of the latter: the pronouns were erratic, and zie died almost as soon as zie'd been introduced to the plot.

I'm not sure how emotionally attached I was to this story. I felt a little choked up at the end, but until then, not really. I pitied Basetamon and Aeneas' pain at what happened to her, while at the same time being a little infuriated at (or about, I'm not sure) both of them. Which is pretty much how I feel about the original, too.

Anyway, I'm not sure why I ended this with the degree of ambivalence I did, considering how quickly I read it, but... there it is. Still recommended, especially if you're interested in historical retellings of mythology.(less)

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Goodreads Librari...: Black Ships by Jo Wyrick	3	30	Apr 08, 2013 07:25am

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Quotes from Black Ships

“I want to know everything. I want to know how the clouds move and why islands fall into the sea. I want to know how to plant almond trees and how to make children grow up straight and healthy. I want to know how princes should govern and why people love. I want to understand the stars in the heavens and all the words that were ever made. I want to remember every story that was ever told.” — 4 people liked it

“How shall I raise dead men up to plow fields that are fallow? How shall I plant young olive trees?”

Mikel smiled, and it was a beautiful smile. “One tree at a time,” He said.” — 3 people liked it

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Black Ships (Numinous World #1)

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