The Sword is Forged

by Evangeline Walton

A fantasy recreation of the story of Theseus, the legendary Greek hero, and Antiope, Queen of the Amazons, and a time of great changes when the old world order is undergoing transformation

Genres: Fantasy, Greek Mythology, Mythology, Science Fiction Fantasy

368 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1983

About the author

Evangeline Walton was the pen name of Evangeline Wilna Ensley, an American author of fantasy fiction. She remains popular in North America and Europe because of her “ability to humanize historical and mythological subjects with eloquence, humor and compassion”.

Reviews

[Jessica]

I read this so many times as a teen, since it was a perfect mash up two of my interests: smut and Greek mythology! (Don't judge me.) I remember whole passages from this book, and I honestly don't know anymore if it's just because I read it so many times, or because it was . . . good? In its way? Evangeline Walton is not a bad author, but looking at this from the eye of an adult woman, in the year of our lord 2026 . . . I'm kind of startled that it was written by a woman. The Male Gaze is RAMPANT. Just bosoms for days, naked girls running around giggling, several episodes of assault. I'm not even saying that in the way of, "It was a different time, but now we'd call that r@pe!" I mean it was LITERALLY ASSAULT, that was the point.

So, anyway, I was just reminded that this book exists, here it is.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 1 out of 5]

A prequel to the legend of Theseus and the minotaur telling how Theseus kidnaps and marries an Amazon, Antiope, only to have tragedy result (it was meant to be Part One of a trilogy, but none of the other books came out). Walton does Welsh mythology so well it's hard to believe how much I hated this one. Part of the problem is that she gets very info-dumpy to explain the ancient Greek and Amazonian culture. A bigger part is the sexism: even Walton's most patriarchal Welsh heroes are still respectful of women, whereas Theseus is sublimely convinced patriarchy is the way and won't hear any argument (this may reflect that Walton largely made up her version of Wales whereas here she seems to be sticking closer to historical Greece). Sure, the Amazons offer a different point of view, but they don't really oppose him so much as hope he'll see the light. And they're astonishingly forgiving on being kidnapped and condemned to the cramped life of Greek wives. Disappointing.

[Thomas Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story of the battle of the sexes, set in ancient Greece and Anatolia, shortly after society and religion changed from matrilineal clans to warlord-dominated civilization.

Set during the reign of Egyptian pharoh Akhnaton (Amenhotep IV), circa 1352-1335 BCE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhnaton and Hittite king Subbiluliuma http://books.google.com/books?id=OqUA...

Trivia questions on The Sword Is Forged, including quotes:
https://www.goodreads.com/trivia/work...

Quotes from Evangeline Walton:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quot...

[Pam Baddeley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Can't recommend as it is very downbeat. If you know Greek mythology you know it won't end well, but there is even greater emphasis on how men are downtreading women than in her Mabinogion books, and in this one the women are buying into it, even the Amazons [spoiler]self destructing by the end[/spoiler]. It is the first in her Theseus trilogy. The others were never published and I wouldn't read them if they were!